create a diverse and extensive wine cellar

Eventually, there may be 1000 bottle of wine in my cellar, but today there are a few over 100. Perhaps not extensive by most standards, but for my personal use, this represents a variety that will meet the needs of any meal or get together.

Although heavily endowed with Napa and Sonoma Country syrahs, pinot noirs, and cabernet sauvignons, there are Amador county Zinfandels, Argentinian Malbecs, Chiantis from Tuscany, Champagnes from the Alexander valley, Spain, and from France, and Shiraz from Australia. I am missing wines from Twisted Oak in Calaveras County, having consumed them all. So I hope to get back there and pick up a case, including “The Spaniard”.

The Spaniard is my pick of the most esoteric of my collection. Reason being, it is rare and therefor hard to get. By way of introduction, here is a link to the winery. Note the fall colors… If you have never been wine tasting in this area, what better time of year to make the trip?

http://www.twistedoak.com/twisted/index.jsp

cheers!

My house is for sale. It has a wine cellar. I have a wine collection, part of which is in the cellar.

The cellar at present is a concrete walled and floored room, with an unfinished ceiling. The ceiling is low, as befits a cellar.

There are wine racks along the walls. They are the accumulated collection of wood and/or metal racks from places like Cost Plus that began as dining room accents, were replaced with other things, and eventually found their way down.

Although the cellar is all about the wine, those with this goal who also appreciate real estate and the esthetic of the home environment will appreciate that I would like to finish the cellar. I would like to put stone on at least one wall, and add a couple of decorative sconces for light. I would like to have matching wine racks. And I am not much of one for matching anything, but this collection of diverse racks does not do justice to the dusty bottles they contain.

As some fancy nice cars, I get all dreamy at the sight of a home wine collection, set out on racks, labeled here and there, with a pouring spot and a couple of bar stools. It is so inviting.

I’ve been collecting wines since 1977. It’s a sort of fetish—it has grown beyond hobby. As I drink as I go along, it is only about 120 bottles or so.

And another conflict comes with the move to Hawaii. If I could finish and publish my novel AND that novel sold well, and my publisher wanted a contract with me, THEN I could keep the house at the beach with the wine cellar and still build the honeymoon hotel on the Big Island and offer a fabulous wedding and vow renewal locale.

Something to ponder and energize.