Purchase guide
What is the difference between a wine cabinet and a refrigerator?
Do you feel like a glass of wine? Do friends drop in unexpectedly? All wine lovers keep a few bottles at an ideal serving temperature. Wine serving or multi-temperature cabinets are the ideal solution for storing and bringing champagne, sparkling, red, white and rosé wine to the correct serving temperature, but a lot of people wonder why you cannot just store your wine in a refrigerator.
Temperature.
In a refrigerator, the temperature range ensuring optimal preservation of food and preventing development of bacteria is 0°C - 4°C.
For storage.
Whilst it is sometimes preferable to store your wine in the refrigerator for a very short period rather than expose it to extreme heat, the ideal storage temperature is 10 - 14°C regardless of the colour of the wine. In a fridge, the temperature is therefore far too cold.
For those of you who want to store your wine over a long period, opt for a single-temperature maturing cabinet, where your wine will be stored at 12°C, in a stable environment.
For bringing wine to the correct temperature.
Red wines are generally served at 16°C - 18°C and champagne, rosé and white wines usually at 5°C - 12°C. The temperature of a refrigerator is therefore far too cold and your wines could lose their flavours and complexity when served.
EuroCave serving, 2-temperature, 3-temperature and multi-temperature cabinets (with temperature gradient), allow wines to be stored as close as possible to their ideal serving temperature.
Be mindful of vibration.
A refrigerator door is opened and closed several times a day. Whether it is stored inside the fridge door or on a shelf, wine risks being subjected to a lot of vibration. Having a cabinet dedicated to storing and serving wine with shelves which reduce vibration, is the ideal solution.All this excessive vibration has an undesirable effect on wine.
The compressor is another considerable source of vibration. In EuroCave wine cabinets, the cabinet body and shelves are designed to absorb a large amount of the vibration produced by the compressor. Shelves fitted with Main du Sommelier bottle supports complete the vibration protection system.
Air quality.
In refrigerators, some foods have a strong odour, these odours can spoil your wine, giving it an unpleasant taste by penetrating the cork.
EuroCave's wine cabinets are fitted with an active charcoal filter which controls / retains good air quality.
Humidity.
Standard refrigerators are designed to eliminate humidity inside the refrigerator with fanned cold air technology blowing out dry air to prevent the formation of frost.
Whereas wine cabinets are designed to maintain a humidity level inside the cabinet of 60% - 75%. If it is below this level, your bottles' corks can dry out, in this way allowing oxygen to penetrate or causing wine to seep out. If it is above this level, mould could develop and your labels could peel off.
EuroCave wine cabinets manage and control humidity. An alarm system alerts you if there is a fault.
Suitable wine storage.
In a refrigerator, you will find metal wire or glass shelves. Neither of these are suitable for storing wine as the bottles are not held correctly and are very exposed to vibration.
Your precious wine bottles will not be stored safely. They could slip and unfortunately get broken. The shelves and actual structure of the refrigerator are also not strong enough to withstand the weight of a large amount of bottles.
EuroCave shelves are specially designed for wine storage. They are strong and use materials which absorb vibration. You will also find shelves dedicated to the type of storage required: storage, ordering, displaying or serving.
All EuroCave wine cabinet bodies have a steel structure in order to guarantee that over the years they do not buckle under the weight of your collection.
Discover EuroCave wine cabinets.
