The 3 Best Wine Coolers and Fridges of 2025

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By Anna Perling and Winnie 4 Door Commercial Freezer

Our upgrade pick, the EuroCave Premiere S, has been replaced by a similar model, the EuroCave La Première S. We’ve updated this guide accordingly.

If you spend a lot of money on wine, buy more bottles than you can drink in a month, or want to age wines, a wine fridge is a worthy purchase. Proper storage will protect your bottles, so the wine will still taste deeply complex and aromatic—whenever you decide to drink it.

We recommend the freestanding Wine Enthusiast Classic 80 Wine Cellar (which stores wine at one temperature) and the Wine Enthusiast Classic 70 Dual Zone Wine Cellar (which has two sections, for storing wine at different temperatures). For serious collectors, the freestanding EuroCave La Première S is an excellent basic model from a top company whose wine fridges are known for their durability. If you’re on a budget, but you still want the best, you can also look for a used model.

If you want to store several cases at a time, this wine fridge offers the best combination of capacity and price. And the company provides some of the finest customer service we found.

Not everyone wants a dual-zone fridge, but this model will keep your reds and whites ready to drink at the right temperature. However, it sacrifices some storage space.

Six of the experts we spoke with recommended EuroCave as the top wine-fridge maker. The EuroCave La Première S is the most basic option in the restaurant-quality line, and it has several elevated features, including removable, adjustable-height shelves.

If you want to store several cases at a time, this wine fridge offers the best combination of capacity and price. And the company provides some of the finest customer service we found.

The Wine Enthusiast Classic 80 Wine Cellar offers a winning combination of storage capacity, price, warranty, and features, from a trusted company with great customer service. Because this is a single-zone fridge (the whole thing stays at one temperature), the Classic 80 can hold more bottles than a dual-zone fridge of the same size (in which space is lost to the zone divider).

The Classic 80 may seem expensive compared with a regular mini fridge or a wine cooler from a big-box-store brand, but it’s still more reasonable than a lot of smaller, high-quality wine fridges we looked at. (According to the many wine experts we spoke with, there are a couple of universal rules for buying a wine fridge: Get one that’s double the size you think you want, and remember that fridges will always hold less than promised, due to different bottle sizes.)

This model has a one-year warranty, with a three-year warranty on the sealed system parts. Wine Enthusiast offers phone consultations to help you shop. It specializes in wine fridges and accessories, whereas other retailers may not have this specific knowledge. Wine Enthusiast offers in-home delivery for larger fridges (for an additional cost), and the company has solid customer service and warranty options.

Not everyone wants a dual-zone fridge, but this model will keep your reds and whites ready to drink at the right temperature. However, it sacrifices some storage space.

If you want the extra convenience of separate compartments for reds and whites (so you can store wines at their ideal serving temperatures), we recommend the Wine Enthusiast Classic 70 Dual Zone Wine Cellar.

This fridge is about the same price as the Classic 80, and it has the same features, but in the Classic 70, you can keep wines at different temperatures. It has one fewer shelf, though. Some experts told us that dual-zone fridges may be more likely to fail and have a harder time maintaining consistent temperatures, but most wines should be fine under slight fluctuations.

The Classic 70 has a one-year warranty, with a three-year warranty on the sealed system parts.

Beloved by sommeliers, top chefs, and wine lovers, Eurocave’s cellars and fridges sit in swanky hotels and prestigious restaurants around the world, and they have a reputation for lasting upwards of a decade. The 98-bottle EuroCave La Première S (the company’s new base-level option) is one of the best fridges for protecting a small collection. (It replaces our original recommendation, the EuroCave Première S, which you still may be able to find used.)

This fridge has standout, signature EuroCave features, including removable, adjustable-height shelves, which accommodate different bottle shapes and sizes. Plus, to shield your bottles from light, you can opt for a solid door, which is a feature many fridges lack. (This fridge also has a hygrometer.)

The EuroCave La Première S has a one-year warranty, with a five-year warranty on the sealed-system parts—among the most generous warranties we found in our research. This fridge is also sold by Wine Enthusiast, so it comes with the same options for consultation and delivery assistance as our other picks.

We spent months researching wine fridges to find out what makes a great fridge, who should get one, and why. To learn about proper wine storage, we spoke with 10 experts across the field, including a master sommelier, a wine chemist, and the wine critic at The New York Times.

We did not conduct hands-on testing for this guide, though we plan to evaluate models in person soon. We did take extra care in poring over editorial reviews and customer feedback to make our recommendations.

This guide was co-authored by Winnie Yang, who edited Wirecutter’s guides to large appliances and has covered food and wine for publications including Culinary Backstreets, The Art of Eating, and Saveur, and Anna Perling, a writer who tested everything from cooking and baking gear to instant noodles for Wirecutter.

Most people don’t need a wine fridge. But you should think about getting one if you’re buying more good-quality wine than you can imbibe in about a month, you tend to keep a stock of several cases, you regularly buy bottles that cost $30 or more from a reputable source, you want to age wine, or you’re considering selling or trading bottles. Plus, storing and serving wine at the right temperatures will improve the taste. Levi Dalton, host of the podcast I’ll Drink to That, told us, “Good storage is going to make the wine-drinking experience better.”

For this guide, we focused on medium-size wine fridges that will hold about five or six cases of wine. We think this size hits the sweet spot for keeping small collections safe, without taking up too much floor space. Every expert we spoke with also advised getting a fridge that’s twice the size you think you’ll need. However, for these fridges, size correlates with price, so that’s why our picks are all around $1,000. We know that space, budget, and collection size will influence your purchase, so we also highlight larger and smaller options.

A wine fridge is more than just extra storage. It’s almost like a safe for your collection. A great one will guard against the variables that degrade wine over time: light, heat, vibration, and changes in temperature and humidity. These unseen forces can affect a wine’s flavor and even ruin it.

Experts agree that proper storage is the number one way to maximize your drinking experience, whether you’re an oenophile or a casual drinker. “If you have limited resources but you care, the best thing you can do is store your wine well,” Dalton told us. “If you have a $50 bottle of wine, and you store it well, provided it hasn’t been damaged on its way to you, it’s going to drink better than a $500 bottle of wine that wasn’t stored well.”

Proper wine storage especially matters if you like drinking natural wines. There’s no legal definition for what counts as natural wine, but most makers use grapes that aren’t treated with pesticides and that don’t include additives or preservatives like sulfites. The category has recently boomed, and it shows no signs of declining (some people, like wine writer Alice Feiring, have for years championed natural wine as a way to embrace terroir). However, these wines are more vulnerable to oxidation (when wine is exposed to air, which can change its aroma or structure) or to going bad. It’s a myth that natural wines can’t age—with enough tannins, careful fermentation, and proper shipping and storage, they can mature for decades. Even if you’re not storing natural wines long-term, they’ll still fare better if they’re kept at the right temperature and away from light, since they’re more fragile than traditional wines.

If you don’t have the space or the need for dedicated wine storage, a regular fridge will probably be fine for short-term storage of about a month. Even experts like master sommelier Pascaline Lepeltier and New York Times wine critic Eric Asimov sometimes stash wine in a regular fridge, due to space constraints. Still, it’s not ideal. Regular fridges are drier (which can desiccate corks), colder (which prevents aging), and vibrate more (which can disturb wine). For everyday bottles that you don’t want to age, these factors aren’t much of a concern because you won’t be keeping a bottle in the fridge long enough for it to matter. The other issue is that a regular fridge’s temperature (about 40 °F) is colder than ideal for serving any type of wine, whereas a programmable or multi-zone wine fridge can keep bottles at their respective ready-to-pour temperatures. But to cool or warm wine for serving, you can simply put it in or take it out of the fridge based on when you want to drink it.

You can also store your wine in a cool, temperature-stable space like a basement. If it tends to be damp, however, you may want to get a dehumidifier because moisture can destroy labels (this is important if you are aging your wine, and if you intend to resell it).

If you’re interested in getting into wine, you can also look for a used wine fridge or cabinet. These will cost far less than new fridges, especially high-end ones. People’s collections often outgrow their storage solutions, so it’s usually not hard to find deals on secondhand models. Look for name brands, ask how old the unit is and about the status of its warranty, and check that the unit can hold the desired temperature. And to get a feel for whether a used fridge will fit your needs, you can also ask what kinds of wines the collector stored there, sommelier Michele Thomas told us.

Some collectors also opt for off-site storage, where they pay to store bottles in controlled environments. If you don’t have a cellar or basement or room for a wine fridge, or if you have a large collection, this may work for you. Retrieving your bottles will take more planning than just walking to a fridge, however, and you may lose track of the bottles you have since they’re not in plain sight. Dalton cautioned that when you’re dealing with off-site storage, accidents, poor handling, or natural disasters could lead to ruined wine. And even if you do choose this option, you may still want a fridge to keep bottles in once you pick them up, since you may not drink them immediately.

To find the best wine fridges, we pored over thousands of reviews of the best-selling models from major appliance retailers, including Home Depot, Best Buy, AJ Madison, Costco, and Wine Enthusiast.

We also went deep on how to store wine and what makes a great wine fridge. The most useful articles we read on wine storage were from Wine Spectator, MasterClass, Eater, and The New York Times; we also consulted academic articles from the Australian Journal of Grape and Wine Research as well as pieces from the Iowa State University extension program. To find the best fridges to consider, we read reviews from Liquor.com, Epicurious, Wine Enthusiast, and The Strategist. Then we dove into the discussions on Reddit and Wine Berserkers to see what enthusiasts had to say about different makes and models. And, of course, we considered the advice from the 10 wine professionals we spoke with for the guide, cross-referencing their recommendations with everything we read.

We contemplated a wide range of fridge sizes, including models that can hold a maximum of 12 bottles to those that can hold 150. Considering the expert advice to always get a fridge that’s double the size you think you’ll need, we settled on fridges that would hold up to a half-dozen cases of wine. We think this will be an adequate size for storing small collections, without taking up too much space in your house. Naturally, your needs will vary based on your space and collection. Most fridges estimate capacity based on a collection of standard-size Bordeaux bottles. Wine Enthusiast (the seller of our picks) advises that if non-Bordeaux bottles make up half of your collection, your storage capacity may go down 20% to 25%; if more than half of the bottles are non-Bordeaux, capacity may go down 40%. You can get a fridge with similar features and different capacities from the companies that make our picks. And we discuss the details of various size options later in this guide.

A note on thermoelectric fridges: We originally recommended them because they’re quiet. But we’ve noticed a decrease in their availability. And these fridges also function best when the ambient temperature stays near room temperature. It’s also very hard to find larger thermoelectric fridges, and most collectors will want the maximum amount of space they can afford.

Once we gathered all of this information, we established that a great wine fridge should satisfy the following criteria:

Value: The golden rule of wine fridges is you should get one that’s double the size you think you’ll need. We looked for models that had the most space, the best features, and the longest warranties, all for the best price.

Quality construction: Many wine fridges fail—their compressors stop working, they stop holding their temperature, they leak, their doors break. We screened reviews for any mentions of poor quality.

Great customer support: Because wine fridges are large and heavy, we wanted to make sure that buying one would be an easy experience. We considered a company’s customer support, as well as its warranty and return policy, in case anything goes awry (and because wine fridges tend to fail). For an extra fee, some companies also offer white-glove delivery (to have a fridge brought inside, to a desired location, upon delivery).

Features: Most of the fridges we looked at had digital touchscreen controls (for managing temperature settings) and LED lights (for seeing what’s inside the fridge). It’s ideal for a fridge to have a front-facing vent because you need to leave space around the compressor to ensure the fridge is working properly. But for a fridge with a back vent, you can achieve the same effect by spacing it away from the wall.

We gave bonus points for high-quality features like wooden shelves (they’re sturdier and will absorb more vibrations compared with metal ones), adjustable shelves that can fit more and different kinds of bottles, locking doors, and charcoal or carbon filters that filter out odors (which may affect wine). One model we considered had a built-in hygrometer (a device that measures humidity), but this doesn’t actually solve any humidity problems; it can just indicate one. And unless you’re in a dry climate or concerned about reselling wine, you probably don’t need this. You can also buy a hygrometer separately.

Because most fridges look similar—large rectangular boxes of varying heights and widths—aesthetics didn’t factor heavily into how we picked. Although you can get some basic fridges in different finishes (stainless steel) or with wooden shelves, most vary only slightly in design features. Some higher-end fridges are made to look like furniture and have wooden panels or decorative lighting, but these are also far more expensive than our picks.

Quiet operation: We screened reviews for mentions of noise, one of the most common complaints we found with fridges. A loud fridge will not only be annoying, but the vibrations may also harm wine (though some experts disagree on this).

After our extensive research, we came up with a list of 42 notable fridges. We narrowed the list to 13 top contenders, based on our criteria. Then we compared them side by side and dove back into reviews before choosing our picks.

If you want to store several cases at a time, this wine fridge offers the best combination of capacity and price. And the company provides some of the finest customer service we found.

Among the hundreds of wine fridges we considered, the Wine Enthusiast Classic 80 Wine Cellar has the best capacity and features for the price. This model is the best choice if you’re just getting into wine collecting but you want a fridge that lasts, or if you want to maximize storage space. The Classic 80 should hold about five to six cases of wine, and it is about the size of a large end table. After reading thousands of reviews on hundreds of models, we don’t think a perfect budget-friendly wine fridge exists. The Classic 80 is basic, but it’s made by a trusted company within the wine industry. Unlike big-box appliance stores, Wine Enthusiast sells only wine fridges, furniture, and accessories.

Multiple experts recommended the Wine Enthusiast fridges, including Ashley Santoro, Lydia Richards, Michele Thomas, and Eric Asimov, as do publications like The Strategist and Epicurious. The retail arm exists under the same umbrella company as Wine Enthusiast magazine, but the two are separate entities. A representative from the company told us the magazine does not write reviews of wine refrigerators because that would be a conflict of interest; Wine Enthusiast does sometimes cover the brand’s own furniture and accessories. Wine Enthusiast has been making fridges (and selling wine accessories) since 1982.

The Classic 80 is a single-zone fridge. This means all of the wine you store in it will be kept at one temperature. You can choose to set the temperature between 41 °F and 68 °F (the recommended ambient operating temperature is 61 °F to 90 °F, though your fridge will have to work harder to stay cold in hotter climates). Most of the experts we spoke with didn’t consider dual temperature zones to be a must-have feature. If you aren’t concerned about dedicated aging, sommelier Michele Thomas told us that most wines should be fine stored at about 50 °F.

Single-zone fridges, including the Classic 80, will provide more space and flexibility for the types of bottles you store, since there isn’t a divider shelf between two compartments. Ashley Santoro, owner of Leisir wine store in New York City at the time of our interview, recommends a single-zone fridge for people living with space constraints.

Single-zone fridges are also more likely to maintain consistent temperatures—key for protecting wine from seepage or oxidation—and they last longer. Some expensive dual-zone fridges have separate compressors for each compartment, but most circulate air from one compressor between the sections with a fan. In our research, we learned that wine fridges commonly fail because the compressor (the part that keeps a fridge cool) dies relatively quickly. And in a dual-zone fridge, the compressor has to work harder to maintain two different temperatures, so it may wear out faster. Steve Johnson, an owner of Mr. Appliance repair franchises, told us that with dual zones, “As one cycles off, the other cycles back on, so it makes the compressor run longer.” Lydia Richards, sommelier and founder of Vino Concierge, said, “In my opinion, dual zones are not necessarily important. The main consideration is consistency in temperature.” To bring your wine to drinking temperature before serving, you can simply pull out a bottle to warm it up (conversely, you can give wines that need it an extra chill by popping them into the fridge for 10 to 15 minutes). But if you want to be able to pull out a bottle that’s ready to pour, you might want to consider our best dual-zone pick, the Classic 70.

Since you’ll likely need more storage than you anticipate, we think this medium-size fridge will work for most beginner to mid-level collectors. Most wine fridges hold fewer bottles than they advertise, especially if you buy larger California reds, taller rieslings, or bulbous magnums. You can store larger or differently shaped bottles in the Classic 80’s angled bottom display shelf (the slight angle should keep the wine in contact with the cork). Reviewers also report that if you need extra space, you can stack multiple bottles at the bottom of the fridge, and you can also remove a shelf for bulk storage.

Like the aesthetics of most fridges we considered, the Classic 80’s aesthetics are straightforward. Some step-above fridges have stainless steel frames and all-wood shelves. But we think the Classic 80’s shelves—with their streamlined black finish and wood trim—look nice enough that you’ll want to keep this fridge in your home, instead of banishing it to the garage.

Unlike some other basic fridges we looked at, the Classic 80 has sliding shelves, so you can easily add or retrieve wines. They are powder-coated stainless steel with rounded wires, instead of slats, and with elegant-looking wood trim facing the door. Higher-end fridges have all-wood shelves, with cradles for individual bottles; these help absorb vibrations, prevent bottles from rolling around, and generally look nicer. But we should note that the bottom display rack on the Classic 80 is all wood.

The Classic 80 also comes with a lock, just in case you want one. We didn’t notice significant noise complaints for this fridge; in fact many reviewers praised it for its silence. Online reviews for many other models we considered noted they were obnoxiously loud.

The Wine Enthusiast Classic line, which is entry-level compared with the brand’s other offerings, also includes larger, 150- and 200-bottle single-zone options. Wine Enthusiast makes smaller, no-frills fridges, as well as upgraded or larger fridges with dual zones, larger capacities, and more features. Some of these can also be built into cabinets, whereas the Classic fridges are freestanding.

It’s crucial to buy a fridge that comes with a good warranty and customer service. Sometimes fridges can arrive damaged or need replacement parts. They may also be too heavy for you to move into your home on your own. The Classic line has a one-year warranty, with a three-year warranty on the sealed system parts (warranties vary based on the line).

Other appliance companies offer varying levels of customer support to help you shop for a fridge, but Wine Enthusiast has a knowledgeable team that specializes in one thing—wine fridges. We discussed the company’s customer service with Marshall Tilden III, vice president of sales and wine education at Wine Enthusiast and contributing editor to the magazine at the time of our interview. Team members will help you choose the best option for your needs and space, to try to preempt any need for a return. They can also coordinate delivery and installation if needed. Tilden told us Wine Enthusiast offers free unlimited phone consultations while you’re shopping for a fridge, and it will even look over construction plans, if you’re building in a fridge. (AJ Madison and Best Buy offered comparable consultations.)

You can also opt to pay extra for in-home delivery service, so the fridge will be delivered not only to your door but also to where you want it in your house. (You may have to pay extra if the delivery people need to go beyond a set number of stairs or for assembly. But aside from installation of the handle, our picks are ready to go.) This service can be helpful because a wine fridge is an unwieldy appliance. Members of the forum Wine Berserkers also recommend Costco’s service and delivery, and the retailer offers several Wine Enthusiast fridges (but not our picks, at the time of writing). Wine Enthusiast also has a showroom in Valhalla, New York.

Reviewers note that the Classic 80 is “impressively quiet” and “the temperature holds quite well.” Most acknowledge that it holds fewer than 80 bottles, which is to be expected. Though editorial reviews we read generally recommend the Wine Enthusiast brand, they don’t describe any testing. The experts we spoke with also had generally good things to say. “Wine Enthusiast has a nice line that’s easy going, small, and pretty quiet (for compressor models),” said Michele Thomas. Vino Concierge’s Richards told us that she received a small Wine Enthusiast fridge as a gift long ago, and it “stays consistent in terms of temperature control.”

This is a standalone wine fridge, so you can’t build it into cabinets. That said, Wine Enthusiast sells other models that can be built in. The Classic 80 also has a rear vent, so you’ll need to install this model in a place where there’s ample ventilation space around the fridge (not right up against a wall).

All wine fridges hold less than what they say they will, and the Classic 80 is no different. Tilden told us that certain pricier Wine Enthusiast fridges have shelves with more space to fit larger bottles.

Technically, you can reverse the handle on the Classic 80, but you will lose the lock function because you essentially will have to turn the door upside down.

There are nearly 150 reviews for this fridge (mostly positive). People on forums like Wine Berserkers and Reddit don’t have much to say about the line (the ones on Wine Berserkers seem to be more-serious collectors, and so they tend to discuss larger, higher-end fridges and alternative storage options, like luxury cabinets, cellars, or offsite storage).

Not everyone wants a dual-zone fridge, but this model will keep your reds and whites ready to drink at the right temperature. However, it sacrifices some storage space.

The Wine Enthusiast Classic 70 Dual Zone Wine Cellar’s design, dimensions, features, and price are comparable to those of the Classic 80. But the Classic 70 also has a dividing shelf, to create two distinct temperature zones. A dual-zone fridge sacrifices some wine-storage space, but it also allows you to set each zone to your preferred serving temperature (which should also work for storage).

There isn’t a consensus on the ideal temperature at which to serve different styles of wine. But it’s generally accepted that white wines are best served at around 45 °F to 55 °F and red wines at around 54 °F to 65 °F. Optimal serving temperatures may vary according to the type of wine you’re drinking, however, so if you have any questions, ask your wine shop or the winemaker.

Like the Classic 80’s single zone, each of the Classic 70’s dual zones can be set to temperatures in the 41 °F to 68 °F temperature range. And the Classic 70 has the same ambient temperature operating range of 61 °F to 90 °F. The Classic 70 looks almost identical to the Classic 80, and it has the same sliding, coated-wire-and-wood-finished shelves, touch-screen temperature-control panel, on/off blue LED lighting (which doesn’t emit enough UV light to harm wine), bottom wooden display shelf, and lock. It comes with the same warranty and customer service as the Classic 80, too, including a one-year warranty (with a three-year warranty on the sealed system parts), phone consultations while you’re shopping for a fridge, and in-home delivery service (to have someone unpack and set up the heavy fridge inside your home) for an extra fee.

The Classic 70 Dual Zone is a free-standing fridge, and it won’t work as a built-in. It’s the same size and weight as the Classic 80—like a large end table or a short file cabinet. The door is also made of three layers of glass, for added insulation and efficiency, and it has a UV coating (though a solid door will be best for guarding against UV rays).

If you’re looking for the most economical fridge from a restaurant-quality brand, get the EuroCave La Première S. For serious wine collectors who want to protect their bottles, EuroCave fridges are regarded as stalwarts in the wine community, and the brand was recommended by six of the experts we spoke with.

The EuroCave La Première S replaced our original recommendation, the EuroCave Première S. You may be able to still find a used version of the previous model—this is a common practice among the experts we spoke with, as well as among oenophiles on wine message boards.

EuroCave’s La Première S is a single-zone fridge, which is the most basic option in the EuroCave line, and it has an internal temperature range of 43 °F to 64 °F. Its 98-bottle maximum capacity offers truly customizable storage. You can adjust the fridge’s shelves to accommodate different bottle shapes and sizes—from broad-shouldered cabs to round-bellied Champagnes to elongated rieslings. This is something you can’t do with our Wine Enthusiast picks (or with most low-end to mid-range freestanding wine fridges). You can also remove the sliding shelves to fit more bottles, though you’ll lose the ability to easily access the majority of your collection.

This fridge comes with a glass door, but there is an option for a solid door, which will protect your collection from light. (Both door types can be installed on either side, depending on how you prefer the door to open.) The solid-door model has an ambient operating temperature range of 32 °F to 95 °F—ideal if you want to store your fridge in a garage. (This is a much wider range than that of our top and best-for picks; the ambient operating temperature range for the glass-door version of the EuroCave La Première S is 32 °F to 86 °F.)

A solid door is a feature we didn’t see on most other fridges. (You can get a UV-tinted glass door for an extra cost.) The EuroCave La Première S also comes with a charcoal filter (our other picks do not); this will help absorb odors that can affect your wine, but you’ll need to replace it about once a year.

Style-wise, EuroCave’s La Première S looks similar to our other picks: It’s a large box, neither an eyesore nor a decorative centerpiece.

Though many fridges we looked at had bright blue LED interior lights, the EuroCave La Première S’s lighting system is more subtle. (The company took out the previous model’s portable wand lighting feature, which was useful for displaying individual labels.) This fridge also has a digital control panel, a lock, a temperature alarm, and a hygrometer (to monitor and adjust for humidity fluctuations within the unit).

The EuroCave La Première S is expensive, we know, but so are many other wine fridges from brands that aren’t as universally revered. Tilden told us that these fridges are the best for holding stable temperatures, even in different ambient environments. And the experts we spoke with lauded these fridges for their quality construction: They last.

Since this fridge is relatively new, it has just a few customer reviews on the Wine Enthusiast site, but so far they are mostly positive. (The majority of complaints are related to the local delivery and installation, which will vary depending on where you live.) The fridge is sold by Wine Enthusiast (the only US-based EuroCave dealer; there is also a showroom in Valhalla, New York). So it comes with the same delivery assistance and consultation options as our other picks. The EuroCave La Première S has a one-year warranty on parts and labor, and it has a five-year warranty on the sealed-system parts—one of the best warranties we’ve come across.

Despite its deceptively simple appearance, wine is a complex, dynamic drink. Many of the experts we spoke with compared it to a living being. How we taste, smell, and experience wine depends on the biological and chemical reactions between its compounds and our sensory organs, as well as on the chemical reactions that are continually taking place within the wine itself.

Just as we do, wine ages. When people talk about the process, they’re referring to the inevitable chemical reactions that affect the flavors, aromas, and texture of a wine. Sometimes aging will dull a wine’s fruity or floral characteristics, making it taste off or just bad. But on rare occasions, wine can transcend into something magical—if you provide it with enough time and the right conditions.

Storage will affect the aging process. Many of these chemical reactions—particularly the oxidation and reduction reactions prevalent in wine—are significantly sped up by heat, light, humidity, and motion. Regardless of whether you’re planning to age wine for decades or keep it on hand for a few years, it’s best to treat it as you would a delicate sculpture: with care.

A specialized wine fridge will give you control over temperature. The ideal storage temperature for wine is between 50 °F and 60 °F (PDF); this is warmer than the temperature range of a normal fridge (which is cold enough to prevent much, if any, aging), and it is cooler than the ambient temperature of most homes (which hovers at or above 75 °F). The latter is too hot for storing wine for long periods of time. Temperatures over 70 °F can “cook” wine, creating flat, muddy, or off flavors. A basement or a cool room that stays consistently between 50 °F and 60 °F (PDF) can work as storage, but overly damp conditions can encourage mold growth and damage wine labels. Fluctuations in temperature aren’t good for wine either. As wine heats up or cools down, the liquid—and cork—can expand and contract. The cork could be pushed out, causing seepage. It can also shrink and allow air into the bottle, causing oxidation. So, for example, if you live in a hot place, and you turn off the air when you go out, a wine fridge can guard against temperature flux. Some wine fridges offer dual-zone construction—two different compartments to keep reds or whites or other types of wine at the right serving temperature.

Light is problematic because UV rays can destroy flavor and aroma compounds, leading to dull and off flavors—like making wine taste nutty or raisiny, Talia Baiocchi, editor in chief of Punch magazine, told us. “Most people should understand what the wine should taste like, and if you store it near a window, it might not have that bright, effervescent flavor,” she said. Keeping wine in a cool, dark place—whether it’s a basement, a cellar, or a wine fridge—can halt these unwanted effects. A wine fridge with a solid door, or one with tinted or UV-protected glass, can defend against harmful rays.

Humidity can be a problem, too, but most experts we spoke with said that’s mainly a concern if you live in an arid climate or keep your wine in a very damp environment. When humidity is very low, a wine’s cork can dry out and shrivel, allowing more air into the bottle. You can combat this effect by storing wine on its side, so the liquid will come in contact with the cork. And again, this will likely happen only if you live in a desert or leave bottles upright for long periods of time. On the other hand, when humidity is too high, moisture can collect on the labels or corks, and mold can grow. A dehumidifier can help. If you’re concerned with monitoring humidity, you can get a standalone hygrometer and add or remove moisture to your storage environment.

The effect of vibration on wine is another contested topic. Movement can stir up sediment in old bottles of wine and make it taste off, and kinetic energy can also warm wine (which, again, is harmful). But professor Gavin Sacks, of the Cornell University Department of Food Science, told us, “Vibration is overemphasized.” He said that when it comes to aging, “We don’t have much evidence that vibrations are going to speed things up in any meaningful way.” This study from the Journal of Food Composition and Analysis found, however, that vibrations can have an effect. And intense vibrations from transit are more worrisome than movement from a fridge. “You’re concerned about vibration when wine is sitting in a truck somewhere, with a refrigeration unit that’s bouncing back and forth for hours,” New York Times wine critic Asimov told us. He emphasized how important it is to buy wine from a good shop you can trust. Regardless, it’s best to treat wine gently and to get a fridge that’s quiet (a loud fridge will be annoying anyway).

Check your fridge’s manual for best maintenance practices. To clean the interior of your cellar, Wine Enthusiast recommends (PDF) that you make and use a gentle baking-soda cleaning solution. Wine Enthusiast also recommends that you clean gaskets and oil hinges every three months. EuroCave recommends (PDF) regular cleaning with a gentle product, and then wiping with water and drying; it also recommends cleaning gaskets. To clean the inside of the fridge, you can use a cloth to wipe down the shelves. Keep an eye out for excess moisture, which can lead to mold or mildew and harm your bottles.

Fridges will work more efficiently at or below room temperature. If you’re keeping your fridge in a hot garage, it may have to work harder to stay cold and could wear out sooner. (Garage-ready refrigerators can operate within a wide range of ambient temperatures, though they aren’t built specifically for wine storage.)

We learned from our research that many compressors fail early. It can help to place a fridge somewhere with plenty of space (usually specified by the manual) to allow for sufficient air circulation. You can also regularly clear out the dust and debris around a compressor to make sure it’s functioning properly (we suggest using a vacuum). And if you want to install the fridge in your kitchen, make sure it can be built in.

Mr. Appliance’s Steve Johnson also emphasized the importance of closing your fridge’s door after grabbing a bottle, in order to keep the compressor from constantly running. He also said you should check that the gaskets were sealed properly. Most fridge doors are magnetic, so you can check the seal by sliding a dollar bill between the door and the inside of the fridge—if there’s a tight seal, the dollar bill should be hard to pull out.

If your fridge has a filter or drip tray, be sure to change it when the manufacturer recommends doing so.

We recognize that wine collections can range widely, so we’ve gathered some other worthy models here, in order of increasing capacity.

We like that the petite Wine Enthusiast 24-Bottle Compressor Wine Cooler with Upright Bottle Storage has a stand-up storage space, which may be useful for someone with a small collection who prefers to enjoy a bottle over several days. However, it holds only a couple of cases, at most, and for the price, it may be worth springing for a larger fridge.

Ashley Santoro and the Strategist recommend the basic Wine Enthusiast 32-Bottle Dual Zone MAX Compressor Wine Cooler. It’s a smaller dual-zone fridge that doesn’t have sliding shelves, so retrieving bottles will be less convenient.

The Frigidaire Gallery Series FGWC5233TS 52 Bottle is a basic, single-zone wine fridge with sliding shelves. It’s the top seller on appliance retailer AJ Madison’s site, and it comes from a trusted appliance brand. Many of the reviews were collected as part of a promotion, however, and we think our picks’ larger sizes will be better for collectors.

Several experts and people in the Wine Berserkers forum like Danby and Avanti wine fridges. But reviews of the now-discontinued Danby model that’s similar in size to our picks report that the fridge doesn’t hold temperature, and it can freeze wine. Avanti makes fridges that we think are too small or too large for entry-level collectors.

Some appliance brands, such as Sub-Zero, Hestan, and JennAir, have great reputations, but their wine fridges are very expensive and are often meant to be built in.

Although people on the Wine Berserkers forum like Le Cache luxury cabinets, none of the experts we spoke with recommended them. For the price, we think you’ll be better off with our upgrade pick, the EuroCave La Première S.

We think the NewAir Dual Zone 29-Bottle Built-In Compressor Wine Cooler Fridge—with no notable features besides wooden shelves—is too expensive for the size, and it has a one-year warranty.

Evan Dent contributed reporting. This article was edited by Marguerite Preston, Winnie Yang, and Ingrid Skjong.

Michele Thomas, sommelier and wine educator, phone interview, January 6, 2021

Talia Baiocchi, editor in chief, Punch magazine, phone interview, July 31, 2020

Ashley Santoro, co-owner, Leisir Wine Club, phone interview, August 3, 2020

Lydia Richards, sommelier and founder of Vino Concierge, phone interview, August 4, 2020

Pascaline Lepeltier, master sommelier and managing partner at Racines NY, phone interview, August 11, 2020

Alexander J. Pandell, professor emeritus of chemistry at California State University Stanislaus and author of The Alchemist’s Wine Perspective, phone interview, August 12, 2020

Levi Dalton, host and producer of the I’ll Drink to That podcast, phone interview, August 17, 2020

Gavin Sacks, professor and associate chair at the Cornell University Department of Food Science, phone interview, August 21, 2020

Eric Asimov, wine critic at The New York Times, phone interview, August 25, 2020

Alice Feiring, author of The Feiring Line newsletter, phone interview, August 26, 2020

Marshall Tilden III, vice president of sales and wine education at Wine Enthusiast and contributing editor to the magazine, interview

Anna Perling is a former staff writer covering kitchen gear at Wirecutter. During her time at Wirecutter, she reported on various topics including sports bras, board games, and light bulbs. Previously she wrote food and lifestyle pieces for Saveur and Kinfolk magazines. Anna is a mentor at Girls Write Now and a member of the Online News Association.

Winnie Yang is the former supervising editor of Wirecutter’s appliance coverage and formerly the editor of guides to baby and parenting gear. In a previous life, she served as the managing editor of Culinary Backstreets and The Art of Eating, and she has written for Condé Nast Traveler, Feast, Jamie, Saveur, and Tasting Table, among other publications.

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