The Best Wine Cooler Reviews

There are many different brands of wine coolers, but all of them are designed for one purpose, which is to ensure your wine collection, no matter how big or small, is kept at an optimum storage temperature. Helping your wine collection age gracefully and properly is the main goal of the wine enthusiast, and a quality wine cooler can help to achieve that goal.
 
There are two enemies of wine quality, which are heat and light. These elements can rob your wine of its smooth flavor and aroma, thus turning it from wine into something worse, like vinegar. Any wine which has been allowed to turn is a tragedy of the wine world, and a true wine lover would never want this to happen to one or several of his wines.

In trying to fight the two enemies of wine, the most important features for any wine cooler are that it keep out most of the light, and that it is able to maintain wine at its proper storage temperature.

A wine storage system will contain a passive temperature control system, which is determined strictly by its construction, and which focuses on the insulation of the unit. A passive wine cooler unit does not have temperature controls, so its main purpose is to store wine safely, and not necessarily to keep it chilled at serving temperature. For someone who is strictly a red wine lover, this "unchilled" temperature might be considered ideal for drinking. A passive unit will have light-blocking features (either dark glass, or completely enclosed) as well.

An active wine cooler will contain, just as the passive cooler, the insulating features, but it will also come equipped with an adjustable cooling temperature system in which to cool the interior. These active wine coolers have become very popular with white wine lovers, as white wine is best when served chilled. For occasional white wine drinkers, you can purchase small wine coolers that quickly chill individual bottles for drinking.

Most of the best wine coolers are designed to keep the wines at 50 to 55 degrees F., which is considered by many to be the optimum storage temperature for proper aging. Keeping a cooler at a bit higher temperature, and the wine will age gracefully, but at a quicker rate. Keep the cooler a bit cooler, and it will age more slowly.

In the most general terms, the wine refrigerators are designed to help with two things, which are to keep the wine at a proper serving temperature, and to allow the wine to be stored for aging, with no harm to the wine. If you are looking to buy a small sized, countertop wine cooler, you are probably most concerned with storing the wine without harming it, and keeping it close to a good serving temperature.

The prices of wine cooler storage units will vary depending on the size and the number of features it contains. The numbers of shelves and bottles it holds, whether it has digital or dial controls, and doors which open in different directions. Active wine coolers will range from about $100 for the smallest of units, on up to over $3000 for large, multi-bottle, multi-feature coolers. Generally, coolers priced over several thousand dollars are reserved for restaurants and bars.

Wine cooler reviews of all the major brands of wine storage units can be found throughout this website.