With Blomberg compact appliances, small is beautiful
01/10/2019
Beautifully Smart Built-ins
03/02/2020Treat your wine and beer right, and keep everything perfectly chilled for the holidays!
Wine connoisseurs would never be without one. Even those who haven’t given much thought to getting one can see their value during the holidays, when a heavy rotation of special meals and gatherings quickly stacks fridges to their rafters.
We’ve all been there. It’s the perfect time to open a special bottle... if you can find it in among the chilled appetizers, side dishes, day-to-day groceries and condiments.
At times like these, the image of an elegant unit with even, orderly rows of bottles, seductively lit from within, opening gracefully with a mere tap…
Beyond the undeniable sense of luxury and order, a wine cooler unit conveys the idea that your bottles are of fundamental importance. Seriously. Opening a long-cherished bottle to find it corked is a kind of heartbreak that only the meanest Grinch on the planet would wish on you.
A wine collection is a valuable investment of time and money. Protecting it is a must.
Collecting wine involves taking the time to read up on vintages, varietals and pairings, and patiently anticipating the perfect pairings for those special bottles once they’ve fully come into their own. Of course, you’re going to store your bottles in conditions that offer protection against the three environmental threats that do truly awful, Grinchy things to their contents.
Humidity is the main culprit behind “corked” wine. When corks (at least the ones made from natural cork) get too wet or dry, they become prey to wine-spoiling mould. Vibrations disturb the contents of bottles, preventing them from developing their full flavour profile. And when sunlight and incandescent light produce “wine faults,” they interact with the phenolic compounds in wine.
Given these three threats, if you’re planning on adding to your collection over the years, a full-height unit like this one make good sense in the long term.
Wine collectors aren’t the only ones who will be looking into cooling units, though. Beer doesn’t keep indefinitely on the shelf any more than wine would. And just as with wine, storage temperature isn’t the only factor to consider.
Beer will go bad if not stored properly.
It may not be as vulnerable to vibrations as wine is, but light exposure can ruin beer. “Light struck” beer has a decided “skunky” smell. This is the unpleasant result of interactions between the sulphur compounds in hops and light.
Mass-produced beer should be consumed within three to six months. If your bottles or cans are stored at 90 °F (32 °C), you’ve got three days to enjoy them. At 72 °F (22 °C), they’ll be good for 30 days. At 38 °F (32 °C), you can keep them for 300 days.
When the offerings were limited to mass-produced beer that was bought and consumed in short order, this wasn’t a particular concern. But among the growing number of excellent craft brews on the market, there are varieties that develop palate-pleasing complexities when stored (at the right temperature, of course!) anywhere from 1 to 10 years. These include vintage beers, barley wines, imperial stouts, lambics, and old ales.
With this range of possibilities and all the interest in craft beers in general, we expect to see more and more households opting for units that will satisfy the tastes of both wine and beer drinkers, like this unit by Presrv.Serving temperatures make all the difference
Of course, cooks and sommeliers know how much temperature affects the flavour of everything we eat and drink. Fuller flavours are cut off at the pass at cooler temperatures, and light flavours lose their sparkle when served too warm. As a rule, the lighter the wine, the cooler the serving temperature, as you can see in these serving guidelines:
- Sparkling Wine (Asti, Prosecco, Champagne): 45-48 °F (around 7-9 °C)
- Light Whites (Rosé, Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Grigio): 45-50 °F (7-10 °C)
- Full Bodied Whites (Chablis, Chardonnay, Viognier): 50-55 °F (10-13 °C)
- Light Reds (Beaujolais, Pinot Noir, Barbera): 55-60 °F (13-15.5 °C)
- Full Bodied Reds (Bordeaux, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah): 60-65 °F (15.5 - 18°C)
So those who want to have their whites and reds at the ready, a unit with two temperature zones will be just the ticket.
Similarly, different serving temperatures bring out the full flavour profiles of different kinds of beer
The ideal serving temperature for a light and zingy pilsner won’t do much for a full-bodied caramel stout!
- Light bodied beer should be served at between 38 and 45 °F (3-7 °C).
- Lighter lagers, pilsners and wheat beers are best served between 45 and 50 °F (7-10 °C).
- Standard ales like Bitters, IPA’s, Dobbelbocks, lambics, stouts are most flavourful from between 50 and 55 °F (10-12 °C).
- To bring out all their aromas and full flavour profile, strong bodied beers, dark ales and triples can be served from 55 and 60 °F (12.7-15.55 °C).
Finally, if you want to be a good Santa to all your guests – beer, pop and kombucha drinkers alike – Presrv's Single Zone Beverage Cooler will keep drinks for all the kids and adults at family gatherings perfectly chilled – without forcing you to banish any of your groceries to the nearest snow bank!
Happy holidays, everyone!
