What to Look for in a Wine Fridge

Wine is continually evolving. Residing organisms and the trade of oxygen via porous, pure cork permit wine to proceed to breathe and develop, even after it’s within the bottle. For this reason the flavour of many wines improves with age. There’s one caveat right here—and it’s a giant one. For a wine to age nicely, it should be saved correctly. 

Extra publicity to mild and warmth throughout storage can destroy a bottle of wine, and investing in a wine fridge is one technique to keep away from the tragedy of a broken Bordeaux. Even should you don’t intend to age or retailer wine for a protracted time period at dwelling, a wine fridge could be a helpful technique to maintain wine on the correct consuming temperature and unencumber house in your fundamental fridge. 

Why Temperature Issues When It Involves Wine

The temperature of a bottle makes an enormous distinction in how we understand its taste. After we eat wine, we’re utilizing our sense of style and scent. Our tongue detects primary flavors like salty, candy, and bitter. Our sense of scent fills within the blanks—it picks up on delicate notes like fruit, spices, or herbs. Temperature impacts each of those components.

Our style buds are extraordinarily delicate to warmth and chilly, as defined by America’s Test Kitchen. Chilly temperatures trigger tastebuds to shrink—making them much less receptive to taste. Marie Tribouilloy, the proprietor of Forêt Wines, describes this phenomenon merely, saying “Extra chilly will numb your tongue.” A wine that’s consumed too chilly will seem muted and flavorless. To watch the ability of temperature, Tribouilloy encourages wine lovers to do this experiment at dwelling: “Take a bottle of white wine out of the [kitchen] fridge and style it instantly. Then, let it heat up for half-hour and style it once more.” 

Temperature additionally impacts the wine itself on a molecular stage. At excessive temperatures, molecules within the liquid are transferring round shortly and freely. This implies extra of them escape into the air the place we are able to expertise their aroma. In wine, these are known as unstable fragrant compounds. The hotter the wine, the extra of those compounds attain our noses. At a sure level, this could develop into a destructive. Scott Carney, Grasp Sommelier and Dean of Wine Research on the Institute of Culinary Education, describes the connection between warmth and wine, saying “Because it warms up, all of it turns into extra obvious—all the nice, all of the unhealthy, and all of the all the things.” Wines which might be consumed too heat usually tend to reveal their flaws and could appear overripe or flabby. 

Carney refers back to the very best temperature because the one which “flatters the wine.” The beneficial serving temperature for crimson wines is barely under room temperature, between 55ºF and 65ºF. Within the wine world, that is generally known as cellar temperature. The best temperature for white wines is between 45ºF and 50ºF. That is significantly hotter than the temperature of the typical kitchen fridge, which is mostly 40ºF or under. A devoted wine fridge is a simple technique to maintain wine on the correct temperature whereas concurrently defending it from the weather. 

The Standards: What to Search for in a Wine Fridge 

Whether or not you’re growing older your individual wine, or simply trying to maintain just a few bottles chilly, these are the components that wine fanatics of each stage ought to contemplate when in search of a wine fridge. 

House 

House is a significant consideration when investing in a brand new equipment. Contemplate the accessible house in your house, in addition to what number of bottles you’d wish to retailer. For almost all of wine fanatics, an under-the-counter wine fridge will provide greater than sufficient house. When you discuss with the wines in your house as a group, you’re most likely going to need one thing greater. 

Below-the-counter fashions can maintain round 30 to 45 bottles. For severe collectors, bigger fridges can be found within the type of 48-inch extensive lowboys or tall, vertical fashions that may retailer a whole lot of bottles. When evaluating house, Carney recommends taking the listed capability with a grain of salt. He explains that producers calculate space for storing utilizing customary Bordeaux bottles. Though they maintain the identical quantity of liquid, Bordeaux bottles are narrower than traditional Burgundy, Zinfandel, or Chardonnay bottles. 

Twin-Zone Temperature Management 

Many wine fridges are divided into sections with particular person temperature management— permitting you to retailer wines at two completely different temperatures. Twin zones can be utilized to concurrently retailer crimson and white wines at their optimum temperatures or to separate the bottles you’re cellaring from the bottles you plan to eat instantly. 

UV Gentle Safety 

Publicity to daylight can injury wines over time, making a flaw known as mild strike. To guard your wines from dangerous UV rays, search for a wine fridge with a double insulated glass or stable door.  

Tips on how to Use a Wine Fridge 

To increase the lifetime of your wine fridge, Carney emphasizes the significance of correct set up. The much less stress you place on the compressor, the longer the product will final. Keep away from inserting your wine fridge flush towards a wall, the place the compressor should work time beyond regulation to trade air. Maintaining your wine fridge in a cooler space of your private home, like a basement, may also restrict how laborious the compressor has to work. 

After set up, set the fridge temperature and cargo in your wine. Wine bottles ought to at all times be saved on their facet to forestall the cork from drying out. The racks in our favourite wine fridges are designed in order that the bottles will be laid down horizontally. Most fashions could have notches on the cabinets to carry particular person bottles in place. Don’t overfill the cabinets; one further chilled bottle isn’t well worth the danger of a collapse. 

Which Wine Fridge Ought to You Purchase?

When you’re prepared to dedicate numerous house to a wine fridge, contemplate a full-sized product just like the Bodega 70-inch DualZone Wine Chiller. This mannequin can retailer as much as 174 bottles. Along with DualZones and double-paneled glass doorways, this Bodega wine fridge options front-facing air flow. That implies that it may be put in towards a wall with out inserting further stress on the compressor. And whereas it’s costly, this correlates to its measurement and options.

For smaller areas, we love the Wine Enthusiast 18-Bottle Slimline Dual Zone Wine Cooler. This slender mannequin affords premium options with an excellent small footprint. Wine Fanatic is a trusted identify in wine merchandise with a wonderful popularity for customer support and a guaranty accessible on most gadgets.

Yeego affords a cheaper possibility that also shops a full case of wine. Their 15-inch wine cooler can maintain as much as 33 bottles. Double-paned glass doorways maintain the temperature steady, and a one-year guarantee protects your funding. This can be a single-zone wine fridge. Though that considerably limits storage choices, it additionally reduces stress on the compressor, which can extend the lifetime of the product. 

FAQs

What’s the perfect temperature for wine?  

The best serving temperature is determined by the fashion of wine. Glowing wines ought to be served chilly, between 43°F and 47°F. White wines ought to be served chilled, between 45ºF and 50ºF.  Purple wines ought to be served at cellar temperature, between 55ºF and 65ºF. 

Must you put wine within the fridge?

Storing wines long-term within the fridge isn’t beneficial. The dry air in a fridge can dry out a wine cork, exposing your wine to oxygen, and diminishing its lifespan. 

When you don’t have a wine fridge, you should utilize the fridge to chill your bottles. For white wines, place them within the fridge the day earlier than, then take them out to heat up for about quarter-hour earlier than serving. Retailer crimson wines at room temperature, then place them within the fridge for about quarter-hour earlier than serving so as to add a slight chill.

Can you place crimson wine in a wine fridge? 

Sure! Some wine fridges have twin zones in order that crimson and white wines can each be saved at optimum temperatures. For crimson wines, modify the temperature to someplace between 60ºF-65ºF.