BigAg95 said:

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I am pretty sure this is what LastBottle is slinging today for $85 if anyone is interested:

https://www.kapcsandywines.com/wines/2011-Estate-Cuv-e

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F it, grabbed 2. I've definitely spent more on bigger unknowns.

752bro4 said:

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BigAg95 said:

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I am pretty sure this is what LastBottle is slinging today for $85 if anyone is interested:

https://www.kapcsandywines.com/wines/2011-Estate-Cuv-e

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F it, grabbed 2. I've definitely spent more on bigger unknowns.

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I grabbed 4. A buddy checked a few hours later and they were long gone. Based on the clues I am pretty sure that's what we'll get, but you never know.

What brand of wine fridge does everyone have or recommend?

I am looking for a single zone in the 120 - 160ish bottle range that doesn't rely on stacking bottles or arranging bottles inward and outward on the same shelf. I found a Wine Enthusiast brand model that I really like the looks of and it is highly rated overall (4.4/5 on 260 reviews), but almost all of the negative reviews have the same complaints of really high humidity and/or inconsistent internal temp from top to bottom.

FTAco07 said:

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What brand of wine fridge does everyone have or recommend?

I am looking for a single zone in the 120 - 160ish bottle range that doesn't rely on stacking bottles or arranging bottles inward and outward on the same shelf. I found a Wine Enthusiast brand model that I really like the looks of and it is highly rated overall (4.4/5 on 260 reviews), but almost all of the negative reviews have the same complaints of really high humidity and/or inconsistent internal temp from top to bottom.

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I have a wine enthusiast branded, n'finity I think. It's been great, no complaints. Temp is a little off, but I just bought other temp displays and adjust the setting based on those. No idea on high humidity? Nature of any wine fridge is going to be that it is conditioning air and lowers humidity. I put wet sponges in the wine fridge to increase humidity.

I've had it for probably 6 years, it recently stopped working. Called the wine enthusiast customer service, they thought it was a control board. Was like $6 mailed. Installed it and all is working again.

Finishing up a quick Sonoma trip. Has been great to explore this part of the county and wine country.

Started out with a tasting at Auteur, not far off of the square. Basically behind girl and the fig. The wines were all top notch. Chardonnays and Pinot Noirs, with one classic Cabernet. We loved everything, and I would have liked to take the Durell Chardonnay but honestly we are set on Chardonnay at the moment at home and could always use more Pinot. Ended up taking a couple of their base Sonoma Coast bottles and 1 Mendocino Ridge Pinot. This was my personal favorite tasting of the trip. Stellar wines, awesome backyard setup for the tasting, perfect weather, and a nice leisurely feel to it.

2nd tasting was at Repris. Thankfully rain has hit the area this week. May screw up the views for some but it is really great to see for the region. I loved watching the rain and fog roll through during our tasting. Only qualm was that we were then not able to take the ATV vineyard tour (insurance related I am sure…), but it was understandable. The volcanic rock caves were fun to walk through, and the tasting was nice. Loved their Right Bank wine, a Cab Franc Merlot blend. We had mainly 2018 wines, with some older vintages sprinkled in.

3rd tasting was a place we didn't originally have planned, Sixteen 600, not far south of the Sonoma square. Our hostess at Auteur recommended it if we had any type of inkling towards Rhone varietals and wines. This was a quaint and super fun tasting in a unique house. Got to choose some records to play while there and they had a sweet room to room setup. We actually ended up getting most of our trip's bottles from here. The wine was great and the price was accessible. There was a tie in to Repris too. The guy behind this is friends with the Grateful Dead, hence some of the old hippie vibes and branding, and has a property up on Moon Mountain right near Repris. This is not somewhere I would have chosen to go to just based on looking around online per say, but damn I am happy we went. The whole experience reminded me of why I love wine.

After that was a place that was recommended three times over! Once from TexAgs, then again at Auteur, then again at Sixteen 600. We did do some shopping and browsing around the square though in between some of this…
Kamen was freaking great. Makes sense we liked their wines too, they farmed and got a lot of their fruit from right near Repris! Can't remember if they were 100% fruit from up there. Funny that we ended up tasting 3 places in this trip all with a ton of fruit from the same Moon Mountain area. We did the tasting just at the square but will definitely be returning to do a mountaintop tasting with Kamen. Excellent Rhone wines and Cabs. We loved them all but left with a Grenache and a Rhone blend. The Grenache was one of their first wines we tried, and it was super memorable. Whole cluster with stems, so it has some tannic backbone and structure to it that you don't always see in fruity versions of Grenache.

Phew, that's it in terms of set tastings. Also got to throw in a glass of Champagne at Sigh off the square, some hiking, some tacos at El Molino Central (highly highly recommend), and a couple of great dinners. Wit & Wisdom was spectacular and the perfect apex to our trip. Sits a mile south of the square. Loved it.

It was a great time in Sonoma! Thank you 752bro4 for the input, looking back it seems we did a lot of what you mentioned!

I think trips are more memorable if you just kind of plan a few bones to it then let the locals guide you the rest of the way. We completely changed dinner plans on a dime for both nights based on this, we did 2 wineries based off of this, and in the end it felt that much more "in the moment" and reflective of the time.

sounds like a fun trip. I have never actually been to the city of Sonoma....

Find one on Craigslist or FB marketplace that's broke a d buy a new cooling unit. Way cheaper than the sky high prices charged for a new cooler.

Or convert a closet to a cellar.

FTAco07 said:

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What brand of wine fridge does everyone have or recommend?

I am looking for a single zone in the 120 - 160ish bottle range that doesn't rely on stacking bottles or arranging bottles inward and outward on the same shelf. I found a Wine Enthusiast brand model that I really like the looks of and it is highly rated overall (4.4/5 on 260 reviews), but almost all of the negative reviews have the same complaints of really high humidity and/or inconsistent internal temp from top to bottom.

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have you considered going off site?

We did a 85 bottle for at home, and have about 200 offsite that are going to be laid down. We just keep an organized spreadsheet and box system so we know where what is…for the ones we keep offsite, it also self-regulates us from opening them. We probably make 1-2 trips per year to drop off and pick up. I think we pay $400/yr for an 18 case locker.

There are a couple of options in dfw, and a new one opening fairly soon inside the loop.

I do offsite as well. But frequently ask myself if I should just buy a second wine fridge. I mean offsite isn't cheap, 3 years of rent for offsite storage and you could've just bought a fridge....

But offsite does have various other advantages. Don't have to worry about a fridge breaking, have backup space if something does happen to mine, out of site out of mind for bottles I want to age, don't have to take up more room in my house, etc.

We do it for 3 reasons, and you hit on them there

1) out of sight, out of mind, no need for scarecrow to make an appearance on Tuesday as a 2nd bottle or on a Saturday as a 3rd bottle!

2) insurance - their commercial refrigeration and redundancy > anything I have at home

3) less of a footprint in our house. If we ever did a custom build house or gut job, I'd probably include a 500 bottle built in, and it would be a show piece, as opposed to the black box of a fridge I have in my office closet.

Don't build anything less than 800-1000 bottles if you can. The economies to go small are terrible; doubling the number of bottles is probably 25% more cost, especially if you want it to be a show piece and not in a back room.

What brand or where can I get that wine cabinet ?

www.winecabinets.com

The one I have is their galaxy series G-540. Holds 500+ bottles and can handle summers in Houston in my garage. I've had it for 3 years now and can't recommend it enough. Definitely reach out to them and they can customize anything they have to your requirements.

https://www.vinotemp.com/wine-storage-2/wine-cabinets/wood-wine-cabinets/l/wine-cabinet-bottle-count:400-599

Vino-temp is another good brand

i'm using offsite now, too.

more room and it is nice to have a place to go and get plugged into a larger wine community

definitely not cheap

Curios, even though not really interested in off-site.

How many bottles do you think it takes to even consider off-site? What percentage do you keep off-site?

I use offsite. Keep all but what's going to be enjoyed in the next 12 months there. So 75% stored there if I was guessing.

We were going to do something in the house remodel but I've decided against it. There will be a space there in case I change my mind. We'll see.

Quote:

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what's going to be enjoyed in the next 12 months there.

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So about 400 bottles at home?

Hahaha. In the old days yes. Not anymore. We are about to move out for a while. Moving wine may be the worst part of moving because I won't hire anyone to it. That's all on me.

BSD said:

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Hahaha. In the old days yes. Not anymore. We are about to move out for a while. Moving wine may be the worst part of moving because I won't hire anyone to it. That's all on me.

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Maybe just invite a few from this thread over to "help" you with your problem.

752bro4 said:

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BSD said:

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Hahaha. In the old days yes. Not anymore. We are about to move out for a while. Moving wine may be the worst part of moving because I won't hire anyone to it. That's all on me.

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Maybe just invite a few from this thread over to "help" you with your problem.

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Haha for real, though. I'd be glad to come help. Learned a lot from you and gained some good bottles from you over the years BSD

cecil77 said:

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Curios, even though not really interested in off-site.

How many bottles do you think it takes to even consider off-site? What percentage do you keep off-site?

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I'm about to move, so I'm going to have 90-95% at offsite. when not in move mode, probably have a bit more at home. I also buy stuff to drink immediately from local wine stores, so those will be at the house.

I have a modestly sized collection, so only ~400 bottles at storage facility right now

my off-site also has a small 'member's lounge' and events so a good place to hang out and drink wine on occasion.

We do 85 refrigerated, and just counted 60ish in a closet, and 20 that are out in the kitchen. Most of the 60 are headed to the fridge, and 40-50 of the fridge are headed offsite, and 200 are off site.

We are changing offsite places in March, and have a 24 case locker. Fall shipments are trickling in too, so we'll add to that.

For those of you in Dallas (and hopefully soon to be Houston in late 2022 and other market expansions) a new place in Preston Center is opening that is storage and lounge/club.

https://www.55seventy.com/

(Disclaimer/disclosure) I'm a partner in the above

Where in Houston?

TBD - looking ITL or memorial and The Woodlands

Dallas location opens Q1, hoping to lockdown a seconds dfw location soon, then expand to Houston.

I'd move to off site if they had one in the Woodlands

752bro4 said:

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TBD - looking ITL or memorial and The Woodlands

Dallas location opens Q1, hoping to lockdown a seconds dfw location soon, then expand to Houston.

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Memorial it is!

But seriously, I think Nos Caves Vin does something similar in Memorial and right off 59/Greenbriar. I'm not sure if there is a similar concept in the Woodlands or not.

I have been hesitant to join Nos Caves because it seemed pricey for me since I don't drink enough to get the social aspect of it all. I'd rather just pay less at my current offsite and drink a bottle at home with my wife once a month or so. That's just my personal situation though. If I could go old school and drink a bottle or two a night, I'd definitely sign up.

For anyone in houston, the annual holiday shopping card is out and houston wine merchant is participating. 20% off, excludes liquor.

Know it's early but may see if I can pre-order a case of '20 d'yquem (son's birth year). May also stock up on some French reds as I haven't bought much Napa wine the past couple years.

htxag09 said:

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For anyone in houston, the annual holiday shopping card is out and houston wine merchant is participating. 20% off, excludes liquor.

Know it's early but may see if I can pre-order a case of '20 d'yquem (son's birth year). May also stock up on some French reds as I haven't bought much Napa wine the past couple years.

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They have a 1997 Salon! Easily in the top 2 champs I've ever had. Damn shame it's $1k after the coupon.

BLUF: Looking for recs on CA central coast wineries from ~Paso on the north end to Santa Barbara on the south end.

I recently moved back to the central coast this past summer. This is my third time living out here and really want to get into wine this go round.

I've always enjoyed wine (mainly prefer reds) but have never really "known" wine like I do beer. I've never really been able to tell the difference between a $50+ bottle and a $15 bottle.

Over the next two years that I'm out here I would like to find some good wineries to check out but the sheer volume makes it a bit hard to approach I feel. I've been to a few already and have enjoyed all of them but none have really stuck out to me as game changing.

Off the top of my head the ones I've been to based on coworker and local' suggestions have been Rancho Sisquac Presqu'ile, a few in Los Olivos (carhartt being the most memorable) Black Jack, and brick barn. I went to Firestone when I was first out here years ago in 08, mainly because I enjoy their barrel aged & sour beer program in Buellton. Another that I've been told to check out but haven't made it to yet is Jonata.

So since Texags knows stuff I figured I'd come here seeking advice and direction.

Thanks & Gig Em in advance

Part of this is urban/rural.

If I have to drive to SA it's just too far/long.

Also, I enjoy having and seeing my wine.

Two 480 bottle chillers - not nearly full. The one with the best bottles is so well insulated, and with 300-ish bottles in it (i.e. large heat sink) I think it could go days and days w/out power and be fine.

May also be an age thing. At 66, I'm not too concerned if we succumb to temptation and open a jewel on a Tuesday night. Really, human aging changes your perspective on wine aging. One reason I am fortunate to buy some older wines.

I'm really interested in the concept of these. But when we last looked in Houston the club type places were several hundred dollars a month where as we are paying $50.

You're buying access, ambiance, and like minded people to hang out with. Just like any other private club/country club. What's $300/month when you pop $150 bottles of wine all the time.

We have a wine budget and are pretty good about sticking to it. So $300 a month is pretty significant, it's another 24-36 nice bottles of wine I could have purchased......

But, yes, I get the point. That's why I'm really interested in the concept. The ones we toured in Houston just didn't offer enough benefits to offset the cost, IMO.