Home Wine Cellars

The days of the wine cellar being banished to the basement are over. Our clients love for wine combined with the entertaining aspects of today’s modern wine cellar, are asking J&C to incorporate designs for a first floor wine cellar. We’re doing conversions of butler pantries, bathrooms, bedrooms and stand alone spaces.



For example, one of our latest custom wine cellars is designed for raw space which was conveniently located next to the family, dining and living room, just steps from the kitchen. Now it’s a stunning wine cellar and destination spot.



The wine cellar features redwood wine racks, cooling system, cathedral ceiling, custom niches for knick-knacks, a mahogany, wrought iron arched door way and a window view to the dining room. The cellar holds over 2,300 bottles. The split cooling system has the coil in the wine cellar. The condensing unit and condensate line are run to the basement.



Homeowners love the feeling of dining with the ambiance of the nearby wine cellar. They also enjoy the convenience of the close proximity of the cellar. As guests arrive, the wine cellar becomes a focal point and guests are excited to tour the new use of space.

It invites you to enter….where you are destined to share not only wine but memories as well

Wine Tasting Rooms Gaining Popularity

As home wine cellars become more and more popular, wine tasting rooms are as well. A wine tasting room is simply a room set-up to enjoy your wine, food, and friends. It can become the main entertaining space in your home. It is also a room or space that isn't 56 degrees like a wine cellar with a cooling system!



Some common features of a wine tasting room:

• dishwashers for glass ware
• cabinets for storage
• wine racks for obvious reasons
• custom built Joseph & Curtis walk-in humidor or desktop humidors
• smoke-eaters to enjoy Room 101 Cigars
• murals and paint finishes
• tables
• flat-screen and touch pad music control

All of these features make for some great nights in the tasting room! If there is not enough space to have a dedicated tasting room...try a barrel with a table top, or a bar. We have included some pictures and a video of our latest completed cellar...enjoy!

Cheers!

Garage to Wine Cellar Conversion

Most people assume that wine cellars are in the , well, you know- cellar, but at Joseph & Curtis Custom Wine Cellars we are always looking for innovative places to create a custom wine cellar. We are doing more and more wine cellars and custom wine racks on the main living level from new construction where an entire room is specified by the architect near the kitchen or dining room to retro-fitting a wine cellar into an existing (and underused) butlers pantry which we completed recently in Holmdel, NJ - watch for upcoming blog.



The garage project however was a first. We were contacted by the homeowner Phil who told us ' it doesn't have to be elegant or fancy, but it does need to store and organize as many bottles as the space will allow' and will need a wine cellar cooling system that will maintain my collection at 56 degrees' for his extensive wine collection.

We met Phil and surveyed the room he had in mind, an approx 10'x10' annex to the garage that would be a perfect space for a wine cellar once the room was prep ed with the proper vapor barrier and insulation. We designed the space for maximum storage and were able to give Phil upwards of 1800 bottles! A space that might otherwise be full of old lawn chairs, fishing rods and rusty bicycles has been transformed into a wine lovers tour of France, California, Italy, South America etc.



Fancy or not we still produced beautiful Redwood custom wine racks and Phil loved the display rows we gave him that allows him to easily locate the wine he is looking for since you can see the label and the bulk storage above and below that bottle for wines he stores a quantity of.



Phil loves gardening and has a massive vegetable garden and commented that the cellar would be a perfect environment to store his canned harvest. So if you happen to be wandering through Phil's cellar don't be surprised if you see a mason jar sitting proudly beside a '86 Mouton Rothschild.

Hmmm, which wine do we drink with the pickled beets?

Cheers!

Dramatic Wine Cellar in New Jersey

Welcome back to our blog about building custom wine cellars.

Our latest project in New Jersey started with a blank canvas - a 17' x 17' room which was finished, but not for one of our custom wine cellars.




Check out a video walk-through of this dramatic wine cellar, then read more about the project.



The homeowner had just built the home and was entirely finished except for the wine cellar. He told us that he was tired of making decisions and wanted us to do everything "soup to nuts" including all of the design work.

We began by asking some questions as to the style the homeowner envisioned...we then began to walk through the house to visualize their tastes...we also walked the outside of the home as well. Once we had the feel for their tastes we began to sketch a design - we included pictures, 3D CAD drawings, paint finishes, tile, door swatches, lighting, just about everything the owners would need to see and feel as if they were sitting in the room.



They loved it, and we went right to work!

Once the room was gutted we began to build the wine cellar. The wine cellar had several features: Granite peninsula, smoke eater for cigars, 2 murals with stone effect paint finish, custom humidor, 2 mahogany wrought iron doors and window, Jerusalem gold stone tile with 2 custom mosaics, and of course 3 stone arches 8' tall with 6 scones.





The cellar has a very dramatic feel...the stone tile accents the wine barrel and paint finish...while the "red dragon" granite makes a very bold statement yet picks up all of the colors of the stone arches as well as the murals.



The room was completed with 2 alligator chairs which beg you to light a fine cigar and open a 94 Sassicaia...Bellissimo!!



Please stay tuned for the opening of La Bionda (the blond girl) which is under renovations in Manville NJ...it will open in August with a night club in back, fine Italian food, brick oven pizza, and of course a Joseph & Curtis custom wine cellar.

Check out our website www.josephandcurtis.com if you are interested in a custom wine cellar for your home or business.

Cheers!

The Wine Loft in Long Branch, NJ

Joseph & Curtis recently completed The Wine Loft in Long Branch NJ which features a custom wine cellar and a 19' custom wine rack. The scene at the wine loft is like a very cool living room...a place to just hang out and have a glass of wine.



There are several comfortable couches as well as a bar, and yes a loft area with leather couches and a terrific view of the 19' custom wine racks that highlight the bar area.





Joseph & Curtis also built a custom wine cellar on the first floor with a window and cooling system.



The wine loft offers over 50 wines by the glass and well over 100 wines by the bottle as well as sparkling wines,ports, and all spirits. The wine loft also has a terrific menu (much like tapas but not Spanish) our choice is the filet mignon salad and the artisan cheese selections. The wine loft offers catering for private parties from as little as 10 to as many as 100.



The wine loft opens Saturday March 21 and is located at Pier Village 32 Laird st, Long Branch NJ. We highly recommend The Wine Loft for their outstanding wine list, the food, and relaxed and upscale setting.

Cheers!

Closet Wine Cellar Conversion

Not everyone is blessed with a room big enough for a true wine cellar. Please do not let that stop you. Most wine cellars are in the 8 x 10 and up range...but we have been noticing for the past couple of years clients asking us to think outside of the box and come up with other rooms (like a closet, bathroom, dining room, or even a master bedroom...just kidding on the master bedroom)



One such space was for a client in Scotch Plains, NJ...this client had a basement which already had a pool table and television area...that left us with two options: 1. mechanical room 2. a closet. We chose the closet (4 x 8) because it gave the client a great area for the cooling system to vent and for the condensate (the mechanical room)to discharge.



Once we started the demolition we went right to work on the floor (ceramic tile) and the vapor barrier (because we added cooling) and insulation and electric.

After those steps were complete we began to re-rock (mold resist) to paint ready walls...at this point we were able to take final dims and begin building the mahogany wine racks for the new wine cellar. While the racks were being built we also had our painter prime and paint the room (olive).



The custom wine racks consisted of adjustable shelving for bulk storage, high reveal display rows, diamond bins and of course our muralist creating a wonderful backdrop for the custom arch. We then installed a mahogany glass door so that the outside living space would have a complete view inside the wine cellar.



We are now in the process of converting that space into a tasting room...stay tuned.

Cheers!

Madison, NJ - Custom Wine Cellar Design & Construction

Our latest custom wine cellar project had pretty much all of the elements we could ask for...Design, tasting room, wine cellar, paint finish, cooling system, stone arch, and of course wine racking.



When we first met our homeowner, we walked what would become the finished basement and where we would be designing the wine cellar and tasting room.



We started with a blank canvas (1 cinder block wall)...we decided to take the clients to a previous cellar to get a first hands look at (un-stained mahogany and a stone arch) the customers decided that they loved the arch...but wanted a more "finished" look for the racking (we chose mahogany with a water based stain).

The stone we picked was irregular flag stone (3 different types for contrast within the stone). The homeowner decided to make the cellar the focal point of the new basement by adding 2 windows and a glass door which really makes the basement look fantastic.



After completing the framing, vapor barrier, insulation, Sheetrock, elect, stone arch we went to work on the cellar racking. The design took advantage of the obvious areas for display (under each window we built a custom stand alone display rack for the clients showpiece bottles. We also carried the display rows through all of the racking and in the center of the arch. We also added 2 sconces on the "legs" of the arch which really bring out the colors of the stone. The next part was the tile which was selected with the racking and stone colors in mind.



We picked out a reddish earthy tone tile, oversized and carried into the tasting room. Once the tile was laid we had our painter use all three of the "elements" of the two rooms...(racking, stone, and tile) and we came up with a distressed stone effect, which made the cellar and tasting room appear to be in the space for a very long time. We built custom mahogany cabinetry for the tasting room and finished the space with a wine barrel tasting table with 4 bar stools.



We used a "split" cooling system with the condensing unit sitting in the mechanical room. The homeowners were blown away with the final space! (the wife delighted with the tasting room and the husband about the storage space).

And once again everything was finished on time and of course on budget. Please do not hesitate to give us a call or contact us online for all of your custom wine cellar needs, and remember Joseph and Curtis Custom Wine Cellars perform all phases of the project from design, to construction, to stocking tips.

Check back for more...

Cheers!

Which wood species is right for your custom wine cellar?

By far the most popular wood species to use when building custom wine cellars are Pine, Redwood and Mahogany. Each wood species is unique in its own way. Like many aspects of wine cellar construction, many of your decisions will depend on whether or not a cooling system will be used; choosing your wood species is no exception.

Pine is the least expensive of the 3 popular wood types but it cannot be used if you are planning on utilizing a climate controlled system in the cellar...it will not hold up. One advantage of Pine wood is that it can be stained to match the aesthetics of the rest of the wine cellar.

Here is an example of stained Pine racking:



Here is an example of Pine racking (without stain):



Redwood is a beautiful wood species and comes in two choices - Premium Redwood and All Heart Redwood. Please note that Redwood does not stain well due to the oils present in the wood. Premium Redwood is the least expensive of the two redwood species and has much more variations and color in the wood whereas All Heart Redwood is much darker and consistent. It is a good idea to leave either Redwood unfinished. Redwood will withstand the humid conditions within the wine storage room because it contains natural wood preservatives within it.

Here is an example of Premium Redwood racking:



Here is an example of All Heart Redwood racking:



Mahogany is the last of the three wood species commonly used in wine cellar construction. Mahogany is ideal because it is the most durable. Mahogany will not warp or swell. It is resistant to decay due to dampness, making it perfect for the higher humidity levels typically found in wine cellars with climate controlled systems. For our customers that want that "furniture grade look" Mahogany is by far the best choice because it is ideal for stain and lacquer applications. Chemicals in stain and paint can travel through corks and ruin the flavor of wine! So if you choose to stain we HIGHLY RECOMMEND using a water base stain.

At Joseph & Curtis Custom Wine Cellars we offer a wide range of Mahogany species available; Malaysian Mahogany, Genuine Mahogany and African Mahogany to name a few. The Mahogany that we use is harvested from farms that certify the sustainability of their products.

Here is an example of Malaysian Mahogany racking:



Here is an example of Malaysian Mahogany racking (without stain):



For a sample of our mahogany species, or any other wood species we offer, please give us a call at (908) 337-2204 or contact us online, we would love to assist in bringing your wine cellar dreams to life!

Check back for more about building custom wine cellars.

Cheers!