UMass Magazine Online

Fall 2005

Departments

Class Notes

Features

Never Mind the Weather?

If You Can Make it There

Peg Riley Wants a New Drug

A Capitol Guy

What They've Learned

Class Notes

A Rare Vintage

—Linda Smith




	Ed Laughran wine cellar

ED LAUGHRAN ’96 LIKES TO get to the bottom of things, be they epic civil engineering projects or the crannies of your basement.

After Laughran earned his bachelor’s in environmental science at UMass Amherst, he worked on the Big Dig from 1995 until 2000, performing site health and safety work and transporting materials. “When the majority of the environmental work was completed, I left to pursue my entrepreneurial roots as a stone mason,” he says.

In order to stand out from the average masonry company he put his knowledge to work in the wine cellar business. He researched the market, spoke with people at other companies specializing in wine cellars, and built his first one at his own home in 2000.

“By taking the work indoors, it not only kept the work coming in year-round but also kept myself and my crew warm in the winter months,” says Laughran. With most of his clientele in the greater Boston area, he’s a one-man business who works with a core group of skilled tradesmen. “I have built a team of trusted professionals that I enjoy working with on my projects,” he says. “The average wine cellar that I build is conditioned to 57 degrees farenheit, holds 1,500 bottles of wine and costs approximately $50,000.”

To date he has designed and built more than 40 wine cellars. From design to completion, the average cellar takes three months.

For more information visit www.charlesriverwinecellars.com.

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