August 24, / Industry News
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Why you need a wine fridge?
For the wine to mature correctly, storage conditions ought to be as close as possible to an underground cellar. The temperature should be cool but not frigid and, crucially, very stable. The humidity should be relatively high (60% +/- 10%). There should be no disturbance from light or vibration. The vicinity should contain nothing malodorous. Bottles should have space to lie horizontally undisturbed for as long as their owners can hold off drinking them.
Many of these conditions, which are approximated as closely as possible in a wine refrigerator (or 'cabinet'), are aimed at keeping the cork seal intact. For example, humidity doesn't affect the wine per se, but in an arid environment the cork will dry out and lose its elasticity, allowing oxygen to leach into the bottle too quickly. On the other hand, humidity is not kind to labels.
Wine refrigerators can be really expensive and the truth is they're just not for everyone. In the right situation, they can be a wonderful asset that keeps your precious wine in great condition and ready to serve at the optimal temperature.
So, how do you know if a wine refrigerator is worthwhile for you?
First, you're serious about wine drinking.
To you, wine is more than just a liquid beverage. Drinking wine is akin to appreciating fine art.
You do your best to learn about all of the flavors and aromas.
You've read about wine tasting and already learned the etiquette. You even know the types of wine grapes used and where to find them.
At this stage, a wine fridge could be of huge benefit to you to get the most out of each bottle and your wine experience.
Second, your kitchen fridge is full of wine and the wine collection is growing fast.
Wines are sensitive to humidity, light, and of course temperature.
A bottle that sits for even just a couple of weeks in a cupboard that's too hot or too cold may taste odd when it is opened. A traditional fridge is just too cold and dry to store wines for long periods. You need consistency in temperature, humidity, and darkness and that's where a wine fridge comes in.
Another sign that you need a wine fridge is your knowing all about serving temperatures.
You know why reds and whites are not served at the same temperature. You even know why various types of reds or various types of whites require different serving temperatures. Since you care so much about serving temperatures, you might also want to enjoy a perfect glass of wine. That's only possible if you invest in a good wine fridge that can chill your beverage at an appropriate temperature.
How can you choose the right wine fridge?
First of all, you need to know that to keep the wine fresh and in the best condition, you should make sure that your wine is protected from heat, rays, and vibration. Starting from this point, we can easily define a good wine cooler.
Stable temperature ' it does not have to be cold, but it has to be stable. The unstable temperature may cause damage to the wine. Hence the temperature control ability and stable cooling system of a wine cooler are extremely important. Check the temperature range before you purchase the wine fridge. If possible, it is better to check if the temperature could maintain at the level you set up.
Light-resistant ' light can rearrange a wine's chemical compounds ' just like oxygen and temperature ' and cause wine faults. The resulting wine is known as light-struck. That means the wine is prematurely aged and its taste, aroma, color, and mouthfeel have been irreparably changed for the worse. Most wine coolers in the market have a glass door, so it is important to check if the glass door could resist the light.
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No vibration ' Vibration is also harmful to wine. The compressor is the heart of the cooling system and when it is working, it might generate vibration. Therefore, a good quality compressor is necessary for a wine cooler.
In addition, there are many other factors that you need to consider when selecting the right wine fridge. These include size, volume, bottle capacity, length of anticipated storage time, and shelf life of the unit. The better the wines that are in your collection, the longer you are probably going to age them. The only way wines reach their full potential is when stored correctly and prevented from all the damage.
The SMAD wine cooler has a high-quality compressor that generates nearly zero vibration and noise while working. Because of this, the temperature inside the wine fridge is super stable. Moreover, the glass door is covered by a special film that can prevent most light. If you want to buy a wine cooler, SMAD is a good choice.
If you have chosen to pick up your wine cooler yourself, it is important that it is kept standing upright during the transport. In some cases the compressor / cooling system can get damage, if it has been laid down during transport.
Therefore, we recommend that you get the wine cooler delivered by professionals who can transport the wine cooler upright throughout the transport.
Once you have placed your wine cooler where it should be, wait 24-48 hours (Eurocave always 48 hours) before connecting power to the cabinet. It is important for the wine cooler to stand still after it has been transported.
It is also important that the wine cooler is in an absolutely perfectly levelled position.
Use the waiting time to fill the wine cooler with bottles.
All manufacturers of wine coolers refers to the bottle type Bordeaux when they specify the bottle capacity of the wine cooler. But few people only have Bordeaux bottles. There are many bottles that are both thicker and longer than Bordeaux bottles. So expect that you have room for about 70% of the stated number of Bordeaux bottles if you have mixed bottle sizes. Do not fill your wine cooler too much as it is important that there is room for air to circulate inside the wine cooler so you get a constant temperature throughout the cooling zone.
Learn more about how to store the bottles in the best way, temperature and humidity here.
Generally, air exchange is a good thing against moisture. After all, this applies to everything from basements, sheds and also wine cabinets. So total opening and venting of the wine fridge once in a while is a good idea.
However, it may happen that mold occur in a wine refrigerato. Fortunately, this can be remedied with a good and thorough cleaning, which, by the way is a good idea to do twice a year.
We recommend a mold and mildew remover product used along with a regular main cleaning of the wine refrigerator. Take out the wine bottles and wash the inside of the cabinet with light soapy water and rinse with clean water at last.
Then, when you put the bottles back in the cabinet, try to prevent them from touching the back wall inside the cabinet. In this way you help the air circulation, which is good against mold and mildew.
Finally, you can wrap the bottles in food wrapping film before racking them in the wine cabinet. This way you protect the labels while the bottles are easier to stack inside the cabinet. You can also spray hair lacquer as a nice little protective film on the label, but we prefer wrapping film. On a dry bottle, of course'
When you first connect your wine cooler it will run a lot because it will have to work a lot to cool down all the bottles. The entire cooling system is also about to start running for the first time.
In the beginning you will experience that the wine cooler will sound louder than normal, as well as start and stop more times than normal.
A wine cooler sounds more than a conventional refrigerator. This is due to, among other things, fans inside the cabinet that distributes cold air to achieve a constant temperature throughout the cooling zone. There is also a big difference in how sound is perceived depending on the acoustics of the room where you have placed the wine cooler.
Learn more about noise from wine coolers and what you should consider here.
Once you have set the wine cooler to the desired temperature, it is very normal that the temperature will fluctuate up and down plus / minus a few degrees. This varies depending on whether the cabinet will be cooled further down after that it just has cooled down.
These temperature fluctuations are normal and the wine will not get affected because it takes longer for the liquid to change temperature than it does for the air in the cabinet.
Filling a wine cooler with bottles will help maintain a more stable temperature inside the wine cooler.
It's important that you connect your wine cooler using an earth connection plug. This is for your own safety and because some wine coolers (especially thermoelectric wine coolers) risk breaking down if not connected to an active earth connection.
For other instructions and how to use your wine cooler, we refer to the manual that you can find here.
If you wish to store your wine for a longer period of time, it is very important that the bottles lie down completely; making sure that the cork is kept moist by the wine. Some wine coolers have a presentation shelf, where the bottle can be placed crooked in order to see the label. This looks very nice when you look into the wine cooler. However, you need to remember to switch the bottles around occasionally, to make sure that the cork does not dry out on any of the wine bottles.
The bottles you wish to store for the longest period of time are a good idea to store in pre-determined shelves that you don't pull out too often. You can also have defined shelves for the wines you drink from time to time that are being replaced more often. In this way, you allow the wines, which are being stored for a longer period, to have the most amount of calm and quiet, making sure they are not shaken unnecessarily.
There is a difference between having a wine cooler for long-term storage, short-term storage or a combination of the two. If you primarily need the wine cooler for long-term storage, the ideal temperature would be 12 degrees. Higher temperatures can also be used, but remember the higher the temperature, the faster the wine ages.
If you need the wine cooler for short-term storage or as a serving cooler, where you often remove a bottle or two, and replace them, the ideal temperature would be about 15-16 degrees. Making sure that the wine gets the right serving temperature at 16-18 degrees faster.
If you have white wines etc. you will either need a wine cooler with two cooling zones, where you put one zone on 6-8 degrees for the whites, and then use the other zone for red wines. If you only have one zone, you will need to take the white wine or champagne out of the wine cooler a while before drinking and place it in a normal fridge, which is usually set to 5 degrees.
Moisture in the air can also be a factor when you are long-term storing wine. The ideal humidity would be at 50-75%. If the humidity level gets too high, you risk the cork starts to rot or crumble, and if it is too low, you risk the cork drying out. Most wine coolers maintain the correct humidity themselves through the vaporizer within the cooler, others simply maintain it when you open and close the door.
If you are long-term storing wine, I suggest that you invest in a hygrometer, or use our smart wireless system from Sensorist, which keeps an eye on both humidity level and temperature through the Internet or an app.
Get help finding out which wine cooler you need by using our wine cooler guide. In this guide all of our products are divided into different categories, depending on number of bottles, low energy, level of noise and much more.
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