I have always enjoyed the instant gratification one gets enjoying a nice bottle of wine or two. However, of late I have not only been buying wine to immediately enjoy, I have been buying wine to save and enjoy a few years from now. I would not say I am a wine investor or collector by any stretch of the imagination but I do consider myself a wine enthusiast who can now enjoy delayed gratification.
My condo constantly runs hot and cold as most home’s do in the Boston winters and summers, which is not good for wines at all. I needed a fridge. I mean what is the point of buying good and sometimes quite expensive wine if you are not going to look after and care for it until drinking time right?
I asked friends, I requested advice on Facebook and Twitter, I googled the heck out of it. My ads feeds on the intranet have gone bonkers with wine fridges and I was still no closer to what I wanted or needed. Did I want a wine fridge, a cooler, single zone, dual zone, a full cellar – oh yes please!! Really though, I had no idea and was getting more and more confused with reading about them. So, in the end of being inundated with fabulous recommendations and reading frustrating consumer comments on all of the products presented to me, I decided to call the experts… Wine Enthusiast. I am an enthusiast after all!
Slowly getting to the right temperature of about 54 degrees
I talked with them for a quite a while about my wines, my needs and my expectations and we eventually settled on the 80 Bottle Evolution Series Wine Fridge (compact wine cellar at $699~), which has an above decent consumer rating. This decision was a surprise to me as I was convinced I needed a dual zone given I have both red and white wines but I was also going with a much smaller fridge in my head. When I looked closer I realized the whites I was buying are more for drinking now, which can be refrigerated in my standard kitchen fridge just before consuming and it was the reds which needed more time, so the single zone made total sense for me. I know for some this is not a lot of money for their wine storage but for others this is an insane price. Personally, I did panic a bit about the price; however, I have probably spent more than that on wines over the years (honestly that is the most ridiculous understatement I have ever made in my life), so I see this as an investment even if it did make me choke a little.
Fits perfectly in the corner of my kitchen and dining area
After being on back order for about 6 weeks, it finally arrived this week. I stocked it with my wines and was surprised to find I filled it. Another surprise! Who knew I had so many bottles… apparently, not me! The scary thing is I have some which I cant fit in there.
Slideable shelves so viewing your wine is easy
A few things to note. It is nicely compact and is no wider than my old wine rack so fits perfectly in the corner of my kitchen area. It looks really nice with its sleek design and wooden pull out drawers. It is quiet, which I love as most of the reviews I read on wine coolers and fridges commented negatively on the vibration noise they make and finally I do like seeing all my wines on display in my kitchen/dining area and not hidden in closets around my home or on the floor of my office. The only downside to this product is that the shelves are narrower than I expected making it difficult for some wider bottles to fit. It would be very difficult to get 80 bottles in this fridge. Only skinny wine bottles like Gewurtztraminer or a half bottle will fit on the 2 bottom shelves. You can however take out some shelves if needed creating less room for extra wine but more for you Pinot Noir and Champagnes.
While I have not lived with it long enough to be fully convinced of my personal star rating, I am very happy with my purchase so far.
