Most people don’t think to chill their red wine. Unfortunately, that means they aren’t getting the best out of the bottles they buy. When you invest in a good bottle of red wine, it makes sense to treat it with respect and ensure that it can mature correctly, which is only possible in optimum conditions.

Originally, red wine would have been kept in a wine cellar. These underground chambers were perfect for making sure the wine stayed at just the right temperature, no refrigeration needed! These days, very few people actually have a wine cellar, though part of your basement could potentially be converted into one. The solution? A red wine refrigerator.

Regular Fridges Just Don’t Cut It

Why can’t you just pop your tinted wine into your kitchen fridge? There are a number of reasons this is NOT a good idea.

First of all, the kitchen refrigerator is not meant for wine. It’s too cold. While the wine needs to be cool, it should not be refrigerated at any temperature lower than 50 degrees F. The average kitchen fridge ranges from 35-38 degrees, which is far too low for your red wine. A wine bottle refrigerator can be set to just the right temperature, ensuring the best quality wine possible.

Another consideration is vibration. Regular fridges have pretty strong vibrations, but if you know anything about wine, you know it matures best when left unmolested and allowed to sit for long periods of time. The vibrations in a regular fridge is very disruptive to this process, so you need a way to cool the bottles without shaking them up at all. Red wine refrigerators do this very nicely, since they have built-in anti vibration mechanisms that keep the bottles chilled and undisturbed.

When choosing a cooler for your bottles, you’ll find that it is very important to look for one that fits the space you have. There are fridges that only hold 6 bottles for those of you who don’t need a lot of space and plenty of larger sizes, as well. Built-ins work very well for those who have a full collection.

You need a red wine refrigerator if you are serious about your collection of alcoholic beverages. Otherwise, the bottles you own are not being kept at the right temperature and this affects the quality of the wine.

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