Most people who get into wine only do so to the point where they may have a few good bottles around at any one time. However, some people reach beyond this hobbyist level of wine appreciation, accumulating and collecting multiple bottles that need to be stored at the perfect temperature, aging for a considerable length time of time before it can optimally be consumed. Even if you’re not a collector, you might still have a large number of wine bottles that you’ve purchased for a party, thus necessitating a separate storage and cooling unit. If either of these descriptions applies to you, then it may be time to start researching a bottle fridge to organize and temperature regulate your collection. Hopefully this article will help you get off on the right foot by searching for the features that are most useful while avoiding those which are more fluff than substance!
The Most Important Features
First on the list is the all-important issue of portability. While many people will keep their bottle fridges in a static location, the flexibility afforded by simple transportation is huge. For instance, you’ll presumably want to show off and perhaps even consume portions of your wine collection at some point, so why not opt for a unit with coasters on it? That way, you can easily wheel the fridge to the most convenience location in your home and people can congregate around it while they admire your wines.
This video features a nice 360 degree look at a typical free standing bottle fridge:
Next on the list is multi-zone operation inside of the unit. This feature will allow you to store different wines in separate compartments, cooling them to individual temperatures. Obviously, you’ll be cooling white wines as you would in a small fridge, but red wines are generally kept far less cool. Therein lies the advantage of a wine fridge with multiple temperature zones: You can keep all of your wines together in one centralized location without having to worry about the temperature requirements.
Speaking of temperature, you might also want to look into a unit with useful feedback in the form of a digital readout. For instance, you can purchase a 12 bottle wine fridge that comes with a simple, effective digital interface for a very reasonable price. The real trick is to avoid a product that goes overboard with such features because it becomes an excuse for the manufacturer to charge an arm and a leg for what should be a straightforward product. A simple digital display that confirms that all temperature zones are being kept at the desired base temperature is really the bare minimum here. While you can trust these products to perform properly, no electronic device is 100% safe against failure, which is why it is nice to have that extra bit of confidence that can be provided by the display.
Next on the list is interior lighting. I’ve seen a couple of wine fridges on the market that do not include this feature, and in my opinion it lowers their value substantially. If you picture yourself heading to the fridge to choose the perfect bottle for a small gathering, the last thing you want to do is fumble around for a long time, pulling out each individual bottle to check its contents in the light outside the fridge. Another (and potentially more serious issue) is keeping the labels on your valuable wines intact. If you are a wine collector, then you probably understand the importance of keeping your bottles in fantastic condition at all times. This makes them more presentable for showing them off to company, but more importantly it keeps their value up in case you want to make a trade or sell a bottle to another collector.
Additional Considerations and Warnings
In the spirit of many of my recent posts, I have a short list of other considerations that can help you in narrowing down your choices. These things should be considered only after the bigger issues above have been sorted out:
- Be sure that you have enough room to properly operate the bottle fridge. Many of these units are designed to be free standing, with no obstacles impeding the flow of air in or out. If you are planning on building the fridge into a wall similar to a kitchen cabinet, be extra careful to read the instructions beforehand to make sure that the unit is designed to operate in this fashion.
- Consider whether you want a floor or countertop model. If you want a smaller unit that can sit on the kitchen table, think about purchasing a 6 bottle wine fridge that is designed for limited space and easy access. This especially makes sense if you are just starting out a collection, you are only doing it semi-seriously, or if you tend to consume your wine shortly after purchase. There’s nothing that says you have to be a collector to use a wine fridge, and sometimes you just want something to keep your wine properly temperature controlled before consumption at dinner or a party.
- If you are concerned with your impact on the environment, there are a lot of bottle fridges on the market that are CFC free. This will ensure the least harmful impact on the environment. Many people are under the mistaken impression that environmentally friendly electronic products are somehow inferior in quality to other products, but this is simply not true.
- Pull out shelves are another amenity that will both help you protect the condition of your wine labels in addition to making the unit far more convenient to operate.
- I highly recommend purchasing a wine fridge with transparent, glass doors. There are some fridges out there that have opaque or decorated surfaces, making it hard or impossible to view your collection without opening the unit, itself. I personally like having the visual feedback that a simple glass door provides, showing me that my wine collection is safe and sound. Combined with a proper digital readout, you will be armed with all the information you could possibly want about the condition of your collection. To an outsider, this might seem ridiculous, but wine collectors understandably want to protect their investment as much as possible!
Want more water dispenser information? Head to the front page!
If you’re taking your white wine on the road, you might want to read this article on how to select a car fridge.
