One of the most popular requests in bespoke kitchen designing is the inclusion of a wine fridge - which is no surprise, with a special, designated space ideal for hosting and can be a lovely visual addition. Our partner brands have a wonderful and wide selection of fridges to offer, with multi-temperature technology and beautiful design, but often clients aren’t getting the most out of their appliances.
I spoke to Matt Reed, a wine expert at Harvey’s Brewery, our Cliffe High Street neighbours in Lewes, East Sussex. Matt shared his tips for ensuring your wine is ready for maximum flavour, and maximum enjoyment.
Most wines worth preserving should be kept horizontal, to keep the cork moist and plump. The ideal temperature is 13 degrees Celsius, but consistency is more important than the specific temperature, with a range between 12-15 degrees regardless of whether your wines are white, red, rosé, or sparkling.
Matt explained that the full flavour of a good quality wine will be unlocked at slightly higher temperatures than you would achieve in a standard fridge, and vary from type to type; crisp white wines and rosés are ideally served at six degrees, whereas a full-bodied red is best enjoyed at 16 degrees.
His approach to his own wine collection is to keep his premium bottles at the same temperature - 13 degrees - in a one zone wine fridge.
When he opts for a white or sparkling wine, he takes it out of the wine fridge, and put it in his regular kitchen fridge in the morning, taking it out just before before serving so the temperature rises to six degrees.
With reds, Matt would take the bottle out of the specialist fridge well ahead of serving, aiming to get it to at least 16 degrees for a deep, rich flavour.
All types of premium wine can contain sediment. This adds to the flavour over time, which is another reason for horizontal storage - so that the sediment distributes flavour equally across the bottle. A cork also allows access to oxygen.
For supermarket wines, sediment is often filtered out, while some bottles come with no cork.
If you are serious about collecting and preserving wines then a wine fridge for storage is an absolute essential. If your collection is outstanding then consider having a tall wine conditioning unit which will preserve and prepare wine for drinking.
For the times you are more likely to grab a bottle from the supermarket on the way home from work, pop it in your standard fridge and enjoy.
Miele under-counter wine fridges have two zones ranging from five degrees to 20 degrees, which they suggest can be split into storage and serving zones. They also pay attention to issues of humidity, UV and agitation, for example the compressors are low vibration and cushioned to avoid disrupting sediment which may alter flavours and accelerate aging of premium bottles of wine:
Some people prefer to drink whites and sparkling wines lower than 5 degrees C and we have noticed that several brands such as Fisher & Paykel have developed beverage cabinets which tend to run as low as 2 degrees C. Primarily for beers and soft drinks, they can also accommodate horizontal wine and champagne bottles, chilling them ready for drinking.
Fisher & Paykel have a long-standing function on their fridge freezers called ‘Bottle Chill’. This is a discreet button inside the fridge which you press when you have put a bottle in the freezer to cool quickly. The alarm will go off when the wine is ready to drink and also stop you from ruining a bottle by freezing it.
Gaggenau have researched wine temperatures to produce tall wine cabinets that judge the contents of a bottle through infra red sensors, adjusting the zone to bring the flavour of each grape variety to peak preservation and then perfect drinking temperature.
The Alistair Fleming team are experienced in wine storage - from fridges, to cellars to larders and pantries, we will help create an individual storage solution for you, your collection and your hosting style.
