For wine lovers, what is a wine cooler?
A wine cooler is an alcoholic beverage made from wine and fruit juice, often in combination with a carbonated beverage and sugar.
Traditionally home-made, wine coolers have been bottled and sold by commercial distributors since the early 1980s, especially in areas where their alcohol content, lower than wine, causes them to come under less restrictive laws than table wines. The wine used in wine coolers typically is of the lowest grade available because the majority of the wine’s flavor is hidden by the fruit and sugar.
Find out about the fascinating details below when searching for a wine cooler.
Table of Contents
What Is A Wine Cooler?
In various dialects, the term “wine cooler” has different connotations. The British and American English meanings of the phrase are clearly distinguished by the Collins Dictionary for this reason.
Wine cooler is what Americans refer to as a cool beverage made from wine and fruit juice, per the dictionary. The wine cooler gets its fizz from a carbonated beverage, typically soda or carbonated water. During the warmer months, the beverage is typically served chilled and over ice.
Despite their name, wine coolers are frequently made with subpar wine or even other alcoholic beverages because the fruit juice predominates over the wine.
Kir and Sangria are two well-known wine coolers that taste exquisite when made with premium ingredients.
However, in Britain, a bucket-like container used to chill a bottle of wine before serving is referred to as a “wine cooler” and is filled with ice.
To distinguish it from a refrigerator, this container is typically referred to in the hospitality industry as a wine bucket.
In actuality, the hospitality industry is where the last definition of the wine cooler was found. The restaurateurs frequently refer to the wine refrigerator as a wine cooler in order to distinguish it from a container filled with ice and a refrigerator designed specifically to store and cool wines.
Additionally, it distinguishes between the various refrigerators found in an industrial kitchen.
Wine Coolers Types
There are three categories of wine coolers: free-standing, fully integrated and built-in wine coolers.
Freestanding wine coolers are made to stand alone and are not intended to be integrated into a kitchen or other room. For the purpose of long-term wine preservation and aging, these units are typically used to simulate a wine cellar.
As the cooler air is drawn in from the rear of the unit, which is also where the heat is dissipated, these shouldn’t be used as built-in wine coolers. If the warm air around the unit can’t escape, it will eventually overheat. It shouldn’t be enclosed from above and should have a space of about three inches on either side.
Wine coolers that are fully integrated are made to fit into any cabinet space and give the appearance of floating. Any kitchen design that wants to allow for the proper air flow must incorporate a channel because warm air is also expelled to the back of the cabinets.
Fully integrated wine refrigerators are great because they give any kitchen a seamless appearance and have the capacity to store wines optimally for years to come while still looking fantastic.
In that it rests on the floor, a built-in wine cooler resembles a freestanding model in many ways. To draw cool air in and push warm air out of either side of this vent, these units have fans directly underneath the unit and front vents.
Depending on the size of the wine fridge, built-in wine coolers need between 0.25cm and 0.5cm of space on all sides.
Built-in wine coolers are typically used as under-counter wine coolers because they are available in a range of sizes to fit under most counter tops. However, for the wine enthusiast or interior designer, there are also large capacity wine coolers available as built-in units that hold more than 200 bottles of wine. See more about How Long Does It Take To Age Wine
Reasons For Why Need A Wine Cooler
You can chill your wine to the ideal serving temperature in a wine fridge, also known as a wine cooler or wine cave. … A wine fridge is useful because it can keep your wine at the right temperature. The temperature of your typical refrigerator may change because it is probably opened and shut frequently.
Your wine will be safeguarded by a wine cooler against alterations in humidity and the outside environment. … Regular refrigerators are not appropriate for the long-term storage of wine due to these issues. A wine cooler would be a wise investment if you want your wine to mature properly and taste its best.
An appliance with temperature control and a wine storage purpose is known as a wine refrigerator. It is essentially a smaller, more modern wine cellar or cave. A wine fridge will keep your wine at the right temperature while displaying your bottles.
Single Vs. Dual Zone Wine Coolers
A wine cooler’s name should provide enough information. A single zone wine cooler is an appliance that has a single refrigeration zone.
These models are typically preferred by those who want to preserve their wine collection over chilling the beverage before serving because the temperature is kept constant throughout the entire environment.
Despite the widespread misconception that different wines require different preservation conditions, red and white wines actually require the same preservation temperature, which is roughly 55°F.
The actual cellar conditions account for this. In actuality, a traditional wine cellar’s environment doesn’t have adjustable temperature features, and winemakers have been successful for centuries at preserving the characteristics of all wines by aging them in the same environment.
If you want to chill the wines before serving, the rules change a little. Reds and whites have different serving temperatures, and in this case, a dual zone wine cooler gives you two environments that can be adjusted to separate temperature levels.
This feature is especially helpful if you’re purchasing a wine cooler for a small wine shop or tasting room because it will allow you to always keep a number of bottles at serving temperature.
Numerous single and dual zone wine cooler models are available for all price ranges and needs.
Thermoelectric Vs. Compressor Wine Coolers
Since they lack a compressor, thermoelectric wine coolers have the added advantage of being vibration-free. Due to the fact that the majority of thermoelectric wine coolers cool by electrolysis rather than using any refrigerant, they are also comparatively quiet. Since they have almost no moving parts and therefore require much less electricity, they are also very energy-efficient in addition to being silent.
Thermoelectric wine coolers operate using a heat pump, which efficiently moves heat from one side of the appliance to the other.
This can be used to heat or cool, but when used to cool, an electrical current is applied across the device to create a difference in temperature across the wine cooler, without any vibration!
However, recent advancements in compressor wine cooler technology have led to the introduction of A energy rated compressor models, putting them on par with thermoelectric wine coolers in terms of energy consumption.
Additionally, the operating range of thermoelectric units is constrained by the fact that they typically have an internal temperature range of 8 to 10 degrees Celsius and have ineffective temperature regulation.
This is because their daily fluctuations in ambient temperature have a significant impact on them. Because they are so greatly influenced by the surrounding temperature, thermoelectric wine coolers are only available as freestanding models and cannot be purchased as built-in models.
As their efficiency declines with wine cooler size, this also means that they are only available in smaller units.
Compressor wine coolers are significantly more effective than thermoelectric models and have a much wider internal operating temperature to accommodate all types of wine; typically, this ranges from 5 to 22 degrees Celsius.
The compressor, fan, and evaporator system in the wine cooler allow it to reach these temperatures.
The refrigerant liquid absorbs heat from the evaporator coils, changing back into a vapour before returning to the compressor to start the process all over again.
When the heat is absorbed, cooler air is produced and distributed throughout the wine cooler with one or two fans in each compartment, which creates an evenly distributed temperature.
Small vibrations caused by compressors during this process in the past were bad for wines because they disturbed any formed sediment. There are now vibration-free compressors available, and high-quality wine coolers are typically made with numerous small pieces of equipment to dampen any potential vibrations.
Compressor wine coolers have the additional advantage of being offered in three variations: built-in, freestanding, and fully integrated wine refrigerators.
Because they are designed to maintain temperature and humidity much more effectively, premium wine coolers today are typically very energy-efficient and match thermoelectric units in terms of energy usage. As a result, the compressor and fan system uses less energy overall.
All of this can be attributed to better systems in general, thicker insulation, and high-quality doors.
Therefore, given the information given, choosing between a compressor and a thermoelectric wine cooler does depend on a variety of factors:
- What wines you plan to store
- What space is available for a wine cooler
- The ambient temperature fluctuation
- How much wine you wish to store
- What you want your new wine cooler to look like
- Single temperature zone or dual temperature zone wine fridge
Can I Store What Sizes Of Bottles?
The standard 75cL Bordeaux bottle is the focal point of most wine cooler designs. This does not imply that you cannot store different bottle sizes; it only means that the unit’s overall capacity may change.
Please be aware that you might need to remove shelves to accommodate larger bottles, such as Champagne or Prosecco bottles. See more about How Many Drinks In A Bottle Of Wine
Which Manufacturer Offers The Best Wine Coolers?
Here are some things to take into account when choosing a wine storage option.
- Key conditions include cooler but not freezing temperatures. …
- The temperature must remain constant. …
- Light is the enemy of wine. …
- Although not required, humidity is important. …
- Put bottles in a side-by-side arrangement. …
- Vibration should be as low as possible.
Wine refrigerators are the best for long-term wine storage and for allowing fine wine to mature. It should be fine to store a bottle or two at room temperature or in a standard kitchen refrigerator if you plan to consume them within a short period of time after purchase.
Why Did Manufacturers Stop Producing Wine Coolers?
Wine coolers were around forever; they just underwent some modernization.
There is a life cycle for every product. It eventually becomes outdated and is changed out for a different item. Wine coolers were popular in the 1980s, but in the 1990s drinks like Zima took their place. From there, alcoholic soft drinks like Mike’s Hard Lemonade and Twisted Tea gained popularity. Each person is now sipping hard seltzer.
As a result of the product’s declining demand, they stopped producing wine coolers. Hard seltzer will eventually lose its appeal, and a new beverage will appear in its place. Alcoholic soft drinks, however, are essentially the same thing.
The End
Then what exactly is a wine cooler?
Wine cooler refrigerators work pretty much how they sound: a refrigerator specifically designed to store wine. Wine refrigerators are made specifically to age your wine as well as preserve it. Correct wine storage and aging bring out its true qualities and full flavor potential.
