Has your love of wine transformed the once modest selection you had of one or two bottles at any one time in your kitchen into a full blown collection of one or two dozen? If so, it may be time to start giving more careful consideration to storing them properly. Unless you have a basement in your home or some other cool area that would enable you to store your wine at the best humidity and temperature level, you should think about investing in a wine cooler, also referred to as a wine refrigerator.
As wine coolers come in a plethora of different sizes and shapes, deciding which is best for you could be a very draining and daunting experience. In order to help take the stress out of what should be a great experience, we have put together a guide to the key aspects you should consider when selecting the best wine cooler.
The Size
If you have only a small collection of a couple of bottles right now, you may not see the point in purchasing a cooler that is capable of storing many cases. Some experts, therefore, recommend that you start small with something along the lines of a 40 bottle cooler, particularly if you do not know how quickly you intend to expand your collection. Although they are capable of holding up to 40 bottles at a time, they are still relatively small enough that they will not take up too much space in even the most modest of homes.
The Quality And Features
As well as size, shape and price, as you’d imagine; wine coolers vary greatly in quality from one model to the next. A basic wine cooler for instance will store your wine at the appropriate temperature and humidity, but probably won’t do much else. Better quality coolers on the other hand often provide separate cooling and storage zones for red and white wines, to ensure that the different types of wines in your collection are kept at the best temperature and humidity.
Other features worth looking for if you are aiming to spend a little more on your wine cooler includes: digital temperature control panels, remote controls, UV protected glass and pull-out shelving suitable for different bottle sizes.
The Price
It is fair to say at this point, when talking about money, that even the more basic wine coolers will still be quite expensive. The price then increases when you start looking for coolers with some of the special features mentioned in the paragraph above or larger capacities. When you also figure in that you may have to have a particular cooler delivered directly to your home, the delivery charges themselves can be quite high too. You would be wise, once you have chosen a model, to purchase it from a store that offers a reduction in shipping or even free delivery to help save you some money.
Wine Coolers Or Racks
Many wine collectors are happy with just a wine cooler, whereas others like a combination of traditional wine racks in a cool area of the home with a wine cooler also. Before you make the decision to use wine racks though, you should give careful consideration to which bottles you might store on them. It is best to store the less valuable bottles of wine that you know you will drink sooner rather than later on wine racks; rather than that vintage Bordeaux from 1920.
Hopefully, the above information will help you to choose the perfect wine cooler for your growing collection. If you need help installing it, don’t hesitate to contact ADK who have professional wine cooler installation experts in the London area.