Wine rooms and wine cellars offer members and guests a unique dining experience, while boosting a property’s appeal.
As wine continues to gain popularity across the U.S., wine rooms and wine cellars—replete with low, vaulted ceilings, solid wood benches and ambient lighting—are being created to help club and resort properties offer members and guests a more extensive selection of fine vintages from around the world. These small but highly profitable spaces are also being marketed as uniquely private and intimate settings for dining, entertaining, or holding small business meetings
“In the last 15 years, wine has become a hot commodity for consumers,” says Mark Zientek, Clubhouse Manager at The Club at Carlton Woods in Spring, Texas. “People enjoy talking about wine and enjoy what wine adds to an evening at the club.”
Active wine programs that revolve around a unique wine room can give properties a competitive edge. Drawing members and guests to these intimate spaces calls for a design that is both stylish and functional. But that doesn’t mean—as evidenced by the variety of distinctive approaches highlighted in the following pages—that every club’s plan for a wine room has to come out of the same box.
SUMMING IT UP
• Creating a theme for a wine room helps to boost the appeal of the space and establish a mystique. |
Unique Themes
Wine room design and décor typically center on a theme. For instance, the wine room at the Heritage Club in Mason, Ohio, exudes wine-country charm with faux brick, exposed beams, wrought-iron furnishings and wooden wine bins. “It looks like what I expect to see when I go to a winery,” describes Eddie Zelikovich, Food & Beverage Director.
The Bordeaux Wine Cellar at the Royal Oaks Club in Houston, meanwhile, has a French Country motif that utilizes warm natural tones and materials. The room achieves this with texturized tan walls, soft-toned brick, a rounded ceiling and plush dining chairs. As a climate-controlled space, the room is both a working wine cellar and a private dining space for Royal Oaks’ members. “It is a unique dining experience,” says Craig Schaner, CCM, the club’s General Manager.
Then there’s the Il Forno Wine Cellar at the Toscana Country Club in Indian Wells, Calif., where a Tuscan decorating style is defined by rich textures and intricate accessories. A wrought-iron chandelier and candelabras complement the room’s combination of sturdy hardwood and brick.
Mystique from Above
Part of the appeal of wine rooms is the ambiance and allure of the private space they provide—no matter where they may be located. Tucked away upstairs in the 52,000-sq.-ft. clubhouse at the Club at Carlton Woods sits an Italian-inspired wine “cellar.” Upon entering the wine room, members are surrounded by wooden wine bins with wrought-iron access gates. After passing through the wine racks, the room opens up into a warm, Italian villa-style dining space.
“It really has a mystique of its own,” says Zientek. “When you walk in, the lights are dim, the candles are going, and there is a fireplace in the background.”
The Wine Room at Superstition Mountain Golf & Country Club in Superstition Mountain, Ariz., also exudes old-world charm, thanks to the cellar’s antique door from 15th-century Spain. The room uses soft lighting and expertly crafted ironwork to give the space a look all its own.
Designed for Many Tastes
Wine rooms can take on many forms. Although the Wine Cellar at Four Bridges Country Club in Liberty Township, Ohio, is not designed as a private dining space, it serves as an active tasting room. A round tasting table and redwood wine racks give the room a rustic feel.
Once a month, the club hosts wine-tasting events in the Wine Cellar, where members can learn about and purchase different wines. ‘The Wine Cellar is an additional amenity,” says Ron Townsend, President. “It is another benefit of belonging to the club, and it is a moneymaker for us.”
While the Wine Room at the Atkinson Resort & Country Club in Atkinson, N.H., originally functioned as a private dining room and wine storage space in one, the wines have since moved to a separate wine cellar. The subdued room is still designed with a wine appreciation theme. Guests can request anything from traditional table and chair set-ups to oversized seating and high-tops, depending on their needs.
Having wine rooms tucked away from the action of the clubhouse gives them an element of intimacy and exclusivity. The potential downside, however, is that the rooms can then be “out of sight, out of mind.” Thus, clubs need to actively promote wine rooms for maximum usage.
When the Heritage Club started seeing its group sizes decrease for private parties, the club spread the word about its Wine Room. “It has seen a lot more traffic because more people are having smaller, more intimate parties,” Zelikovich reports.
The Wine Committee at Royal Oaks CC helps market the club’s Bordeaux Wine Cellar by hosting tasting events, during which small groups enjoy regional wines from the cellar, paired with food. The club has been able to turn this exposure into increased private event bookings.
Bringing the Room to Life
Having a knowledgeable and passionate staff is crucial to any successful wine program. “We have training classes for our service staff by purveyors who sell these wines,” says Gene Blum, General Manager at Superstition Mountain G&CC. “When we have wine dinners, we have the winemakers in and the staff gets the spiel before the dinner starts. They get firsthand knowledge from the purveyors and winemakers.”
Running a wine room also requires staying on top of a constantly changing inventory. “The wine cellar is a living, breathing thing,” says Graham House, Assistant General Manager at Royal Oaks Country Club. The club’s House and Wine committees are constantly evaluating and tweaking the wine list to bring members what they want.
All of these efforts are gaining momentum as wine becomes less intimidating and more accessible. “The wine industry is doing a better job of educating the average consumer,” says Craig Schaner, General Manager at Royal Oaks CC. “More people feel comfortable ordering it, drinking it and talking about it.” With this newfound accessibility comes a higher demand for unique wine rooms and wine cellars. Designing one that best fits a property’s personality can boost event business, and overall member and guest satisfaction.
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