If your wine collection has outgrown its cardboard boxes, it might be time to buy a wine storage system. Wine refrigerators, also known as coolers, can be free-standing or built into cabinets. Storage capacity ranges from six bottles to 500. Units should be durable and well constructed, but what else must a buyer consider?
Food refrigerators are not good for storing wine: the shelves aren't suited to bottles; cooling units eliminate precious humidity; the lighting hastens a wine's demise; and, most importantly, the constant vibrations of a refrigerator's compressor-based cooling system will cause wine to age prematurely. Most wine-storage systems use vibration-free thermo-electric cooling.
The biggest mistake made when buying wine fridges is underestimating the size needed. Capacity calculations are based on the slim, bordeaux-style bottles but things change when your fat-bottomed burgundy and champagne bottles join them in the fridge.
Doors can be either solid or glass (which must be double-glazed and tinted to protect your collection from ultraviolet rays). Glass doors are less energy-efficient. Some wine fridges boast separate cooling zones to accommodate white, red and sparkling wines, each at the correct serving temperature.
Before you buy the largest in the shop, make sure it can be manoeuvred into your flat; stories abound of people forgetting to add the trolley height to their calculations. Adjustable legs and feet on the unit will enable you to accommodate uneven floors.
It must also have temperature and humidity controls or monitors. Make sure they are precise and can be fine-tuned without difficulty. Interior controls should be water-resistant as the unit will contain considerable humidity.
