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Self-storage warehouses

Posted: 00:54 Sat 10 Jan 2009
by DRT
Does anyone here use a self-storage facility to store wine or port? My stock is reaching a size where keeping it with a wine merchant and paying a per bottle/case charge is becomming less attractive than it once was. I also have the idea that a self-storage unit would provide me with more flexibility in that I would be able to store mixed cases, single bottles and other essential items such as empty port bottles.

If anyone has experience of using such a facility can you please let me know whether or not the are temperature controlled and roughly how much it costs to rent a small secure unit/room?

Thanks
Derek

Re: Self-storage warehouses

Posted: 01:45 Sat 10 Jan 2009
by Alex Bridgeman
I've just investigated the price of self-storage for use during my forthcoming building project. My local depot charges £15 per month for a room of 15 square feet with a 10 foot ceiling. The facility is heated so does not get too cold in the winter but is not air conditioned so would not be great for wine in the summer.

Best thing you can do is to build yourself a cellar...or if you can't do that then bury your wine 6-10 feet under the surface of your garden where the temperature is a perfect 10-12C

Alex

Re: Self-storage warehouses

Posted: 02:05 Sat 10 Jan 2009
by DRT
AHB wrote:Best thing you can do is to build yourself a cellar...or if you can't do that then bury your wine 6-10 feet under the surface of your garden where the temperature is a perfect 10-12C
After buying our house we found out that it is built on top of an old slag-heap from a coal mine. I have a feeling that 6-10 feet below the surface of my garden might be at a slightly higher temperature than you might expect :shock: :lol:

Re: Self-storage warehouses

Posted: 10:38 Sat 10 Jan 2009
by KillerB
DRT wrote:
AHB wrote:Best thing you can do is to build yourself a cellar...or if you can't do that then bury your wine 6-10 feet under the surface of your garden where the temperature is a perfect 10-12C
After buying our house we found out that it is built on top of an old slag-heap from a coal mine. I have a feeling that 6-10 feet below the surface of my garden might be at a slightly higher temperature than you might expect :shock: :lol:
I was considering the same thing. My home storage is good but there is a difference in temperature between Winter and Summer. I checked my brother's storage facility where he has a refirgerated unit installed. I have no intention of using that but there are other, small units in the same building, which could be temperature and humidity controlled. I will need to check the costs but I think that they are excessive for one person's purposes but might be reasonable for a few of us. Will need to check the cost of conversion as well and running costs.

Re: Self-storage warehouses

Posted: 11:28 Sat 10 Jan 2009
by benread

Re: Self-storage warehouses

Posted: 12:28 Sat 10 Jan 2009
by Alex Bridgeman
I hadn't spotted that. Interesting.

Re: Self-storage warehouses

Posted: 21:20 Sat 10 Jan 2009
by JacobH
DRT wrote:Does anyone here use a self-storage facility to store wine or port? My stock is reaching a size where keeping it with a wine merchant and paying a per bottle/case charge is becomming less attractive than it once was. I also have the idea that a self-storage unit would provide me with more flexibility in that I would be able to store mixed cases, single bottles and other essential items such as empty port bottles.

If anyone has experience of using such a facility can you please let me know whether or not the are temperature controlled and roughly how much it costs to rent a small secure unit/room?
Received wisdom is that those self-storage places can become very expensive if they are used for more than a year (as that is where the profit margin is). Have you tried negotiating with the warehouse? I would imagine that there must be a certain degree of flexibility for storers of larger quantities of wine.

Re: Self-storage warehouses

Posted: 10:15 Sun 11 Jan 2009
by ac-fast
A near person in my family, has a celler on 6 sq meters - always 12-14 degrese. Almost all my port is storage there, only a few bottels at my home.

Re: Self-storage warehouses

Posted: 10:48 Sun 11 Jan 2009
by Michael M.
Derek, if you are interested in a conditioning cabinet I can recommend the products from Liebherr. I have got the forerunner of the model WK 5700. Since 10 years my top wines shelve in it and I never had a problem. Price in Germany would be around 1150 EUR. Capacity is 231 bottles. Wattage is very reasonable ( ca. 260 kwh/year). http://www.rauschenbach.de/weina.htm http://www.grimm-berlin.de/product_info ... er=Froogle I checked the website from Liebherr. Unfortunately it is not mentionned. Perhaps it is a discontinued model.

The advantage in comparison to a commercial storage is that you always have the control. And babies are near daddy :)

Michael

Re: Self-storage warehouses

Posted: 11:12 Sun 11 Jan 2009
by DRT
MIchael,

I have 2 wine storage units at home already with a capacity of 110 bottles. The wine I want to store outside my home is around 30 cases that need to be stored for the long term. Thanks for the information on Liebherr :wink:

Derek