Wine Storage Questions

Oh hi. I’m the new guy here.

ATM, I don’t have anywhere to store wine other than a small wine cabinet in which the temperature is regulated by the room temperature (yes, I have central air). I was thinking about getting a cooler/refrig, in the 50 bottle arena.

However, I also have a cellar below my house with access from the garage. I haven’t consistently monitored the temp but I would assume it would be a pretty good place to store wine.

So, what are your thoughts? By a 50 bottle cooler or setup some shelves with wine racks in the cellar?

buy a 50 bottle cooler and then start monitoring the temperature in the space for winter, spring, summer and fall. to get a baseline high and low.

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Welcome Chris. My guess is that it is pretty hot in Oklahoma in the summer (never been there) so the shelves with wine racks doesn’t sound ideal. It also depends on what you are buying and cellaring. If you mostly buy wines to drink over the short-term, it won’t matter too much but if you are looking to buy wines to cellar over a number of years then that’s a different story. If you are as crazy as some of us a 50 bottle cooler isn’t going to be big enough for very long.

Thanks. It does get hot in Oklahoma, however, it seems the cellar is always fairly cool. I’ll monitor over the next year. I’m really not looking to store/mature long term right now (2+ years). With that being said, what’s the consensus on 50 bottle or less coolers under $500 in dual zone? Thermostatic or compressor?

Don’t waste your money on a dual zone wine fridge. one temp is fine.

Welcome, Chris! I have one of the wine enthusiast’s 50-bottle (maybe it’s 48?) fridges that i got from Costco for about $500. It’s dual zone and I love it – but I keep both sides at exactly the same temperature, so Suzanne’s advice is spot on. (I’m one of those people that likes the “option” even if I’ll never use it.) My only complaint is that now I need a second one (or maybe a third)! Heed all the advice everyone gives to buy more storage than you think you’ll need! Cheers!

Welcome Chris.

Also keep in mind that temperature spikes are worse than gradual temperature swings. Here in the northeast many people have passive basement cellars and as long as the temp doesn’t get much over 65 in the hottest parts of the summer you should be ok. If you get one of those 90+ degree weeks though and your cellar temp jumps from high 50’s-low 60’s to 70, that’s a bad sign.

Dang. That 48 bottle you were talking about isn’t for sale on Costco’s website. That would have been perfect. Not gonna pay $626 from WE.

keep an eye out for after-Christmas sales (or even as we get closer to the holiday) … maybe there will be some discount codes.

Any other recommendations in the ~50 bottle arena?

Might be worth looking at

Homedepot
Vissani 50-Bottle Wine Cooler - $399.00

i’ve had one of those for the past few months. Overall I like it, it seems like it’s doing its job, and it’s decently quiet. However, I’ve already filled it up, and am storing a few surplus bottles at room temp until I can drink down more bottles to open up the space.

I’ve been thinking about trying to get a few bottles to age long-term, but it seems like they’ll take up so much space that it may be worth looking into offsite storage. I also live in an apartment and will probably move at least once within the next couple of years, so I’m not as keen on getting a large-format storage option like a Le Cache or Eurocave, even disregarding the price, since it’d be so much hassle to move. And I was disappointed that the ArteVino wine coolers from Costco appear to be out of stock/discontinued.

One question: I’ve seen people post about their wine fridges breaking down and “cooking” their wine. How does that happen? Does the compressor malfunction so much that it starts heating up and raising the temps above room temp? Or does it just mean that the wine fridge stopped working completely and the wines were at room/ambient temperature (i.e., above 80-90 deg in the summer)? My apartment’s temperatures are pretty stable with AC, so I was hoping that this wouldn’t be as much of an issue for me, but would love other people’s perspective on this.

I concur on the single zone fridge and def. purchase the extended warranty. They are just not making appliances to last long these days and wine fridges die in about 4-5 years. I have had great experience with Wine Enthusiast and their fridges.

In regards to “cooking” wine upon break down, it basically means the compressor runs and stays warm without pumping freon due to the cheapo thermostat breaking. Since the fridge is an enclosed box it retains the compressor heat.

I have two of these. Bought one because I would never, ever need more than 50 bottles of storage. Bought a second because who would ever need to store more than 100 bottles.
Well, then, I bought a 300 bottle one and … I still don’t have enough room.

They work well. The oldest is close to seven years old. You can actually with some ingenuity fit about 62 bottles in them.

Sorry Berserkers for coming on too “salesman” with my first post. Long time reader, first time commenting! The OP mentioned that he is in need of wine storage in Oklahoma. Wine coolers are great, own a couple myself. Just wanted to give him another option. Again, didn’t mean to push a product, just wanted to let the OP know that wine storage is available now in our great state of Oklahoma!

that’s pretty scary… thanks for the info, though, i’ll try to stay on top of things and check my fridge regularly, and look into some secure off site storage if I ever get any truly age-worthy wines :slight_smile:

Just a heads-up on this. I bought one the other day for my son and his wife. Some of the Home Depot stores are clearing these out at $296 less 20%. I paid $255.37 here in California. Not all their stores are selling at that price. YMMV.

Buy 2 Danby 36 bottle units when they go on sale for $200 each.

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Danby-18-in-36-Bottle-Wine-Cooler-with-One-Temperature-Zone-DWC93BLSDB/203686806?cm_mmc=shopping-_-googleads-_-pla-_-203686806&ci_sku=203686806&ci_gpa=pla&ci_src=17588969&gclid=CJ3J0rn7iMUCFRY8gQoduSAAVg