I don’t think the Le cache cabinet I have is particularly cost effective in terms of storage, or was something like 4500 shipped and stores about 175 bottles; but it was intended to look like a piece of furniture in a living room; not for maximum storage. The fit and finish of the le cache cabinets is great though and they use cellarpro cooling units.
Sorry I should have added I was eyeing a Vinotheque but there might be a reason you can get them for cheap. FWIW I could care less about the look. Just max storage for the dollar.
The bigger lecache seem like they’d work well then. FYI they will not fit oversized champagne bottles, but will fit basically everything else.
I store approx 250 bottles at home in two under-cabinet wine fridges in the kitchen and in a large closet that maintains 62-64 degrees year-round. As the collection grew, I contemplated a wine cabinet, but ultimately decided to rent a locker at a storage facility for the additional wine. This was mostly based on cost, as a 12-case locker was $300/year and that’s all I needed.
We live 25 miles from the facility but my office is approx. 5 miles, so it’s quick and easy to run by over lunch or after work. The facility receives all my wine and sends me an email upon receipt. If I give them a key to my locker, they will even place it in storage for me. The facility also holds scheduled tastings once per month and there are groups that meet weekly to twice/month to open wines. I’ve gotten to know a few guys that participate in these tastings and from those, I’ve had some incredible wines I never thought I’d be able to try. The value of wines consumed, both qualitative and quantitative, far exceed the annual rental cost. Definitely consider those aspects if you think those may be a possibility.
Keep in mind that the large lecache units that bs 600 bottles or whatever are ENORMOUS. They might not be easy to get into a basement or any room besides a garage.
We have a Le Cache that we bough on craigslist for 1500 or so. Holds 180 bottles and works like a charm. I would search the local second hand market and see whats available.
I was going to ask but do you or anybody know if the euro or le cache are suitable for the garage in Bend, OR?
The Le cache vault ones are meant for a garage.
You could wrap it in insulation and live with the (moderate?) increase on your electric bill for a couple months out of the year.
The next dilemma is when a home unit and offsite is not enough at how many bottles do you build your own wine cellar ? Offsite starts to get expensive over 500 bottles and the payback period starts to factor in for building, plus carrying to/from offsite can get very tiresome
Yeah it’s tricky; figuring out capacity is tricky because you don’t want to underbuild. Guessing I’ll have to make room for ~5k bottles.
Lovely and quick way to up your storage! And, it stays close at hand!
Avanti 166 bottle (also branded as wine enthusiast and another name) worked awesome when I had one and then two. I liked that doors could be hung either direction so when I got my second they opened in opposite direction which made relocating and reorganizing much easier. They are both still running 10 plus years later as far as I know (traded one to a fellow berskerker for some choice bottles and traded 2nd one to a friend who uses it as both wine and cigar storage to this day
Offsite has its advantages however once I built my cellar those advantages diminished aside from the signing for deliveries.
I bought the Artevino (French made by Eurocave) that holds “200” and have really liked it. No problems, seems to be a great value for money. I thought about purchasing the double unit from Costco but ended up building a value cellar. I would definitely recommend the Artevino. In addition to Costco, they also sell some scratch and dent units on Wineenthusiast.
I’d go with a wine unit at home. Doesn’t have to be in the living room either. It’s kind of weird to put a big storage unit in a part of the house you use all the time. I’d put it in the basement or a spare room if you have one.
When I had my own home, I built my own storage in the basement. If you pay someone to do it for you, it gets expensive, but I put it together myself and it cost a lot less than my wine fridge did, but it held about five times as many bottles.
Now that I’m in an apartment with no basement, I’m like many of the others here, paying for storage and having a unit at home. And a bunch of cases that live in the spare room. Nice thing about having something at home is that you can have a choice every night.
Buy bigger than you initially plan for.
Most folks underestimate, hence two and three units are purchased. Having sold them early in the going, in the mid 80’s, I saw many folks make this mistake and there are many more wines in the market today which may shift your palate and priorities, so do not fill it with wines you are enamored with currently.
Hi James,
I have a Le Cache vault and like it a lot. It can go in a garage; mine is my basement “wine room,” with other onsite storage. It would like fine in most living rooms, if they were large enough, imho.
If you only have 75 bottles at present, you might want to go a little more slowly, and first spend that money on more wine, however! (I started out and also have these, which work fine and are a deal with free shipping: https://www.homedepot.com/p/Danby-35-Bottle-Wine-Cooler-in-Platinum-Black-DWC350BLP/100673963
I also have offsite, so you can see that this “hobby” indeed has a tendency to get a little out of control.
Wine cabinets are not refrigerators that are meant to cool many degrees from ambient temperature so a 80 degree garage is a sure way to make it fail. I have 2 500 bottle cabinets in my study. that I repurposed because no need for the massive desk and file cabinets anymore.
That Danby is great; I’ve kept one at my parents’ for 10+ years and it’s cooled great.
Thanks. I am going to start with Storage after researching around. I think in the end I will get my Le Cache credenza to keep some choice ones on hand. I hope to run into people at the wine storage and make some friends.