In March 2013, Vintec was approached by David Smeed, National New Store & Refurb Coordinator, to design and fit-out with proper climate-controlled wine storage the new and well anticipated Dan Murphy's Double Bay store - set to open in June of that year.
The challenge was to design, configure, specify and fit-out a cost-effective wine storage solution across three different designated areas of the store, with a quick turn-around: one bank of cellars for fine red and white wines, one bank for Champagne and one bank solely for Penfolds Grange.
Design
This store was designed to be unlike any other, offering such a large and unique range of wines, Champagne, spirits and beers that one can only think of it as a temple dedicated to every alcoholic beverage ever invented by man. Indeed, the most interesting part of the design was the dedication of different areas to specific products: over 650 whiskies, hundreds of beers, aged wines, champagne, international wines.
In addition to the extensive range of rare Champagnes, the real standout attraction of the store was to be a full vertical of 57 vintages of Penfolds Grange starting with the inaugural 1951, with a combined value of $330,000 (including the Vintec wine cabinets to accommodate them).
Equipment Selection
- 16 x Vintec 'Noir' 170 Bottle Single/Multi-Zone Wine Cabinets (V190SG2E-BK)
- Specially designed wooden shelves for laying bottles with labels facing and parallel to a glass door
To store and display in a dynamic way this impressive range of prestigious Australian and international wines, Vintec selected and proposed the use of 16 climate-controlled cabinets from the latest 'Noir' borderless black glass range - configured with specially designed wooden shelves to lay bottles with labels facing and parallel to the glass doors to optimise visibility and accessibility.
This choice was based on the following points:
- can be set at a constant temperature of 12°-14°;
- have no bright lights (LED does not generate any damaging UV light) and the treated glass doors also limit any outside light from reaching the bottles;
- have an anti-vibration system (wooden shelves reduce movement and a slow-cycling compressor is housed outside the unit on rubber shock-pads);
- maintain humidity levels, keeping the corks moist so as not to dry out;
- all cabinets are equipped with a lock and their design is outstanding with the possibility to switch the internal LEDs on and off based on opening hours.
The decision to supply independent climate-controlled cellars rather than a centralised refrigeration system for each of the banks was based on the objective of containment: should there be an electrical failure of any sort, this solution allowed the risk for valuable stock to be limited to 1 unit of 16 only, instead of 100% of stock.
