Wine Cooler 4 U Blog

A wineanorak?  Before we get to that one let me tell you that this post contains interesting tidbits about wine.  So, on to the feature.

• Wineanorak – To understand this word we have to start with the word “Anorak”. In British slang an anorak (/ˈænəræk/) is a person who has a very strong interest, perhaps obsessive, in niche subjects. This interest may be unacknowledged or not understood by the general public. The term is often loosely used synonymously with geek or nerd. So you can figure out what a Wineanorak is. The word “wineanorak” was created by the founder of a British website wineanorak.com.
  

  Vinotemp 224 Bottle Concord 296 Wine Credenza

• Corked – A wine with a musty smell resulting from a contaminated cork.
• Wine has a more concentrated effect on women than on men because women have less of an enzyme in the lining of the stomach needed to metabolize alcohol efficiently.
• In medieval times churches and monasteries derived much of their income from wine. Did you know that in those times wine was also a significant source of income for hospitals and universities?
• The average cost of the grapes in a $20 bottle of wine is $2.64.
• There are 10,000 grape varieties worldwide.

That last one provides a great goal for the filling of your Vinotemp wine cooler.

In a word. Yes!

Is their a wine pairing with Kentucky Fried Chicken that makes any sense? It turns out that the answer is yes. I would never have even thought to think about it. But, I read an article recently that sheds a different light on the subject.

Of course, for most people, if there is any pairing that could work it would be a white. But, which white might get the job done?

Vinotemp VT-Vino-270ECB Wooden Wine Cabinet

Firstly, remember that KFC is not fried chicken; rather it is roasted chicken. So, perhaps the idea of pairing a  wine with it is not so hard to imagine.

So, which one is the best?

Sauvignon Blanc; a fairly fruity wine turns out to be tart here. Same with the Verdejo. A Vouvray and Riesling are too much for the chicken, totally covering the bird’s flavor. A Riesling does a better job. Rosé and Chardonnay work pretty well, offering a nice textural complement to the chicken while finishing cleanly and fresh. Tempranillo tends to turn tannic and flat.

How about a Pinot Grigio? The Pinot Grigio brings its mineral backbone to the fore, and the fruit and texture of the wine were perfectly matched to the chicken. This is one of those ideal pairings where both the food and the wine are improved.

Give it a try with a variety of Pinot Grigios that you have collected and stored in your Vinotemp wooden wine cabinet.

Vinotemp VT-36 Wine & Beverage Center

Combine your wine cooler with a fridge just for your sodas, beer and water. We call it the Vinotemp VT-36 Wine and Beverage Cooler.  It’s ideal for those with limited space. You can store up to 19 bottles of wine in one compartment and up to 58 12 oz cans in the other. Each compartment features its own touch screen control and digital readout.

This unique unit can be built-in or free standing (Dimensions: 23.5″W x 24.25″D x 32.25″H). You can have this wine cooler with a black cabinet and stainless steel door frame (standard) or stainless cabinet and door frame.  This unit is ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) compliant.

Vinotemp 160 Bottle Wine Cooler Cellar

Weiman Stainless Steel Cleaner & Polish

Fed up with fingerprints on your stainless steel wine cooler? You will see many articles and opinions on the Internet praising the low cost of using white vinegar. Well, we have tried every thing and always return to the Weiman spray Stainless Steel Cleaner and Polish. The vinegar approach is a pain unless the unit is almost completely clean.  Well, ours usually gets cleaned after we can no longer ignore the streaks and spots resulting from the multiple “lick and a promise” solution.

If you have a hard-to-remove stain on your stainless steel wine cooler you can use one of the powder stainless steel cleaners. We prefer Kleen-King powder as it is intended for stainless steel and has a mild abrasive in it.

Warnings:

• As with any cleaner, you should avoid all contact with the eyes and prolonged contact with the skin

• Keep out of the reach of children

Vinotemp 180 Bottle Sonoma Wine Cabinet

Simple maintenance and cleaning procedures can greatly extend the life and efficiency of your wine cooler. With a little care you can keep your wine fridge running well for years to come.

• Clean the condenser coils — Dusty condenser coils cause a wine cooler to work harder; which translates into bigger energy bills and a shorter life expectancy for the fridge – not good. To prevent this from happening, use a vacuum or broom to remove dust build up from the coils every three months (once a month if you have pets). The coils are usually located behind the wine cooler. To access coils pull the unit out from the wall.

• Clean the drain hole and drip pan — Some wine coolers rely on a drain hole and drip pan to remove condensation, so it’s important that these function properly. Remove any mineral deposits from the drain hole according to the instructions in your owner’s manual. Then, scrub out the drain pan.

• Check and clean the gaskets — The gaskets on the wine cooler doors are designed to seal the cool air in and to keep the warm air out – vital to the efficiency of your wine cooler. So, it’s important to make sure that seal is as strong as it should be. Look over the gaskets to see if there are spots that are cracked or otherwise damaged. Then, shut a dollar bill in the door, and see if you can pull it out easily (the seal should create resistance). If either test turns up problems, consider replacing the gasket. (See below for performing a cabinet-level test)  Clean the gasket with a gentle all-purpose cleaner, and wipe dry.  Use a tooth brush to clean hte grooves in the gasket. Alternatively, blend your own cleanser by mixing 2 Tbsp. baking soda in a quart of hot water or make a 50/50 mix of water and bleach. After cleaning, wipe the gasket with a water-damp cloth to get off any cleaner residue. Also, wipe the gaskets with vinegar to prevent the growth of mildew.

• Change the air filter – if you have one — If your wine cooler has an air filter you will know it as it is a feature that is seldom offered and when it is, the sellers make sure you know it has one. Air filters are not, as far as we know, cleanable. Replace your filter with the manufacturer-specified one. Get them from the same place you bought your cooler.

• Check for level — If your wine cooler isn’t level the doors may not close on their own or may not seal as tightly as they’re supposed to – yet another opportunity for energy loss. Check to see if your cooler is level, by placing a carpenter’s level on top of your unit. Then, if necessary, adjust the feet (by hand or with a wrench) until you achieve level.
• If your wine cabinet is made of wood, clean it according to the user guide instructions.

Tips:

• Schedule your wine cooler cleaning on your calendar or use an online reminder service to ensure that you keep up with your regular maintenance
• Consult your wine cooler’s owner’s manual to see if there are any additional maintenance items recommended for the Vinotemp wine storage model that you own

Sangria; a Great Summer Drink

Sangria, a great summertime, primarily wine-based, casual drink is always fun when you get together with your friends. Here are some recipes we found, two with wine, one with beer and one non-alcoholic. There are many variations on this drink. Use these or look on the internet. A Google search of “sangria recipes” gave us 2,300,000 hits. It will take a long time to go through them all. Don’t use the wines from your Cavavin wine cellar for these recipes. Just get the cheap stuff.

White Peach Sangria for a Crowd

1 box white wine (preferably something crisp and dry, like a Pinot Grigio or a Sauvignon Blanc)
2 cups peach vodka
1 container frozen lemonade
1/2 cup sugar
Choice of seasonal fruit
Mix together wine, vodka, lemonade, sugar. Add fruit. Enjoy.

Classic Lusty Red Sangria

Cavavin Wooden Wine Cabinet

1 orange, cut in quarters and then thin slices
1 lemon, cut in quarters and then thin slices
2 apples, peeled, cored and diced
2 tbs fresh lime juice
2 tbs fresh orange juice
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup brandy
1/4 cup Grand Marnier
1 1/2 L red wine
2 L club soda or seltzer water
Get the full recipe at http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2010/07/classic-lusty-red-sangria-recipe.html

Rose Sangria Spritzer

1 pint fresh raspberries
Fresh mint leaves, for garnish
Club soda, cold, optional
1 green apple, thinly sliced
2 bottles cold rose wine
1 orange, halved and thinly sliced
Simple syrup, to taste
Ice cubes
Get the full recipe at http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/bobby-flay/rose-sangria-spritzer-recipe/index.html

Beer Sangria

2 Bartlett pears, peeled and chopped
1 cup plus 2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
Four 12-oz bottles lager, chilled
1 cup triple sec
Ice
2 Bosc pears, sliced, for garnish
Get the full recipe at http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/brewsky-sangria

Non-alcoholic Sangria

Equal parts white cranberry juice and orange juice
Sparkling water, to taste
Lemon slices
Orange slices
Pineapple cubes
Ice
Get the full recipe at http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/nonalcoholic-sangria-recipe/index.html

If you read our Post about storing your chocolates in your wine cooler and you are a chocolate-coated cookie monster, you know most of what you need to know to justify getting a wine cooler if you do not already have one. One extra twist with the cookies. We store our chocolate coated cookies in sealed containers in the cooler. The humidity in the container will be the room humidity. Not an issue if you live in southern AZ, as we do. If the room humidity is higher than about 50% storing the cookies in a sealed container may not be appropriate.

So, let’s identify some wine cabinets that let you adjust the humidity. You can consider any of the Cavavin Majestika units. They are higher cost than the Vinotemps but offer unique features.  In the Vinotemp product line, the products that gives you the humidity control are the VT-CAVE models, one with a solid door, one with glass.

Store Your Chocolate in Your Wine Cooler

The ideal temperature for storing your chocolate and confectionery products is 63-68 degrees F. The products will be more tolerant of temperatures below 65 degrees F, than of temperatures above 70 degrees F.

For a single zone wine cooler, we recommend setting the temperature at 55 degrees, then storing the reds at the top of the cooler and the whites at the bottom. The top will be a little warmer, the bottom, a little cooler. When you drink the red, just let it warm a bit in the glass. To cool some whites further, just put the bottle in the fridge for 5 minutes. We usually just drop an ice cube into the glass, swirl it and remove it. Viola, ready to drink. If you are a purist, you probably don’t agree with what I just said. Oh well! It works for most people.

Back to the chocolate. If you have a single zone cooler, the 55 degrees is a little bit cool. However, it is much better than the fridge, a way better than the 70ish degree room temperature. The humidity in the wine cooler is close enough to the recommended 50% or lower. Store the chocolate on the top shelf and keep it at least four inches away from the walls. This allows proper circulation of air around the chocolate.

With perfect storage conditions, you can expect a shelf life of nine months to one year for pastel products, one year for milk chocolates and cocoa confectionery products, and one year to 18 months for dark chocolate. Unless you are making and storing your chocolate as a business, I can’t imagine anyone wanting to store their chocolate for these time periods. Maybe a week or two. But, months or years. Not!

Vinotemp 160 Bottle Bamboo Wine Cabinet

So, you don’t have a wine cooler? Let’s fix that. If you are a (very) casual wine drinker, perhaps a 26 bottle cooler would be perfect. In this size range the Vinotemp VT-26 is a good choice. If you love wine as we do, then you may want something in the 75 bottle range so that you can have a wide variety of wines and/or be able to take advantage of a particularly good sale of your favorites. The Danby 75 bottle wine cooler is a very good buy. Prefer “green” products? Take a look at the Vinotemp Bamboo Wine Cabinet.

Vinotemp VINO-250BAMBOO Wine Cabinet

What is a “green” wine cabinet? It is one that is environmentally friendly. This, of course, is a relative statement. We can have a “green” cabinet by combining a higher efficiency cooling system, with additional insulation and sustainable cabinet materials. The higher efficiency cooling system and additional insulation options have been around for a long time. What’s relatively new to the mix is a cabinet made of bamboo.

Did you know that bamboo, grown in Vietnam, grows to 130′ with a 13′ trunk in just three years? And, once cut down, that that same plant will regrow? Bamboo, can grow in many climates, including those of the USA. Also, on a positive note growing Bamboo does not require the use of pesticides and the fertilizers used are often organic. Another direct environmental benefit of bamboo is that the fast growth rate of the plants sequesters carbon dioxide at rapid rates while they are growing.

Bamboo Destined for a Wine Cooler

Is bamboo renewable? A definite yes. It is sustainable? Apparently, not yet. Here is a quote from a discussion of the topic that I found on the Internet.

“Although bamboo is attractive as a renewable material, the processes involved with growing practices, labor and transportation need to be addressed, monitored and standardized in order to justify the material’s sustainability.”

But, on with the real purpose of this Post. Vinotemp offers a wine cabinet made of bamboo, the VINO-250BAMBOO. Follow this “bamboo wine cabinet” link to learn more about this unique use of bamboo by Vinotemp.

Vinotemp Wine Rack Clip-on Labels

Vinotemp Wine Rack Clip-on Labels - Package

Vinotemp wine rack clips are the perfect solution for organizing your wine cellar. Each clip fits easily on the ends of wood and metal wine racking for a clean, organized design. Clips are reusable and can be written on with marker or dry erase pens. 24 clips per package.  The wine clips are to only be used on cellar trellis racking or the wood and aluminum racking used in the Vinotemp Economy and Reserve Series wooden wine cabinets.

The Vinotemp Sonoma Series wooden wine cabinets use redwood and the wine rack clips do not work.