Wine

Friday, Jun. 27, 2008

Wine Notes: Protecting liquid assets

The Appelbaums had trouble finding storage for their wine after moving to SLO County, an experience they turned into a business opportunity

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Last year, when Daniel and Corrine Appelbaum decided to return to the Central Coast after living in the Bay Area for five years, one of their priorities was making sure the wine they had collected in their years in Northern California would be safe in the move.

“So we brought our wine collection with us and couldn’t find a place to store it,” Corrine recalls.

They ended up storing their wine at El Camino Self Storage in Atascadero, which has climate-controlled units within the large, multi-use storage center.

But they were surprised there was no wine-dedicated storage option in such a large wine-producing area.

That experience gave them an idea for a new business.

With Daniel’s experience in shipping and logistics, and Corrine’s sales background, they realized they had the combination of skills to address the need they saw for collectors, travelers and small, boutique wineries.

“So we went and visited every single storage facility in California,” Corrine says.

They took notes on what they liked, what they didn’t, and what they thought they could do better to help people keep and move their wine.

The resulting business is Safe Haven Wine Services, which opened this week in Paso Robles.

In a new 4,300-square-foot space off Highway 46 East and Golden Hill Road, the Appelbaums have created a place that’s both an elegant wine event center and a high-tech, high-security storage option for wine enthusiasts.

The entry area is a plush private tasting room with a long conference table, gaming table, plasma television and comfortable seating.

The couple plans to use this space for private wine tastings and catered wine events and as a meeting space for businesses and clubs.

Walk through the back door, and you’re in a temperature-and humidity-controlled storage area with 280 metal lockers, each with a keypad locking system.

Similar to school lockers, only designed for wine, each can hold 12 standard cases of wine.

The cost of storing wine starts at $25 a month for one locker, and the Appelbaums have aligned themselves with a similar company in Northern California.

Wine Country Shipping and Cellars serves more than 200 wineries in Napa and Sonoma and has been in business more than 10 years.

“Much of what we’ve created here has come from their success,” Daniel explains. “We bring here a lot of proven technologies and business practices that have worked for not only a number of wineries, but also individuals.”

Safe Haven is targeting several potential customers, including wine travelers who need to store their purchases and find a way to get them home; wine collectors with valuable library or reserve wines where temperature control is a key to preservation; small wineries short of space and lacking tasting rooms; and people who were like themselves, in the process of moving, with nowhere to keep their wines protected.

They also have set themselves up as a turnkey solution for boutique wineries that lack the staff and the space to handle wine club shipments.

Safe Haven has a database of all state-by-state shipping restrictions and can ship to any location. Wineries can access their computer directly to track shipments and verify delivery.

For wine country tourists, Safe Haven can arrange pickups of wine from wineries or hotels, so wine doesn’t sit in hot cars and the tourists don’t have the hassle of getting their wine home.

“That’s our goal,” Corrine explains. “Whatever it is you would like us to do with your wine, we’ll do it.”

And as the business grows, the Applebaums plan to increase their storage capacity by 220 units and expand to offer more services.

“Our mission is to help educate people about how important it is to store wine properly and safely,” Corrine says.