Best Wine Cooler To Buy

Hi,

Decided I want to get a wine cooler for my collection of wines. There appears to be a variety of options and costs.

I've got a mixture of red and white wine.

Anybody else got 1 or recommend anything?

Thanks Owain

Shall I assume you want a drink that goes well with spam?

Hi,

Sorry you feel that way.

I've got 33 bottles at last count with nearly a 50/50 split of red and white wines.

Is it worth paying the extra for a dual zone cooling system?

Plus I've noticed built-in coolers are more expensive. There's just so many options and varieties and they're not exactly cheap I just thought it would be better to get some opinions from real people as opposed to reading manufacturer reviews (who obviously make out everything is great)

Owain

.

[Robin Garr]

Shall I assume you want a drink that goes well with spam?

Wait, what am I missing here? Where's the pink meat, Jeff? I don't see a product link in the OP. If this is a legitimate question, that's not a very welcoming response.

Well I've had warmer welcomes. Guess I'll keep researching elsewhere.

Although appears some decent topics within this forum. Will read on in the shadows.

[David M. Bueker]

Sorry about the welcome wagon. As for wine coolers, you will find that people have good and bad to say about every brand. I would pretty much just go for the one that specifically suits your needs. Sounds like you need a 2 zone unit if you are planning to drink the wines directly from the cooler. Those tend to cost extra. My only extra bit of advice would be to get one that is single zone and throw the white wine in the fridge for a bit before opening. Less to go wrong with a single zone unit.

I think David's advice is spot on considering that you seem to be just starting in collecting wines. The other thing is capacity, how much do you drink and how much do you think you'll be buying over time?

[David M. Bueker]

Lou raises a good point. If you think you need a small wine cooler you will soon need a bigger one, unless you have more willpower than every other wine enthusiast on the planet.

I assume (never a good thing) that Jeff is referring to a wine cooler like Bartles & Janes but either way that was rather rude.

<nothing here>

Please excuse Jeff, Owain. What has happened in the past is that newcomers without introducing themselves have asked specific questions that have led to (covert) commercial solicitations on their part. Obviously that is not the case here so welcome to the forum! How long have you been into wine?

Greetings from Sweden / Fredrik L

Hi All,

Thanks for the replies.

It seems larger the storage the better.... do we all have drink problems??? lol

I've been into wine for around 3 years now. Was a beer drinker but my waistline couldn't cope with the calories so I switched to wine as I find it more refreshing and certainly compliments food when I get the right bottle.

But I'm finding sticking bottles in the refrigerator is taking up space. So a wine cooler specifically for storage and cooling purposes seems the way forward.

I'll let you all know when I decide on 1. So much choice, but I'm thinking definitely need to go larger than my current collection so I could continually add to it.

Thanks all.

[David M. Bueker]

We don't have drinking problems, we have buying problems.

We don't have drinking problems, we have buying problems.

Exactly.
I'd recommend getting more capacity than you think you need, and just one zone. Unless you are constantly walking in door and grabbing a bottle, pulling your reds and standing them up to warm up just a bit should work just fine (or cooling whites, depending on where you set temp).

You'll definitely end up wanting a bigger cooler. That's the life of a wino. So one question becomes, how much room do you have?
Could you go for one as big as a refrigerator? 30 bottles can become 100 in a flash, believe me. I used to keep a couple of dozen in a closet, and suddenly it became a closet with 90 bottles and nothing else in it. Now I have a cooler/cellar in the garage with about 300 bottles.

[Jenise]

Owain, welcome to the forum! I've been away (tasting wine) so am late to throw in my two cents which is absolutely nothing original--everyone is saying what I'd say too. But I'll say it anyway--I once thought my world would be complete when I had around 150 bottles. When I got to 150 I realized it would be more like 300. At 300 I still didn't feel like I had anything to wear so I upped the number to 500. I now have four times that. This is what loving wine will do to you. Get the most capacity you can afford! Re brands, the best seem to be U-Line and Marvel, but they can be pretty pricey. You might check Craigslist in your area for an older Eurocave or Vinotemp (I had one of the latter once, but not for very long). I just came back from visiting friends who have a Eurocave that has run reliably, without interruption, for about 30 years now!

Hi Owain

1)
If you've been interested in wine for just 3 years and you already have 33 wines you are intending to keep for some time, then it's almost certain in a years time you'll have many more and in 2 years time 33 will be a fond memory,

So, go for as big as you can.

2) If you need wine to be at right temp for drinking, then a fridge is all you need, just stick in a red 15-30 mins before you need it, a white for 1 - 2 hours, depending how cold your fridge is

3) If you're intending to age wine for years* then you need a wine storage system that mimics a cellar rather than a cooler

4) You don't show where you live; but if you're in a very hot place without aircon, then again a wine storage system that mimics a cellar

*but it wouldn't be a good investment as it's almost 100 certain your tastes will change as you discover more about wine and teh stuff you love today you just will not want to open.

Welcome to the forum. We love questions - ask away. You might even get a couple of us agreeing on the answer

Hi All,

Thank you for all the replies. I've been looking further into this and I'm close to a decision.

The http://www.coolingwines.com/ website I came across some helpful info.

Then having searched amazon some more I've settled for this http://www.amazon.com/EdgeStar-Bottle-Built--Wine-Cooler/dp/B007KIGNTM/ref=sr_1_2?s=appliances&ie=UTF8&qid=1462403307&sr=1-2&keywords=CWR531SZDUAL

These have doors that swing either left or right on opening. So I'm going to buy 2 and place them side by side with 1 opening to the left and other to the right and giving me a whopping 106 bottle storage. Should keep me busy filling this up, well I'll try, but I need to stop drinking the bottles first.

Again thanks for all your replies.

[David M. Bueker]

Let us know how it works out.

Hey, now you have this big new wine cooler, you can buy whatever you want and just stuff it in the cooler, right?
Right.
Until the cooler is overstuffed like your favorite lounge chair.

[Robin Garr]

The http://www.coolingwines.com/ website I came across some helpful info.

Owain, how did you happen to come across that particular website?

Hulk-Smash.jpg

His FB profile is nothing but a woman and a baby. That led me to suspect him in the first place, plus I took him to say he had 33 bottles of wine spritzer.

Now, WHOIS tells me that he owns that website.

He's a f*cking slimy scum-sucking spamball.

And you all talked me out of it.

[Robin Garr]

Here's the deal, Jeff: I'd rather operate from a perspective of welcoming wayfaring strangers and being kind, until they give us a reason to act otherwise. I liked Owain's original response to our questions. I'm irritated about the "I discovered this website" when it's actually his own. I'll be curious to see his response to that. One step at a time.