Wine Walls That Wow

Wine collections are the newest centerpieces in high-design residential dining rooms and kitchens. Restaurant-style displays and custom shelves are adding architectural oomph to wine enthusiasts’ living spaces—sommelier not required.

Wine is moving from out of sight to being seen and appreciated as part of the overall interior design, says Robert Tretsch with Atlanta’s Harrison Design. The Bellagio in Las Vegas inspired an extensive wine wall encased behind glass and steel doors in a contemporary condo’s dining room that he designed in Atlanta.

“I wanted it to be the backdrop of the dining room,” Tretsch says.

The floor-to-ceiling metal racks hold more than 600 bottles, giving another graphic element to the modern space. The freestanding racks, which have a cooling system, allow people to see the length of the bottle and the full label, compared to slipping bottles into a rack and having the tail end show. For extra drama, he used a Bianco Carrara marble behind the racks.

The wall spans 13.5 feet, taking up the width and height of the room, but Tretsch says the look could be done on a smaller scale, such as one or two racks and a glass door.

“You can liven up a particularly dead wall in a living space,” he says. “The marble could be replaced with a pop of color behind the bottles.”

An underused butler’s pantry now serves as an elegant wine closet and entertaining focal point. The custom glass doors with metal frames match the windows of the house. Three walls hold wine, accented by a piece of artwork commissioned by the Atlanta-based  MOSAIC Group. The wood countertops are faux-finished to look like concrete countertops elsewhere in the home. LED lights help the temperature remain cool in the room, which won a Contractor of the Year award from the National Association of the Remodeling Industry/NARI Atlanta.

Here’s how other designers have turned spaces into at-home wine tasting rooms.

Custom mahogany wine racks lend a warmth to a wine cavern designed by Norman Askins and built by Cruickshank Remodeling. The racks fit underneath a barrel-vault ceiling with stone accents.

“One of the more unique things we did was to use printed panels off wine cases for the wall and ceiling treatment,” says remodeler Bradley B. Cruickshank.

Guests can sample and sip at a glass-topped barrel table on pegged oak floors. The hand-forged wrought iron chandeliers and sconces give the room an Old World bent.

This isn’t a wine shop, but one part of a renovated 1918 home in Atlanta. The walls of stainless steel shelves organize the homeowner’s collection, while the bottles and Asian art bring color to the expansive space.

A trio of rustic reclaimed wood shelves fit into a gorgeous wine niche in the great room of the 2017 Design House, a fundraiser for the Historic Macon Foundation in Georgia. Designer Sally Draughon displayed glass goblets and tumblers with a bottle ready for entertaining with ease.

This wine room by MOSAIC Group displays a collection worthy of coveting. The rich custom wood shelves continue around the room, designed to display various sized bottles. With recessed lighting in the stained beadboard ceiling, the room is another way of indulging in a passion for wine.