The Auswine Forum

Hi, my first post on the forums.

I'm looking for any opinions on Vinovault and/or Grand Cru wine fridges. They're a fair bit cheaper than the Vintecs and other brands, so I'm trying to find out more.

With Vintec, Kitchener, etc, the price seems a large ask. For around $1000 or a bit under, you can get a Vinovault or Grand Cru that has in the vicinity of 100 bottles, whereas for Vintec it looks like you're in for about $1500 for 50 bottles, or else $2000 for 120.

Does anyone have anything positive or negative to say about Vinovault and Grand Cru?

Thanks!

I've got 3 x 40-bottle vintec's for ~$350 each, all 2nd hand from eBay. No issues, but I don't expect them to last forever at that price.

You can get a new (discontinued) kitchener 158 for $1100, that might suit.

A word of caution on the warranties for cheaper wine fridges - some fridges are a "return to dealer" warranty, meaning that if or when something goes wrong, you have to return it to the place of purchase and bear the cost yourself. The dealer may not tell you about this and you won't see it if you buy on line.

Also you may find it difficult to get a repairer to even look at it if you want to have it fixed yourself.

I can recommend the DeLonghi 166 bottle single zone. although ours seems to run at 2 to 3 degrees above the displayed temp. Available from a well known on line appliance retailer.

I have 6 x smaller single zone delonghi's - all bought with minor imperfections to the black steel casing at around $400 per. The reasonable looking stainless fronts etc also passed muster with "she who must be obeyed".

One arrived with a damaged control panel from transit damage. Warranty remained in place, in my home service from a refrigeration technician, and other than the short wait for the replacement whole control unit (no questions asked), no problems after a good few years (fingers crossed).

I figured rather than one large unit where all of my stock is up the proverbial creek if the compressor fails, I'd pay a little more and spread the risk - can always redistribute so I only sacrifice 1/6 of the holding stock in worst case if I can't get a replacement fridge or repair completed in a reasonable time. I run 1 on 8 deg for champers and stickys, 1 on 12 deg for whites and the other 4 at 15 deg for reds.

My hot tip is to CHECK THAT THE LONGER LARGE DIAMETER SECTION red bottles fit back to front easily into the shelves at the advertised number or you will deprive yourself of storage space (up to 30%) i.e. you'll only fit 4 out of 6 to the shelf.

Large diameter bottles are a curse. Who needs them?

And with the larger fridges where the bottles are doubled up on the shelf (forward and rear facing) just about all the Aussie reds are in bottles that won't allow for the usual number to fit on the shelf.

Instead of getting 11 on a shelf, aim for maybe 7 or 8.

My fridge is full at present and I have 148 bottles in it, instead of the 166 it should take.

gap wrote:Large diameter bottles are a curse. Who needs them?

And with the larger fridges where the bottles are doubled up on the shelf (forward and rear facing) just about all the Aussie reds are in bottles that won't allow for the usual number to fit on the shelf.

Instead of getting 11 on a shelf, aim for maybe 7 or 8.

My fridge is full at present and I have 148 bottles in it, instead of the 166 it should take.

larger bottles are the curse of the 110 vintec. standard height bordeaux bottle no problem (very snug). But bordeaux bottles with higher shoulders or pinot bottles do not fit properly. I learned the hard way with pinot bottles by trashing some labels when I rolled one of the shelves out to a nice ripping sound.
All pinot bottles on the bottom shelf and juggle the rest in the best way possible. Never had 110 bottles in it. probably 103-105 absolute max.

Hey folks,

Indeed stacking bottles in most wine cabinets can be a tricky business... working for Vintec I thought I might offer a couple of tips, wine cabinets being our speciality.

There are a number of considerations to factor in when trying to achieve a well organised cellar and reach maximum capacity. The first thing to remember is that all cellar capacities are based on standard 750ml Bordeaux bottle shapes and size, but a lot of other bottles look alike. As soon as you incorporate in your cellar different sizes of bottles, the capacity can increase or decrease considerably depending on the variety of bottle shapes.

As we regularly have the opportunity to advise clients on the matter, we actually recently wrote a short but detailed article about this – which you may find helpful: http://www.vintecclub.com.au/tips-for-o ... r-bottles/. I’d invite you to check it out as it may help you in achieving your wine cabinet’s maximum capacity.

Cheers,
Tony

Looks like Pennies / Vintec deal is back again for July, 6-pack purchase gets you a 30-bottle for $255 delivered... Spotted at wineaway

Anyone know if the usual 'bulk' retailers are offering the deal?

Tempted to 'upgrade' my 2 SG40's & get a third one...

Vintec Australia wrote:Hey folks,

Indeed stacking bottles in most wine cabinets can be a tricky business... working for Vintec I thought I might offer a couple of tips, wine cabinets being our speciality.

There are a number of considerations to factor in when trying to achieve a well organised cellar and reach maximum capacity. The first thing to remember is that all cellar capacities are based on standard 750ml Bordeaux bottle shapes and size, but a lot of other bottles look alike. As soon as you incorporate in your cellar different sizes of bottles, the capacity can increase or decrease considerably depending on the variety of bottle shapes.

As we regularly have the opportunity to advise clients on the matter, we actually recently wrote a short but detailed article about this – which you may find helpful: http://www.vintecclub.com.au/tips-for-o ... r-bottles/. I’d invite you to check it out as it may help you in achieving your wine cabinet’s maximum capacity.

Cheers,
Tony

One thing frustrating about stacking in a Vintec is keeping the same winemaker on the same shelf. Works great for the little stumpy Rockford bottles, but not so great for the taller Greenock creek bottles. Another issue is the fact that unless you have 100-110 bottles ready to go straight in, you're constantly re stacking and re configuring the entire setup. Obviously not ideal if you're trying to keep your wine free from movement and out of the light. If the SG110 Vintec had just a few millimetres added to the back and between the shelves it would be near perfect. Also removing shelves to create more vertical space is all well and good. But if you suddenly have to reconfigure or want access to a 'buried' wine you're faced with an hour or so of 'Wine Jenga'.

The Costco versions have a better warranty as long as you stay a member of Costco of course.

My Transtherm ex Grays is noisy after only a couple of years, I won't be paying the premium for them again

by shauno » Wed Jun 11, 2014 11:36 pm

Looks like Pennies / Vintec deal is back again for July, 6-pack purchase gets you a 30-bottle for $255 delivered... Spotted at wineaway

Anyone know if the usual 'bulk' retailers are offering the deal?

Tempted to 'upgrade' my 2 SG40's & get a third one...

Yes please shauno - need (another) one at home... Let me know if you hear any more.

Cheers
Matt

On the larger fridges (100 btles+) what temp variations are people seeing top to bottom?

Reason I ask is some of the Kitchener ones I was looking at are saying 6c so it could 14c down the bottom and 20c at the top.

Nothing an 80mm PC fan at the top blowing down off a 7V DC adaptor won't fix!! 6C variation down to 2C no prob.

Those 180 btl Costco ones do look pretty darn cheap. I know a couple of Grape Mates have them.