Wine cellar refrigeration guidelines and tips.
If you’re considering building a custom wine cellar in your home, wine cellar refrigeration is an important component to consider. Below are some wine cellar refrigeration guidelines and tips to insure you’re storing your wine correctly.
12/29/2021
Keep your temperature consistent.
While there are many recommendations for the ideal temperature to store different kinds of wines, the overall goal is to insure the temperature of your wine cellar or wine room is consistent. Many experts suggest that an ideal overall wine storage temperature is 55 – 57 degrees. If you have a wine collection that you plan on storing for an extended period of time, which is anything over 6 months, it’s recommended that bottles are ideally stored in the 55-58 degree range. However, if you plan on consuming your wine within 6 months of purchase, many suggest that you simply store the wine at the ideal serving temperature. The key to protecting the integrity of the wine is that the temperature stay consistent, which can be controlled through a variety of wine cellar climate control options.
Keep your humidity under control.
One of the greatest benefits of climate control systems is not only keeping temperatures consistent, but the option of keeping humidity at an acceptable level as well. The ideal relative humidity in a cellar is 50 to 70 percent.
This high humidity helps keep moisture inside the wine bottle, rather than allowing it to eventually travel into the cork and ultimately evaporate. Thus, especially if you live in a low-humidity area, you might consider your cooling system to include a humidifier to add much-needed moisture to your cellar environment.
Choose the right climate control system.
While there are many options available for controlling the climate inside your wine cellar or wine room, this is not an area to bargain shop. Be sure to do your research, and opt for the best solution for your wine storage needs. Consider using UL certified, commercial grade refrigeration equipment that has been tested under the most extreme weather conditions to insure our ability to provide climate control for your cellar.
Work with a wine cellar installation professional who specializes in wine cellar refrigeration so you get the correct unit for your wine cellar needs.
Understand the difference between climate control systems.
The wine cellar climate control system you invest in will protect and maintain the quality of your wine collection, so educate yourself on the different types of systems out there. Ducted systems can be self-contained and infinitely flexible, and are among the most versatile cooling systems available. They allow for easy installation and maintenance in both commercial and residential settings while providing optimal temperature and humidity control.
A split system provides air distribution and temperature control for optimal conditioning of your valuable wine collection, is extremely quiet and virtually vibration-free system, and offers maximum flexibility in system location and cellar designs. Humidifiers can be added to either system mentioned above. There are also through the wall options for smaller wine storage areas.
Know your wine cellar capacity before you buy.
A wine cellar installation professional should guide you through this process, but it would be beneficial to understand how the size and capacity of your wine room will impact which climate control system you should use, so do your homework ahead of time, and know the size and capacity of the wine cellar or room you’re looking to cool.
Checking the temperature of your wine.
A wine cellar cooling unit will regulate the temperature of your wine cellar. However, the temperature of your actual wine will not be the same as the room. If you want to know the temperature of the wine itself, one option is to use a glass vessel that measures temperature. You can also use a wine bottle band that displays the wine bottle’s temperature. Most are made of stainless steel
Chilling or warming up a wine before serving.
You may prefer your white wine a bit cooler than what you’re storing your bottles at. If that’s your preference, you can put white wines into the refrigerator for about an hour before you they serve them, but don’t put them in the freezer for a “quick cool down”. Though red wines should be a bit on the cooler side, some prefer closer to room temperature, in which case you can decant and let the bottle lose a bit of chill before serving, but NEVER try to heat wine.
Wine cellar refrigeration is a critical part of storing wine to retain the quality of the wine over time. Follow the suggestions and tips above to insure you’re protecting your wine collection, and will be able to enjoy your wine when it comes time to open your next bottle.
