Wine fridges

The Wine Fridge Guide

Guided by a sommelier, for wine lovers.

A wine fridge is the one piece of storage that changes the room instead of living with it. These guides come from fifteen years of running wine cabinets in hotel service: what to set, what goes wrong, and when the expensive one is worth it.

By Alper Billik, Advanced Sommelier · 15 years in hotel wine service

Start with your question

Do I need a wine fridge, or is a rack enough?The room decides. How to tell which one yours needs.What temperature should my wine fridge be?55°F to keep every wine, and the serving setting for each style.Can red and white share one fridge?When one zone at 55°F is enough, and when two earn their price.Why are my bottles freezing, and how do I clean it?Freezing, cleaning, moving house, and magnums that will not fit.Is a premium wine cabinet worth it?What hotels use, and what the extra money really buys.

From the hotel floor

The numbers I worked with

Storing wine takes one number. Serving it takes a range for each style, and these are the ranges I poured to.

Keeps every wine, red or white, 13°C: 55°F
How hotels serve red and white from one cabinet: 2 zones
Of space behind every bottle, so none freeze: 1 finger

Wine	Serve at	For example
Sparkling	43–48°F / 6–9°C	Champagne, Crémant, Cava, Prosecco
Crisp whites and rosé	45–50°F / 7–10°C	Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Grigio, Albariño, dry rosé
Full-bodied whites	50–55°F / 10–13°C	Oaked Chardonnay, white Burgundy, Viognier
Light reds	55–60°F / 13–16°C	Pinot Noir, Beaujolais, Valpolicella
Medium and full reds	60–65°F / 16–18°C	Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah, Malbec, Rioja
Sweet wines	43–50°F / 6–10°C	Sauternes, late harvest Riesling

Ranges, not single figures: the cooler end suits lighter and younger wines, the warmer end fuller and older ones. To store any of them, 55°F / 13°C.

See what is available

The current range of wine fridges on Amazon. These are search results, not picks: no fridge on that page has been assessed here yet.

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Have a cool, dark spot already?

If a room in your home stays between about 50 and 65°F all year, a rack in that spot stores wine as well as a fridge, for far less.

See the wine rack types