The hard numbers, like the amount of grapes in a bottle of wine, might be elusive, but the growth of wine rooms is on the rise.
The increase could be attributed to Americans”™ ever-growing taste for wine. According to the Wine Institute in San Francisco, which tracks national wine consumption and sales, domestic wine retail sales grew 7 percent last year over 2009. That marked the first time the U.S. consumed more wine than France.
Arnold Karp, president of Karp Associates in New Canaan, can attest to a trickle-down effect from that rise in wine drinking to wine room construction.
“We”™ve just finished two of these (wine cellar) projects,” Karp said. “A lot of this trend of having these fancier wine rooms is about entertaining. They can range from extravagant to basic.”
Some people want a place to store wine that can meet the criteria of maintaining a proper temperature and moisture level, he said, while others want full entertaining areas within the rooms.
Eric Schmidt, manager of information services at the Beverage Information Group, which tracks liquor, beer and wine trends, said as the economy faltered more expensive bottles became more reasonably priced, thus opening up sales to collectors.
“The recessionary economy helped wine collectors build their collection a bit,” Schmidt said. “Instead of buying a few bottles, they would buy a case. And as you find yourself with a larger collection (it) means you need somewhere to keep it.”
Charles Snyder, a designer at Deane, a high-end room designer shop in Stamford, said the trend began a couple years ago.
“It most definitely relates to the economy,” Snyder said. “More people have been cocooning more the past few years and staying in home, entertaining and hosting rather than going out. There has really been a return to wanting to do things at home.”
With the amount of requests for wine rooms coming in, Snyder said his business  has been proactive about educating staff about the particulars of such rooms.
“These rooms need to look good and function properly. That of course pertains to temperature, but also moisture levels and amount of light,” he said. “Usually you”™re talking about storing a minimum of 150 bottles of wine, that”™s no small undertaking.”
Karp said individuals have different levels of interest. “Education is definitely driving people”™s involvement.”
Karp has found clients tend to be educated in all things wine and are well versed in the parameters of how to properly store bottles.
According to Alexis Lichine”™s “Encyclopedia of Wines and Spirits,” wine can be stored acceptably between 45 degrees and 64 degrees Fahrenheit as long as any variations are gradual; a temperature of 55 degrees, much like what is found in the caves used to store wine in France, is the ideal temperature for both short-term storage and long-term aging of wine.
“The trend doesn”™t surprise me one bit,” said Nathan Washburn, director of Sherbrooke Cellars in Scarsdale, N.Y. “People of these generations know and love their food and wine. Younger couples are sharing this love together as they grow older.”
Washburn said it is common for high-end wine stores like Zachy”™s in Scarsdale to work with homeowners to consult and help in the design of cellars that are built specific to the homeowner”™s tastes.
“There”™s a real foodie culture in the 35-plus crowd, these are people who are now in a home that they plan on being in for a long period of time and want to include something that they see as part of their livelihood,” said Karp. “It”™s not a bottle or two a month, these are people who are finding a wine they like and buying a case of it when they find it on the market.”
Karp said increasing the frequency of the trend is a more husband and wife involvement in wine collecting, where as in the past it was nearly exclusively husbands.
“Often I see it being a husband and wife pastime,” said Karp. “The female collaboration brings the want for a bit more aesthetics in these rooms, whereas before it seemed more about function. The market has been opened up to the 51 percent of the population. As more women have become involved these rooms have become much more than simply chilled closets.”
Karp said many of his clients have said that wine collecting a hobby that enables them to spend time together.
