New Times: Reds and Whites Without the Blues

Article by “Spencer Vaishville”

Wine connoisseurs may already know this, but wine is best kept at around 55 to 60 degrees Fahrenheit. Once exposed to 80-degree temperatures for 10 minutes or so, your favorite bottle of wine you’ve been saving for the right occasion can be completely ruined.

Lucky for you and your wine collection, Aaron Steed, CEO of Meathead Movers, has begun offering private, personal wine storage at his San Luis Obispo facility on South Higuera Street in San Luis Obispo.

“People have spent thousands of dollars on wine collections, and then to not store it correctly is pretty foolish because one flash hot day can ruin your entire case of wine,” Steed said.

He put in copious amounts of research to attain the highest quality, state-of-the-art equipment to keep wine stored at his facility at the optimal temperature of 57 degrees Fahrenheit.

“We could have spent tens of thousands of dollars less on infrastructure and gotten by, but we didn’t. We did everything right. We did not cut any corners,” Steed insisted.

With a humidifier that looks identical to the mainframe computers you see in the movies, vapor-lock-sealed doors you’d probably see on a spaceship, and a ventilation system that responds much more quickly than your car’s air conditioning (high-five if yours is working, given our recent hot weather), Steed’s setup is the most advanced wine storage facility in San Luis Obispo.

The smallest lockers start at $49 per month, and the price increases incrementally for bigger lockers. In addition, no contract is necessary, and if you’re looking to store more than 24 cases, the largest lockers can accommodate more than 300 cases of wine.

“We cater toward the person or business who has cases of wine that aren’t being stored correctly. Basically, people that are wine collectors that don’t have their own cellar—people that have wine in their closet, under their beds, and under their stairs,” Steed explained.

To top it all off, they’ll even assist you in unloading your wine into your own personal locker free of charge. However, for liability reasons and the security of your wine, they’re unable to make any pickups.

So what about security?
Upon entering through the front door of their office—the only way to access the storage room—members must have their own entry code to a separate door that serves as the only entrance to the wine lockers.

Once the code is accepted, the computer timestamps your entry so it knows who is in the “locker room” at what times.

Then, a personalized key not even Steed has a copy of is used to access your own locker—all while multiple security cameras monitor every move.

Steed was quick to point out that the locks aren’t dead bolted, but use a flat lock with a circular key so it’s nearly impossible to break in—and good luck sneaking your blowtorch through the main lobby.

Conveniently, if you have a separate storage room for your home belongings with Meathead Movers, the same key can be used so you don’t have to add yet another bit of metal to your chain.

What happens when you want to make a withdrawal?
When you’re getting ready for your next big event, you can stop by during business hours from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. and retrieve a bottle—or two, or a case, or all of your wine at once, depending on how thirsty you and your guests are feeling.

“Dude, we flippin’ did it right—you know what I’m sayin’? We could have gone cheap, but we didn’t,” Steed said. “We take it seriously that we are telling the community that we are going to protect one of your most passionate possessions: your wine collection.”

SOURCE: http://www.newtimesslo.com/strokes-and-plugs/9426/reds-and-whites-without-the-blues/