Duke Mahl knew little about wines or wine collectors six years ago when, largely through happenstance, he came upon the idea of starting a business here that would install custom wine cellars in high-end homes.


I didnt even know there was a wine-cellar industry, he says.


What Mahl did possess was experience in construction and marketing, a love for woodworking, and a designers creative zeal. Those attributes have proven invaluable, he says, at The Vineyard Selection, the business he owns and operates with his wife, Ginny, from their large rustic home on lushly wooded acreage near Antoine Peak north of Otis Orchards.


To date, the venture has installed close to 200 wine cellarsranging in price from around $3,000 to $70,000throughout the Northwest, Mahl says. Four affiliate dealers that the business has helped set up, and to which it provides wine-cellar components and accessories as a distributor, probably have built another 100 or so, he says.


Though reluctant to talk specifically about revenues or revenue growth, he says, Our business has marched in lockstep with the growth of the wine industry in general.


The Vineyard Solution opened a showroom last summer in the Fixtures, Kitchens & Baths store, at 9245 N. Government Way, in Hayden, Idaho, that Mahl expects will generate additional wine-cellar orders as its presence there becomes better known. Also, he says he is in the process of recruiting an affiliate dealer to market wine cellars in the Seattle area, and soon will be doing the same in the Boise area and along the Interstate 5 corridor between Eugene and Salem, Ore. Other Vineyard Selection affiliate dealers are located in Bozeman, Mont.; Bend and Mount Hood, Ore.; and Wilson, Wyo.


The company buys most of its wine-cellar components and related furnishings from Cincinnati-based Wine Cellar Innovations, which Mahl says is the worlds largest designer and manufacturer catering exclusively to that custom-cellar market.


We buy our product at a distributor rate and sell it to our dealers at a dealer rate, a hub-and-spoke system that allows for a profit margin at both levels without the need to create a network dependent on franchise fees and royalties, Mahl says.


Along with various types of wine shelving and tasting tables, Vineyard Selection sells everything from climate-control equipment and grape-themed artwork, to custom wine-cellar entryways and powered refrigerator-sized wine keepers.


Climate-control equipmentdesigned to keep a cellars temperature at an ideal 55 degrees and the humidity at 50 percent to 75 percentcan add substantially to the cost of a wine cellar. However, Mahl says it is a must for serious wine collectors and investors because they might be storing up to several hundred thousand dollars worth of wine, and, The pedigree of the wine becomes how well it has been taken care of.


When hired to install a wine cellar, Mahl says he first interviews the customer about how they want to store their wine and whether they want a cellar thats more functional or more artistic. The business offers design packages ranging from detailed two-dimensional black-and-white drawings, for $195, to virtual 3-D panoramic illustrations, for $550, to help clients visualize the floor plans.


Wine Cellar Innovations provides most of the design services the company here needs, but Mahl does conceptual and mock-up design work in a 1,900-square-foot shop building located near the couples home, and directs the design process. He depends on Ginny, a longtime freelance graphic designer, for design input and feedback.


That ability to provide one-of-a-kind custom features in wine cellars with largely standardized wine-storage racks is the extra spice we add, she says.


One example was their collaborative creation of a wine cellar that looks like an antique grape-pressing operation, complete with a functioning old water wheel, wood platform, and ladder, all designed to look aged.


The Mahls came up with the idea as a way to make effective use of a large exposed rock outcropping in a room of a high-end home.


The room has an almost Disneyland type of look, and Duke says, Its sort of Pirates of the Caribbean take over the winery business. They ditch the rum and go for the wine.


In his shop building, Mahl currently has a large, partial mock-up of another planned wine cellar that will include a water feature, with four continuously running spouts, and fiber-optic lighting.


Its really fun and really cool when we do this upper-end stuff where he can let his creative juices flow, Mahl says. Speaking of the architects, designers, and owners with whom he constantly is brainstorming, he says, I get to come up with a wild idea, then put my ego on the shelf and tap into some wonderful creative minds whose ideas and motives are the same as mine in trying to add the sizzle to the steak.


Avoiding an elitist image


Nevertheless, he adds, We dont want to become an elitist kind of notion. We want to take all comers.


The products the company sells are grouped into several price categories to fit a broad range of budgets, Mahl says.


In addition to his design responsibilities, he handles the sales and does all of the consulting with clients. Ginny oversees the administrative side of the business, such as order processing and other bookkeeping, and does the graphic design work for the companys printed marketing materials.


He makes all of the messes, and I clean them up, she says jokingly.


Both originally from California, Duke and Ginny met in Aspen, Colo., lived in Sandpoint for five years after honeymooning there in 1977, then moved to the Spokane Valley.


Both are entrepreneurs who throughout their careers have worked mostly for themselves.


Ive always had a fascination with the way things go together, and how to make them unique, Duke says.


He built tree forts as a kid, and got into woodworking and drafting in high school. After attending the University of Pacific, in Stockton, Calif., for a year, he decided to move to Hawaii, where he learned to frame houses. He then moved to Aspen, where he started his own construction company and built several homes.


At age 20, he co-founded a business there called Rocking Originals Co. that developed and began marketing a folding canvas-covered rocking chair. The chairs were riveted and assembled at a county activities center for mentally and physically handicapped people. He and his partner later sold the business to the state of Colorado.


After he and Ginny moved to Sandpoint in 1978, Mahl says he started doing marketing and consulting work for small startup businesses, formed his own marketing company, and continued that work when they moved to the Valley.


He says he conceived the idea for the wine-cellar business after an importer of hand-carved architectural accents, including many grape-themed pieces, sought his advice in finding a market for those goods. He says he found through his research that there not only was a wine-cellar industry, but also a budding and largely unmet demand for wine cellars in the western U.S.


The Mahls formed Vineyard Selection in late 2001, after negotiating an agreement with the Cincinnati manufacturer that gave them exclusive rights to market that companys wine cellar components and furnishings in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, and central Oregon, and allowed them also to serve Wyoming and Utah on a non-contractual basis.


Duke says, though, that his entire focus the first year was on developing a manual for affiliate dealers to follow as they sought to establish and build up their businesses.


Mahls initial marketing focusinvolving a lot of traveling and cold callingwas at the regions top ski and lake resort communities, where there was a concentration of high-end home construction and wealthy owners.


What I found in Aspen was that it was easier to thrive if you were in a recession-proof market. I wanted to be in a recession-proof business, he says. Plus, he says, In 2001, there was not that big a crush of money around here.


Since then, though, he says there has been an influx of higher-income residents into the Spokane area, which has allowed Vineyard Selection to do more projects closer to home, and the overall demand for wine cellars has grown dramatically.


In the 1980s, the Jacuzzi tub was the big thing in new homes. Now, having a home theater and a wine cellar is the hot thing, he says. He estimates that most new homes costing upwards of $500,000 to $600,000as well as many homes below that thresholdnow have wine cellars.


All of that makes him upbeat about the prospects for additional growth of the business, and glad that he and his wife decided to pursue the venture six years ago.


Its really been wonderful, he says. We feel very blessed to be doing something we enjoy so much.


Contact Kim Crompton at (509) 344-1263 or via e-mail at kimc@spokanejournal.com.