Making wine cellars in West Michigan

WEST MICHIGAN (NEWSCHANNEL 3) – Michigan is suffering during the recession and losing jobs everyday, but one local company has a unique idea that is helping to grow the local economy, it's a home-grown endeavor from top to bottom, and the product is attracting nationwide attention.

West Michigan is already known for its grape crop and for its fabulous wineries that bottle more and more award-winning wines each year, now someone has found the perfect way to display that wine.

The Revel Wine Cellar is a new storage concept that is taking off.

"When you stand in one of our cellars you can ID at least 75 percent of your wine without touching a single bottom," said Laurie Lindrup of Revel Cellars.

With most wine bins, the label is hidden, and for wine lovers, seeing what they've collected is part of the thrill. The Revel design project manager is a graduate of Kendall College, and says that seeing her drawings come to life is a thrill.

"It's just very cool to walk in and say, wow, that was my baby, that's the one I did," said Jaclyn Drenth.

Revel's customers range from the local small collector to some real heavy hitters. A huge, 3,800 bottle cellar has already been sold to Sir Richard Branson of Virgin.

Revel has partnered with Benchmark Wood Studios in Holland to manufacture the unique cellars.

"We've got a great base of cabinet makers, there's a lot of skilled labor here in the furniture area in Holland and Grand Rapids," said Jeff Swieringa, Benchmark Design Team Manager.

Swieringa says that while bigger companies have moved things to china, it's refreshing to keep things local.

"I think it's a great thing for the city, also this region being able to create jobs, can't go wrong there," said Swieringa.

The inventor of the Revel Cellar and founder of the company is Jim Cash, from Lansing.

The cellars are all of custom design, and since their launch in June, the company already has six distributors across the country.