Wine room in the Glitretind restaurant
Posted on May 8, 2009 by Cara Schwindt | in Wine Tips from Cara | Comments Off
Last year we built a beautiful wine cellar in the dining room to showcase our wine list. The project was given to me by our CEO Russ Olsen. I was enlisted with creating a showcase for our wine list, but to also create a visual counterpart to the spectacular mountain views seen from the windows on the other side of the Glitretind restaurant. I wanted the wine labels to be viewed as art. I have seen hundreds of wine cellars that have the capsules of wine on display and I was adamantly apposed to that view. I worked with Jake Barlow, a Utah builder and contractor and we designed and built the interior. We then added Rick Jedruski who designed the exterior, using the oversized cabinet that holds our crystal stemware as inspiration. We call this space the Wine Room since the Wine Cellar is still located on the level below. This small room has a capacity of 2370 bottles which is an exceptional ratio of space to bottle ratio. I was very conscious of maximizing space. I think all sommeliers want to be able to house more wine. We have three wine coolers in the back of the room to house the white wines at proper service temperature. The room has a split level cooler that keeps the space at 62F. Wine is stored from the floor to the ceiling. One of my wonderful customers Billy Koral built me a step stool so that I could reach the top rows. Jason Berrett, the Co-Food & Beverage director was also intagral in the development of this work of art. He kept me examining my ideas until we codified the layout in the form of blueprints. And without the support of our board of directors this project would never have succeeded. A special thanks to D.S. and K.P.
Jim Dahlgren took this photograph as well as the one at the top of the blog. Jim is my assistant sommelier and I am thankful that he is a skilled photographer as well.
