SPIRAL CELLARS DIGS DEEPER WITH FIRST U.S. INSTALLATION
By next year, it is predicted that over a quarter of all wine consumed worldwide will be in the U.S*, where wine sales have reached a record $26 billion. Not only are Americans drinking more wine, they are buying better quality wine to collect, and spending more money on it, leading to an increased demand for personal wine storage.
With this in mind, Spiral Cellars, the leading company in underground wine storage, previously only available to consumers in the U.K. and Europe, has made the decision to expand into the U.S market, with the first cellar being installed in the Seattle area.
Seattle Area Case Study
After five years of searching, and failing, to find the right wine storage system for his growing wine collection, Scott Dennis of Redmond, WA, discovered Spiral Cellars. He didn’t want to lose valuable space in his house by converting an existing room into a walk-in cellar, nor did he want to invest in multiple wine cabinets. He certainly didn’t have the budget for a full underground cave, but the idea of storing wine underground, as it’s been for centuries, kept him searching until he came across the Spiral Cellars website (www.spiralcellars.com). After researching what Spiral Cellars could offer he contacted the team in the UK, arranged for the cellar to be shipped in a container from the UK to Seattle, where Spiral Cellars assisted him in training a team to complete the installation.
For Spiral Cellars, Seattle and the Pacific Northwest seemed an ideal location to introduce its product – it has a similar climate to the UK, and Spiral Cellars could see the growing interest in wine, including an increase in wine buying and collecting, throughout the entire region. Wineries in the area are on the increase, with over 460 in the state of Washington producing wines from over 20 varietals. The Washington state wine industry affects the state economy by $3 billion annually.
The History of Spiral Cellars
The idea behind Spiral Cellars is a very simple but ingenious one. The Spiral Cellar was initially conceived in 1978 by Frenchman Georges Harnois, who was inspired by the Pont du Gard, a stunning aqueduct in France with internal spiral staircase. Harnois developed the idea of storing wine in an excavated cellar using the spiral concept, and since its inception, more than 20,000 cellars have been installed throughout Europe and the UK. Wine collectors in the Pacific Northwest now have a unique opportunity to install their own private underground wine cellar - an attainable and affordable reality! Cellars can be situated in any room where there is a 2.5m space to excavate – the most popular choices in Europe and the UK are kitchens and garages but cellars are also commonly installed in sunrooms, dens, dining rooms, and living rooms. Many cellars are also installed in new homes.
The Spiral Cellar is really an extension built downwards. Once an appropriate location is determined, a hole approximately 8 feet in diameter is dug where the cellar is to be situated. The bottom and the walls of the hole are lined with a protective felt, and then a thick butyl rubber waterproof liner is inserted to ensure that the cellar will be totally watertight, even in an area with a high water table. Then, the pre-cast concrete wine bin modules and one spiral step module per layer, are installed, forming a cylindrical cave in which bottles can be stored. Ventilation pipes and a trap door are then fitted. The ground acts as insulation and no mechanical cooling or heating is required under normal Pacific Northwest conditions. The ventilation system is passive and is not affected by power outages, and requires no maintenance. The cellar design and function adheres to best practice guidance for wine storage; cool, humid, vibration free and steady temperature all year round.
The Spiral Cellar is available in 5 depths storing from 1000 to 1600 bottles. Access to the cellar is through a trap door which can either be designed to blend in with the floor, or can be dramatically different, like a door of reinforced glass with back-lighting so that your collection can be shown off from above! The whole process of installing the cellar takes up to seven working days, so disruption to the home can be kept to a minimum.
Whether used for aging good wines, keeping an investment in perfect condition or just storing bottles for more immediate use, more and more wine-lovers are discovering Spiral Cellars as a practical, affordable and very unique storage solution. As well as space-saving, it can also add value to your home.
Scott Dennis is available for interviews and viewings at his home in Redmond. Scott can also arrange installations in the Seattle area.
http://www.spiralcellars.com/uk/index.html
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