With the holiday season upon us, I have been thinking about what lovely wine I will be bringing to the neighbors this year. And with wine on my mind, I happended to come across an article about a family who wanted to incorporate a wine cellar into their new four-story vacation home in Truckee, CA.
Leave it to those who live a good life to continue the quest for the best!
As one who has invested my whole career in designing estates and mountain homes in the Lake Tahoe and Truckee regions, the story mirrors many of my own clients’ quests to have the best of all worlds. And why shouldn’t they? As the classic ad slogan of Smith Barney once noted “They EARNED it.”
There are many factors to take into consideration before one can creatively start to think about incorporating this fine asset into any home. Among the list is overall size, capacity, climate, access, location, and for those who sip only the finest of the vine: security.
This particular wine cellar had its challenges: according to the story “… it took more than a month for the excavation crew to dig down below the home’s foundation walls in order to make the space tall enough to stand in. Crews carried out dirt and rock by hand, in buckets, up 82 steps to the road above where it could be hauled off.”
The story finished with a visual that is just as important as the overall design … “the wine cellar incorporates exposed beams, natural wood shelving, and soft lighting to highlight the couple’s extensive wine collection.”
If you have ever dreamed of incorporating a wine cellar into your existing home, or have plans to build a new home in Truckee or the Lake Tahoe region, I’d be happy to swap ideas about cool designs for wine cellars, and my favorite blends, at any time.
Cheers to a festive Christmas season ahead!
James P. Borelli
Call 775 831 3060 or visit our Contact page, right here.