| Wine Cellar Tips |
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Cellar design by Unique Wine Cellars; image courtesy Nidal Daher
Nidal Daher: The most important wines you can have are the ones you’ve traveled to find, the ones you’ve sought out. You have some sort of experience that ties you to that bottle, and you become so involved with the wine that you really love it. That’s the most enjoyment you’re going to get from wine. Did experiences and relationships with wine lead you to become a wine professional? No. I was going to school and working in restaurants at night. I was waiting tables. I progressed to fine-dining restaurants, where you have to learn about wine. The more you know about wine, the easier it is to sell, but I fell in love with the business. I started to look forward to working my night jobs at restaurants. ... In 1992, I took my sommelier exam, and from that point on my career in wine took off seriously. I assume you have your own cellar? I do. It’s very small. I always tell people, “I drink my wine.” I am constantly building my collection, but I have a habit of opening bottles when I am with people who appreciate them. What’s the first step in the design process? Before you choose the racks and the design of the room, you have to decide on the type of climate-control system. It involves a lot of mechanical details, which have to be installed first. Everything else can be built around this, and we’ll design the space to hide the mechanical components. Do you ever create passive cellars? Passive cellars utilize the natural environment to keep the proper temperature. Usually they are 15 to 20 feet underground. For this reason, you see them in Europe mostly, where there is older construction. In the U.S., most basements are only about ten feet underground, so the temperature is not as stable. ... The result is that it’s not really possible for U.S. collectors to have a passive cellar. 
Cellar design by Unique Wine Cellars; image courtesy Nidal Daher
Every person has his or her own taste, and I want to reflect that. I don’t want people to walk into a cellar and think Oh, that is a Nidal cellar, the way they can with many interior designers. Some customers have a very simple personal style. They like simplicity and functionality. Unique doesn’t have to mean "flashy." Are there any new trends in cellar design? There are always new items on the market. I recently added a new style of metal rack that displays the bottles on their sides to help with presentation. People seem to like this. I try to be comprehensive in what I carry. What about tasting rooms? You need to create two environments: You have to have a temperature-controlled environment for the wine, and then an environment that matches the normal home. It’s not very comfortable to sit in the climate of a wine cellar. Would the optimal tasting room be within sight of the cellar? That’s the whole idea of it. You always want to capitalize on having a view of the cellar. I like the drama created when the cellar is separated from the rest of the house by a darkened room or section of the house, only to open to the cellar or tasting room. But I also like to have a dramatic view of the wines around me when I’m in a tasting room. You touch on the concept of wine as investment in the article called “Stock Options” in the August/September issue of Go. Could you elaborate on some considerations when approaching wines in this way? If you select the right bottles, they will appreciate more than real estate these days and often better than stocks. ... I look at bottles as pieces of art. Some people hold onto them, love to have them, but eventually they may tire of them and want to trade them to get something else. ... I think it is important to have diversity in what you collect, but I don’t like to dictate to people. ... I always tell people wine should be a personal experience, one that you develop over the years. Take your time building your collection. Learn about wine while you build your collection, and learn the details of your collection. You’ll find a lot of joy in collecting wine that way. Any recommendations for every-day bottles? I recommend that people keep not only the wines that they like but also the ones that their friends like. As you taste with your friends and go out to dine with them, you’ll find their particular preferences. This should be the goal of this section of the cellar. Do you have any key suggestions for the novices out there? ND: You can read and listen and study as much as you want, but if you don’t taste, you’re not going to learn anything. Even myself, I’ve been in the wine industry for years and years, but if I stop tasting wine I’ll lose that touch, because wines change and evolve, and you have to keep your palette up to date. As you taste, you’ll discover things not just about wine but also about your own palette. ... This is important because you’ll then learn what wines you want to collect for trade or investment. Certain wines, if you opened the bottle, you’d be disappointed with the taste, but you’ll know that it’s worth a lot of money. It’s similar to stocks. You may hate a company, but you’ll buy and trade its stock. The only relationship you’ll have with some wines is as an investment. Comments (0)
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