Jacob Harkins, the marketing director at VintageView Wine Storage Systems is an unlikely celebrity. The mild-mannered spokesperson doesn’t sing or play guitar, but he can fill a lounge space on Yonge St. for an hour-long show just like any contemporary entertainer. Jacob seizes people’s imaginations, and he keeps them on the edge of their seats by showing off his company’s original wine cellar pictures, and by pointing out what’s possible today with new-age wine cellar cooling units, new UV glass laminates, and with VintageView’s metal wine racks and modular wine storage systems.
On Wednesday April 10th, 2019, VintageView and Rosehill Wine Cellars teamed up to host Jacob Harkin’s travelling talk in the downstairs conference room of Cibo’s Yonge street tavern. The two hour event started at 5 pm and guests were treated to wine & cheese and gourmet pizza slices before Jacob went on stage. Some of Toronto’s foremost interior designers and architects were in the room and there was plenty of networking by the refreshments counter beforehand. The presentation centred on new wine cellar designs, and all images and layouts on display were constructed with metal wine racks made by VintageView Wine Storage Systems.
Jacob’s talk was much more informative than a regular sales pitch or a product demo show. In fact, the evening was something called a CEU, or Continuing Education Unit that was tailor-made for interior decorators and home designers who are part of the American Institute of Architects (AIA). VintageView, in partnership with Rosehill Wine Cellars staged Jacob’s show in Toronto. But even up here the AIA and the Interior Design Continuing Education Council (IDCEC) recognize Jacob’s talk as an accredited CEU. The lecture is officially titled Modern Wine Storage and Display Systems and this fact might explain why it was so well attended by so many top industry professionals. Just ten minutes after starting, Jacob had to pause while the staff at the restaurant scrounged up another twelve chairs to accommodate a dozen late arrivals.
Bottle capacity, proper long-term storage temperatures for wine, and proper serving temperatures for red and white varietals were subjects that were covered in the presentation. Jacob also discussed how to bring wine upstairs and into the daylight using UV protected glass. It’s a little-known fact that bright light of any kind, but especially daylight and fluorescent light can have a terrible effect on wine. In addition to keeping wine chilled, good cellars are also very dark places. So how can you put wine bottles on your wall in broad daylight? The answer is to build special refrigerated glass boxes with one way, heat insulated and UV protected glass panes. This wasn’t possible ten years ago, and now it’s causing a revolution in upscale home design.
VintageView believes wine should be admired. They specialize in making functional storage spaces that are design centrepieces at the heart of a modern home. New machines and new materials now make it possible to display wine in sunlight spaces and not hidden away in dark pantries or dusty basement cellars. This is the company that invented Label-Forward Metal Wine Racking and they remain at the centre of innovation as evidenced by the many different designs in their printed catalog. VintageView, with help from Rosehill Wine Cellars in Canada, puts valuable wine collections on display in homes all over the world.
