Some readers noticed Saturday’s tweet that “Wine blogger happiness = replacing the old & busted wine racks w/ the new hotness wine fridge,” while others noticed the picture I posted on Facebook. The mention of new wine fridge caused a flurry of Facebook posts, Twitter direct messages, and emails. So, here are the questions and my answers:
Dear Alleigh—
I saw that you have a new wine fridge. Which one did you purchase? Why did you decide on that wine fridge? Where did you buy your new wine fridge? How does it handle longer bottle like Rieslings, or larger Burgundy bottles? What do you think of your new wine fridge?
I have been looking at wine fridges for a long time, but Hubby and I live in a small condo in the city, which means any wine fridge I purchased would have to not only fit our budget, but also look good in our living room and be silent enough not to be disruptive.
I yearned for a Eurocave, but realistically, even the small ones were on the large side and out of my price range. Therefore, I narrowed my options down to three :
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All of the wine fridges were between $350-$500.Ultimately, I decided on the NewAir because, of the three models, it was the only one that had adjustable shelving. Once of the reoccurring complaints I saw was that certain bottles were too wide to fit into the Wine Enthusiast and the Whynter coolers, and considering the wide variety of wines that I drink, I didn’t want to end up with a wine fridge I wasn’t going to be able to use.
Once I decided which wine fridge I was buying, I did a little online price comparison-shopping. Amazon was the most reputable company with the lowest price (it was actually on sale for $100 less than it is currently being sold for). Plus, we get extra credit card points for shopping with Amazon, so it turned out to be an easy decision.
I placed my order on March 11 and when I came home from work on March 16 the package was waiting for me. The fridge itself was packaged in two layers of boxes with a significant amount of padding, which made it heavy to move, but clearly protected the wine fridge, which is the important part.
The fridge needed to be upright for at least two hours before it could be plugged in, but that gave me time to remove all of the shelves and wash it out with a warm cloth before filling it with my wine. The fridge did take a while too cool down, but it that is to be expected.
Once each section was at the right temperature, I started putting my bottles into their new home. I did have to take out a shelf for one bottle because the space between the two shelves was too narrow. Since the shelving is adjustable, though, that problem was easily solved, and I’ll just put the shelf back in once I drink the bottle. The longest bottle I put in was a Lucien Albrecht Riesling. You can see the bottle if you look at the left section, third rack from the top. It has a red cap. There is still space between the bottle and the glass, although you can’t tell from the pictures. Finally, I also put in a small dessert wine bottle that had no problem cradling into place on the shelving.
While I’ve only had the wine fridge for 48 hours, I’m thrilled with it. It’s silent. I can adjust shelves to meet my needs. And, the most important part, the wine fridge remains consistently cool so that I can really take care of the bottles I have. All in all, I’m very happy with my decision.
Question of the Day: Do you own a wine fridge? If so, tell me about it. What do you have? Do you love it or hate it? Considering the number of questions I received, I’m sure a lot of folks out there would like to know more about personal experiences with different wine refrigerators, so please share!
Cheers!
-Alleigh
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Send me an email, leave your question as a blog comment,
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