I need to move my fathers wine collection in Maryland to a temperature controlled wine storage. My sisters and I are preparing his house for market and need to find a temporary home for the wine. Any suggestions would be appreciated. The storage facility doesn’t have to be glamorous, just 55 degrees with relative humidity. The wine is near Westminster, Maryland but I can store it anywhere as long as it is close to Baltimore or Washington DC.
You can try reaching out to Domaine DC, but last time I checked they are full.
Zachy’s DC has a storage facility. Not sure about cost, though it’s right off 295, so should be relatively accessible from Westminster.
Yeah. Zachys, sent a flier around about new lockers being opened up. I think each locker was for 30 cases, and it was about 900/yr. Might be cheaper for bulk, non-access storage if they have it. You can also call schneiders in DC (cellar.com). They temporarily stored some wine for a friend a few years back, but their warehouse may be full. On a side note, they buy cellars as well.
Their site is quoting $5/month/case, which seems pretty high. For 30 cases that would be 1800/year.
We used Zachy’s last year for 3 months when moving. No real problems and they pick up, box, store and deliver. Costs us about $1000 for pick up in Columbia and deliver to Charlottesville.
The only real issue was they were virtually impossible to get hold of by phone or email. They tend not to answer quickly if at all. I eventually appealed to the NY store for help.
Adrian
Wide World of Wines, the wine store on Wisconsin Ave. in Washington, has storage lockers in their basement, but I don’t know if any are currently available. 202-333-7500.
The Wine Rack, also on Wisconsin Ave., is another, and they have a variety of storage options. Good storage conditions but very limited access times. 202-337-7270.
Just contacted Zachys last week about this and this is the info that they gave me:
As of the 27th of Sept, Zachys still had room since they most recently added lockers. Their price is 899$ per year per unit which holds (according to them) between 30 and 35 cases. The 5$ per case quote above is not for their self-storage option - it’s for when they “maintain” your cellar in their kind of general area where they store for you and put and pull your wines for you so you don’t need to do anything. If you have a self-storage unit, Zachys has no fees to receive your wine but they will charge you to put what they receive in your unit. You can access your wines from M-F 8:30 to 6 and Sat from 10 to 5.
Domaine charges 300 per quarter or 1020 per year for a 25 case unit. Pretty much the same services as Zachys but with more hours since they have their keyfob access thing.
Thanks everyone for the insight! I will give these places a call.
I can provide a couple of data points on storage options in the DMV area, as I just opened an account through the end of the year at The Wine Rack (David Gray’s place). For reference, I was in the market for a 10ish case storage solution.
- Domaine DC: I called in early September to inquire about availability for their 10 case “Premier Client” program. The general manager let me know that they were full at the moment, but that there appeared to be clients moving out shortly which should free up some space. I was offered a spot on the waitlist for 10 case storage, and was told I would be the the next to be able to move in.
- Wine Rack: I inquired about 10 case storage around the same time I contacted Domaine DC, and was told there were 10 case lockers available. After waiting on Domaine, I decided to move into the Wine Rack for the moment, at least until space opened up at Domaine (or maybe longer, we’ll see if the limited access really bites). When I checked in earlier this week (so about a month since my initial inquiry), I was told that there were no more 10 case lockers available and was offered a 14 case locker, which I accepted through the end of the year. Stopped by today to hand over the check - very nice person helping me out. Anecdotally, it seemed like there wasn’t that much availability at the Wine Rack either, and it sounded like there has been an uptick in demand for wine storage.
I use Domaine and am generally satisfied. Some of their quoted timelines in terms of time from wine delivery to actually being logged/moved to my locker has been several weeks lately. Even longer is auction pickups - 3-4 months at least. Seems like the New York clients get better timing as trucks go from auction houses to NY then NY to DC.
Being in Charlottesville, it’s 1 day ground service via UPS/FedEx so I can ship basically 9 months per year (FedEx Ground delivers to my house around 10-11am, so really just try to avoid it if daily highs are 85+) to my house, and I get up there once in a while in person, as well…
If you don’t mind me asking, are you a Premier member? A spot just opened up on the waitlist for the 10 case premier membership and I’m trying to make a decision…
I have been Domaine DC customer since they opened. Very satisfied. If that helps.
Certainly does - thank you for the information!
LOL probably mine as I just upgraded to 18. For me I enjoy the Premier service because I’m based in Charlottesville, and it’s not realistic to drive up there every time I get a delivery. If I were in the DMV area, I might be more interested in maintaining my own locker.
Again, other than the long wait to get things logged or picked up from auction houses, I’m generally very satisfied.