Most wine enthusiast may know that wine should storage at relatively lower than room temperature area, however most of us may mistakenly simply place the wine into conventional refrigertor. The key distinguishing factors between conventional refrigerator and wine refrigerator are temperature, humidity and vibration. As result, this article will discuss the difference between them and why we cannot storage the wine in a conventional refrigerator.
Difference between wine refrigerator and conventional refrigerator
Temperature
-
Temperature Zone
As mentioned previously, the key differences between conventional refrigerator are temperature, humidity and vibration. Firstly, we will describe their cooling rate and temperature zone. The table below shows the highlights of those differences that specified by Appliance analyst https://applianceanalysts.com/wine-coolers-vs-mini-fridges/ .
| Functions | Wine refrigerator | Conventional refrigerator |
| Cooling rate | Gradually drop temperature | Rapidly drop temperature |
| Temperature zone | 410F-650F | 350F-420F |
It is difficult to explicate the reasons for those differences, since there are lots of science behind it. To make it in simple word, conventional refrigerator is designed to drop temperature rapidly, dry out the humidity and keep a wide variety of perishable in a relatively cold and dry environment. On the other hand, a wine refrigerator is designed to drop temperatures gradually, maintain a level of humidity and keep wine in a perfect taste stage.
-
Temperature Fluctuations
Also, temperature fluctuations is vital as well. Conventional fridge is designed to store a vast vary or perishable cold and dry, as result it is being opened all throughout the day. People always open the fridge to get food, drink, bread and so on, as result the temperature inside the conventional fridge is fluctuating all the time. On the other hand, no one will open a wine fridge too often, you will only open it when you take a wine out or place a wine in. Therefore, the temperature of wine refrigerator is constant.
Temperature is key factors that affects the taste quality of wine. For most of wine, the appropriate temperature is between 450F-550F.Hence it is too cold if you store wine in conventional refrigerator. Next, doors of conventional fridge are opened multiple times in a day, temperature fluctuated all the time which is harmful for wine storage. Moreover, there are many options of wine cooler, you even can store different wine in different temperature zone within a wine cooler.
Humidity
As Wine Spectator says, wines should be stored at an ideal humidity level of 70 percent (between 50 percent and 80 percent). https://www.winespectator.com/articles/how-to-store-wine-temperature-humidity-coolers-and-more The theory goes that a too dry air will dry out the corks, which will let air into the bottle and spoil the wine. We mentioned before that the key function of conventional refrigerator is to keep things cold and dry. Bodewell says that refrigerator humidity will stay at levels between 30 percent and 50 percent. As result the humidity for conventional refrigerator to store wine is too dry and may dry out the cork. https://www.bodewell.com/resources/refrigerator/faq-folder/what-is-the-average-humidity-level-in-a-refrigerator/ The humidity level may change when temperature setting changes. Since humidity will always be lower at colder temperatures because warmer air retains more moisture. Conventional refrigerator temperatures will shift throughout the day and are impacted by the surrounding climate because people open the fridge.
The humidity of wine fridge is set around 70 percent which is an appropriate level to store wine, also people will not always open the wine fridge may reduce the chance of humidity fluctuations.
Vibration
Lack of vibration is useful for wine with a sediment. Significant vibration could possibly disturb the sediment in old wines, potentially making them unpleasantly gritty. Some wine enthusiasts concerned about even the subtle vibrations caused by electronic appliance may impact of wine. Bottles may be displaced and moved around when people grab items from the fridge.
What if buy a mini fridge to store?
People usually concerned that the price of wine refrigerator is relatively expensive. Can they buy a mini fridge instead? Mini fridge is conventional refrigerator although in more case that it is designed to store beverage or snack. The main difference of mini fridge and kitchen refrigerator is that you may not open it that often. Therefore less vibration to the bottles when you place them into mini fridge. Too low temperature and to dry storage environments are not suitable for wine storage.
When can we store my wine in mini fridge? We would suggest that you’d better to have a wine cooler, however you in some cases you can put it in mini fridge. If you are looking for a short-term storage that you will turning over the wine stock often, and when most of wine is white wine, you can simply store in mini fridge. However, if you will store your wine for long time (more than few months), we strongly suggest you have a wine cooler.
Overall, wine refrigertor have many functions that not only store wine but also your beverage. It is worth to buy a professional wine refrigerator for your wine, especially for long-term storage and having a stable temperature above 45 degrees. Odino provide kinds of options for wine cooler, including different size, temperature zone, storage option.