As the warmer seasons approach, you may be wondering what you should do with all those wonderful bottles of Italian wine you decided to stock up on in the colder months. Perhaps you got a Brunello di Montalcino for Christmas and want to set it aside to age properly, or perhaps your wine class has got the best of you and you find you now have a healthy stock to last you through the year. Your best bet to store your wine is in a wine fridge. There are plenty of options to choose from and plenty of features to differentiate your fridge.
What Are the Basics I Need to Look For?
Wine fridges need to have a modern compressor unit. This is similar to the compressor you have in your kitchen refrigerator. It regulates the temperature and starts functioning most when you open your wine fridge door and let in warmer air.
What Type of Wine Are You Storing?
The big question you need to ask yourself is – do all the wines I want to store, need to be stored at the same temperature? Most likely if you are dealing with reds, whites, rosé and sparkling wines you will have different storage temperatures. The only way around this is to buy a wine fridge with a dual zone temperature. This means you can easily store wines at two different temperatures. It’s usually as simple as the temperature being higher at the bottom of the fridge and lower at the top.
Where Will Your Wine Fridge Live?
Small wine fridges tend to be noisy, especially if you have a robust compressor. So, another thing to look for is a thermoelectric fridge. In essence, this makes your fridge silent.
How Many Bottles Are You Storing?
Of course, there is the simple question of – how many bottles of wine would you like to store? The average small wine fridge can hold up to 20 – 30 bottles, but you can still find sleek designs that will obviously need a bit more space in the house but can hold up to 100 bottles. If you’re serious about your wines and have a solid collection, investing in a wine fridge can actually save you a lot of money in spoiled wine. So go ahead and splurge!
What Are the Basics I Need to Look For?
Wine fridges need to have a modern compressor unit. This is similar to the compressor you have in your kitchen refrigerator. It regulates the temperature and starts functioning most when you open your wine fridge door and let in warmer air.
What Type of Wine Are You Storing?
The big question you need to ask yourself is – do all the wines I want to store, need to be stored at the same temperature? Most likely if you are dealing with reds, whites, rosé and sparkling wines you will have different storage temperatures. The only way around this is to buy a wine fridge with a dual zone temperature. This means you can easily store wines at two different temperatures. It’s usually as simple as the temperature being higher at the bottom of the fridge and lower at the top.
Where Will Your Wine Fridge Live?
Small wine fridges tend to be noisy, especially if you have a robust compressor. So, another thing to look for is a thermoelectric fridge. In essence, this makes your fridge silent.
How Many Bottles Are You Storing?
Of course, there is the simple question of – how many bottles of wine would you like to store? The average small wine fridge can hold up to 20 – 30 bottles, but you can still find sleek designs that will obviously need a bit more space in the house but can hold up to 100 bottles. If you’re serious about your wines and have a solid collection, investing in a wine fridge can actually save you a lot of money in spoiled wine. So go ahead and splurge!
