Many of us know that wine fridges are an excellent tool for ensuring that your wine is kept at the optimal temperatures for serving. Neglecting wine by leaving it in substandard conditions often results in a poor taste that reduces the enjoyment and value of the drink, and no one wants that.
Indeed, viticulturists around the world are well aware that wine fridges are exceptionally useful for these reasons, but did you know that wine fridges have many other exciting uses? The examples can be endless depending on how creative you want to get.
But we aren’t going to simply list the endless possibilities of wine fridge functionality, as that could take all day. In this article, we’re going to be taking a look at what we consider to be the most useful ways in which a normal wine fridge can become multi-faceted and change your life for the better!
This one might seem pretty obvious, but it’s worth considering. Often, it is easy to feel pressure to adhere to strict rules when you purchase a product, but what if you simply don’t have enough wine to fill your wine fridge right now? Or what if you’re in the mood for something else?
Wine fridges are very versatile, and you can contain a wide variety of beverage choices within them. From lager to soda pops, simply select the temperature you’d like your drinks to be and enjoy. You could even use a dual-zone wine fridge for this situation and create a variety of drink temperature options.
The good thing about storing other drinks in a wine cooler is that the temperature doesn’t necessarily need to matter as much as it usually would. A can of soda would not be hindered by the wrong temperature in the same way that a bottle of wine would, so you don’t need to spend any extra time worrying about this.
That’s right, the fun doesn’t stop with beverages. You can store a whole host of food types in a wine fridge and achieve great results. In this section, we’re going to take a look at some of the best foods to store in a wine fridge.
Before mentioning the first food type, it is worth noting that if you are still storing wine in your wine fridge then certain types of food may not be suitable. For example, storing onions or garlic in your wine fridge alongside wine could result in negative effects upon the wine in question.
If you enjoy fruit then you will know that it doesn’t need to be kept in a fridge for optimal consumption. However, you can ensure that your fruit will last longer if you keep it in a wine fridge. Apples are a great fruit to keep in a wine fridge and will remain fresh for a long time. It goes without saying that the source of the wine is also an excellent addition to a wine fridge. That’s right, we’re talking about grapes.
Fruits such as bananas and peaches should be allowed to ripen before being added to a wine fridge, as premature storage will prolong their ripening and could result in substandard taste. Always make sure you check if the fruit you are storing is ripe before placing it in a wine fridge.
Have you ever stored your favourite type of chocolate in the fridge, only to open it and discover that it has become slightly discoloured and less enjoyable? With a wine fridge, this doesn’t need to be the case. You can store chocolate on its own and set the ideal temperature at around 15 to 23 degrees celsius. As was mentioned previously, this temperature would be slightly too warm to store wine at, so it is recommended that you do not store these items together.
Most cheese is not meant to be kept at particularly low temperatures. If you put your cheese in a standard fridge, it can lose some of the better parts of its flavour and become somewhat boring. You can adjust the temperature of your wine fridge to perfectly suit the type of cheese you would like to store.
For example, you could ensure that a nice brie doesn’t become too cold and hard. Brie is a cheese that needs to retain a certain texture, and this is not always possible in a traditional fridge.
It is worth noting that there are many different types of cheese, so you should research the ideal temperature of the particular cheese you’d like to store before setting it. Whether you’re in the mood for some mature cheddar or strong blue cheese, using a wine fridge could definitely benefit you.
Many people enjoy drinking from a nice cold glass, but it’s important to be careful when cooling a glass. Putting certain types of glasses in the freezer can result in glass shattering due to cold exposure or sudden exposure to warmth.
Extra cold glasses can also result in drinks like beer foaming up, and this can have a negative effect on the overall flavour and leave you with a flat drink. With a wine fridge, this doesn’t need to be an issue. If you put your glasses in a wine fridge at the temperature of your choice just a few hours before serving, you can simply take them out when they are ready and pour. There’s nothing quite like a cold, refreshing drink.
It’s clear that wine fridges can be used for all sorts of purposes that don’t necessarily cross our minds each day, and we didn’t even get around to mentioning them all. You can also store beauty products and even dry-age certain types of meat! The main point of this guide is to show you that you can use a wine fridge however you’d like, and that predetermined concepts don’t always matter. Just make sure you understand the product, and most importantly have fun!