The Drift is a high-end restaurant inside the prestigious Hyatt Regency Hotel
Contemporary wine cellar designs refine simple commercial spaces and turn them into a hallmark that makes guests want to wine and dine over and over. At the Hyatt Regency Hotel in La Jolla, San Diego, cable-displayed wines greet guests who relax and retreat inside The Drift, a restaurant offers sumptuous artisanal food within their indoor/outdoor lounge.
Set with a modern, cozy ambiance for specially crafted cocktails and a range of seasonal dishes, this restaurant needed an upgrade to separate its private dining area and give it a makeover. So, they contacted Creative Wine Cellar (CWC), one of our trusted partners in making uniquely exceptional custom wine cellars in Miami, to help materialize their vision of a modern commercial wine display.
From Plain to Extraordinary: The Birth of this Contemporary Wine Cellar Design
Reflecting the locality’s natural coastal beauty, the Drift is frequently visited by customers who fancy having a meal in a breezy, relaxed atmosphere surrounded by natural colors and elements. The restaurant provides an outdoor patio for those who like to satisfy their appetite with natural air and an indoor dining space for those who enjoy their meals and refreshments in a cooler environment.
Indoors, the restaurant features a private section for individuals/groups who wish to dine more exclusively. This year, the owners wanted to enhance the restaurant’s look and delineate the private area, a wine wall was the perfect addition.
Conceptualizing This Contemporary Wine Cellar Design
The initial stage of doing a project like this always involves meeting the client and walking through their vision. Manuel del Toro and Andre Trabazos, professional wine cellar designers, met with the client for this project and visited the restaurant to see the actual space.
It is essential to obtain specific space measurements and ask the client what they plan for the cellar before developing an initial design. During the first meeting, the CWC team recommended modern cable wine racking to allow better visuals for the entire restaurant. Initially, metal wine racks were the choice, but they seemed too “dense” for the space. Cable wine racks allowed patrons to view the collection clearly from both sides of the wall, front and back.
It was important for the display to offer viewing convenience so customers could easily pick out a bottle from the display and order it from the waiter. The wine wall was a great and unique way to present the entire wine menu!
Laying Out the Foundations
To stabilize the commercial cable wine racks and secure the bottles, the team worked on four structural parts: the ceiling, the floor, and two wall posts.
A major renovation involved adding this stunning contemporary wine cellar design with cable racks from Modvino.
Two dry walls already existed as posts. The team didn’t do much renovation on the two posts but built the base and header, so there was already space to install a glass enclosure. Because of budget considerations, the glass enclosure was yet to be installed during another project. This is also why there isn’t a dedicated cooling system yet for this commercial wine cellar.
For the ceiling and floors to firmly hold the cable racks, the team had to install some reinforcement. Typically, plywood is enough to anchor the cables; however, plywood wouldn’t have looked contemporaneous with the entire restaurant’s design. Hence, the team used white oak for both the base and header.
If you look through the photos, white oak perfectly complements the two side posts designed to look or feel like driftwood.
Once the structural support elements were done, it was time to set up the wine rack!
Sales-Boosting Commercial Wine Display
In business, how your products look plays a crucial role in the probability of sale. No matter how good your product is, if it isn’t appealing to the customers or presented in a way that makes people want to buy, then a tremendous opportunity is missed.
The same goes for wine cellars in restaurants.
Anchored to heavy duty white oak, this contemporary wine cellar design’s cable racks provide a stylish storage area that will last a lifetime.
The original plan was to use metal wine racks. However, considering the lighting and location of the display, the experts thought the collection might not be very visible once the glass panels were installed.
Hence, cable wine racks were recommended, and the client agreed.
Cable wine racks are an excellent way to create a contemporary wine cellar design. Made from highly durable stainless-steel cables, these racks make it seem like every bottle is floating.
Cable racks like this are very versatile. You can install them under a table with a 20-inch height or use them to create an entire wine wall that’s 10 feet high. The number of bottles you can display per column of cables is also adjustable through the addition/subtraction of horizontal cables. For this restaurant wine cellar, one column of a cable wine rack was set to hold 18 standard-sized wine bottles.
In total, the entire wine wall could hold 230 bottles and was installed entirely within a week!
How to Get Your Very Own Custom Contemporary Wine Display?
Although this contemporary wine cellar lacks a conventional cooling system, the restaurant maintains a consistent temperature enough to preserve the wines. Insulation and cooling systems are strategically placed throughout the restaurant to ensure the wines are exposed to their ideal temperature and humidity.
From basic to stunning, this custom wine wall boosted the restaurant’s overall look and feel.
The project took about three weeks, from conception to finishing. One of the factors that hastened this project was that the wine cellar contractor already had the cable racks in stock, so there was no need to wait for shipments.
If you’re thinking of enhancing your bar or restaurant in Miami Beach with a custom contemporary wine closet design, contact experts with a strong history of wine cellar design and construction!
We at Custom Wine Cellars Miami, Florida has years of experience crafting uniquely-designed commercial wine cellars through a passionate team of designers and builders. Check out our portfolio of custom wine cellars today and see how we balance design and functionality and help you keep your business running.
Our Custom Wine Cellars Miami team is happy to answer any inquiries at +1 (305) 517 – 7353!