Offsite Wine Storage Facilities affected by Hurricane Sandy

For those who store wine at Chelsea Wine Storage, has anyone heard whether there was damage as a result of Sandy? I’ve walked by several times over the last 36 hours but haven’t been able to get any information.
Thanks,
A

Hmmm. Hadn’t thought about that. I have wine there. Duh. I’d been worrying about N.Y. Wines in Long Island City, just a block from the East River, where I have more.

Chelsea may be without power, but being underground, I won’t worry about that if there’s no flooding.

I’m worried about flooding. They have a generator and even if they didn’t, temps outside are in the 50’s and won’t change particularly quickly in the basement. But flooding is a real potential risk. I’m a block closer to the Hudson than they are. I have a feeling that 1 block is pretty crucial here, but the entire basement/car park of every building on my block, and the surrounding blocks, is underwater. So I’m hopeful, but certainly very concerned.
A

I guess I should be glad my locker is at chest level.

The foundation there has to be awfully thick, and it’s not like there’s an open driveway for water to flow down. I wonder how many potential water entry points there are?

No answer at Chelsea.

Geoffrey Troy at New York Wine Storage/New York Wines in Long Island City says they’re fine – no flooding and they never lost power.

Alex - You might want to change the subject heading to “Chelsea and other NYC wine storage places” or some such in case other people want to contribute info.

That to me is likely the saving grace. Based on my pretty unscientific study (i.e., looking around), it is those wide open driveways into basements that really caused damage. I don’t know whether chelsea market is built on landfill, but if so then water keep seep through the floor pretty easily once things get saturated. But that would likely only affect things lying on the floor, and I would bet that the staff did the best they could to get things to higher ground.
A

I hope everythings safe with your wines at Chelsea.
As an aside, an email was distributed early this morning by my offsite storage at Winecellarage informing us that wines and storage are safe and sound post-Sandy.

It’s an ex-factory and warehouse, so it’s built very well. Most basements have windows and vents – easy routes for water.

Remember the “bathtub” around the World Trade Center? That kept the water table and Hudson River at bay since the 1960s. I think the site only flooded now because water came over the top.

Basement flooding is funny. My building is built over an old underground stream and we used to get water in the boiler room (the lowest point) periodically. But our super told me yesterday that we haven’t had any water come into the basement since a luxury building ($25 million, full-floor units) was built across the street a few years ago with a deep underground garage. He figures all the water flows over there. :slight_smile:

I just heard from Tom at Chelsea Wine Storage. All is fine.

A

Phew! Thanks.

Yes, thank you!

Also got an update that Domaine (ex-Acker) in NJ is a-ok.

Has anyone looked into whether all the importers in NY / NJ had flooding in their warehouses yet? Should we expect the spectre of “Katrina wines” all over again?

I am assuming that the lack of electricity is not too much of a problem with the late October temps, is that correct?

It’s mostly low 50s around here. Temps aren’t an issue.

Vintage wine warehouse in queens is ok too

Manhattan Wine Co ok.

Fon du Lac in Jersey is fine

Anyone hear anything about Wine Care on West 27th St at 11th Ave? I emailed them earlier to no response (not surprising given the circumstances) but still very curious as that is where my wine is. Anyone else hear anything?

Another bump to see if anyone has heard anything about Wine Care. Which is actually on 28th St, not 27th. Anticipating the worst at this point as I just heard about basement flooding on 26th closer to 8th.

David -
I haven’t heard anything but if you post the exact address, I’m happy to walk by there this evening and take a look. I won’t be able to post what I see (no power at home - only in the office) but if you PM an email address I’m happy to update you, and I should be able to post on the board when power returns to lower manhattan, which is supposed to occur this weekend.

A