Almost meaningless drivel

Anything to do with Port.
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Alex Bridgeman
Graham’s 1948
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Location: Berkshire, UK

Almost meaningless drivel

Post by Alex Bridgeman »

My wine cabinet at home broke recently - in a fairly spectacular way since it clearly shorted and caused all the trip switches in the house to trigger. Sadly, my 15 year old Belgian-imported Liebherr was beyond repair and so a replacement had to be bought with some urgency. The old cabinet sat in a space in the garage around which I have installed kitchen cabinets used to store the usual sort of junk and tools that one finds in garages, so the maximum dimensions were fixed without having to go through some fairly major work - which I wasn't prepared to do.

Tanglewood Wine came to the rescue (and were a pleasure to buy from) and I chose to buy a Climadiff cabinet as my replacement. This is slightly shorter than the old cabinet, which is good because it makes the top of the cabinet a useful surface for putting things on, but bad because it means that I can store fewer bottles than I could in the Liebherr. Clearly, I needed to prioritise my vintage wines to have space in the cupboard and I managed to get all but about 6 bottles in the cabinet. The 6 that did not fit will be the next 6 bottles that I drink. I am glad that I have fortified myself with a Cockburn 1955 before starting out with Graham's The Emperor Tawny, Taylor 20 year old tawny, Taylor 2003 LBV, Osborne 1991 LBV, Dow 1991 LBV and an old, unknown bottle of madeira that I should probably decant now in order to be able to drink it at its best after everything else has gone.

Hey ho. When's our next TCP offline?
Top Ports in 2023: Taylor 1896 Colheita, b. 2021. A perfect Port.

2024: Niepoort 1900 Colheita, b.1971. A near perfect Port.
clawhit
Warre’s Warrior
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Location: Dartford

Re: Almost meaningless drivel

Post by clawhit »

We bought a Climadiff from Tanglewood and are also delighted with it, we paid the extra for all sliding drawers. We would love to buy a second but how many bottles is feasible to store at home? :P
Glenn E.
Graham’s 1977
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Re: Almost meaningless drivel

Post by Glenn E. »

clawhit wrote:We bought a Climadiff from Tanglewood and are also delighted with it, we paid the extra for all sliding drawers. We would love to buy a second but how many bottles is feasible to store at home? :P
Apparently, in my case, over 330. :shock:
Glenn Elliott
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Alex Bridgeman
Graham’s 1948
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Joined: 13:41 Mon 25 Jun 2007
Location: Berkshire, UK

Re: Almost meaningless drivel

Post by Alex Bridgeman »

clawhit wrote:We bought a Climadiff from Tanglewood and are also delighted with it, we paid the extra for all sliding drawers. We would love to buy a second but how many bottles is feasible to store at home? :P
In my case, before the Climadiff it was around 198; with the demise of the Liebherr and its replacement with the Climadiff only 164 :(

What am I going to drink next month?
Top Ports in 2023: Taylor 1896 Colheita, b. 2021. A perfect Port.

2024: Niepoort 1900 Colheita, b.1971. A near perfect Port.
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uncle tom
Dalva Golden White Colheita 1952
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Joined: 23:43 Wed 20 Jun 2007
Location: Near Saffron Walden, England

Re: Almost meaningless drivel

Post by uncle tom »

My house being in overflow mode, work has now commenced on my cellar #2..

A big yellow machine has moved some ninety tons of soil and clay; a thousand litre IBC tank has been planted to serve as a pumped sump, and over that, fifteen tons of double reinforced concrete have been successfully laid as a foundation slab.

Two thousand engineering bricks and four hundred nine inch concrete blocks have been delivered, along with five tons of soft sand and a ton and a half of cement powder.

A cement mixer, water, and labourer are ready for the job of building the walls..

..but where have all the brickies gone? - I'm told the Polish ones have all taken their British earnings back home and are building themselves nice houses in Poland. All the British ones I know seem to be busy..

If anyone knows a sound bricklayer who would like a couple of weeks work at Cambridge, please let me know!

Tom
I may be drunk, Miss, but in the morning I shall be sober and you will still be ugly - W.S. Churchill
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DRT
Fonseca 1966
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Joined: 23:51 Wed 20 Jun 2007
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Re: Almost meaningless drivel

Post by DRT »

AHB wrote: 07:57 Sun 29 May 2011 My wine cabinet at home broke recently - in a fairly spectacular way since it clearly shorted and caused all the trip switches in the house to trigger. Sadly, my 15 year old Belgian-imported Liebherr was beyond repair and so a replacement had to be bought with some urgency. The old cabinet sat in a space in the garage around which I have installed kitchen cabinets used to store the usual sort of junk and tools that one finds in garages, so the maximum dimensions were fixed without having to go through some fairly major work - which I wasn't prepared to do.

Tanglewood Wine came to the rescue (and were a pleasure to buy from) and I chose to buy a Climadiff cabinet as my replacement. This is slightly shorter than the old cabinet, which is good because it makes the top of the cabinet a useful surface for putting things on, but bad because it means that I can store fewer bottles than I could in the Liebherr. Clearly, I needed to prioritise my vintage wines to have space in the cupboard and I managed to get all but about 6 bottles in the cabinet. The 6 that did not fit will be the next 6 bottles that I drink. I am glad that I have fortified myself with a Cockburn 1955 before starting out with Graham's The Emperor Tawny, Taylor 20 year old tawny, Taylor 2003 LBV, Osborne 1991 LBV, Dow 1991 LBV and an old, unknown bottle of madeira that I should probably decant now in order to be able to drink it at its best after everything else has gone.
AHB, I am considering buying a Climadiff. Have you been happy with its performance over the past 7 years?
"The first duty of Port is to be red"
Ernest H. Cockburn
idj123
Morgan 1991
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Re: Almost meaningless drivel

Post by idj123 »

I certainly am-bought the 294 (Bordeaux) bottle version about 18 months ago and not had an issue (touch wood). I think wife would have preferred the glass rather than solid door version (for aesthetic reasons) but former was materially more expensive.
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uncle tom
Dalva Golden White Colheita 1952
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Re: Almost meaningless drivel

Post by uncle tom »

I was trying to remember when I started work on that cellar..
I may be drunk, Miss, but in the morning I shall be sober and you will still be ugly - W.S. Churchill
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DRT
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Re: Almost meaningless drivel

Post by DRT »

idj123 wrote: 07:12 Sat 22 Dec 2018 I certainly am-bought the 294 (Bordeaux) bottle version about 18 months ago and not had an issue (touch wood). I think wife would have preferred the glass rather than solid door version (for aesthetic reasons) but former was materially more expensive.
Thanks, Ian, good to know.
uncle tom wrote: 08:03 Sat 22 Dec 2018 I was trying to remember when I started work on that cellar..
Does this imply that it is not quite finished, Tom?
"The first duty of Port is to be red"
Ernest H. Cockburn
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uncle tom
Dalva Golden White Colheita 1952
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Re: Almost meaningless drivel

Post by uncle tom »

Does this imply that it is not quite finished, Tom?
Finished a long time ago and now undergoing a modest re-furb..
I may be drunk, Miss, but in the morning I shall be sober and you will still be ugly - W.S. Churchill
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Alex Bridgeman
Graham’s 1948
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Re: Almost meaningless drivel

Post by Alex Bridgeman »

I have been pleased with my Climadiff, which has run smoothly since purchase. The only slight irritation I have with it is that the door can only be hinged on the rights, which makes access more difficult than it needs to be.

Of course, that could have changed in the years since I bought mine.
Top Ports in 2023: Taylor 1896 Colheita, b. 2021. A perfect Port.

2024: Niepoort 1900 Colheita, b.1971. A near perfect Port.
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