J-Prime Steakhouse is a high-end steakhouse with locations in Austin and San Antonio, Texas. Certified Wine Cellars and Certified Construction were given the opportunity to build out J-Prime’s wine spaces at their Austin location. The client requested three separate storage spaces, one for red wines, one for whites, and a set of private wine lockers for patrons to store their personal collections.
Wine Guardian had the opportunity to chat with Troy Adair from Certified Construction to learn more about their design process and how they were able to incorporate Wine Guardian units in all three wine spaces at the restaurant.
Red and White Wine Walls
The restaurant requested two wine wall displays to house their rotating stock of red, white, and rosé wines. Troy and Certified Wine Cellars planned out everything that went into the space including the racking, lighting, glass, and cooling.
Racking and Storage
Troy collaborated with VintageView to incorporate a mix of their post and rail metal racking systems to achieve the desired total bottle capacity. While a majority of the wine wall utilizes horizontal storage to help preserve cork moisture, J-Prime requested a vertical display section to show off some of the finer wines in their collection. Given the restaurant’s fast inventory turnover, Troy was able to implement a vertical storage area without concerns about storing bottles for extended periods.
Lighting
To highlight the wines on display, they decided to use LED tape lighting, specifically, COBs. Unlike traditional LED strip lighting with individual dots of light, COBs emit a continuous ribbon of light, creating a stunning glowing effect. These lights were fitted with a dimmer, allowing staff to adjust brightness: increasing it when serving the wine wall, or dimming it to set an aesthetic mood for patrons to enjoy.
Glass
The red wine wall features four, 12-foot-tall doors spanning approximately 23 feet horizontally. These doors can be interchanged to provide complete access to the wine collection inside. Each door contains 3/4-inch-thick glass, with an insulated channel between them to ensure the necessary thermal properties for optimal wine storage conditions.
Cooling for Storage and Serving
As an exclusive distributor of Wine Guardian systems, Certified Wine Cellars trusted our systems to maintain optimal conditions for both wine walls. Troy worked directly with our application engineers to develop a cooling plan for the space and got recommendations for which units to use. Each wine wall was installed with a D050 ducted self-contained system. The system for the red wine wall was set to maintain temperatures between 58 – 60°F, which is optimal for long-term storage. The white wine wall on the other hand was set for serving temperature conditions, about 50 – 55°F.
Given the size of these spaces, substantial airflow was necessary. To accommodate this, supply air vents were placed around the perimeter of the wine walls, while return vents were positioned in the center. This setup created an airflow pattern that drew air from the outside, directed it towards the center, and then pulled it back up. Troy and his team also utilized forward-looking infrared cameras to determine where hotspots were and adjust as needed.
Lastly, the wine walls are fitted with remote sensors and are connected to remote interface controllers which are located at one central location for easy monitoring and adjustment for the staff.
Private Wine Storage Lockers
In addition to wine walls for storing the restaurant’s own stock, J-Prime wanted a wall of wine lockers at the front of the restaurant. These lockers would be available to rent by patrons, allowing them to store their preferred wines for their next visit or to keep their personal collections on site.
Cooling the lockers was straightforward for Troy, as he implemented the same setup used for the two wine walls by utilizing another D050 ducted cooling unit. However, he did face one challenge when designing the lockers: the locker display had 96 doors which all needed to open and close while ensuring a tight seal to prevent air from escaping. Troy addressed this by using neoprene weather stripping and a magnetic catch to secure the doors. Additionally, each locker door was equipped with a tumbler lock, giving patrons protected access to their collections.
In the end, Certified Wine Cellars created a beautiful array of 96 individual lockers that were able to hold up to 864 bottles of wine!
“I love a challenge! When someone says it’s a difficult thing and can’t be done, I rise up to that challenge. We come up with a plan through my partnerships with Wine Guardian… that works great for the space.”
— Troy Adair – Owner, Certified Construction
We’d like to thank J-Prime Steakhouse for letting us film inside their restaurant. If you’re in the Austin area, we encourage you to check them out! Interested in starting a wine cellar project of your own? Certified Wine Cellars is an exclusive distributor of Wine Guardian wine cellar cooling units. They design and build wine spaces for both commercial and residential applications. Contact them today to learn more.
