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Everything You Need to Know About Wine Refrigerators
When it comes to wine accessories and wine storage solutions for wine lovers, you will find that most wine fans share the ultimate dream of a roomy wine cellar in which to protect and age their precious vintages. Another item, which is high on the list, is a wine refrigerator. Wine cellars and wine refrigerators are two different things although they serve a similar purpose.
A wine cellar is a storage space for your wine and this might be a corner of your closet (with the correct temperature and humidity, making it more of a refrigerator than a cellar) or it might be a massive underground room. Wine refrigerators offer an alternative wine storage facility and they range in size from very small ones to big ones, which cost thousands of dollars.
How to Choose Wine Refrigerators
People who buy wine refrigerators either own bars or restaurants or they collect wine, so it makes sense to go for the largest you can afford, as long as you have adequate space for it.
If you are into wine collecting, you will want to expand your collection of wine as you expand your knowledge, which means that buying a small wine refrigerator and then discovering a year ahead that you should have bought a bigger one is best avoided. Just buy the bigger one in the first place if you have the funds! You can get a six bottle wine refrigerator for around a hundred dollars or a huge one, which holds fifty bottles for more than ten times that figure.
How to Use a Wine Refrigerator
As the name implies, a wine refrigerator is for refrigerating wine. Red wine is usually stored at room temperature or just below, whereas white is best stored much cooler than that. This means that you will either need a dual temperature control wine refrigerator, a pair of wine refrigerators or one just for your white wine and another place (such as a wine cellar) for the reds.
If your wine refrigerator is going to be on display, choose something attractive and quiet. You will not want to hear a constant buzzing noise coming from it. If it is going to be kept in the garage or somewhere out of the way, go for function over looks.
Wineries tend to vary their bottle shapes and sizes so it is a good idea to make sure you choose a wine refrigerator that can accommodate different bottles. Maybe you will invest in some magnums at some point and these are larger than normal wine bottles, so make sure you will be able to store them.
Temperature and Humidity Controls
You need the correct humidity level and temperature level for wine collecting, whether you are using a wine cellar or wine refrigerators. 55 degrees F is the optimum temperature for most wines.
Keeping the humidity at the right level keeps the labels intact and stops the corks from drying out. The cooler the temperature the lower the humidity will be so aim for fifty to seventy percent humidity for the best results.
Store your wine refrigerator somewhere away from vibrations or frequent changes in temperature. If you are going to store it somewhere with changing temperatures make sure it is well insulated.
Fluctuating temperatures can affect wine negatively but investing in a wine refrigerator to keep the temperature and humidity correct means you can store you wines safely and enjoy them whenever you choose to open them.
