I’ve been looking at some wine fridges. As it seems that we are an opinionated bunch, I was wondering if anyone had any insight beyond “get a Eurocave” or “build a real cellar”. I’m looking for ~150 bottles, for primarily reds with assorted bottle shapes (i.e. pinots, CDP) requiring a little more clearance that the usual all-bordeaux-bottle cellars. I have a friend with Eurocave, and even with those little cradles, he has quite a few torn labels due to rubbing on an adjacent shelf. I have no need for “multiple zones”. Whadya say?
As I’ve been shopping, I’ve been also wondering: Are those N’finity units that wine-enthusiast sells any good? It seems like a reasonable price and fits all my needs, but if someone has found that they can’t hold temperature, then please let me know!
Look for a used Le Cache 1400 on eBay, Craigslist, etc. They are exceptional cabinets and use built-in traditional wood racking that can accommodate all bottle sizes in any slot.
I’ve been pretty happy with the ArteVino by EuroCave, I haven’t had any torn label issues and most of my collection are pinot sized bottles. They have it on sale via costco online every once in a while (IIRC $1699). For the < 200 bottle range, it is has a great QPR and based on my research at the time (~1 year ago) it was the best unit that costco carries. Peace of mind for no hassle returns is a major plus for me.
+1 on the Artevino. We moved out of a house where had built a cellar to one that doesn’t have one (yet) and got an Artevino to fill the gap until we build. Very satisfied.
(1) Buy one far larger than you think. Every one of us here has made that mistake at least once, you might as well learn from our errors. Rule of thumb: if you think it’s big enough, it isn’t, get a bigger one.
(2) If you can find a good used one, there is a very steep discount over new ones. Well worth looking around to see.