What to Know

When disasters hit, you need reassurance that your wine won’t be harmed. Super-storm Sandy of 2012 is a perfect example of what can happen to urban wine storage facilities in New York City. There was a 2+ week power outage and fuel shortage, and large parts of the city flooded.

Here are some questions to ask when choosing a wine storage facility:

1. If power goes out or there is a fuel shortage, will my wine get too hot or too cold?
2. Is your facility at risk for flood damage?
3. How do you guard against inventory data loss?
4. Can I get status updates if the phone/internet is out?
5. Does the company have a business continuity plan?

At Horse Ridge Cellars

We understand that trusting a company to look after your wine collection is a big deal – especially when it has significant monetary or sentimental value.

Horse Ridge Cellars takes protecting your investment very seriously. We’ve seen what can happen when safety measures aren’t taken, and we won’t let that happen to your wine. These are our answers to the questions above.

1. If power goes out or there is a fuel shortage, will my wine get too hot or too cold?

No – there is no chance of outside conditions impacting the temperature of your wine.

Unlike any other facility in the region, Horse Ridge Cellars is completely underground and insulated by the earth. So – if our primary HVAC systems and backup generators go offline – the facility will maintain its temperature and humidity for an indefinite period of time. Similar to how pre-industrial wine caves worked.

Extra Credit: For more information – check out Horse Ridge Cellars’ 3 Stage Temperature Protection guarantee.

2. Is your facility at risk for flood damage?

No. Horse Ridge Cellars is not in a flood area. In fact we are 900 feet above sea level and build into the side of a hill. So the rain run-off is drawn away from the building and down to the street some 100 yards below.

Extra Credit: Although the facility is underground, the 15 inch concrete structure is leak proof – so there is no chance of water getting in. If a water pipe were to leak inside the building, there are proper drainage systems in place so your wine would not be affected.

We do, however, have water damage, earthquake and fire insurance available – just in case.

3. How do you guard against inventory data loss?

All of our data is backed up nightly and weekly to different offsite locations in different parts of the New England. We have physical and remote access to these locations so if something ever happened to our on-site servers, we are never more than a few hours away from restoring to the most up-to-date inventory.

Extra Credit: Even if something catastrophic were to happen to all of our offsite locations and data couldn’t be restored immediately – we have archived hard-copies of our databases. Also – unlike some other facilities, we keep each client on separate shelves, so if we had to find a bottle for you without our inventory management system – we could.

4. Can I get status updates if the phone/internet is out?

Absolutely. When a big storm lands and threatens to hit Horse Ridge Cellars, we do the following:

• Notify you via the website if power and/or telecommunications is out in the area.
• Forward calls so you can still contact us.
• Check email and respond from off-site locations when possible.

Extra Credit: In any case, we will take your inquiries and update you on the status of your collection. If roads are passable, we will even try to stick to our regular pickup and delivery schedule.

5. Does the company have a business continuity plan?

Yes. We are prepared for any kind of emergency. This includes devastating storms, loss of life, and damage to the facility. Every situation is different, but our goal is to provide the least disruption to service possible in the event of any of these scenarios.