Service wine cellar – How to choose ?

The choice of a wine cellar is not so obvious when you look at the multitude of products offered by specialists in stores and on the internet.
We will try to enlighten you on how to make the right choice by providing you with a comparison of wine cellars.

The temperature of the wine, an essential element

As it is essential to serve the wine at the right temperature, we are going to enlighten here the amateurs of good wines on the temperatures of the wine according to the color (red, white, rosé, orange) and the typology (still wines or sparkling wines).

Indeed, this will motivate the purchase or not of a small storage and serving space for wine
We explain: if you only drink white wine, then a small wine cellar set at 9°C, the ideal temperature for tasting white wine, will do the trick. By small we mean from 8 to 50 bottles.

These capacities are available in built-in wine cellars, which are practical for sliding under a work surface or in a cabinet-type compartment.

On the other hand, if you drink any type of wine, then you must necessarily have a serving or aging wine cellar that is a 2-zone serving wine cellar.

Red wine is best served at 15/16°C minimum.
This is true for light wines such as Loire wines, while 18°C (room temperature) is preferable for a Bordeaux or a Burgundy.

In these cases, the 9°C setting for whites is no longer appropriate, and the room temperature is rarely suitable (always above 19°C).

Hence the interest of a multi-temperature wine cellar for service or aging.
The difference between a wine cellar for service and for aging lies in the notion of setting the temperature for tasting.

While the aging wine cellar will be set at 12°C in order to let your wines age quietly, the best thing will be the one that will put the wines you like or that you serve at the right temperature.

Note that for your white and red wines, and their conservation after opening, this same cellar will reduce the effect of temperature on their oxidation.

An opened bottle, not protected by an appropriate inerting system and left at room temperature will deteriorate 5 to 10 times faster than a bottle kept in a cool place (15/16°C).

The size of the serving wine cellar, the other element to take into account.

Again, it all depends on where you live and whether you have a cellar or basement that is a real haven for storing your bottles.
A small serving wine cellar is a must to allow tasting at the ideal temperature.

There are also small countertop wine cellar fridges that can hold 2 to 12 bottles.
These cellars are very practical for serving wine since the bottle is free, immediately available to be served, at the ideal temperature.

Professionals will appreciate: having a wine serving cellar that is immediately accessible, putting the bottle labels in front of the consumer’s eyes, is a real plus.

Indeed, let’s not forget that wine is above all a “social” drink, where we like to know the origin, the terroir, its vinification process etc… and that the wine label is very representative of these values. In short, let’s not hide the bottle… let’s show it!

As many service wine cellars as there are different uses

If we summarize this comparison of frigo à vin, we can say that there are wine cellars for every use – private & professional – and that according to the needs we will choose a storage cellar, a service cellar or a counter cellar… or all three!

We can’t mention it enough, but Champagne is also going to be stored in the cellar and it is absolutely necessary to have the right temperature for serving the wine – 7 to 9°C – when you open the bottle.

To chill it on ice can be a solution but you risk chilling it too much, which will flatten the aromatic palette… like a white wine.

The countertop wine cabinets multi-temperatures allow you to reach those hard to set temperatures like 7° or 9°C… think about it!