shortly after my superbowl weekend las vegas trip, i ordered one of these (see below). 

(i tried to insert a picture of it, but i must be technologically challenged.)

 

some assembly required.  it arrived last friday.  believe it or not, somewhere on the instructions (pictographs, no text) it said that assembly should take about an hour.  with a little help from my 1998 vintage son, joseph, we had it assembled, sealed & filled by sunday night.

 

so what did i learn.

 

first, i am still handy enough to save a significant amount of money assembling stuff.  (i can buy a lot of wine with the money i saved.) 

 

next, it is handy to have a 10 year old who can hand you tools & help with the lifting & moving of large, heavy objects although it is difficult to hold his attention for the entire project.  (a 6 year old, 2002 vintage, isn't bad for back up.)

 

a 500 bottle cellar only holds around 350 bottles stuffed to the gills.

 

that temperature indicator can't possibly be very accurate.  there are some prety wild fluctuations between 51 & 60 degrees in a very short span of time that i just can't believe.  i'll have to get something accurate & test this notion.

 

i have more loring than i thought.  brian said that his '06s were his best ever so i bought pretty much all he offered.  this is my #1 producer.

 

jones family is #2, possibly #1, but i'll have to get my '02 from my brother's house in colorado to find out.

 

bressler is easily #3 & i still have at least a bottle of every vintage.

 

i have less seasmoke than i thought, although there is a bunch on the way.  i must have really enjoyed the previous vintages because there isn't a whole lot left.  this is my #4  producer.

 

elyse from the '04 vintage is next on the list & not a surprise to me since is a 2004 vintage elyse.

 

90% of my italian wine is at scott's house (brother in colorado) since we tend to order this jointly.  there is a lot of good brunello & barolo in his cellar that belongs to me.

 

i have a lot of rhone wine.  not enough from a single producer to make the top 5, but quite a bit nonetheless.

 

i have a pretty good amount of champagne & reisling for a guy who doesn't drink much white wine.

 

i am an impulse wine buyer.

 

overall, i still have more cabernet than pinot noir or syrah.

 

i have to be very careful when i open the door.

it is a good thing my 60 degree closet under the stairs is empty, because i know there are wine orders out there that have not shipped.

 

This unit will probably hold a good 250 bottles of Pax.  Depending on the number of Sea Smoke bottles, that would explain the lower amount you got

 

I am NOT looking forward to moving my wines into my new cellar unit when it arrives in another 10 weeks.  I haven't decided if I want to organize the wines as I move them, or just move them as quickly as possible and inventory and arrange later. 

 

Thanks for the post, it reminds me of what I have to do in the near future.

Nice job!

 

Its interesting what you say about the temp fluctuations.   I have a factory assembled unit, very similar and I experience the same fluctuations.   I'm told it runs +/- 5deg so I guess what you an I are experiencing are "normal".

 

I've found setting it to 57 deg keeps it under 60 and doesnt get the unit TOO cold (52ish).   Hope this helps!

My wife bought me the same unit about 4 years ago.  Luckly my assistant was my 1988 vintage son, so the assembly went quite quickly.  Funny thing though, they sent me three doors, and lacked a side panel.  But they were very good about sending the side panel.  Now I have an extra door.

 

You are right it only holds 350 max.  Lucky for me, I have a basement room where I keep both the cabinet and the overflow.

this thing seems to be doing the job well, but it is stuffed to the gills.  the rare wine company sent me an e-mail saying it was shipping season so i called to see what i had on orderwith them.  the answer was a lot more than i thought & not all of it is in yet.  at least it is paid for.  now i have to reasses my storage situation again.

 

i am going to colorado to see my brother next weekend & had thought to bring some wine to trade with him & to bring some of what i have at his house home but that is starting to seem pointless since he has much more room than i do.