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Wine Cooler - 12/18/2016 7:21:13 AM   
GrapeNut.tr

 

Posts: 15
Joined: 12/18/2011
From: Atlanta, GA USA
Status: offline 		I am considering giving my son a Wine Enthusiast Evolution - 20 Bottle Wine Cooler Model Number 268 68 20 01 for Chrismas. Do any of you have any opinions about this Wine Cooler? Have a Great Holiday and a Happy New Year.

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Atlanta, GA USA
Post #: 1
RE: Wine Cooler - 12/18/2016 9:05:27 AM   
ChrisinCowiche

 

Posts: 7856
Joined: 12/16/2009
From: Cowiche, WA
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: GrapeNut.tr

I am considering giving my son a Wine Enthusiast Evolution - 200+ Bottle Wine Cooler for Christmas. Do any of you have any opinions about this Wine Cooler? Have a Great Holiday and a Happy New Year.

FIFY

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RE: Wine Cooler - 12/18/2016 9:25:31 AM   
mclancy10006

 

Posts: 4510
Joined: 3/19/2007
From: Cape Cod, MA & Bellevue, WA
Status: offline 		I kind of agree with ChrisinSunnyside on this. There is little point in a 20 bottle cooler unless you live somewhere really hot. (Like FL) 20 bottles is not enough to store medium/long term which is why you would want a cooler anyway. At that capacity I would just do racking. How long would 20 bottles sit around? Not likely months/years. Maybe if this was a vacation house and you left it un air conditioned for a few months off season a 20 bottle cooler might make sense.

For what is is worth, My First unit was 60 bottles and it showed its limits of capacity right away. I still use it, but only for ready to drink whites for the most part.
-Mark


< Message edited by mclancy10006 -- 12/18/2016 9:29:42 AM >

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Post #: 3
RE: Wine Cooler - 12/18/2016 10:02:07 AM   
BenNoir

 

Posts: 921
Joined: 7/9/2014
From: Snoqualmie River Valley, WA
Status: offline 		A good undercounter 20 bottle cooler is nice for shuttling 6-12 bottles at a time from your cellar.
Family members pull easily from it, thus you can target wines ready to consume.

If that is your only cooler, it could be used for 5 -10 bottles of very special occasion wine while you buy and consume daily drinkers from the pantry.

ben

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Post #: 4
RE: Wine Cooler - 12/18/2016 10:34:45 AM   
River Rat

 

Posts: 1339
Joined: 4/29/2010
From: Forestville, CA
Status: offline 		20 bottles is not very much. Once you have controlled storage at home it seems to prompt purchases which end up overfilling storage. I started out with an 18 bottle unit that never had enough space for daily drinkers and failed just out of warranty. Since then I purchased three of these separately as needed before recently upgrading to a 500+ bottle cabinet. Still use two of the 52 bottle units for daily drinkers and gave one to my step-Son.

I have had flawless service from mine for nearly 10 years. Can't speak for the WE unit except that anything under 36 bottles tends to not be very cost effective.


< Message edited by River Rat -- 12/18/2016 10:35:47 AM >

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Post #: 5
RE: Wine Cooler - 12/18/2016 11:30:29 AM   
S1

 

Posts: 14828
Joined: 11/12/2011
From: Wandering between Coastal SC and South FL
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: River Rat

20 bottles is not very much. Once you have controlled storage at home it seems to prompt purchases which end up overfilling storage. I started out with an 18 bottle unit that never had enough space for daily drinkers and failed just out of warranty. Since then I purchased three of these separately as needed before recently upgrading to a 500+ bottle cabinet. Still use two of the 52 bottle units for daily drinkers and gave one to my step-Son.

I have had flawless service from mine for nearly 10 years. Can't speak for the WE unit except that anything under 36 bottles tends to not be very cost effective.


truth
I think 50ish is the smallest capacity to consider.

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Post #: 6
RE: Wine Cooler - 12/18/2016 11:57:38 AM   
CaliRed

 

Posts: 62
Joined: 5/3/2015
From: Santa Clarita, CA
Status: offline 		Sorry, I do not have any experience with that cooler. Wine enthusiast puts out "good" products, not the highest quality but good for the price point. Have you checked for the on line reviews?

If your son is just starting out with his wine adventure, the 20 bottle cooler will do just fine.

If he gets the bug, he may grow out of that quickly. However, I think it would be a nice gift.

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Post #: 7
RE: Wine Cooler - 12/18/2016 1:47:15 PM   
mikes

 

Posts: 46
Joined: 8/9/2016
From: South of Denver, North of the Springs
Status: offline 		A 20 bottle $250 fridge is fine if he is picking up a few bottles at the store, a rare case buy, and a few memorable purchases. If he is doing more, the jump is an order of magnitude from $250 to $2,500. As a gift for Christmas this may seem inappropriate. But if I was looking back at myself: 200+ --> straight to Eurocave with space-to-put-it-somewhere approvals.

< Message edited by mikes -- 12/19/2016 8:03:02 AM >

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RE: Wine Cooler - 12/18/2016 2:16:55 PM   
GrapeNut.tr

 

Posts: 15
Joined: 12/18/2011
From: Atlanta, GA USA
Status: offline 		Thank you, Thank you to all that sent their advice. All were very helpful, professional and well written. I will use the info to select a proper gift for my son.
To all of you.....Have a Happy Holiday and a Great New Year.......Cheers!!!

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RE: Wine Cooler - 1/8/2017 12:11:13 PM   
PinotPhile

 

Posts: 3728
Joined: 3/16/2014
From: Southern CA
Status: offline 		My sainted, dear husband is now looking into a new cooler for me. My current cooler has served well, but was purchased in 1997 and holds 50 bottles. I know I will need another at some point. This one by Wine Enthusiast, holds, supposedly, about 92 bottles. Its footprint will enable placement in the garage in the same spot as the current one. So my husband's garage space will not be impacted. If anyone has experience and/or feedback on this cooler, it would be much appreciated.

http://www.costco.com/Wine-Enthusiast-Classic-92-bottle-Single-Zone-Free-Standing-Wine-Cellar.product.100131853.html

Cheers!

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Post #: 10
RE: Wine Cooler - 1/8/2017 12:30:22 PM   
BornToRhone

 

Posts: 3131
Joined: 2/14/2012
From: The Big D, Texas
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: S1


quote:

ORIGINAL: River Rat

20 bottles is not very much. Once you have controlled storage at home it seems to prompt purchases which end up overfilling storage. I started out with an 18 bottle unit that never had enough space for daily drinkers and failed just out of warranty. Since then I purchased three of these separately as needed before recently upgrading to a 500+ bottle cabinet. Still use two of the 52 bottle units for daily drinkers and gave one to my step-Son.

I have had flawless service from mine for nearly 10 years. Can't speak for the WE unit except that anything under 36 bottles tends to not be very cost effective.


truth
I think 500ish is the smallest capacity to consider.

^ FIFY, S1.

Seriously, if he is into wine at all, then there are small "college size" wine fridges which will hole about 45 bottles which might be better, unless he is very space limited...

< Message edited by BornToRhone -- 1/8/2017 12:32:37 PM >

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Post #: 11
RE: Wine Cooler - 1/8/2017 1:08:00 PM   
Rackit

 

Posts: 278
Joined: 5/22/2016
From: Westport, CT
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: PinotPhile

My sainted, dear husband is now looking into a new cooler for me. My current cooler has served well, but was purchased in 1997 and holds 50 bottles. I know I will need another at some point. This one by Wine Enthusiast, holds, supposedly, about 92 bottles. Its footprint will enable placement in the garage in the same spot as the current one. So my husband's garage space will not be impacted. If anyone has experience and/or feedback on this cooler, it would be much appreciated.

http://www.costco.com/Wine-Enthusiast-Classic-92-bottle-Single-Zone-Free-Standing-Wine-Cellar.product.100131853.html

Cheers!

PinotPhile,
I own 2 Wine Enthusiast N'Finity Pro LX units and the big double door 600 btl Le Cache unit.
The folks at Wine Enthusiast make the N'Finity line as a low cost option to the Eurocaves. They are made in China and don't have the features or the build quality of the Eurocaves. That said, people who own them have told me they figure on a 10-15 year lifespan before it has issues or craps out. I'm pretty happy with my N'Finity purchase as the cost for the equivalent Eurocaves was 2X.
Since you are in SoCal, you should really have a unit that's more insulated if it's going in the garage...assuming the garage is not air conditioned. If you've got AC in the garage, then it doesn't matter.
Is the fridge your only source of storage? If so, I agree with others that you should go for the largest capacity unity possible. If you also do off site storage, then you just have to weigh the cost difference to see what makes sense.
I find that the Le Cache units are VERY well made and if the cooling unit fails, it can be serviced or replaced versus throwing away the whole thing.
Check out their guide on sizing here:

http://www.lecachewinecabinets.com/choose-right-wine-cabinet

Good luck!



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Post #: 12
RE: Wine Cooler - 1/8/2017 3:09:30 PM   
PinotPhile

 

Posts: 3728
Joined: 3/16/2014
From: Southern CA
Status: offline 		Rackit, thanks!

I do have other storage at home, no offsite storage. I am a modest collector with a target range of 110-150 bottles. Between other in-house storage and my cooler now, I manage. But given the age of the cooler and the option I cited, I will be very happy to have more cooler space. A capacity of, say 80-90 bottles, which seems likely, sounds just great to me. I rarely store magnums.

I am a long way from offsite storage, and am not really interested in getting to that size of a collection. What I have now, at maybe 2.5 - 3.0 years of wine, works for me. Not an entertainer, just a maturing/aging introvert with a growing "geekiness" when it comes to vino.

Cheers!

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Post #: 13
RE: Wine Cooler - 1/9/2017 11:54:52 AM   
NurseDave

 

Posts: 71
Joined: 8/14/2015
From: Bay Area, California
Status: offline 		I just recently got the N'Finity Pro L cooler. Originally I was looking at the equivalent of that model on the Costco site as well. I spent some time talking with the rep from Wine Enthusiast and decided to step up one level to the Pro model. The biggest difference for me was the shelving and having solid shelves that actually roll out further with bearings, opposed to wire shelves that just slide on the plastic. The bottom two shelves of mine are the wire type because of the compressor down there and they are not as deep. Seeing the difference I'm glad I spent the extra money.

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Post #: 14
RE: Wine Cooler - 1/9/2017 1:41:35 PM   
wadcorp

 

Posts: 9336
Joined: 10/29/2008
From: Kansas City, MO
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: GrapeNut.tr

Do any of you have any opinions about this Wine Cooler?




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