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What is the different types of wine coolers?
Proper wine storage not only helps in improving the shelf life of the beverage but also goes a long way in improving its taste and quality. Wine coolers are the best when it comes to saving your favorite drink from spoilage. The best wine coolers provide ambient temperatures and humidity levels that will keep your drink even safer for your consumption.
So why is temperature an important thing to consider when it comes to wine storage? Well, white, pink and sweet wines have a tendency of tasting like syrup if stored in temperatures out of 40 to 46oF. Low tannin or lighter red wines with relatively low alcohol contents are great when served at chilled temperatures of between 58 and 60oF. Wines with high tannin on the other hands should be stored at temperatures above 60oF.
As seen above, it’s very important to store your wine at the right temperatures. So which are the best wine coolers currently available in the market? Let’s take a look at the different types of wine coolers which are perfect for you.
What is a wine cooler?
A wine cooler is a device that can be used to cool down a bottle of wine once it has been opened. They are also known as wine chillers, but there is no need to use the full name when you know what they’re called! It’s kind of like saying “e-mail” instead of “electronic mail”. To start from scratch, these devices will generally allow you to place your bottle inside and then adjust the internal temperature until it reaches the perfect coldness level.
Different Types of Wine Coolers
There are lots types of wine coolers currently available. You might even get confused at which to go for. To eliminate doubts and worries about wine coolers, it is important to have a look at some the most common brands you’ll always come across.
Built-In coolers
Do you lack enough space in your living room to accommodate a stand-alone wine cooler? The built-in wine coolers are meant for those small spaces. However, they are more expensive compared to their counterparts.
Being that they are designed according to one’s specifications and without ventilations make them quite costly. Unless the manufacturer specifies that the cooler can be installed in cabinet spaces, don’t make the move. Installing a cooler that isn’t built-in in cabinet spaces is way of spoiling your drinks.
Free-Standing Coolers
Free-standing wine coolers are averagely priced and also rank highly in the most commonly used list. They are available in different sizes and your choice solely depends on the amount of floor space you have. The size doesn’t correlate in any way to the cooler’s efficiency.
You’ll even be surprised to find very compact free-standing coolers that are very reliable when it comes to chilling wine. Unlike built-in coolers, free-standing coolers can actually be placed at any available space in your house.
Single Zone and Dual Zone Coolers
As you have seen above, different types of wines require different storage temperatures. You might have two or more different wines in your house which you’d wish to preserve under different temperature settings. This is where the dual zone coolers come in.
Dual coolers are capable of maintaining different temperatures at ago. Single zone coolers, on the other hand, are known for their constant temperature setting as well as their large storage capacities. Another good feature about single zone coolers is their ease of integration into almost all kitchens.
Counter-Top Coolers
Have you run through your house and lacked floor space for a wine cooler? Worry no more as counter-top coolers are the best suited for such scenarios. These are perfect for wine consumers who aren’t much into collection and too long storage.
Their small sizes make them easy to store but at the same time spacious enough to store enough bottles for your comfort. These models are available in different sizes so it’s a good idea if you settle on a size based on available space at home.
Unlike the other models described above, counter-top coolers need ventilations so ensure there is sufficient space for the same before making a purchase.
Under-Counter Wine Coolers
The under-counter wine coolers are also ideal for compact spaces. They are best suited for use in cafeterias, kitchens and restaurants. Despite their compact sizes, they are spacious enough to store beer and wine in their two storage sections.
These can be placed underneath the counters without a thing to worry about.
Thermoelectric vs compressor coolers
Based on the type of technology, there are compressor and thermoelectric coolers. Compressor-based coolers are run by motors that compress air before releasing the same to decrease the temperature. These consume more electric power compared to the thermoelectric.
The thermoelectric models on the other hand are less noisy as instead of motors they use electric currents which aren’t alternating. No over-freezing and minimal energy consumption are some of the benefits of using thermoelectric coolers.
When choosing the right wine cooler for your usage there are a number of factors to consider. Why do we say so? You probably wouldn’t want to buy an appliance as important as this, only to render it unusable. Some of these factors are:
- Temperature settings
- Capacity
- Storage area
- Additional features
- Technology
What’s the difference between a wine cooler and a wine cellar?
A wine cooler is a refrigerator that cools down to as much as 55 degrees Fahrenheit, whereas a wine cellar is an environment kept at a constant temperature between 50 and 65 degrees Fahrenheit. Wine cellars also may have humidity controls which wine coolers lack.
Some people even make their own wine cellars by keeping their bottles in a basement or root cellar, where the temperatures are typically around 55 degrees—though these types of homemade “wine cellars” don’t usually have humidity controls either.
A wine cellar is a room or other area specifically built to store wine.
A cellar is an inside area with temperature controlled for the storage of wine at the correct temperature and humidity, as well as suitable racks upon which to store bottles lying down so as not to damage them. These are also often called “wine rooms”.
In addition, a wine cellar will have casks of differing sizes for different wines. The above mentioned 55 °F (12.78 °C) lies between the commercial refrigerator and room temperature.
This is because cellars borrow from both environments: temperatures that are cold enough that many varietals would be extinguished due to frost, but not cold enough that they’d freeze; humidity levels high enough to corks from drying out; and racks and casks that are designed to make the corks fit tightly in order to preserve the bottles.
What do Americans mean by wine cooler?
Kidding aside, Americans use the term wine cooler to refer to a range of drinks that are designed to be refreshing and light. These include wines made from grapes (of course!) but also other fruit wines. They will often have an alcohol content in the 5-8% ABV range (although you’ll see some with higher %ABV) because they need to be relatively easy drinking to appeal to mainstream drinkers.
What do Europeans mean by wine cooler?
Europeans tend not to refer to any alcoholic drink as “wine coolers.” For them, there is no difference between wine and lager & sometimes you’ll hear beers referred to as “vinho fresco”. That’s why Europe you won’t find any wines that are marketed as wine coolers.
Conclusion about types of wine coolers
Apart from temperature, there are other factors that might affect the quality, durability and taste of your wine. These may include vibration and light among others. That being said, it is worth noting that wine cannot therefore be stored just for the sake of it.
Would you organize a special occasion for days only for wine to let you down? And only on storage grounds? Wine coolers will maintain a constant temperature throughout the storage duration making the wine age perfectly well.
To get yourself the right cooler, there are a number of factors to consider as explained above. Take your time, research and get an ideal model that will serve you right. From the different types of wine coolers that we have discussed, we hope you have learned something very informative. Is there any piece of information that you would wish to add onto this? Get in touch with us.
