Wine storage facility set to come online in April
Terry Blake and Michael Sasse cringe at the thought of precious wine collections aging exposed and unmonitored in home garages or pantries. The drastic fluctuations in temperature and humidity from season to season can turn delicious libations into vinegar in no time, they said.
The longtime friends are on their way to a solution – a temperature- and humidity-controlled space for wine lovers to safely store their collections. They have leased almost 9,000 square feet at 1812 Washington St. and hope to have Cellar 55 open to the public on April 1.
Both men had an interest in tapping into the self-storage business, but were unsure which direction they wanted to take. Both of their wives are wine connoisseurs, and ran across several wine storage facilities on a trip to California’s Napa Valley.
The families toured the spaces and met with several local wine clubs and restaurants, and a little more than a year later, they are nearly ready for customers.
The cement warehouse-style building will be outfitted with wooden storage vaults that can store eight to 380 cases and range in price from $25 to $340 per month with quarterly or yearly contracts. Depending on demand, larger walk-in lockers may be built along the warehouse’s perimeter.
The vaults are accessible 18 hours a day, seven days a week.
Cellar 55 is relatively close to freeway access and is just north of downtown, where market-rate condos abound that don’t offer much space for wine collections, they said.
"We wanted to offer a service nobody else is offering in Clark County," Sasse said. "The wine industry has grown so much, especially in this area, and people are investing a lot of money in it. We thought it would be the perfect opportunity."
Setting up a wine cellar at home can cost anywhere between $6,000 and $25,000.
Blake, Cellar 55’s president and owner of Clackamas-based Emmett Forest Products, and Sasse, vice-president and owner of Battle Ground-based general contracting company Sasse Enterprises, are marketing their service as much as their constant 55-degree building.
Customers may ship bottles or cases of wine collected on vacations or wine-of-the-month clubs directly to the Cellar 55, and Blake or Sasse can add it to their storage lockers.
They are willing to mail a special bottle to wine lovers traveling abroad, with shipping costs paid by the customer, and also will do quarterly or monthly inventory for collectors who may lose track of exactly what’s in their vaults.
Their services aren’t only for individual wine lovers.
Blake and Sasse have designated 800 square feet for commercial customers who want inventory control, accessible five days a week to keep the cost low. The price has not yet been determined.
"This way, restaurants don’t have to leave their wine in the kitchen, where it’s vulnerable to temperature and the late-night cleaning crew who might help themselves to a bottle while they’re mopping the floor," Blake said. "What local restaurants are losing in spoilage and pilferage would easily pay for the cost of storing it here for a year."
Customers will have to go through several layers of security to enter the building, starting with fingerprint access. The entire building is monitored by video surveillance.
It will be kept at 55 degrees to 58 degrees and 60 percent to 70 percent humidity. The premium conditions allow wine to mature gracefully, they said.
If the refrigeration fails for any reason, Blake and Sasse will be immediately alerted. However, Cellar 55 will not be liable for wine quality because there is no way to ensure the wine is good when it’s brought into the facility.
"The only thing we can guarantee is the temperature and humidity," Blake said.
The men said they’re looking forward to being part of the downtown and Uptown Village business communities, and plan to gradually phase out working in their other capacities if Cellar 55 takes off.
Blake and Sasse are financing much of the venture personally and expect to begin making a profit within six to eight months of operation, depending on how quickly spaces are rented.
So far, Blake said local wine clubs and restaurants are showing enthusiasm, as are the wineries that can use the storage facility as a selling point for cases over single bottles – now wine lovers have a place to store them.
