Wine bottles beneath your feet: Spiral Cellar provides unobtrusive, innovative option to wine storage

Walk into the Seattle home of Rob Dent and Naomi Ruiz and if you don't look carefully at the floor in the foyer, you might miss the trapdoor under your feet.

Though the lightly colored wooden door discreetly blends in, the view beneath it would impress any wine aficionado: A spiral staircase leading 9 feet underground, surrounded by rows of shelves designed to hold 1,600 bottles of wine.

About the only downside is that their Boston terrier refuses to follow them into cellar.

"But Morleigh will catch us on the way up to give us a kiss," Ruiz said.

Take a few steps into the cellar and you'll be waist-level with the floor. A few more steps down and your eyes will meet with some of the wines the married couple drinks most regularly, such as the Chateau Ste. Michelle/Dr. Loosen 2006 Eroica Riesling from the Columbia Valley.

When you reach the bottom, you'll find yourself immersed in the quiet majesty of the wines that the couple has amassed from throughout the world.

The cellar runs 53 degrees to 63 degrees Fahrenheit, and the hushed atmosphere allows for contemplation.

Dent and Ruiz had their Spiral Cellar installed a couple of years ago. They grew tired of wine bottles sitting in too-warm temperatures and spilling out of a too-small closet in their dining room.

They looked at building an outside crawl space, as well as off-site storage. Neither option seemed particularly convenient for daily trips.

That's when they discovered the Spiral Cellar.

The architectural showpiece is designed to use the earth around it to maintain a consistent temperature as well as provide a unique and attractive way to display wine.

"It's an appealing feature of the house," Ruiz said.

And it has allowed them to rapidly double their inventory.

Theirs is one of the six Spiral Cellars in the United States, all in the Northwest.

Scott Dennis, owner of a Spiral Cellar as well as the U.S. distributor of the cellars, said the United Kingdom-based company plans to expand across the country in the coming years. Eight cellars were expected to be finished in the United States by the end of 2008.

Dennis, who lives in Redmond, Wash., discovered the cellars on a trip to France a few years ago. He was so impressed that he had one installed and continued to recruit Spiral Cellars into the U.S. market.

A cellar can be built among four sizes, ranging from six to nine feet deep, and can store between 1,000 and 1,600 standard bottles.

The original cellar was designed in 1978 by Frenchman Georges Harnois.

Since then, more than 20,000 Spiral Cellars have been built in Europe, most of them in France.

"We had always planned to expand into the U.S., but Scott convinced us Washington state was the perfect place to get started," Spiral Cellars director Lucy Hargreaves wrote in an e-mail, adding that the state's "burgeoning wine industry" was the major factor driving the decision.

Hargreaves said the company plans to launch a franchise network in key wine states, such as California and New York. Expansion to other continents is also on the table after Spiral Cellars becomes more rooted in the U.S. market.

A new model of the cellar - the white Spiral Cellar - made its U.S. debut on Bainbridge Island, Dennis said.

The white cellar features taller bins, which means the 9-foot version can hold nearly 1,900 bottles. Steps into the newer cellar are wider, and the white interior creates a luminous feel.

Optional LED lights on the stairs and ringing the bottom of the cellar create a stylistic touch, especially with a glass trapdoor.

Several different kinds of trapdoors are an option for both cellars, including wooden ones that blend in with the floor or that can be covered easily with a rug. Glass allows the cellar and its contents to be admired from above.

A variety of stair coverings also are available, such as the sisal matting that Dent and Ruiz chose.

Cellars costs anywhere from $32,000 to $50,000, depending on the bells and whistles you decide to add, Dennis said.

The door opened for Dennis and his wife, Kathy, when they sought something other than their coat closet for wine storage.

"We didn't want to get really good wine until we had a place to put it," he said.

That meant a spot that wasn't blocked by the vacuum cleaner, and one that didn't reach saunalike temperatures in the summer.

Now, they enter their Spiral Cellar via their living room floor.

"It was perfect. We're using unused space," Scott Dennis said. Plus, it's a "fun" addition to the house, both to use daily and show to friends.

Both couples described the installation as "low impact," taking less than two weeks.

Because the cellars are designed with a special waterproof liner, they can be installed in the ground floor of almost any home without being affected by the water table. The underground location is paramount so there's only about a 10-degree variation during the course of the year.

"The key is that it doesn't change rapidly," he said.

And transforming a room into a chilled cellar is equivalent to building a large, energy-consuming refrigerator.

"That was a big consideration for us," Dent said.

Completion of the Spiral Cellar prompted celebration, and both couples said they enjoyed having a "showing party" for family and friends.

Spiral Cellars, 16625 Redmond Way, Suite M, Redmond, WA 98052, 800-598-7530, spiralcellars.com/us

Ingrid Stegemoeller covers the wine industry for the Tri-City Herald and is a frequent contributor to Wine Press Northwest.

This story was originally published March 13, 2009 at 12:23 PM with the headline "Wine bottles beneath your feet: Spiral Cellar provides unobtrusive, innovative option to wine storage."