Salam Bombay Restaurant
The limited space did not stop Blue Grouse Wine Cellars from building a more functional and attractive commercial wine cellar. Custom wine displays like this can be a surefire method for increasing restaurant profits.
Good Presentation of Bottles Can Help Generate Sales
Keeping wines in boxes or displaying them in ordinary shelves will not encourage people to purchase a bottle or two. This is why the demand for wine cellars is increasing in many restaurants all over the world, including Canada.
For restaurants that offer wine, bottle presentation should not be ignored. Owners must keep in mind that having an attractive display in their restaurant will draw people’s attention and help generate sales. The way you display your wines reflects your personality, and contributes to how consumers will perceive the quality of your products.
When designed by a professional, your commercial wine storage space will create a relaxing ambiance for the diners. It will also ensure that your wines are stored in the right conditions, keeping them from being damaged by temperature fluctuations and improper humidity levels. Selling bad wine will ruin your business’ reputation, and customers may not go back to your restaurant again. Fewer customers will result in less profit.
A Simple Wine Room Transformed into an Appealing Vancouver Commercial Wine Cellar
On Burrard Street in Vancouver, British Columbia, Salam Bombay is the ideal place for wine drinkers who love contemporary Indian cuisine. Diners can choose their favorite vintage from a wide range of red and white wines. There’s also a great selection for Champagne lovers.
Modular Wine Racks, the Restaurant’s Old Wine Storage System
The old storage system was very simple, creating no visual impact at all. The wines were displayed in modular wine racks in a small area adjacent to the restaurant’s bar.
The bottles were stored horizontally and vertically in square bins. The labels of most bottles were hidden, making it hard to find a specific type of wine. Making guests wait for their wine will affect the perception your guests have of the quality of your service.
With an aim to generate more sales, the owner, Jose Madappilly, decided to change his small and plain storage area into a more functional and appealing wine room. He talked to one of the leading wine storage experts in Canada, Blue Grouse Wine Cellars.
Having a small space does not mean you can’t have a lovely commercial wine display. Blue Grouse has successfully converted small wine rooms into one-of-a-kind wine cellars.
For this project, they created a contemporary design suitable for the limited space. The room intended for the wine display measures 6 ft. wide, 5 ft. deep, and 9 ft. high.
Wine Rack Features
Written by Holly Peters - Custom Wine Cellars Vancouver Comments Off on Choosing What Wines to Include in Your Wine Collection
Wine collecting is one of the most rewarding hobbies out there. If you are planning to start a wine collection, consider what types of wines you want to include. The type of wines best included in a wine collection depends on a given collector’s goals. For example, if a collector wants to invest, then the goal of wine collecting is to sell the wine after its value has increased. Some wine collectors have simpler, goals like having a decent selection of wine to consume during special occasions.
Two Considerations in Choosing Wines for Your Collection
There can be various reasons as to why a person collects wine. Regardless of your goals for collecting wine, here are a few important factors to consider:
What wines should you include in your collection?
1. Most wines need not be stored long term.
Most of the wines you find on the market are ready-to-drink. In other words, you need not store it in your wine cellar for a very long time. If you keep these kinds of wines in a custom wine cellar, make sure they are consumed within a year.
It’s not ideal to store ready-to-drink wines for investment purposes, because they have already reached their peak. Most of the time, they will deteriorate with age, even when stored under the ideal conditions.
Here are some conditions for purchasing ready-to-drink wines:
a. Check for Health Benefits
It’s a good idea not to collect only expensive or rare wines. Check the health benefits of a wine before you add it to your collection. Wines that have high levels of Resveratrol or Polyphenols are known to prevent many cardiovascular diseases.
b. Determine Calorie and Carbohydrate Content
Today’s trend includes making sure that the stuff we eat and drink won’t expand our waistline. When selecting ready-to-drink wines to include in your collection, choose those that have less calories and carbohydrates.
c. Choose Green Wines
More and more people are becoming environmentally conscious. When choosing ready-to-drink wines, choose those that are organic, biodynamic, or carbon-neutral.
2. Some Wines are Better Consumed When Allowed to Age
As long they are stored in the ideal conditions, there are many benefits to collecting wines that improve with age. Since they need to be allowed to age, you have a longer time frame to enjoy these kinds of wines. Also, you can increase the variety of your collection. Moreover, this type of wine is often offered on sale or with bargains. You can save a lot of money by taking advantage of these. This type of wine will benefit investors a lot too, because these wines increase in value over time. However, less than 1 percent of all the wines in the world are investment grade, and 80 percent of those are Bordeaux.
Proper Wine Storage is Essential for All Types of Wines
Wine cellars for your wine collection
Regardless of your purpose for collecting wine, or of what types of wine you will include in your collection, you must always remember that wines need to be stored properly. The right conditions have to be met so that you can maximize the wines’ flavor and aroma.
Written by Holly Peters - Custom Wine Cellars Vancouver Comments Off on Wine Collecting 101: All About Large Format Wine Bottles
One of the most common problems that wine enthusiasts face when collecting wine is wine storage. It always is a challenge when you want to add large format wine bottles and odd-shaped bottles in your wine collection, but you only have regular-sized wine racks.
Have you ever wondered why wineries would make large bottles of wine when they seem so impractical when it comes to where and how to store them? Why can’t wineries just make all wine bottles identical and standard-sized? Learn more about large format wine bottles by reading through this article:
Various wine bottles sizes in Canada
1. Large Format Wine Bottles are Rare
Some wineries only produce large format wine bottles for very special wines, and they only release them for very special occasions. There are wineries that only use large format wine bottles to showcase vintage wines, and release them only during the winery’s anniversary or for other occasions like a charitable event.
2. Wines in Large Format Bottles are Usually Higher in Quality
Wine ages through a chemical process called oxidation. In this process, the chemical components of wine are exposed to a small amount of oxygen. Take note that proper maturation happens with only a small amount of oxygen. Too much exposure to oxygen can ruin the flavor of wine.
In every wine bottle, there is a small amount of oxygen trapped in the empty space called an ullage. When the wine bottle is big, the amount of oxygen in it is relatively smaller than the volume of wine. This means that the oxidation of wine is slower. Slower oxidation often translates to better wine aging, and therefore, a higher quality of wine.
This also means that if you want to put away a wine bottle for a special occasion many years in the future, a large format wine bottle is a safe bet. Since oxidation is slower in large format wine bottles, they will reach their peak long after 750ml bottles have reached their prime.
3. Large Format Wine Bottles Are Highly Resistant to Fluctuations in Temperature
Fluctuating temperature is one of the enemies of wine. Wine needs to be stored in the ideal temperature, with minimal to no fluctuations. Large-format wine bottles contain a larger volume of wine. Larger volumes of liquid take longer to warm or cool, and therefore are more resistant to the damages caused by constant temperature fluctuations.
This does not mean, though, that you should settle for less than ideal custom wine cellar conditions. Your wines, whether in large format wine bottles or standard wine bottles, should be kept in a residential wine cellar that can provide the ideal conditions for proper wine storage.
4. Large-Format Bottles Look More Fitting For Occasions
When we have celebrations and parties, we want everything to look grand and festive. Nothing looks more grand and festive than large format wine bottles. Wines in these bottles look impressive, and they are an immediate attention grabber.
Written by Holly Peters - Custom Wine Cellars Vancouver Comments Off on Wine Storage Needs: An Effective Wine Cellar Cooling Unit
When starting a wine collection in Vancouver, Canada, you must understand that wine needs a safe storage place. Wines require certain conditions to be met in order for them to age properly. Wine is a very complex beverage. There are various chemical reactions that cause the flavor and aroma of wine to change over time, and some can have a negative effect due to fluctuations in the wine storage environment.
Wine Cellar Refrigeration Units in Canada
In olden times, wine collectors used various means to keep wines in the ideal temperature and conditions for aging. The ancient Romans, for example, stored their wines inside their catacombs, because these places had these ideal conditions: a constant, low temperature, humid, dark, and vibration-free environment. These days, the ideal place to age wine is in a residential custom wine cellar. Although where to store wine has changed over time, the same principle still applies ideal conditions are essential for wines to age properly.
There are various wine cellar designers and builders in Vancouver, Canada, but none of these will ever be effective in keeping wines in the ideal conditions without an effective wine cellar cooling unit. Learn more about wine cellar refrigeration systems in Vancouver, Canada by reading through this article.
Advancements in technology have helped many wine collectors age their wines more effectively. In our generation today, we now have climate control units that can provide the ideal temperature and humidity necessary for wines to age tastefully.
Wine cellar refrigeration units are not the same as regular home air conditioners. They are specifically designed to cool and humidify wine cellars to the levels that are ideal for wine storage. Regular home air conditioners cannot provide these ideal conditions.
Types of Wine Cellar Cooling Units in Vancouver, Canada
In Canada, there are basically 3 types of wine cellar refrigeration systems, and they are the through the wall cooling units, split type refrigeration systems, and self-contained ducted cooling systems. Each type of these wine cellar cooling systems requires a different specification to operate properly.
Wine Cellar Refrigeration Systems in Canada
Written by Holly Peters - Custom Wine Cellars Vancouver Comments Off on Worry-Free Wine Collecting with Blue Grouse Wine Cellars: Learn the Conditions Every Wine Collector Should Know When Storing Wine in Their Home.
While most of the commodities are consumed within 24 hours from the time of purchase, wines are often saved by the purchaser for long-term storage and aged. Wine is one of the things that get better with time when stored and aged properly, but it can also spoil and deteriorate rapidly if kept in inappropriate conditions. Proper storage and aging will enhance wine’s flavor, color and quality in general.
As an expert in wine storage, Blue Grouse Wine Cellars always considers the following critical factors when designing and installing Vancouver wine cellars.
Proper Wine Storage – Factors to Consider
Light
Wines, especially white wines should not be subjected to excessive amounts of light. They should not be stored under direct sunlight, and fluorescent lights with ultraviolet light in the wavelength of 325 to 450 nm.
Light may adversely react with the chemical compounds in wine and create potential wine faults or defects, which often leads to wine having a light-struck aroma (or gouts de lumiere – French for tastes of light).
Wine maintains its clarity and citrus aroma if stored in a dark room. This is why most wines are packed in colored glass and stored in wine cellars with a minimal amount of lighting.
Humidity
Humidity is another critical element of wine storage that must be considered, especially if wine cork closures are used. The efficacy of the wine cork depends upon the humidity level. While the optimal humidity range is not yet established and varies from one wine expert to the next, the often-cited ideal humidity level is between 60 and 70 percent.
The ideal humidity range will keep the cork expanded and in shape, providing a good seal to the wine bottle. When wine is stored lower than the ideal humidity level, cork will dry out, shrink or crack, allowing oxygen to enter the bottle and come in contact with the wine. Oxidation then occurs resulting in degradation of wine.
Additionally, when wine is subjected to a higher humidity level, mold may occur and while this will not affect the wine itself, the bottle and wine label will deteriorate.This provides yet another reason that storing your wines in a standard kitchen refrigerator is not advisable, since it is not designed to maintain the right humidity levels.