For The Love Of Port

Hi Folks:

Does anyone have any thoughts on a reliable wine refrigerator that will store port, maybe in the 150 to 200-bottle range? Virtually all of the reviews I have read seem to indicate the shelf spacing on a typical fridge is way too tight to fit port bottles comfortably. Also, reliablility in terms of holding a constant temp. would be nice, too.

Thanks for your thoughts.

Jeff K.

Jeff,

A lot of it depends on how much you want to spend. I have two fridges, one is a high-end Eurocave and the other is a lower-end brand. The difference in price was more than double... actually almost triple. But the Eurocave has a very solid reputation, is virtually silent, and is also virtually vibration-free. I use the Eurocave for my VPs that need the best possible storage for aging, and my other fridge for Colheitas and still wine that will be consumed sooner.

Mine are both theoretically 220-bottle units, but in reality hold less than 200 each. I have no problem with the shelf spacing in either fridge for standard Port bottles, but some Port houses (notably Noval) use oddly-shaped bottles that don't fit nicely. I can still fit 12 on a shelf, but they lay at odd angles and don't look pretty. But since the door to the Eurocave is opaque it doesn't really matter.

The Eurocave seems to maintain a very constant temperature. I've never seen it off by more than 1 degree, and it's typically cool (54, set at 55). The other fridge is pretty reliable, but varies in temp from 54 to 57 (it is also set at 55).

I'm completely satisfied with both purchases, but would be wary of storing VP in the off-brand fridge due to the temperature fluctuation and very mild vibration caused by the cooling unit's motor. It's fine for tawnies, though.

Glenn:

Thanks for your response. I noticed that the pictures of the 200+ bottle Eurocaves all show a bottom fixed shelf with rows of bottles just stacked on top of each other, with no shelving between them. I guess this would be the configuration you would need to use to get the maximum number of bottles in there, but it also seems like a really precarious thing to do with older vintage ports! Did you have to purchase extra rolling shelves or were they standard? Also, can you fine-tune the spacing between each shelf, or is it more or less fixed?

Thank again for your help. I really appreciate it!

Jeff

Glenn E. wrote:[S]ome Port houses (notably Noval) use oddly-shaped bottles that don't fit nicely.

Kopke comes to mind here, and I have some of those 1970 Royal Oporto VP bottles that are short and fat as well. I think I had an older Niepoort that also fit in this category. All my Noval bottles are fine, but they are mostly recent, so maybe this reflects a change. I don't have a fridge, but most of my bottles fit fine in standard racks that I bought with the exceptions already noted. A few rows are also very snug.

Jeff K. wrote:I noticed that the pictures of the 200+ bottle Eurocaves all show a bottom fixed shelf with rows of bottles just stacked on top of each other, with no shelving between them. I guess this would be the configuration you would need to use to get the maximum number of bottles in there, but it also seems like a really precarious thing to do with older vintage ports! Did you have to purchase extra rolling shelves or were they standard? Also, can you fine-tune the spacing between each shelf, or is it more or less fixed?

That's probably the compressor shelf at the bottom of the unit, which is only deep enough for one row.

None of the shelves in my unit are truly fixed, though one of the non-rolling shelves must be placed near the center of the unit and serves as additional structural bracing. As I recall, mine came with an extra shelving pack of 2 non-rolling and 3 rolling shelves, to which I added a 6-pack of rolling shelves. So I have 3 of the very sturdy wooden non-rolling shelves, and 9 of the metal rolling shelves.

The wooden non-rolling shelves can hold some ridiculously large number of bottles in theory, but the cabinet's instructions prevent them from actually being loaded with that many bottles. (The cabinet says that no bottles should touch the sides of the cabinet, and that would be necessary for the wood shelf to hold its theoretical 80-odd bottle capacity. The shelf's limit in a nice pleasing pyramid shape is 36. A more practical limit as I have it set up is 20, which is what you get when you stack the bottles 2 layers deep.) What's annoying is that the wooden shelves only hold 11 bottles on the base layer - 6 in front and 5 in back.

The metal rolling shelves hold 12 bottles on the base layer and are capable of supporting 22 in two layers. However due to the spacing of the shelf mounting points, stacking bottles 2-high on the metal shelves actually wastes space in the cabinet.

In my configuration the cabinet has a maximum capacity of 9 x 12 (metal rolling) + 1 x 11 (wood) + 2 x 20 (wood) or 159 bottles. The compressor shelf at the very bottom of the cabinet can hold 11 bottles or (as in my case) 9 magnums, bringing the total to 170 bottles. No shelf is more than 2 layers deep.

Shelving layout within the unit is very flexible and easy to reconfigure, though as previously noted some configurations actually waste space.

Extremely helpful information. Thanks for the info!

Jeff,

I also use a Eurocave at home, which holds around 200 bottles of VP. I don't have the sophisticated approach that Glenn has - I have 5 shelves which are metal and non-rolling (although you can choose how far apart you want to put them). I vary between 2 and 4 rows of bottles stacked on each of the shelves.

Alex