Chosing a beginner wine refrigerator

[hotwine]

Suggest you keep your sights at eye level, Nether. Don't expect too much from a small unit. For example:

- humidity control is rarely available in small units, but fortunately it's usually not needed.

- the displayed temperature might cycle +/- 5F from the set temp in a low-cost unit, which isn't that great a characteristic for long-term aging of good wines. My little 34-btl Haier unit does that; it was my first, and fortunately now is only used as a staging point between the cellar or EuroCave and the dinner table.

- an auxillary temp and humidity gauge is very useful. I use a widget from Radio Shack, cat. #63-1013 battery-powered digital temp/humidity gauge, smaller than a cigarette pack, to provide a sanity check on the info provided by the fridges themselves; all of $25 or so. I use three, can't beat 'em.

- Check Sam's Club, Costco, Home Depot and Lowe's for available units. Good deals on wine fridges are uncommon (in this area); the word "wine" in front of "fridge" seems to command a 3X premium on the actual value of the unit. But sometimes you can get lucky, so shop around. A good price would be $150 (or even less), but expect to pay double that.

- Listed bottle capacity is usually based on Bordeaux-style bottles, and will be less for Burgundy-style or Champagne.

- A 30-btl unit will be filled in no time at all; suggest you look at larger units, esp. 100 btl and larger.

Good luck.