Wine Storage

There are numerous ways to store your wine collection and most are quite expensive. Living in a home with in-floor heat, no basement or crawl space, we have certain limitations. We had stored our wine in the garage that is kept at 55 degrees over winter but have to move it inside during the summer months. The vertical rack was away from sun and vibrations but the transfer twice a year was a pain.

Not knowing what I will consume and what I would like to age, makes narrowing down the size of the wine cellar/chiller/cooler that much more daunting.

Size, dual temperature controls and budget are big considerations. Most of the wine chillers have only a one year warranty and that leads me to my latest "find".

It is called a wine-stat and from their website, http://www.winestat.com/
it seems like a thermostat that you connect to any unused refrigerator, freezer or A/C unit. It also mentions that it has been sold since the mid '90's and has a 5 year warranty.

I am curious to know if anyone has tried this product or if just getting a used fridge, playing with the controls until you get a somewhat constant 55 degrees on a bottle thermometer would be just as good.

Check it out and post any replies. How do you cellar your wine?