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

Paul O'Neill Wine Cellar Q &A

Words do not describe how excited we were to work with Paul O'Neill. As a life long New York Yankee fan it was and is a dream come true.

There are 3 players that I have always told my kids to look up to: Derek Jeter, Johnny Damon (once he became a Yankee because of his Wounded Warrior work) and Paul O'Neill.

Paul played the game with such passion and was the epitome of what I call a "gamer." I highly recommend reading his book called Me and My Dad: A Baseball Memoir by Paul O'Neill, with Burton Rocks. His memories are treats to Yankee stories, hometown tales, and valuable insights into what has made him the person he is today, all of it shaped by his relationship with his father.


So let's start the Q&A with Paul O'Neill ...

What do you think of this year’s NY Yankee team?

“They are right there in the toughest division in MLB. They have a lot to live up to with the new stadium and signing three of the top five free agents. Let’s face it, Yankee fans expect them to win it all. September will decide everything. They have to get away from the injury bug. It has really added up these last two years but great teams play through adversity and find a way.”

How is your retirement going?

“Great. I don’t miss traveling so much. I do miss the pinstripes. In golf, etiquette is a little different when you get frustrated but I have chucked a few clubs when it starts driving me crazy. I don’t feel retired with the golf events, broadcasting, kids and charity. They all keep me busy.”

When did you start getting into wine?

“In about 2001 when I felt my playing career should end.”

What are your favorite wines?

“Silver Oak, Insignia, Von Strasser Strauss, Prisoner.”

Ever thought of owning your own vineyard?

“A lot of wine drinkers have fantasies of it. My father came from a farm family and always told me how the work never ends and since a vineyard is a form of farming, I think I better let others and just enjoy the fruits of their labor.”

Are you enjoying the wine cellar?

“I love it. It’s sort of like my space in my house. A special place where others have to be asked in. Sort of like my treehouse as an adult.”



How often do you entertain in the cellar?

“Not too often and usually just one on one. Mine is not big enough to have a table or bunch of chairs.”

What was your most memorable Yankee moment?

“Game five of the 2001 World Series was certainly up there. The fans spontaneously chanting without being prompted by the scoreboard. I felt like it all had come together, my father, baseball, the fans thanking me when nine years before, I had a lot of doubts about making it in New York. Who would have ever imagined we’d become the greatest baseball dynasty since the 50s Yankees? We beat the best team in the National League, the Braves, eight World Series games in a row. We won 14 straight World Series games. If teams entered the Hall of Fame, Cooperstown would be right to have the 90s Yankees high on their list.”

How many Gatorade coolers have you destroyed?

“None. I just tuned some up but they still worked.”

Tell us about Right Field Charities on your website at www.pauloneill21.com

“We just started it a couple years ago. Basically we serve other charities that serve children with money and memorabilia to their auctions. We seek to serve children, the heart of baseball which I owe much gratitude to. I also don’t like seeing people who work for charities pay themselves four and five times what the average person makes in America. If you want to be paid like that, go into private industry and take the risks others take. So we try to be careful of whom we give to. There are great charities out there and there are lemons. We do our best to distinguish. More than anything, whether a person gives to Right Field or someone else, it’s to send a message that the world needs you to help. You don’t have to be famous or wealthy to qualify. You just have to be there. Do something. Contribute. One day we’d like to build a beautiful park full of diamonds that kids can play great baseball in even if they can’t afford it. I’d like to dedicate it to my father who played, coached and spectated his whole life for almost no financial gain to him. He probably spent more money buying kids milkshakes than he ever made playing in the minor leagues. That could steer a lot of kids onto the right path. Give them a sense of belonging. It is a long process. Nobody at RFC even takes a paycheck right now. But the charity world is competitive in itself. A lot of organizations compete for available funds.”

Are there any events coming up?

“Yes. There is one in the works. So many people have written in asking about it. We will send notices to our fan club mailing list which can be found at www.pauloneill21.com ”

I heard you may have a special event at Italian Wine Merchants.

“Yes, that is in the works. These events are hard to schedule because when I’m in NY, the days are very busy because I don’t reside there anymore. We have to fit everything in in just a couple days and you never know about rain outs, extra innings. But we’ll get it together.”

Do you prefer white or red wine?

“Red. I don’t like a lot of sweetness in wine. Dry is good for me.”

What is your favorite wine story?

“Going to Italy and discovering I loved the super Tuscans more than the French wines.”

Who is your favorite band?

“The Stones and then Kenney Chesney. Bon Jovi and John Mellencamp are up there too.”

Are you still playing the drums?

“Yes, but I’m being eclipsed by my two boys. I can’t sing so I don’t know where I’d sit if we formed a band.”

Do you miss NYC?

“Of course. It’s a place where you could never see everything or know everything about. I don’t miss the traffic but living there full-time was certainly a high point in my life with priceless memories.”





Once a date is set for the IWM event, Joseph and Curtis Custom Wine Cellars will auction off a wine racking system to help our friend Paul O'Neill with his charity Right Field Charities. Please stay tuned for dates to this awesome event. I have to say I always loved seeing "Paulie" in the
pinstripes...but he looks DAMN good in a J & C shirt!!

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!

Summit Wine Cellar Q & A

Welcome back everyone. If you have been reading our blog, you know that we recently had the pleasure of working with Dan A. from Summit NJ. The homeowner was very detail oriented, with African mahogany wood raised panel and coffer ceilings throughout the entire basement. We decided the wine cellar needed to blend with the overall look yet have its own unique footprint in the space. We decided to build the racking out of 100% Malaysian mahogany (which is a lighter species of mahogany than African) to really contrast the other woodwork in the basement...as well the custom bar.



Once the cellar was finished we decided to bring Dan into Italian Wine Merchants for a night in their "vintage room"...It's a night of sensational food and wine pairings. Dan has also been back with his wife and even tried the tripe (which he loved). Dan was very impressed with IWM'S philosophy and attention to detail and even decided to sign up for their cellar management software.



Since we were in Summit catching up with Dan about his wine cellar and taking some pictures, we decided to ask Dan about his new cellar and to learn a bit about his favorite wines.

Q: How is the cellar?
A: We love it. We do alot of entertaining in the basement and of course the wine cellar. My father has always made his own wine so I have always had an interest in wine. I love the fact you can share it with so many people as well as the chance for the wines to increase in value.

Q: How many bottles do you currently have?
A: about 600

Q: What is your favorite part of the wine cellar?
A: Besides all the wine...the mural. It was hand painted into a niche in the
custom wine racks that was from a photo of my families villa in Gallinaro, Italy. I also like the granite which ties in the granite from the bar. We also decided to turn the sump pump closet into a storage area in the wine cellar rather than closing up the area with a door. Joseph and Curtis were able to design racks that fit the space and tied both rooms together. We currently have some large format displays in the niche area.



Q: What wines have you been drinking lately?
A: Alot of Sangiovese and northern Italian wines...Barolo, Nebbiolo etc.
I have always loved super-tuscans but after working with IWM we have been able to try some fantastic wines from not only Italy but France as well.

Q: What are your favorite everyday wines?
A: Movia,Tenuta San Guido 2005 Guidalberto

Q: How about special occasions?
A: Barolo or Amarone

Q: You get locked in the wine cellar..you can choose only 1 bottle to open...which is it?
A: Sassicia 2004

Q: How is the Italian Wine Merchants cellar management software?
A: Love it. Very easy to use...I go to it very often. It gives you the ability to leave tasting notes...as well as organizing your cellar to the exact bottle count. It has charts, graphs, and will even show your percentages of the regions or countries your wine is from. I also love the write ups about the producers and will take you to their websites.

Dan, thanks for sharing your passion for wine with our readers. It was a pleasure creating your wine cellar and we are very pleased you and your wife are enjoying it. We wish you many years of enjoyment!

Cheers!

NYC Restaurant Wine Cellar

Joseph & Curtis recently completed a custom wine cellar for a restaurant in NYC. The restaurant L'ARTUSI, which is located at 228 w 10th street in Manhattan, has a very dramatic and elegant feel. The owners came to us with an idea to build a wine cellar on the second floor (loft area) but were not quite sure how to lay the room out.



We decided to design the cellar with a very small footprint on the overall space of the restaurant as we all know how expensive square footage is in NYC. This type of design has become VERY popular with residential as well as commercial spaces because it enables homeowners to have a beautiful cellar without forfeiting large amounts of square footage to wine storage.

The total width of the wine cellar (which is shaped like a horseshoe) is about 40" with the 2 legs of the shoe being about 10' long and the middle wall being about 26' long.



L'ARTUSI was able to then conserve valuable floor space for a VIP room with custom sliders overlooking the wine cellar and the second floor dining room. From the beginning of the project there was much work to be done.

The initial work included gutting of the entire space; creating a vapor barrier, insulating, running all the necessary electric and HVAC for the lighting and cooling system.



We then had to re-sheetrock the entire space as well as frame the knee-wall (which became raised panel and picture frame moldings) and 5 separate exterior glass windows from the knee wall to the ceiling. Once that was completed and we had reliable wall and floor dimensions we went right to work on the custom wine racks (redwood)

L'ARTUSI had a very tight timeline as they hoped to be open before the holidays. We had to take on extra workers to accommodate this request. Once we finished the racking we had to have our mill and UPS expedite the shipping to finish in time for the grand opening. We had several of our installers on site for the commercial wine racking install.

The custom wine cellar came out magnificent, with plenty of bulk storage for more than 2,000 wine bottles as well as 3 different large format display rows as well as custom 750 displays as well. Our HVAC installed a ducted cooling system (we could not get access to the roof) which ended up being an upgrade from our original contract which we were happy to cover for our client since we have a very strong policy of never changing our contracts unless the customer decides to add additional features. The system has 3 separate supplies in the space and a very large return.



The last day ended up being a little harder than we thought with the glass install (5 pieces several of which were 4' x 8') and didn't quite fit the opening since they changed slightly when a veneer was put up for painting purposes. We had 2 of our carpenters as well as four of our glass guys working for seven hours to finish in time before the restaurant opened for there usual 5:00pm sitting.



Overall the project was a great success and the owners of L'ARTUSI we’re very happy with our services and how the overall custom wine cellar turned out. We have since dined at L'artusi AND we’re very impressed with the food and of course the wine list.



Please stop in and see the wine cellar on the 2nd floor and have a truly wonderful meal.

Stay tuned for more...

Cheers!