New CellarSensor Attracts Collectors

This is an updated version of our February 2007 Vintelligence newsletter.

By their very nature, even if they do not readily acknowledge it, wine collectors are control freaks.

That is certainly true when it comes to immersing themselves in wine knowledge by keeping close watch on harvest reports and pending releases, aggressively securing their allocations and absorbing the critics’ latest scores. Anyone who invests in wine is acutely aware, within a few hundred dollars, of the approximate value of their collections. And the projected value.

Collectors make it their business as well to know a lot about custom wine cellar design and climate control technology, and many debate well-researched opinions about optimal storage temperatures among themselves, usually over a fabulous bottle of wine.

But these control freaks very often live in blissful ignorance about what is really going on inside that prized cellar. No matter how deeply their affections run toward all of those top pedigree bottles, let’s face it, a guy only spends but so many hours a week in their presence. Most of the time, the cellar and its inhabitants are on their own.

A mechanical engineer from San Diego has refined a technology, dubbed CellarSensor, that he believes will relieve separation anxiety when business or pleasure takes oenophiles far from home and cellar.

Let’s say your collection is worth $20,000. Do you really prefer not to know that temperature and humidity conditions in the cellar are swinging erratically up and down while you aren’t around? Would you pay about $1,000 up front, and $100 a year thereafter, to see a real-time temperature report even if you are in Singapore and your cellar is in Scottsdale?

“Most collectors walk into a cellar once a day, look at the little $29 gauge, and assume everything is OK,” Chris Womack told us in a telephone interview from his San Diego office.

But over the three years leading to February’s debut of CellarSensor, Womack conducted field studies inside real life cellars owned by serious connoisseurs. The results, in some cases, were horrifying. One Miami cellar owner was handed data showing continuous 10-degree swings in temperature (56 to 66) and 20 percent spikes in humidity across a 24-hour period after the installation of CellarSensor equipment.

CellarSensor collects data every 15 minutes (accessible by registering at www.cellarcentral.com, or via scheduled email alerts). The volume of data depends on the number of zones in a given cellar and the number and type of sensors the owner decides to integrate. Womack says one CellarSensor base station can support up to 64 zones (and if you know anyone with that many zones, then we have definitely found our Control Freak Poster Boy!).

“I was never able to find anything (in the cellar monitoring space) that is easy to set up and that gathered data in a concise way,” Womack said.

Rooted in hardware developed in partnership with a company in Nagano, Japan, CellarSensor tracks two key readings. Air temperature and humidity is handled by one sensor; liquid temperature by another. The latter is a simple probe placed into a water-filled wine bottle placed on a rack with all of the other wine-filled bottles. Multiple sensors are advised because it is well established that humidity and temperature in a cellar fluctuates from the walls toward the center of the room.

Womack told us recently that at least 200 inquiries have come in since February’s formal unveiling and that the company expects to begin fulfilling its first orders for the new product around April 1. Collectors can visit www.cellarcentral.com to learn more about the technology and annual monitoring service, or to submit an order request. (The phone number is 800-330-4132).

“We are working to implement an authorized distributor program to allow customers to purchase our product from builders and advisors locally, as well as from our website,” he advised by email last week. 

A base station, which is preferably connected to a perpetual home internet access network (cable modem or DSL), and one sensor comprises the CellarSensor starter kit ($595). Each additional sensor is $245. There is a three-year monitoring package at $199 that prices out at $5.53 per month. One- or two-year commitments also are available.

Womack offers one additional bit of advice that is more common sense than high-tech, and is certainly endorsed by HinsdaleCellars.com.

“The amount of wine in a cellar creates huge thermal mass,” he said. “The more wine, the less likely you are to experience fluctuations.”

– Steve Woodward

Inspired Destinations: Santa Barbara County

For the uninitiated Santa Barbara County is an eye- and mind-opening experience. It opens your eyes to the reality that 100 miles north of Los Angeles might just as well be 1,000 miles. This truly is a get-away destination, whether you’re driving up from Long Beach or flying in from Chicago.

The Santa Barbara area opens your mind to a California “wine country” that is not yet overwhelmed by limousine tours and grandiose gated winery compounds (despite the enormous popularity of Hollywood’s take on wine fanaticism in the Santa Barbara-based film Sideways).  Sure, thanks to the movie it is nearly impossible to stroll into The Hitching Post restaurant in the town of Buellton without a reservation, and there are definitely crowded stops worth avoiding on the “Sideways Tours” that came into existence after the film.

But, largely, my mind’s eye now associates Santa Barbara County with beautiful ocean views, rugged terrain, narrow two-lane roads that ribbon their way through vineyards and unspoiled open spaces, and memorable dining. And, of course, Bacara (above).

Lodging: Inside Bacara Resort & Spa

Less than 10 years old, Bacara has the look and feel of a venerable, established resort that might have attracted generations of overworked Hollywood moguls. It is certainly attracting the current mogul generation. The numerous high-end import autos lining the circular entryway are one sure sign. Bentley meets Rolls-Royce meets Porsche. (Our rented Town Car was parked by the valet in the lot out back!)

Bacara’s spa, according to the spouses, is exceptional and expansive, and its rooms are comfortably appointed. Even a non-suite feels reasonably spacious. We were surprised, however, that some of the invigorating bath soaps for sale at the spa were not placed, as a courtesy, by the tub.

Bacara is a series of three-story buildings tiered on a hillside above the Pacific Ocean, 10 minutes from the Santa Barbara airport. You will get plenty of exercise just walking from your room to the expansive lobby, where one evening a white-haired gent attending a conference sat down at a grand piano and performed a killer vocal rendering of Don McLean’s “American Pie”. 

If you go during winter, expect to share the tranquility (or impromptu piano concerts) with corporate conferences and couples planning June weddings. The bellman told me the guests in spring and summer tend to be families and kids hanging out by the enormous pool (ringed by 26 private cabanas). There is an adults-only pool adjacent to the spa and the spa cafe.

For wine country explorers, you can begin with Bacara’s 12,000-bottle cellar. But the resort is located ideally for the more adventurous. Just west of Santa Barbara’s city limits, Bacara is within 30 to 60 minutes of the many premium wineries and vineyards in the region, including Bien Nacido, Brewer-Clifton, Dierberg, Fiddlehead, Foxen, Melville, Sanford and Sea Smoke.

Napkin Notes: The favorite dining stop was Bouchon on a side street in downtown Santa Barbara. (There is little reason to go downtown by day as Main Street is now lined by national retail and fast-food chains). Bouchon is casually elegant. The wine list is loaded with local gems. We loved a 2004 Foxen Julia’s Pinot Noir ($90). Try the Rack of Lamb. The fine cheese selection is worth a look, too. Our waiter David was efficient and hilarious. … Another A-list choice is The Stonehouse at San Ysidro Ranch, where diners are greeted by a lounge decked out in Ralph Lauren furnishings. We devoured delicious pork and veal chop dishes with a juicy ’04 Tantara Pisoni Vineyard Pinot Noir ($120). The plump “Iowa Pork Chop” is enhanced by a decadent helping of Colcannon mashed potatoes blended Irish style with cabbage and caramelized onions. Authentic. But you won’t regret choosing the braised veal chop atop herbs from the Ranch’s garden, gnocchi and butternut squash tossed in a light cream. … When you are out touring vineyards and tasting wines and lunch beckons, head to Sissy’s Uptown Café in Lompoc, where large sandwiches reign, and Los Olivos Café (Los Olivos) for fresh, fresh salads.  

– Steve Woodward

 

Dining Essentials: La Quinta’s Azur

Our roving wine, food and travel columnist checks in from the California desert. You’ll soon notice he never checks in from, oh, let’s say, North Dakota. Visit an archive of his work for HinsdaleCellars.com.

Bruce Schoenfeld in La Quinta, Calif.

What: Azur at the La Quinta Resort & Club, near Palm Springs. Formerly under the purview of Le Bernardin’s Eric Ripert, but now on its own.
Where: Eisenhower Dr., La Quinta, CA; 760/564-7600; dining@laquintaresort.com.
Why Go: New chef William Withrow has solved the vexing problem of a high-end restaurant that needs to serve a wide range of customers (serious foodies, long-standing guests, unadventurous locals) with cooking that’s innovative but never intimidating.
The Ambience: Historic, high-beamed structure (above); Southwestern decor; multi-hued resort wear. 
The Cost: Top-of-the-line: $110 for one, including bottled water but not wine. (Entrees average more than $40.)
What I Ate: Modified tasting menu that included Ahi tartar with watermelon; endive salad with Pommery Mustard Viniagrette; medallions of monkfish wrapped in Jamon Serrano; “Duck Three Ways” (seared breast, crispy confit, spice-dusted foir gras); and an “Apples, Apples, and More Apples” dessert.
What I Drank: Vincent Girardin Moray-St.-Denis Les Sorbets 2001. Earthy, dark, pungently Burgundian, and one of the few interesting reds available for under $100.
Next Time I’d … Eschew the underwhelming wine list and bring my own bottle.

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