I’m looking for a temporary small wine cooler for my new house until I am able to get my cellar built. I have a Le Cache at the other house, and it’s great, but overkill for my needs here. So I was perusing what Costco has, and a lot of them are “Wine Enthusiast” brand. But I have to imagine these are rebadged units for someone else. Does anyone know the true manufacturer?
Used to be EuroCave. May still be. WE had US distribution rights so the cabinets would be sold as WE EuroCave cabinets. If you’re at Costco, look at the back of the cooler for the label and it should say who made it.
How long until you get your cellar built? Unless it’s a very long time, it seems like you would be better off just keeping the wine in boxes in the downstairs hall closet or something, or renting a locker at a storage place, rather than buying a wine cooler unit. Unless the unit is something that would factor into your needs/plans going forward after your cellar is completed.
Another option might be to buy a used one – wine cabinets have very little resale value, and people are often happy just to get rid of them. Especially if it’s not a long-term item for you, maybe just find one on Craigslist or something.
Good questions. I don’t really know how long it will be. It depends on how the rest of the projects we’re doing go (and what taxes look like 
)… But it will almost certainly be a number of months if not longer. Most of my wine will stay at my offsite in CA during that time, but I’d like to keep my stash here at a more stable temperature in the mean time. I’m not looking at very large or expensive coolers, so I’m not too worried about the cost for a temporary solution. There is one offsite here, but it’s not the most conveient location for me, and their lockers are pretty expensive compared to what I’m used to…
Was this question ever answered? For folks who have WE coolers, can you please look in the back and help? Thanks.
I spoke with the WE sales person today. Their cooler is NOT made by Eurocave. It is made in China for them.
There is another thread on this in the Wine 101 forum. The WE brand is NOT made by Eurocave. It is a knockoff manufactured in China. At least one person in the other thread has had bad experiences with 2 of the WE branded cabinets. Anyone interested should probably read through that thread (Wine Refrigerators). It isn’t too long.
After my original post here I did end up buying a small/cheap one. It’s definitely cheap, and no one who has seen a Eurocave would mistake this for one. It’s fine for my near-term purposes but I would not buy one as my primary long-term storage.
I would much rather own a whirlpool one from target
FWIW I bought the 300-bottle one at Costco a few years ago and have had a good experience. It won’t hold anywhere near 300 bottles if you collect mostly Pinot Noir like I do though.