Blends Drama and Fun with Functionality

Fred Tregaskis of Summit Wine Cellars has been designing and creating wine cellars for fine homes, restaurants, hotels and wineries throughout the world for 25 years, and one recent residential project for an inspired client in Weston, Conn., stands out.

With any wine cellar, a primary concern is proper climate control—maintaining a cool, stable temperature and enough humidity to keep corks snug—but some clients who commission wine cellars also focus on giving their showcases a wow factor by embracing custom design elements and materials, while adding unique accents and furniture pieces to the repositories for fine wine.

“The client wanted something that would be functional but also fun and dramatic,” says Tregaskis of the 256-square-foot wine cellar built in 2019 for a collection of roughly 2,500 bottles. “It was great to work with a client who was inspired and up for some adventure in terms of the design.”

That adventure included red accent walls, black-stained, stainless countertops, and black-oiled, insulated steel doors. The oiled walnut bottle storage racking and subtly coffered ceiling panels lend sophistication to the space as they pay homage to wine cellar design tradition.

Commanding pride of place as a unique accent piece is the glass-top table Tregaskis custom-designed to display large format bottles—and not just any bottles but rarefied Bordeaux wines including Chateau La Tour, Chateaux Margaux, and Chateau Pichon Longueville, some of the best red wines in the world.

While the wine cellar in Weston, Conn., is fairly traditional, Tregaskis says, “A lot of what we’re doing now is using steel and plexiglass and zinc and things like that because we have the facilities to work with more modern materials to accommodate design styles like industrial chic.”

Summit Wine Cellars’ in-house fabrication capabilities ensures top-tier fit and finish on an increasingly expansive variety of materials, from wood of all types to steel, aluminum, bronze, glass and more.

Summit offers one-stop expertise as a complete wine cellar contractor guiding both residential and commercial clients from concept and consultation through wine cellar design, fabrication and installation—including cutting-edge climate control systems, which are integrated into design projects and also offered independently to the HVAC industry and building professionals.

Fred Tregaskis first developed a passion for wine during his art school years, when he worked in the New York’s Hudson Valley vineyards. Years later, after working for a national wine magazine, he was given the opportunity to design and build a 28,000-bottle cellar for Lespinasse Restaurant at the St. Regis Hotel in New York—and in the process Summit Wine Cellars took root.

Tregaskis and Summit Wine Cellars have created dramatic custom wine cellars for clients throughout the world, from Maine to California, and Bangalore to Buenos Aries.

Tregaskis also writes about wine, conducts tastings and hosts a radio show on wine for NPR station WHDD/Robin Hood Radio based in Sharon Conn.

To learn more about Summit Wine Cellars, LLC, contact Summit Wine Cellars by email at info@summit-cellars.com, or by phone at 203-916-1664.