A wine fridge is every wine lover's dream. The optimal storage for each variety. Temperature, humidity, brightness and location perfectly under observation. So you can enjoy your favourite juice of the vine at any time and know: This is exactly the way it was meant to taste. When stored incorrectly, wines can be damaged in many ways and even absorb aromas from other foods. Thus, we are certain that everyone who appreciates fine wine needs a wine refrigerator. In our buying guide for wine refrigerators, we will show you what is really important when making a purchase!
Compare and know what you need: This is very important so that your wine fridge can do a good job for a long time. How big should it be? Where do you want to put it? Does it need multiple zones? Do you want a wine fridge or a wine tempering cabinet? What must the climate class of the refrigerator be? All of these are questions that you should answer. Or rather, questions we can help you answer right now. We'll introduce you to different types and functions of wine refrigerators. This way, you can be well informed and then know exactly which wine refrigerator will enrich your life.
Small wine fridge with a large capacity. Up to 20 bottles can be stored in this refrigerator. The panoramic glass door and the control panel from the outside make operation and storage simple.
A small wine fridge can make a big difference. If you don't have that much space, a model such as this is ideal. The refrigerator has one cooling zone. With the control panel on the door you can set the temperature between 5 and 18 °C and thus ideally store your favourite wine. The simple and elegant design makes the refrigerator shine in any place. The 4 metal inserts are removable and the LED light inside can optionally be switched on and off.
Large wine fridge with an elegant design: Suitable for up to 165 bottles, this fridge is a miracle of space. Bottles are stored in a zone of up to 5-20 °C and are particularly well protected from vibration.
If you really want a lot of space for your wine, a large wine refrigerator like the Vinovilla Grande is the best choice. With compression cooling, activated carbon filter and protection against vibration, it offers the perfect conditions for well-protected wine. The wooden drawers are height-adjustable, giving you maximum flexibility. And a device for storing the proper glasses is also included.
Elegantly built into your kitchen, the bar or anywhere else: This built-in wine fridge comes with two cooling zones.
This 2-zone wine cooler makes versatility possible in your wine selection. For example, you can store red and white wine at different temperatures at the same time, and thus meet different needs. The refrigerator is built-in and can therefore be integrated into your kitchen, living room or bar.
This wine cabinet offers space for 77 bottles over 2 cooling zones. With its elegant, black design and tinted glass front made of 3-layer safety glass, it leaves nothing to be desired.
Sleek black design, tinted glass and wooden racks that hold your wine comfortably. This is the ideal way to store champagne, sparkling wine, prosecco, rosé, white or red wine. The refrigerator can be elegantly integrated anywhere, and lets you shine as a real wine connoisseur.
| Ultimo 20 Uno Wine Fridge | Vinovilla Grande 165 Built-in Uno Wine Fridge | Vinsider 41 Built-in Duo Onyx Edition Built-in Wine Fridge | Barossa 77 Duo Wine Fridge | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Capacity (Bottles) | 20 | 165 | 41 | 77 |
| Dimensions | approx. 43 x 63 x 50 cm | 59,5 x 176 x 70 cm | 59,2 x 88,5 x 56 cm | 48 x 128,5 x 64 cm |
| Weight | 17 kg | 90 kg | 45 kg | 48 kg |
| Energy Efficiency Class | G | G | G | G |
| Number of Cooling Zones | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 |
| Operating Noise | 41 dB max. | 49 dB max. | 38 dB max. | 42 dB max. |
| Features | - Touch control panel - LED interior lighting - Door stop: right, not changeable |
- Touch control panel - Free-standing and suitable for installation - Door stop: right |
- Touch control panel - Interior lighting - Door stop: right, not changeable |
- Touch panel - White LED interior lighting - Door stop can be mounted on both sides |
After we have presented different models, now it is up to you. Find your ideal wine cooler by asking yourself what exactly you want. For example, if you drink a lot of different wines, a two-zone wine refrigerator is recommended for optimal storage. Do you have a few selected bottles or would you rather have a colourful supply? You should adjust the size of your wine cabinet accordingly. Then of course there are some design questions: Do you like lighting? Should the cabinet be black or another colour? Should the device be free-standing or would you like it to be built-in? The humidity in your wine fridge should also be considered. This should be between 75 and 85%. Did you know: The climate class of the wine refrigerator indicates the ambient temperature in which it can ideally cool.
What types of wine are there and how do they differ? We'd love to explain that to you!
White wine is one of the world's most popular varieties and is therefore one of the most welcome guests in wine fridges. Winemakers use almost exclusively light-coloured grapes to produce white wine. They are usually drunk at a young age and the taste of a white wine is usually characterised by freshness, fruitiness as well as a higher acidity compared to red wine. Well-known grape varieties are Riesling, Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Blanc.
For red wines, as the name and colour already suggest, only red grapes are used. The wines get their colour from the skin of the fruit, which ferments together with the must. Colour intensity and tannin content - i.e. the tannins - depend on the duration of contact between the must and the peels. The time span can range from a few days (for light red wines) to up to two weeks (for heavy red wines). If the wines mature in wooden barrels, they develop particularly balsamic notes and taste more resinous. Prestigious grape varieties for red wines are Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Tempranillo, Pinot noir and Sangiovese.
The product of blending white and red wine is a rosé wine. A little joke, but behind it lies a common misconception: many people think that rosé wines are made by mixing white and red grapes. In fact, in the European Union it is even forbidden to mix red and white wine to make rosé. No, only the red grapes are part of the production process and winemakers achieve the pale red colour because they separate the skins from the must very early, so that they release only a small amount of pigment. There is one exception, however: rosé champagne is made from a mixture of light and dark grapes. The grape varieties Pinot Noir, Tempranillo, Pinotage, Shiraz and Cabernet Sauvignon are considered typical for rosé wines.
How it tingles! A Pearl wine or semi-sparkling wine usually receives additional carbonic acid that has escaped during the fermentation process. In Italy, such wines are labelled "frizzante" and the French call them "perlant". However, sparkling wines are only slightly sparkling with a pressure of just one to 2.5 bar. Popular representatives, also in wine refrigerators, are many Proseccos from Italy.
So-called still wines have hardly any alcohol as well as carbonic acid and act as the basis for sparkling wines that ferment in the bottle and thus develop natural carbonic acid and their alcohol content. To withstand the pressure of at least three bar, the bottles must be particularly thick-walled - we know this from popping New Year's Eve corks. If you are not familiar with the term sparkling wine, we are nevertheless sure that you know the best-known one: Champagne, which can only bear the noble name if it was produced in the French Champagne region. German sparkling wine (Sekt) and sparkling wine are often equated by name, although genuine German sparkling wine is always produced using a German still wine as a base.
Noble sweet wines are made partly or entirely from grapes that are affected by noble rot and contain little moisture. Don't allow the word "rot" to put you off, because the final product is delicious in every way. Because the special grapes give off much less liquid than normal light or dark grapes, the production process requires a lot of them - this also increases the cost of the concentrated sweet wines, which include the Hungarian Tokay and the Château d'Yquem from France.
If a wine has more than 15 percent by volume, it usually belongs to the category of liqueur wines. Either the processing of overripe grapes or the use of a base wine enriched by, for example, brandy is responsible for the high alcohol content. This reduces fermentation and ensures a higher sugar content in the grapes. Banyuls, Marsala, Madeira, port and sherry are particularly recommended.
We are taking a very liberal approach to the subject: There is no such thing as the best wine refrigerator or the only true drinking temperature. After all, what is the point of having a specific degree if the wine doesn't taste good that way? But beyond individual tastes, there are a few well-tempered guidelines that interested wine enthusiasts can follow in order to find the perfect drinking temperature for them. As a general rule, red wines should be drunk at around 18 degrees and white wines at around 10 degrees.
| Character | Temperature | |
|---|---|---|
| Sparkling Wine | - | 6°C to 8°C |
| White Wine | simple, light strong, full-bodied, complex |
9°C to 11°C 12°C |
| Red Wine | sweet, dessert wine light, fruity medium-bodied, everyday wine strong, full-bodied, complex |
12°C to 14°C 14°C to 16°C 16°C to 18°C 18°C |
That depends entirely on what is inside. Red wines develop their aromatic substances between 15 °C and 18 °C. White wines, on the other hand, require a slightly lower storage temperature of between 11 °C and 14 °C. Rosé wines are best stored in a wine refrigerator at a temperature between 7 °C and 12 °C. Sparkling wine and champagne are also often part of the wine supply and, as sparkling wines, require a temperature of 5 °C and 7 °C. Also, the humidity in your wine fridge should be between 75% and 85%.
That depends on size and energy class. On average, it can be said that an energy class E wine cooler consumes around 90 kWh.
Basically like a normal refrigerator: With compression cooling. That means: A refrigerant extracts heat from the interior and releases it to the outside. Nevertheless, a wine refrigerator is to be understood very differently from a refrigerator: The temperatures are milder in comparison. In addition, nothing else apart from wine and similar beverages should be stored in it. The doors are well sealed to keep odours out, and the bottles are particularly protected from vibration.
Wine climate chambers and wine refrigerators are basically synonyms for each other. The third term is the wine tempering cabinet. Here is the main difference: The tempering cabinet ensures that wines are brought to the ideal drinking temperature in a short time. The wine fridge, on the other hand, is intended for long-term storage and mimics the conditions of a wine cellar.
Of course, this depends on the size and functions. Small wine refrigerators start at around 200 euros. There are hardly any upper limits here. Large and high-quality wine refrigerators usually cost up to 2,000 euros.
A wine fridge is a luxury item. It is necessary if you want to optimally store your wine and are concerned with the ideal temperature and storage. Comparatively, it is the cheaper alternative to the wine cellar. Thus, it brings a high added value, which those with a wine cellar will certainly quickly become aware of. So, if you want to store your wine ideally and also present it elegantly, you need a wine fridge - in our opinion.
We recommend a free-standing wine fridge for the living room, unless you want to build it into a kind of kitchen unit. It is also worth investing in a very quiet device.
