For The Love Of Port

Offsite storage - many of us will be forced to expand to offsite storage one day. For those of you that already have some or all of your bottles in offsite storage: how much space do you have? what other ammenities? at what price? in what part of the world?

There's only one offiste storage facility near us (at least only 1 we're aware of). The place has nice ammenities, but it seems pricey to me: $50/mo for a locker that is supposed to hold 10-12 cases of wine.

First thing is that 10-12 cases, cut it down by about 20%. Unless you're only using the smallest of old style bottles in small, old style, cardboard cases. But yes, it's not cheap and the price can vary from place to place. There are quite a few around me but none super close to me, which is good as it prevents me from drinking things that I should keep my hands off of for many years to come.

My storage place has very nice ammenitites such as a lounge, TV's, BBQ, pool table, etc. So you can bring your friends and hang out there if you want. Something I've only done once, but it was fun and we ended up with others that just came to visit their locker and then stayed.

My storage is a bit more no nonsense.

I dont get my own locker and they charge per box regardless of size

It's a massive underground warehouse that's completely surrounded by concrete.

I currently hold 14 cases offsite @ $1.50 per case per month

there is also a 2$ in and out charge so it cost me upfront 28$ to move all the cases in
and my running is 21$/month.

Tack on 15k of insurance (whihc is a huge rip off at this place) and that brings me to ~50$/month.

So for a small locker + insurnace, you're not terribly far off from prices I see. (plus I'm sure you get to come and go as you please with yer locker where as I have to call in advance to arrange yanking and stuffing.

Seattle Wine Storage is a little cheaper than that, but I still consider it rather expensive. They charge on a quarterly or yearly basis, and for $660/year ($55/month equivalent) you can get storage for 36 cases. They have a little lounge/TV area that you can reserve for gatherings/parties, so I've considered using them but have never pulled the trigger.

I currently have approximately 10 cases of Port that I probably shouldn't touch for quite a while, so it could reasonably be stored off-site. Doing that worries me, though, because that would just open up space in my fridges that I would then feel compelled to fill. Then I'd have to move more Port off-site, freeing up more space, and the vicious cycle would continue.

I think I'm better off having a pretty firm limit on storage space. 2.5 fridges with room for ~330 bottles of Port seems to work reasonably well.

$2/month per case from a local wine merchant. Seems well worth it and not too expensive.