Hi!
I am just starting to build my wine collection, and as I won't be building my new home until next year(with a wine cellar =)), I want to start keeping a few bottles around in a wine fridge. After reviewing a lot of information, searching, and so on, I know I need to be keeping it right around 55degrees and out of sunlight with good ventillation.

My question is, if I'm supposed to be keeping everything out of sunlight, why do wine fridges have glass windows to let light in?

I can think of two reasons:

1) to be able to see the temperature without opening the door frequently. Those fridges can sometimes fluctuate a bit and frequent opening/closings can cause the motor to run a lot while it works to maintain a set temperature. This causes constant vibration, which most people argue is bad for the wine. With a glass door, you can walk by, see that the temperature is stable, and move on. Advice: keep an independent thermometer in the unit and each time you do open it, make sure the digital temperature and the standard thermometer read the same.

2) people like their friends to see their wine when they come over!

So the wines don't get claustrophobic. Makes 'em tight.

PH

PH,

sarbuze, #2 is the only real reason involved, if we're being honest.

So there is no _real_ reason is what I'm gathering =) Just to make it look prettier and to show off to people

quote:

Originally posted by SD-Wineaux:
PH,

sarbuze, #2 is the only real reason involved, if we're being honest.

well, if we're being honest

The correct reason would be that you can select what you want to drink without the need to keep the door open to do that. So you select your wine with the door closed and just open quickly the door to get the wine you want.

quote:

Originally posted by Edward_Kelly:
The correct reason would be that you can select what you want to drink without the need to keep the door open....

By that logic refrigerators should have glass doors.

quote:

Originally posted by Edward_Kelly:
The correct reason would be that you can select what you want to drink without the need to keep the door open to do that. So you select your wine with the door closed and just open quickly the door to get the wine you want.

I disagree with this.

You can not see many of the bottles in the wine fridge through a glass door due to shelf spacing , especially if the door is tinted. Of those that are visible, it is quite difficult to see in there without turning on the light or moving bottles around. Further, with a tool such as cellartracker, it's easy to keep track of what's in that fridge, as well as location within the fridge.

any wine cellar worth its weight has glass panes which filter uv. That being said it is smart not to store in direct sunlight or next to dishwasher, washing machine/drier etc.
The glass does allow some visibility and if you use wine tags (goes on neck of bottle) you can see what the wine is, window for drinking, etc as I do.
I would imagine it also is for art so to speak. Larger models glass is an option often, but smaller models often go under the counter and hence the glass asks somewhat as a display case. MY under the counter model actually has an area built to display a few choice bottles if you so chose to.

quote:

Originally posted by sarbuze:

quote:

Originally posted by Edward_Kelly:
The correct reason would be that you can select what you want to drink without the need to keep the door open to do that. So you select your wine with the door closed and just open quickly the door to get the wine you want.

I disagree with this.

I agree with your disagreement. It's all about aesthetics people.

Plus, Edward Kelley uses MyWineAssistant, the worlds best cellar management tool so I'm not really sure why he'd need glass doors to know where his wines are....

PH

I have almost 500 bottles in my cellar -- a window wouldn't help much.

I have 450 bottles a glass door and a small window and I still cant make up my mind.
Don't worrie bout the light in the window its in the basement.

Vanity.

Simple. An unadorned wooden box, especially one that holds 500 bottles, looks pretty funky in the average living room. That's why my window unit is in the house and my solid door unit is in the garage.

quote:

Originally posted by Gigond Ass:
Simple. An unadorned wooden box, especially one that holds 500 bottles, looks pretty funky in the average living room. That's why my window unit is in the house and my solid door unit is in the garage.

Ed Zachary.

ME: Hey for $200 more we can get this one with the nice window doors.
SHE: I'm not having it in the living room. It's going in the garage.