Louis Hogan IV points out a sample of his cabinet work.
Written By Barbara Pash, Photos by: Crystal Griffiths
Vintage Cellars of Maryland Provides a Unique Product
The racks line up precisely from floor to ceiling, like a perfectly disciplined regiment seen from above. They march in symmetrical rows horizontally and vertically as well, in a temperature-regulated and humidity-controlled room designed to store wine.
For the wine lover who is ready – and can afford – to move beyond collapsible holders and special refrigerators, there is only one place in Carroll County to call: Vintage Cellars of Maryland, a builder of wine closets and wine cellars.
“This is carpentry at its finest,” said Louis Hogan IV, who started Vintage Cellars in 2007. A carpenter and wine connoisseur himself, Hogan has established a unique business that attracts customers from Maryland and southern Pennsylvania to northern Virginia.
“I’m the only one in the state doing this kind of work on a full-time basis,” said Mr. Hogan, 44, who lives in Finksburg with his wife, Erin, and their two-year old twins, Louis V and Courtney.
Generally, Hogan works on site but does have a showroom: at Baldwin Station, the Sykesville restaurant in which he installed a wine cellar and where examples of his work are on display.
Born in Baltimore County, and with a bachelor’s degree in business from Frostburg State University under his belt, Hogan was working towards a master’s in finance from Johns Hopkins University, headed toward a career in commerce.
After a few jobs in finance, though, he found his past pulling him toward something else.
“I started working in construction at 15. I went to builders in the area and said, ÔHire me. I need the money,’” said Hogan, who, with help from his parents, put himself through college by doing carpentry work.
Leaving high finance, Hogan started his own company, at first doing new construction and then focusing on home improvements.
The idea for Vintage Cellars did not come totally out of the blue. Hogan said his father, a Carroll County native who now lives in Baltimore County, always had a wine cellar in his childhood home in Eldersburg. Applying his carpentry skills and home improvement expertise in this niche was a natural fit for the son.
As much as he enjoys the wine niche, it does not provide a full-time living. Hogan still does home improvements, from kitchens to bathrooms, although that part of his business consolidated under the name of Vintage Cellars.
Hogan has had a few commercial customers. In Addition to Baldwin Station, they include the Jefferson Hotel and a Hilton in Washington, D.C. But those jobs are usually part of an overall engineering design and the responsibility of the general contractor.
Hogan estimated that more than 90 percent of his wine construction business is residential. Those customers are a varied group, but in general, they are well educated about wine and like to chat with him about it. For them, “the key is bottle count,” he said, which determines the size of the project.
A typical residential job is a wine closet that runs 2 feet wide by 6 feet long by 8 feet tall and holds 350 bottles, or seven bottles per square foot. Wine cellars – the term “cellar” implies a larger space – can hold an impressive number of bottles, as evidenced by Hogan’s largest such job: a 12,000-bottle cellar for a Potomac, Md., homeowner.
Hogan usually builds two wine closets or cellars a month. Wine closets can cost from $9,000 to $20,000; wine cellars, from $20,000 to $80,000 and up. The construction process is the same for both; price depends on size and materials.
“Basically,” Hogan said, “you’re building a refrigerator inside the house.”
He first guts the existing space, a closet or a room on the main level or basement of a house. Then he insulates the space, using closed-cell material, and wires it for the cooling system, which ideally operates between 55 to 58 degrees and 50 to 70 percent humidity. He installs moisture-resistant sheetrock or redwood on the walls and ceiling. The floor is concrete, tile or hardwood. A conventional exterior door can be used, but Hogan applies his own weatherstripping to prevent cooling loss.
The wooden racks, the most visible part of the process, are installed last. Racking choices range from pine, the cheapest, to premium redwood, oak, mahogany and cherry. All-heart redwood is the most expensive. Bottles for red and white wines have much the same diameter, but champagne bottles require a larger bin.
Hogan collects wine himself. He and his father share approximately 2,000 bottles. “For people who have a passion for wine, having your own wine cellar is the pinnacle,” he said. “You have a lifetime of enjoyment in your own home.”
Vinous Mishap
Shortly after Hogan finished building a 2,000-bottle wine cellar in Harford County, the owner, an ad executive, left on a trip. While he was away, a rain storm blew through the area and the house’s sump pump overflowed, leaving a layer of water in the wine cellar.
A cleanup crew was called. They left the humidifier in the wine cellar on all night, allowing the temperature to reach 85 degrees and “cooking” the wine, most of it from California’s Napa Valley.
When the owner returned, he sued the cleaning company for $20,000 for the ruined wine. The company refused to pay that amount for the wine but did agree to binding arbitration. A wine appraiser was called in. Noting that the wine had risen in price since it was bought, he evaluated the collection at $50,000, which is what the company ended up paying.
Not Your Ordinary Cellar
Hogan is currently building a $150,000 wine cellar in an $8 million, 16,000-square foot house under construction in Baltimore County. Designed as a separate wing off the basement level, the wine cellar is a 4,104-cubic foot space that will hold 4,500 bottles of wine and champagne.
The space is large enough to accommodate a center island, where the owner can place bottles, open and taste the wine and make notes.
Everything is top-of-the-line. The floor is marble, the countertops are granite. The racks are all-heart redwood, with underneath cabinet lighting in the display racks. A separate row holds champagne splits. A rolling ladder allows access to the higher rows. The arched door is made of mahogany with glass insets.
