Unless you have a ton of spare time on your hands, using auction houses to maintain a broad collection of wine inside a reasonable drinking window would seem unworkable.
My research on back filling per bottle far exceeds the time I spend for young/on-release wine purchases, but YMMV.
Ostensibly, one needs to spend some time doing something profitable to be able to afford the wine.
Can you fit Burgundy bottles in the Costco one? Restaurant needs more storage and the similar La Cache is mainly Bordeaux.
I paid about $5000 or a little less for a prefabricated wine room that holds about 1200 bottles so not sure about your numbers. I have had to change cooling units on average about every 6 years or so - thus that is an additional cost.
However, what surprises me is that you are concerned about temperature fluctuations, vibrations, etc., for your own wine frig but will buy at auction. I read tasting notes here all the time about how old wines taste that people acquired recently where I have had experiences with the same wines where the wines have tasted wonderful. See TNs: A very Berserker 30th birthday - WINE TALK - WineBerserkers just today for an example of this.
Yes, you need to wiggle them in a bit, but they fit. Some of shelves can be double or triple stacked. You may lose some of that ability with the larger bottles.
That’s funny David. One could also look at it from a different perspective, as in maybe our churn rate is just a little higher than yours! LOL…
Monica
Buying (relatively) reputable brands used would definitely be the way to go, if you have the option. It’s hard to give those things away, so the discount is usually huge.
And David, please continue doing that! Monica, I am right there with you!
I am not digging a cellar any time soon.I would love to, but…
My most frustrating times were when I had offsite storage (other than my business stuff) for my personal “cellar.” Stopped doing that. I love bedlam. Several units, no logging or tracking, lots of surprises, and the biggest thing: I feel I have the control ![[wow.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/7/7d450e9830889c8943b674446a21b7254cad657e.gif "wow"){kind=small}
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Bless you Merrill! I’ve had a 17-year career as an organizing and productivity consultant, and I’m now marrying my love of organization and wine and offering cellar organizing / inventory services. I LOVE being able to page through our inventory, as well as sort it on any number of data points.
Bedlam and I are definitely not pals. Different strokes I guess! 
~ Monica
Monica - my “bedlam” gets relegated to my personal cellar. Looks like you are a newcomer here - I don’t think there is anything that suggests bedlam exists in my business.
As an additional note, I rely on close friends and associates to tell me which wines I have had and what I think of them. It is not uncommon for me to email one of them from a dinner or tasting and say what I am having and what I think (probably a dozen times, at least, in the past week). None of them have to “play,” but no one has backed out of this informal contract, so far.
Different strokes.
Hi Monica
Just letting you know we have a real name policy on the board. Either your username has to display your full name or your signature box displays your name. I can change your username for you if you give me your full name. If you want to change your signature box please click the user control panel on the top left. Thanks for your cooperation.
When I signed up for the forum I did notice it says, “REAL NAMES ONLY. Full name or name plus initial.” So, I opted for the latter. Just to be sure, I just now checked again under “account settings” and that is what it says. Am I misunderstanding something? If so, please let me know. Thanks!
Merrill, I didn’t mean to imply there was bedlam in your business. I knew what you meant. I just was drawing a contrast between total non-tracking and complete tracking the way we do it and how different people like different methods. Sorry if I was unclear.
Monica