Put aside all the press and high prices of the 2005 French wines, forget that the World is aglut in well made juice and that we are only at the beginning of a huge party slowdown... but forgive me my negativity. All of us bon vivants and wine lovers want to extend the enjoyable lifespan of ALL the experience/wine we aspire to. Let's consider doing this a tad more consciously than last time. How about...
The vast majority of my great clients come to our first visit with a stack of internet, wine cellar catalogs. So, here's the bottom line: I wish I had that catalog business (I would then be in my thong on my Provence terrasse) but I am always having to modify their mistakes. A CA/French pinot will not fit into their racking system (I build your cellar around your collection).
More importantly for me is that my service is local. The dollar amount in that catalog DOES NOT reflect the true cost. Do you really think that redwood or oak (finite) cut in America then truck shipped (gasoline) to Mexico, repackaged, taxes paid, delivered back to LA (gasoline), markup tacked on, delivered (gasoline) to your door, your contractor assembly/markup/overhead/profit costs added reflects a GOOD DEAL???
I try to use soy based spray-on foam moisture barrier/insulation. It is the ultimate air tight and energy efficient enclosure. The less you have to use mechanical temp control, the less you have to pay Exxon Mobil. But alot of clients think that their contractor can charge them less by doing it "the old fashioned way" with standard off-gasing fiberglass batts. I will not guarantee anything done by another subcontractor.
You can't believe the whooping I get from my wife when she says, "why aren't you charging more??" My wood comes from a long list of local craftspersons that have been storing old growth gems for a very long time. Perhaps they just had a baby and need to turn that lumber storage room into a nursery. See where I'm going here? True cost is in human dollars, but only if we recognize it that way.
Over a decade ago, I purchased a large parcel of long leaf, southern pine (long extinct and now only recovered with scuba divers in the bayous of LA and FL at $15/SF) for a friend's residence. This lot came from the original (demolished) Sears Building in Chicago; all remilled and sold as flooring. It was pristine with tight, verticle grain. This wood was destined for the landfill. Is this really worth something in economic terms? You see, if you don't get that question than you won't see that I'm wacky enough to spend a great deal of my life trying to find, value and save these tasty morsels. Funny that I also like fresh chanterelles from secret places in Big Sur. But more on that later...
There is no difference between the economic value of the wine you collect, the space I try to create and where you have a wonderful experience with dear friends. If that doesn't mean anything, then hey, pop a top of Haut-Brion in the MacDonald's drive-through with the chicken mcnuggets. Yumm.
