Everything You Need to Know About Electric Wine Cellars

We’ve all heard about wine cellars.

They’re those dark rooms that people have underneath their houses that are dedicated to storing wine. The most impressive wine cellars contain hundreds of bottles, temperature controls, and a whole range of features dedicated to ensuring the wines within are kept in ideal conditions.

But there are some problems with wine cellars.

The first is that you need to have a cellar in the first place before you can have a wine cellar. No cellar means nowhere to put your bottles of wine. The second is that even those who have cellars may not be all that keen on using all of that space solely to store their wines.

They may have other users in mind.

Out point is that traditional wine cellars aren’t exactly accessible to most people.

The good news is that there are some less traditional options that are starting to make the rounds.

One of those options is electric wine cellars. And in this article, we’re going to take a brief look at what they are before talking about some of the features they offer that have led to them becoming increasingly popular in recent times.

What is an Electric Wine Cellar?

Also known as cold-wall systems, electric wine cellars are fully-integrated systems that essentially act like refrigerators.

You’re already thinking that there are plenty of wine fridges out there already.

And you’d be right.

However, electric wine cellars are designed to be more permanent storage solutions than typical wine fridges. Instead of being places to put your bottles for a few weeks until you’re ready to drink them, electric wine cellars are intended to be places where you can store your Italian wines for several years at a time, ageing them until they reach a point where you’re ready to drink them.

Of course, the fact that these are refrigerated systems may also clue you in to the types of wines that are typically stored in electric wine cellars. By and large, you’re going to find that a lot of collectors use these solutions to store white wines for long periods of time. However, that doesn’t mean that electric wine cellars can’t be used to store red wines. They have temperature controls that allow them to mimic the cool, rather than chilled, temperatures needed for red wine storage.

How are Electric Wine Cellars Different from Traditional Wine Cellars?

It all comes down to the cooling mechanism.

A traditional wine cellar typically features rows upon rows of wines that are stored at room temperature. The owner then has to go out of their way to ensure that room temperature is ideal for the wines. While such cellars may have temperature control systems, they’re not designed to be permanently chilled storage solutions.

Electric wine cellars are permanently chilled, essentially acting as large refrigerators that are dedicated to wine.

But that’s not all.

Remember that the alternative name for electric wine cellars is “cold-wall systems”.

With an electric wine cellar, the chilling capabilities are built into the wall. In other words, you don’t have to install a large generator to create the cool air that chills your wines. The mechanism for that is built into the system itself, meaning an electric cellar takes up far less space than a temperature-controlled traditional cellar.

Add to that the fact that electric wine cellars radiate their chilled air directly into the space, leading to far quieter operation than more traditional air-cooling systems, and you have a solution that keeps wine cool while taking less space and being much less disruptive.

The Benefits of Electric Wine Cellars

We’ve touched a little one some of the benefits of electric wine cellars already. However, it’s worth expanding on them here so that you get a better idea of why so many people are moving towards installing this type of cellar.

Benefit #1 – They Take Up Less Space

Admittedly, the space-saving is fairly limited compared to a traditional cellar. There’s not a whole lot that you can do about the space required for storing the bottles, for example. However, the in-wall nature of the cooling systems used for electric wine cellars means that you don’t have to find space to install a forced air-cooling system as you would for a traditional wine cellar.

That means you get temperature control without having to sacrifice a ton of space.

Benefit #2 – No Fans

Traditional cooling systems require large fans to maintain cool temperatures. Again, that’s more space taken up by the fans. But it also means that these systems are loud. You will always be able to hear the whirring of the fans whenever you’re exploring your wine cellar.

With an electric wine cellar, the cool air radiates out of the walls with no fans required. That means even more space saved. Plus, you get to enjoy some peace and quiet when compared to the loud operation of a more traditional system.

Benefit #3 – Fresh Air

Though we don’t want to expose our Italian wines fully to oxygen before we open them, we do want them to be surrounded by clean and fresh air.

Why?

Wines breathe through their corks. In fact, it’s this process of very gradual aeration that allows wines to change in quality as they age. Without this breathing, the wine would be in a vacuum so it would not change over time.

Electric wine cellars don’t just provide chilled air. They also ensure your wines are surrounded by healthy fresh air to allow for optimal ageing.

The Final Word

Electric wine cellars aren’t perfect.

There are still issues relating to humidity to overcome before they can stand toe-to-toe with traditional wine cellars. The fact that they’re built into the walls also makes repairs and replacements more difficult.

However, the benefits are clear to see in terms of saving space, maintaining the right temperature, and operating at a lower volume. It should come as no surprise that we starting to see more people go down the electric cellar route now that the technology is at such an impressive point.