By David MacDonald I ’ m no wine expert. In fact, had it not been for an old episode of Frasier I saw recently, I wouldn’t even have known that an oenophile is a connoisseur of wines. What I did know prior to speaking with Garcia could be described as half-knowledge. I knew, for instance, that red wines and white wines are supposed to be stored at different temperatures – red warmer than white. “The red wine has to be at 57 degrees and the white wine is usually between 53 and 54 degrees,” Garcia told me with expert specificity commanding his inflection. I knew that wine and the sun should have a bookend relationship: When it’s a grape and when it’s in a glass. “We recommend storing your wine in a basement, away from large windows and any significant sunlight or heat,” he said with an almost paternal concern. “That’s why they’re there, to get design ideas for their own layout.” These were not the affectations of a salesman. Garcia’s not an aficionado with a paycheque. He grew up in Wine Country. “I’ve lived my whole life in Southern Ontario,” he said. “My family is here, the wineries, the machineries of the whole industry are here. It’s home.” According to the Wine Country Ontario Media Centre, 17.5 million litres of locally grown Vintner’s Quality Alliance (VQA) wines were sold in 2014 to the tune of $395 million CAD. These internationally recognized wines, grown on the Niagara Peninsula, Prince Edward County and Lake Erie North Shore, lend a lot of clout toWineracking Depot. The Huff Estates 2013 Pinot Noir or the Jackson-Triggs 2012 Delaine Syrah both come to mind. It is a sense of culture as much as it is a sense of business that drives Wineracking Depot. “I know that people who love beautiful wines love beautiful wine cabinets and racks. But not all wine lovers have spacious basements, or basements at all,” he conceded. “While we recommend basement-like environments, a sophisticated wine room doesn’t have to be down a set of stairs in a rustic cellar.”
For John Garcia, owner of Wineracking Depot in Brampton, Ontario, it’s all about the layout. “When customers come into the showroom, they always like my layout. That’s why they’re there, to get design ideas for their own layout,” he said. Garcia’s 600 square feet showroom profiles, in what can only be described as an orderly eclectic fashion, 19 models of wine racks, coolers, and cabinets. From the beautiful 96 bottle Red Rack made from All Heart California Redwood – arguably the finest grade of Redwood – to the 900 cubic feet wine and pantry KoolR with a 53-64 degree Fahrenheit range, it’s a feast for the senses. And everything is stocked. The Red Rack, the digitally controlled 240 bottle Wine KoolR, all of it. It’s enough to turn an unwavering teetotaller into a thirsty oenophile.
“They’re affordable; they’re luxurious; they’re stackable and expandable; and they’re easy to install.”
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AUGUST 2018 • SPOTLIGHT ON BUSINESS MAGAZINE
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