People are feeling the need to build a wine cellar more,” said the architect — and daughter of an architect father — Flora Detanico, founder of Lacava, who has been creating and producing custom wineries in Porto Alegre for 15 years. Judging by the company’s sales, which have grown by over 30% a year since 2020, there are more and more people in Brazil wanting to show off the wines they will drink. With high demand, Lacava opened a new store at the end of last year – which should help maintain the pace of growth throughout this year.
The new address is part of a strategy to strengthen the brand, which also includes improving products in technological terms and increasing production capacity, especially the Vitria model, which the company describes as the only compact wine cellar on the market with lateral visibility. At a price of R$30,000, it is not quite a personalized winery, as it is made in series. But it has the advantage of being able to be delivered to any city in Brazil. For custom-made residential projects, Lacava still limits its operations to the states of the South region. In the case of corporate clients, a category that includes hotels, condominiums, restaurants and stores, a business consultant who is also a wine producer comes on the scene. “I bought a Lacava wine cellar nine years ago. After some time, I suggested improvements to the product”, said Julio Gostisa, partner at Red Vinhos. The suggestions were welcome and he went from being a client to being a partner, although he did not participate in the business.
“For us, wine is the protagonist”, said Flora. “The position of the labels, the inclination, the lighting, the handling, all this is taken into account in the creation of the project.” To keep the bottles horizontal, so that the liquid is in contact with the cork, the fixation is done by a device developed in Belgium and awarded in France, the B’Block. It holds the neck at an angle of 13º, which proved to be the most suitable for aging wines.
INDIRECT LIGHT Dimmable lamps, which avoid direct beams, produce a diffused effect without affecting the drink. “Sunlight is the enemy of wine, so we keep away from windows”, said the architect, who designs independent lighting circuits for each moment of use of the cellar. The temperature, also important for longevity, is controlled by compression coolers, with low noise and lower energy consumption.
A custom Lacava wine cellar starts at R$40,000. For this amount, it is possible to order the basic tower, with a door, 80 cm wide, 65 cm deep and occupying the entire right foot of the area in which it will be installed. It holds around 100 bottles. For each additional door, the value increases by approximately R$ 15 thousand. Some can hold up to 600 bottles — and look great in decor.
(Note published in issue 1261 of Revista Dinheiro)
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