Best Wine Storage Facility in Chicago? Help Needed...

It looks like I am going to need to get cellar space for my ever-expanding wine collection. I live and work near downtown Chicago – does anyone have any recommendations for a wine storage facility? I don’t need it to be pretty, just convenient and cheap.

Thanks in advance for your recommendations.

I use East Bank Wine Storage in Milwaukee. Very reasonably priced and no problems whatsoever in the nearly four years I’ve stored wines with them. They do have a couple of Chicago locations. You can find them on the web if you google them. Hope this helps.

Domaine Wine Storage - Marc Lazar will take great care of you.

MK

I have wine in Lock-Up on Kinzie (near the East Bank Club) and Canal Street off of South Canal (cheaper, but “rawer” space). No issues with either

I use Strongbox’s Irving location; they also have one on Orleans on the southern side of Lincoln park.


I supposed if anything can be taken from so many positive reviews above, it’s probably hard to go wrong.

Strongbox on Irving for me. A friend’s locker at East Bank is so poorly lit, I have no idea how he gets anything done.

Second this.

Domaine by far. christopher klingenstein and marc lazar are about as good as you’ll find. Additionally, being with them you’ll actually have the opportunity to engage other cork-dorks in chicago as they host regular events (they have a kitchen, and greeting room for service and the like).

If you want pure storage - the other stuff (east bank, strong box etc) are fine. If you want to really support great guys, have more fun when you want to pull a cork and meet other wine lovers and meet industry folks (killer Christmas party and Dom party this year - among others that I missed) then I really think you’ll be better off at Domaine.

No affiliation but I do consider chris and marc friends.

Third or fourth this.

No direct affiliation.

However, I have referred hundreds of prospective CellarTracker users over the past 6 years to Marc and his folks, and as far as I know everyone has come away very satisfied with his inventory services. And Marc and I have emailed and spoken thousands of times over the past 7 years. I deeply respect his focus and dedication. I hold him in the highest regard and view him as a top confidante for anything related to CellarTracker. So needless to say I am quite biased, but only because I have the utmost respect for Marc. Period.

For the record, I’d probably do Marc and Chris as well if I didn’t have to move all my F&*)5((g wine

Definitely Domaine Chicago. While Marc and Chris are friends, the real advantage I get is that when my wine is received at their facility, they actually put the CT barcode labels on the wine, saving me a huge hassle. They even will deliver the wine to my home when I request it, or ship it to my other home. Those are huge advantages over East Bank and The Lock Up, both facilities where I have stored wine. East Bank and The Lock Up worked perfectly fine, but the added features of not having to spend the time barcoding the bottles and having the delivery option really puts Domaine over the top.

I have visited every facility in Chicago, for the large part, they are all pretty much the same, which is crappy. The only exception is Domaine, it is the nicest facility by a wide margin and has more amenities than the others. While location may come in to play in your decision and if you are looking for the least cost solution, there are a couple that compete purely on price, but you get exactly what you pay for… temp storage, inconvenient location (unless you live on the the Southside). At Domaine, you have access to both the facility amenities and their basket of wine collector related services. To me, it is a no-brainer decision. I was one of Marc’s first customers in his St. Louis facility and one of his first here in Chicago. Recommended without reservation. Two enthusiastic thumbs up, sir.

It sounds like there’s a consensus. I will definitely check out Domaine, as well as East Bank Wine (mostly because it’s a short walk from my house).

Thanks for all the suggestions!

I rent at both Domaine and East Bank and I can honestly say Domaine is # 1 in Chicago. I’m also happy at East Bank but it’s no frills. One word of caution, Canal Street keeps the temperature closer to 60 degrees than 55. Finally I save lots of money by using Domaine for shipping.

I only visit my children at Canal Street a couple times a year, but it was 57 degrees there over my last three visits

I’ve seen it as high as 60 and many times 58. IMHO, no reason not to keep it at 55.

It depends on your needs. I am presently at East Bank on Lake St. primarily because I split the locker with a couple of friends. Living in Indiana we need a place in Illinois to simply receive from certain wineries/retailers. There is absolutely nothing wrong with East Bank.

However, I have seen Domaine’s facility and know Mark and Chris and I would recommend them without reservation or hesitation. Certainly the best considering the services they offer and the expertise they bring to the table. I would suspect that I’ll end up there at some point.

JD

Strongbox - Orleans just because it’s steps from my house.
Although the nice gentlemen at Domaine offered to move me as an incentive.
Beautiful space.

Man, Domaine sounds awesome. I wish there was a place like that in DC!

I hope I didn’t put you over the edge.