What to Search for in a Wine Fridge

Wine is consistently evolving. Dwelling organisms and the alternate of oxygen by means of porous, pure cork enable wine to proceed to breathe and develop, even after it’s within the bottle. This is the 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 effectively, it have to be saved correctly. 

Extra publicity to gentle and warmth throughout storage can smash a bottle of wine, and investing in a wine fridge is one method to keep away from the tragedy of a broken Bordeaux. Even when you don’t intend to age or retailer wine for a protracted time frame at residence, a wine fridge is usually a helpful method to preserve wine on the correct consuming temperature and unlock house in your important 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 odor. Our tongue detects fundamental flavors like salty, candy, and bitter. Our sense of odor fills within the blanks—it picks up on refined notes like fruit, spices, or herbs. Temperature impacts each of those parts.

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 look at the facility of temperature, Tribouilloy encourages wine lovers to do that experiment at residence: “Take a bottle of white wine out of the [kitchen] fridge and style it immediately. 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 shifting round rapidly and freely. This implies extra of them escape into the air the place we will 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 will turn into a unfavorable. 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 every little thing.” 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 pink wines is barely beneath 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 common kitchen fridge, which is mostly 40ºF or beneath. A devoted wine fridge is a simple method 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 getting older your personal wine, or simply seeking to preserve a number of bottles chilly, these are the elements that wine fans of each stage ought to take into account when in search of a wine fridge. 

House 

House is a significant consideration when investing in a brand new equipment. Take into account the obtainable house in your house, in addition to what number of bottles you’d prefer to retailer. For almost all of wine fans, an under-the-counter wine fridge will provide greater than sufficient house. In the event 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 critical collectors, bigger fridges can be found within the type of 48-inch large 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 cupboard space utilizing commonplace 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 pink and white wines at their optimum temperatures or to separate the bottles you’re cellaring from the bottles you propose to eat instantly. 

UV Mild Safety 

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

Learn 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 alternate air. Retaining your wine fridge in a cooler space of your house, 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 all the time 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 additional chilled bottle isn’t well worth the danger of a collapse. 

Which Wine Fridge Ought to You Purchase?

In the event you’re prepared to dedicate loads of house to a wine fridge, take into account 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 additional stress on the compressor. And whereas it’s costly, this correlates to its dimension and options.

For smaller areas, we love the Wine Enthusiast 18-Bottle Slimline Dual Zone Wine Cooler. This slim mannequin affords premium options with a brilliant small footprint. Wine Fanatic is a trusted title in wine merchandise with a superb fame for customer support and a guaranty obtainable on most objects.

Yeego affords a inexpensive choice that also shops a full case of wine. Their 15-inch wine cooler can maintain as much as 33 bottles. Double-paned glass doorways preserve the temperature secure, and a one-year guarantee protects your funding. It is 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 very best temperature for wine?  

The best serving temperature will depend on 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. 

Do you have to 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. 

In the event 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 pink 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 set pink wine in a wine fridge? 

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