The right temperature for wines can bring out a significant difference in its taste and aroma. For this reason, you need a wine refrigerator to get the right temperature.
From this subtle taste demand, comes the idea of the restoring wine. People nowadays aren’t actually keen on buying an instant bottle of wine & drink it right away. They tend to buy wine & save them for special occasions or maybe just for their own delight of seeping at a later time.
There are some ground rules when it comes to storing wine. Red wine tastes better if you keep it in the refrigerator for about 15 minutes before serving whereas white wine tastes better if you take it out of the fridge 15 minutes before serving.
Whatever the reason is, it’s important to know how to store wine. Refrigerators are mostly used to restore its flavor and taste. But not all refrigerators are idle for this .. Hence comes the need for a specific kind of refrigerator to serve this purpose.
Some tips are given below that will help you in choosing the perfect refrigerator for the storage of wine:
Why Do You Need a Wine Fridge?
The most important part of wine storage is based on keeping wine at an optimum temperature, ensuring correct humidity. Besides this, the importance of vibration-free places is also significant.
To ensure all of these necessary requirements, it’s hard to foresee the importance of refrigerators.
Now comes the question of why a wine fridge? What’s wrong with a regular fridge? Well, the answer is- wines & regular foods are different. Even though the storage of these two items has identical tasks they require different temperatures. For wine 55℃ temperature is the optimum one whereas foods need 35℃ to be stored correctly in the refrigerator.
Also, these wine fridges can control humidity and provide a less vibrating environment. Considering these, it’s best to store your wine in a well-built wine refrigerator. To get a closer look, check out Underground Wine Merchants top picks for wine coolers and refrigerators
Important Features of A wine Refrigerator
There are tons of wine refrigerators out there. Looking for the right one amongst all these brands and models is no easy task. That is why we are here to give you a hand.
Before buying a wine fridge, you definitely should look out for the following features:
1. Built-in Or Freestanding Construction:
Built-in fridges can be made during the renovation of the kitchen or maybe while building your entire house. The benefit of having a built-in fridge is that it adds an aesthetic appeal to the decoration.
Also, it’s good for controlling temperature & humidity. But on the other hand, it’s a bit expensive due to the making & settings of the refrigerator.
Freestanding ones are found in the shops. There are different types depending on the number of bottle capacity. The price also varies accordingly. It is easy to get, it can be moved anywhere you want & the most important factor is, it’s cheap.
Again there are different temperature setting ranges upon need. So, different types of wines can be stored without any difficulties. Freestanding fridges are also now available in many different designs.
2. Cooling Zones:
Wine coolers or fridges come with both a single cooling zone or multiple cooling zones. As the type suggests, the single cooling zone fridges provide only one type of temperature control and the space is undivided. Meaning you will have the same temperature throughout the whole fridge. This is best when you want to keep only one type of wine e.g. red or white wine only.
On the other hand, multiple zones or dual zones have separate compartments with different temperature controls. Best for keeping different types of wine in the same fridge. Multiple cooling zoned fridges cost more than the single ones.
3. Bottle Capacity:
Unlike other refrigerators, wine refrigerators clearly demonstrate its size based on the number of bottles that can be stored. The size of the wine fridge varies from 30-100 bottles.
So, based on that, anyone can easily decide what size they should get. It should be kept in mind that choosing a large one will only create difficulties in adjusting temperature & humidity. On the other hand, being too compact will leave you regretting. About 20% larger than expected is the perfect size to go for.
4. Shelving Type
Not all coolers are designed for wine. For choosing a wine refrigerator, wooden shelves with smooth-rolling or metal wine racks are highly advised. Wines can be stored in a way where wine bottles cradle on their sides. This way is more preferable than keeping the bottles in a standing position.
5. Wine Serving Temperatures
Another good reason why you need to have a wine refrigerator is that you want the wine to taste better when it’s served. Although the standard temperature for wine storage is 55℃, it differs for different wines like white, red, or sparkling ones.
Wine refrigerators provide the facility for setting up the temperature at different ranges. Thus various types of wines can be stored & served accordingly.
6. Cost of wine refrigerators
Wine refrigerators are specially built and are not like regular refrigerators. Hence the price will not be the same. Normally a fridge with a storage capacity of 50 bottles will cost $200 to $900 depending upon designs & brands. The cost for a refrigerator on the other hand that contains 100 bottles ranges from $800 to $2000.
For a natural wine lover, it is very important to have a wine fridge whereas to others it may seem totally irrelevant. But one thing for sure is that wine refrigerators are the best for storing wines.
7. Additional Features
There are some additional features that are not of absolute necessities when it comes to choosing the right wine fridge but might come handy according to your needs.
Triple pane glass– These offer perfect insulation and keep the cold air inside completely sealed from getting outside. Triple pane glasses ensure the temperature is not disrupted at any time.
Child lock- If you have kids around then it is best to get a fridge that has child lock systems on it to ensure peace of mind.
UV protection- UV rays cause the wine to get discolored and even messes up the flavors. Currently, there are glass door wine fridges that have UV protection on them to keep your fridge safe from UV and heat.
Final Thoughts
Wine refines over time. So, it is natural to restore it under the right conditions to enhance its flavors. The taste of new wines to aging wines is irrefutably different. A true wine lover always cherishes taking a sip from an aging bottle of wine. This can be made possible as long as the wine is stored under the proper conditions.