I still cant pull the trigger on a $4000 Eurocave, the price just gets to me. Lots of cheaper options but they are Chinese made and dont look like quality, Nfinity, Avanti etc.
Just saw the brand Allavino Flexcount from Beverage factory in CA, about $2k deleverec with a five year warranty, shelves appear to be Rhone bottle compatible.
Anyone got any experience good or bad please
hey there,
i was wondering if you ended up purchasing the Allavino. I currently have a Allavino CWR-29-2SD Cascina Series but it’s grown much too small and am looking to upgrade to something around 80-100 bottles and was considering another Allavino. Thanks in advance!
Yes i did
I bought the 177 bottle version, i negotiated on the pricing and it ended up at $1650 with 5 year onsite warranty and white glove delivery, the delivery was supposed to be $350 i balked and they dropped to $75, it was needed as the unit is large and heavy. Look in the clearance section then use that to select a model and negotiate.
So far everything looks good, its well made the shelves are very sturdy with nice rollers and they dont buckle and bend like cheaper units. About half the shelves are a little tight with big burg bottles but the other half are great and there are also four shelves which take magnums and really big bottles like Krug. It keeps a perfect 55 with only 1 or 2 degree variation. Overall im very pleased and feel it was a good purchase, of course only time will tell if the compressor etc will hold up for 5-10 years. The way i look at though is i can buy three of these for one Eurocave and with the full five year warranty that means at least 15 years worth for the same price worst case. I also found Beverage Factory very easy and professional to deal with, the delivery guys were not that experienced but i think that just goes with the territory, they did put the unit in place and remove all packaging.
Alan,
Glad to hear you ended up pulling the trigger on this one. FWIW, I viewed my purchase the exact same as you - the 5 yr warranty is the key, and although it was a headache when I had a unit go bad about 6 months ago, the warranty company did come through and I was able to replace the unit at no cost.
Alan - Out of curiosity, is your cooler freestanding or did you take advantage of the front venting and build it into a cabinet? Reasonably priced options for front venting wine coolers are few and far between and I have plans to redo our dining room with custom cabinetry which would include a built-in wine fridge.
Its free standing
Alan, thanks for the update. Did you find that particular fridge in the clearance section and go down there or were you able to negotiate with them over the phone/email? I’m just not sure if I should go for a wine fridge or a cellar like Le Cache as many say fridges like the Allavino type and what not are not meant to keep bottles longer than 5 years due to the lack of humidity control and what not but I have found a few Allavino 99-127 bottle ones that look really nice and are a good in price.
Did everything by phone/email
In terms of aging its not an issue for me, i keep me long term stuff at an offsite. Personally i dont think a 100 bottle unit at home is great for aging for 5 years plus, the vibration, the humidity, the light, opening/closing, shelves moving etc. i use it for access to my drinkers, so i keep 120-150 bottles on hand so i have a good selection when needed then refill from offsite and purchases as required.
How is Allavino holding up?
Alan passed in 2019.