Best Wine Fridge, Wine Cabinet, or Wine Cooler (2026)
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WORD OF ADVICe
Advice for those looking for a wine fridge, wine cabinet, or wine cooler!
Whatever you do, DON’T BUY A SMALL WINE FRIDGE if you can avoid it. After 12 months of owning a small 35 bottle wine fridge I had WINE FRIDGE REGRET! I should have bought a LARGER CAPACITY wine fridge (i.e. 100+ bottles)! If you’re serious enough to buy a wine fridge, then you are more than likely going to buy more wine. So, if you have the space, and the funds, don’t have regret like me, buy a larger capacity wine fridge from the beginning. Otherwise you’ll have more wine laying around your house unprotected, than you’ll have in the fridge.
I learnt the hard way and replaced my wine fridge with a LeCavist Wine Cabinet (294 Bottle Single Zone).
What is a wine fridge, wine cabinet, or wine cooler?
A wine fridge, wine cabinet, or wine cooler is a purpose-built appliance to store your wine for cellaring. It differs from your regular fridge in that its only purpose is to store your wines. It’s not there to keep your eggs, pickle jars, or leftover pizza. Sure you can use your regular fridge, but this may not necessarily ensure your wine is optimally stored for the long term. You don’t want to spend hundreds of dollars on wine and store them for 20+ years, only to find out the wine is corked and not drinkable. What a let-down, let alone a waste of money! Check out our full podcast episode (COMING SOON) where we chat to Alex Clerch (co-founder of LeCavist Wine Cabinets) where he explains what a wine fridge is and why you need it. During the episode, Trent mentions his wise analogy in comparing wine to children. You want to ensure your kids are well protected with a house to give them the best opportunity to live life. The same concept applies to wine. Treat them like your children =)
In this article we will explain:
- Why you should cellar your wine in a wine fridge, wine cabinet, or wine cooler?
- Factors to consider when buying a wine fridge, wine cabinet, or wine cooler?
- Wine fridge, wine cabinet, and wine cooler options in Australia?
- Wine Cellar services?
- Our choice: A LeCavist Wine Fridge
Why you should cellar wine in a wine fridge, wine cabinet, or wine cooler?
The ultimate goal of properly cellaring wine is to avoid introducing wine faults. Many contributing factors can lead to wine faults, many of which can be mitigated by storing your wine in a wine fridge or wine cooler. Watch/listen to The Wined Up Podcasts episode where Jason creates a business case for purchasing a wine fridge describing the factors.
The factors to consider why you should cellar wine in a wine fridge or wine cabinet are:
Wine stored at the incorrect temperature and changing temperatures can affect the quality of your wine. Wine should ideally be stored consistently at 12-14 degrees Celsius. Anything below -4 degrees Celsius will freeze the wine. Anything greater than 20 degrees Celsius will destroy the compounds in the wine creating a vinegary and rough mouthfeel. A wine fridge allows you to set the temperature of the fridge.
Regular variations in temperature can lead to the cork stretching or shrinking, which can lead to alcohol leaking or oxygen seeping into the wine. Oxidisation can make the wine flavour flat or can make it an unpleasant vinegar or acidic flavour. A wine fridge maintains its temperature at a consistent temperature, adapting to outside temperature changes to keep the wine cool at all times.
Wines should be stored in a horizontal position so that the wine has an opportunity to touch and moisturise the cork. This can help prevent the cork from drying out and shrinking which can lead to oxidisation. Wine fridges typically have horizontal shelves and racks to ensure wines remain flat.
Regular variations in temperature can lead to the cork stretching or shrinking, which can lead to alcohol leaking or oxygen seeping into the wine. Oxidisation can make the wine flavour flat or can make it an unpleasant vinegar or acidic flavour. A wine fridge maintains its temperature at a consistent temperature, adapting to outside temperature changes to keep the wine cool at all times.
Direct sunlight and UV light can increase the chance of nasty odours coming from the wine. The UV light excites the vitamins within wine creating a reaction that releases amino acids. The amino acids produce a sulphur-like (i.e. fart like) smell which can be unpleasant to most people. Although the colour of the wine bottle can help protect against UV light it is preferable to keep wine in the dark. This is where a wine fridge, wine cabinet, or wine cooler proves handy as it is kept within an enclosure that typically has UV protective coatings on the outside and the fridge door.
Factors to consider when buying a wine fridge or wine cooler?
So by this point, you should understand why you should store your wine in a wine fridge, wine cabinet, or wine cooler. The next thing to consider is which one should you buy. There are plenty on the market, so as with all decisions in life, it’s best to have a prioritised list of selection criteria to consider and use to compare against each option to determine which one best suits the majority if not all of your criteria.
For me, having had one wine fridge for the past 24 months, my selection criteria has changed. The post-purchase services were one thing I have became very interested in. The first wine fridge that a purchased offered membership to an exclusive wine community, a wine concierge service, all accessible via an app. Unfortunately the login didn’t work and after a few months of trying to get customer service to help with me fix the issue I just gave up and never used their services. For you, your priorities may be different, but the criteria should be very similar.
01
Capacity
The right capacity for you depends on where you are in your wine journey and how many bottles you plan to put in your wine fridge/cabinet. Given my experience of having to change to a larger wine fridge after 24 months, my STRONG ADVICE is not to buy a small wine fridge if you can avoid it. Buy a wine fridge that is at least double in capacity of your wine collection. If you are serious enough about buying a wine fridge, then you are very likely going to collect more wine. Alex Clerch from LeCavist said this is one of the most common regrets from a consumer.
02
Warranty
Since I’m looking to cellar wine for 10+ years, I want to be confident that the product will last, with available support, as long as possible. Subsequently, the length of the warranty was important. From the options out there companies offer wine fridges with 1-year warranty, 2-year warranty, 3-year warranty, and even 5-year warranty. Some companies may offer separate warranty terms for the body and parts versus the compressor.
03
Reputable Brand
Again, given the wine fridge should last a long time, I wanted a product from a company that has a proven history and reputation for providing quality, with a focus on wine fridges/coolers in particular. I did not want to buy a product from a company that has a wine fridge that’s only been in the market for a year as this means it hasn’t had enough time for consumers to review and test it over long periods and it means the company may not have had enough experience in manufacturing a quality product. Also, I didn’t want to purchase a product from a company where the wine fridge is only 1 product out of 1000 products that they produce as it may indicate they are not attuned to the specific requirements of a fridge for long-term wine storage.
04
Price
This one doesn’t need an explanation. You have to buy something within your budget.
05
Minimal Vibration
There are different ways to minimise vibration. This includes the insulation around the compressor, shock abosrbers, and to a lesser extent the type of shelving.
06
Post-Sale Service
Some companies offer wine-related post-sales services that can help you enjoy and continue to learn in your wine journey. Some offer wine clubs, access to exclusive or discounted wine, wine related events, wine eduation, and wine buying agents.
07
Optional Extras
There were a few items of interest that were optional for consideration. These include:
- Dual-Zone – When putting the list together I was optimistic that I could find a dual-zone wine fridge. I thought the intent was to store my whites at a different temperature to my reds. However I’ve since found out the intent is to be able to store wines at serving temperature as opposed to long-term cellaring temperature. Subsequently, I included this as an optional item for consideration. Surprisingly there were a few dual-zone options available.
- Aesthetics – As it’s something I’ll be looking at on a weekly (if not daily basis), I included optional criteria on the aesthetics being good and matching the house décor. For example, metallic/chrome wine fridges didn’t match our house and I preferred something black instead.
- Reversible door – This was a good consideration, particularly if you’re uncertain where you will place your wine fridge, or if you may be moving house in the next 10 years in which case you’d want the flexibility to open your wine fridges door from the left or the right. In this instance, the latter was more of a concern for me, so I included it as an optional criterion.
Wine Fridge, Wine Cabinet, and Wine Cooler Options
Okay, so you know why you should store your wine in a wine fridge/wine cooler, you know what factors to consider when choosing a wine fridge, now you need to go out there and determine what wine fridges are available on the market. Google helps in this instance, and I didn’t realise so many would be available. I used Google to find articles on wine fridge review lists, retail stores selling wine, and online sales for wine fridges, I went through them all. This was probably the most time-consuming part (4 hours in total) as I searched through the online stores and then researched each wine fridge to see how it met my selection criteria. I only looked for wine fridges that are around the 150+ range in bottle capacity.
The 4 main brands I assessed were LeCavist, Vintec, Hisense, DeVanti.
| Brand | LeCavist | Vintec | Hisense | Devanti |
| Capacity (targeting 150+ capacity) | Largest product range (97 – 303 bottle capacity) | Limited product range (148 – 198 bottle capacity | Low product range (108 bottle capacity) | Low product range (154 bottle capacity) |
| Warranty | 5 years on compressor, 2 years on body and parts. | 2 years | 3 years | 1 year |
| Minimal Vibration | Anti-Vibration system, insulated high-efficiency compressor. Wooden shelves. | Only their Premium product offers low-vibration compressor. All have vibration absorbing shelf rails and wooden shelves. | No details on vibration solution. Wooden shelves, but they are fixed. | No details on vibration solution. Wooden shelves. |
| Reputable Brand | 6 years operating in Australia. Specialises in Wine Cabinets, no other appliances. | 27 years in operation specialising in Wine Fridges, however in 2016 they were acquired by Electrolux which sells multiple home appliances and electrical products. This may be why they failed to provide me with the post-sales services I required (e.g. resolving my login access to the Vintec account). | Hisense has been operating since 1969 but has only built wine cabinets in the last 5 years. | Australian-owned brand in operation for 13 years. However they are not a wine fridge specialist business. They sell multiple home appliances. |
| Price ($AU) (for products I looked at in the 100 – 300 capacity range) | $1,699 – $3,199 | $3,299 – $4,990 | $1,999 | $2,416.99 |
| Post-Sale Service | Free delivery, installation, connection, and removal. Access to private wine circle (events, wine allocation, education) | The Vintec Club (unique wine dinners, tastings, and Gold Status membership). | No additional services | No additional services. |
The specific one cabinets that I assessed were:
- LECAVIST Wine Cabinet – 168 Bottle – Single Zone – Freestanding – Black
- LECAVIST Wine Cabinet – 226 Bottle – Dual Zone – Freestanding – Black
- LECAVIST Wine Cabinet – 294 Bottle – Single Zone – Freestanding – Black
- VINTEC 148-Bottle Multi-Temp or Single Wine Cabinet
- VINTEC PREMIUM 198 Bottle Wine Cabinet with Fixed Shelves
- Hisense 108 Bottle Dual Zone Wine Cabinet
- DeVanti Wine Cooler Fridge Dual Zone 154 Bottle
Wine Cellar Services
As an alternative you can consider using wine cellar services such as Cellarit.com.au where you can drop off your wine for them to store in their cellar which has all of the appropriate temperature, UV protection, and vibration controls in place. They typically charge a monthly fee per quantity of wines. I did consider this as an option, however given that I only have a small wine collection, will likely want quick access to some of the wines, and didn’t want to pay a monthly fee at this stage I chose to go with a wine fridge. However it may be an option to consider as my wine collection grows.
Our Choice: A LeCavist Wine Fridge
My original wine fridge was a Vintec 35-Bottle Single Zone Wine Cabinet. However, like I said earlier, I had WINE FRIDGE REGRET and had to replace it because it was too small. After sifting through the latest options LeCavist was a clear winner when compared against this set of criteria. They have:
- The longest warranty
- The best details on anti-vibration solutions
- They’re business specialises in wine-cabinets only, not other home appliances/products.
- They have been operating in Australia for 6 years.
- They have the best post-sale service – FREE delivery, installation, connection, removal, and access to their Private Wine Circle.
- They offer the best value price given the above features.
As my wine collection is already in the 150+ range I opted for a the LECAVIST Wine Cabinet – 294 Bottle – Single Zone – Freestanding – Black. This handles my current collection and future growth!
Lessons Learnt
I couldn’t be happier with the LECAVIST 294 Bottle Free Standing Single Zone Wine Cabinet in Black. It looks good, fits my forecast wine collection, and is great value. A few things I learnt since purchasing the wine cabinet for consideration is:
- The shelf capacity of a wine fridge can vary with some modelling the capacity on a Bordeaux size bottle, which can differ to other Australian bottles. This means it may not fit your expected capacity, with all bottles laying flat horizontally. So expect that you may not reach the advertised capacity.
- How you organise your wine fridge is important. I good tip was to place your ready to drink wines at eye view/standing view for easy access and your wines requiring longer term cellaring at the bottom.
I hope that helps you in choosing a wine fridge or wine cooler. Leave your comments below on the wine fridge that you purchased or recommend and why.