THE NOTION OF a wine cellar no longer means a dank, musty corner or a hidey-hole under the stairs. Cellaring is now a decorating art form, adaptable to just about any space and budget, as wine lovers dust off their bottles and put them on show. The concept applies whether you like to keep just a few bottles on hand, or have a whole collection to store.
Restaurant designer Tony Chi shows how an open cellar can even be the focus of contemporary interior decor. At the Intercontinental Hotel Hong Kong's Spoon restaurant presided over by chef Alain Ducasse, chic refrigerated wine cabinets fashioned from glass and steel have pride of place at the entrance. Bottles are stacked and illuminated so they 'twinkle like a glittering cave'.
'As a wine and food aficionado, I love the idea of incorporating practical and attractive wine storage areas into interior design,' says Chi, principal of Tonychi and Associates, New York. 'It adds something to the whole dining experience.'
Aesthetics aside, the cellar design at Spoon answers many of the challenges posed by the space, providing a balance, in glass, to the large windows. At the same time it's practical, allowing the wines to be displayed in ideal conditions.
Chi says that similar design principles can be applied at home, 'provided the space is right and the money is available to do the design work properly'. Glass and steel refrigerated wine racks, such as those in Spoon, might provide a stunning focus for a modern home, as long as they fit in with the ambience of the place.
Wine lover Abbie Chan Sai-kit made the most of her space when she converted a spare toilet into a cellar in her Mid-Levels home. Eu-Amex Cellars were behind the design and construction, creating a cedar-lined cellar for 1,200 bottles with controlled temperature and humidity for about $500,000. 'I feel happy and comfortable in there,' Chan says. 'I feel transported - it's like I'm sitting in a village in France.'
