Wine Storage Savings

Trudi Carey, president of the Carey Group, half-jokes, “Maybe with the stock market and the dollar down, wine has become many clients’ best investment?” In an effort to help people protect that investment, Carey’s Santa Barbara Wine Cellars (98 N. Patterson Ave., 964-4097, sbcellars.com) is teaming up with the people who sell wine-such as Lazy Acres, Pierre Lafond, Santa Barbara Winery, Ventura Wine Co., and Touring and Tasting-so that when you buy wine, you get a gift certificate toward wine storage. “After the Tea Fire, we saw many people concerned about their collections, especially if they were traveling,” Carey said. “Not everyone has humidity control, temperature control, digital security, a backup generator, and seven-day-a-week property managers at their homes.” Of course, Santa Barbara Wine Cellars offers all these features. So teaming up wine sellers with their cellars made perfect sense. As Carey said, “Our number one source of referrals has been wine stores, as our clients are either buying locally or belong to wine clubs. Collecting wines has become one of the largest growing American hobbies, especially with more and more people staying home due to the economy.” Now people can stay home, and their wine can stay in its own home, too-at a bit of a discount.