Wine Cooler

I have seen (on AFW I think) someone write from personal experience saying that vibrations from a fridge made his wine cloudy. Of course this depends entirely on whether there is sediment there in the first place, and on the vibration generated, but it seem it CAN be an issue.

The other issue might be humidity control.

See

to get an idea of what is available. I would suggest that you consider 2 silent thermoelectric wine coolers designed for 20 - 30 bottles, although larger ones up to about 50 bottles capacity are available. You can set the 2 units at different temperatures if desired. The total cost will be little more than that of one of the larger thermoelectric units. The thermoelectric units use not moving parts and thus are silent. The only problem I see with most of the small coolers is that most of them do not control humidity. However this is not likely to be a problem unless you live in an extremely dry area or if you plan to age fine, expensive wines for a very long time. If you decided to try to age something like Romanee-Conti that now comes on the market at up to a few thousand US$ per bottle, then it would be foolish to try to save money on a wine refrigerator. You likely would need two medium to large sized ones that control both temperature and humidity very well and that allow heating if you have them in a very cold area. An over and under temperature alarm should be provided. You also should have a backup generator in case of power failure. The reason for two units is to have a backup if one fails.

I doubt if a conventional unit designed for wine with a mechanical compressor would cause any problems other than a bit of noise if you keep it near the bedroom and are a light sleeper. Most modern refrigeration compressors are now of the rotary type that produce much less noise and vibration than the older types that use a piston.

Go to amazon.com and search for 'wine cooler' and read some of the reviews.

I have a vintage keeper 550 and have had no problems with it for 5 years. It is a tad noisy but that is directed out the back so it isn't a problem. There is a 110 unit that is $798.

How much vibration do you think a refrigerator compressor adds compared to the bouncing the bottles got on the multiple trips from the winery to the store?

One short truck ride shocks a bottle a lot more than a bit of vibration in a fridge.

Even carrying the bottle to the table vibrates it more than the fridge will.

If you don't believe this, take two bottles and shake one violently, then open them both. (I've tried this-- no noticeable difference)

Shaun Eli

Brain Champagne: Clever Comedy for Smart Minds (sm)

It just so happens I've been looking into this myself :-)

I've been looking at

because they're local to me. I was just at a wine dinner tonight, and met a couple, one of whom is a CPA who has them as an account :-) They're both big-time vinophiles, so I asked them for their opinion on a beginner's cellar. They said they'd seen one at Costco or Home Depot Expo and suggested that price was the only real factor... unless you're going to go nuts with the appearance or get into dual-zone cellars, get something inexpensive.

I'll check out Costco and HDE this weekend maybe, but if all else fails, I can get a 40-50 bottle cooler for $170-$370 from the Beverage Factory.

One shake up is a different to regular vibration over a period of years. The implication in the post I saw was that large lumps of sediment never formed - all the sediment was precipitated as fine cloud.