Wine Fridges

Wine fridges are one of the hottest decorating

mini-trends around and they're showing up in

more and more gleaming dream kitchens. What

used to be a specialized niche market has broken out into the

mainstream, with even The Bay and Home Depot offering a

selection of wine fridges.

You may not have a case of Chateau Lafite Rothschild lying

around, but if you like wines that improve with age, a wine fridge

is a good idea. It will keep your wines at the ideal temperature

(130C) and humidity (70 per cent) and it looks great. Even

a ready-to-drink shiraz will taste better when served below

room temperature.

Wine fridges come in a range of styles, but often have

glass doors. Entry-level wine fridges are about the same size as a bar

fridge, holding 20 to 40 bottles, and start at around $300 for free-standing units and $600 for

built-in units, which are front vented

so they don't overheat. The most

elaborate are the mammoth doubledoor

wine fridges with different controls for

red and white wines. They hold

hundreds of bottles and are priced in

the thousands.

Most wines do not require special

treatment and are not meant to be

aged, but with cabernet sauvignons,

merlots, and pinot noirs that improve

over time, it makes sense to store them

properly. Warmer temperatures

(including room temperature) cause

wines to mature too quickly and can

reduce complexity levels. If the

temperature is too cold (as in a

household fridge), the wine becomes

inert and also fails to achieve great complexity. Stability is

important too, so a cool, damp basement isn?t ideal because

the temperature fluctuates as the seasons change.

Sellers of wine fridges include Danby and Haier for basic

models and Cavavin and Sub-Zero for deluxe wine fridges.

"Twenty years ago, it was only the super-affluent who built

dream kitchens with wine fridges," says Michele Bedard,

vice-president of marketing for Sub-Zero; "now there is more

choice on the market and more people are building bigger

kitchens, so there's more interest in things like wine storage."

David Neff, a kitchen designer with Yorkville Design

Centre, agrees and he has noticed an increase in the

popularity of wine fridges over the past decade. Neff says

"there are more models on the market and they cost about the

same as doing a cabinet. So if you've got enough cabinet

space, why not add a wine fridge?"

At The Wine Establishment in the St. Lawrence Market

area, manager Cindy Wilkes says "the trend now is

customized units. There's so much offered now that people

don't want to just settle for the free-standing unit. Finishes

range from solid walnut to stainless steel to any style that

matches your kitchen. You can pretty much get anything

you want."

But do these wine fridges work? Last summer, Jeff Grocott of

the Wall Street Journal had a group of professional tasters

compare three different bottles of wine that had been in his

small wine fridge for four years with the same three bottles of

wines that were stored in a proper wine warehouse. Although

he stressed there was little difference between the wines,

the "winners" in all three cases were the wines he'd stored in

his fridge.

So even oenophiles agree: wine fridges aren't just for

show anymore.