The best wine fridges to get this Christmas - and other presents for wine lovers

Options were limited during that period, so I ended up with a perfectly serviceable, household brand wine fridge that fits under the worktop. It looked pretty in the adverts, and looks fine in my kitchen, but frankly it doesn’t do the job.

Yes, it keeps the wine at the right temperature, and for an under the counter small storage unit, it is fine. But the capacity is a lot less than the adverts said, and it is very difficult to see what I have got in there.

Only one of the shelves slides out, and the other shelves are too close together which means that it is difficult to pull out the bottles to see the labels.

So, if you are contemplating buying a wine fridge as a Christmas present to yourself or for your loved one, you need to do some research to get the best one that suits your needs.

The first thing to think about is temperature. Most wine fridges provide different temperature zones so you can keep your reds at a comfortable 12- 15 degrees C while your whites can crisp up in the 6 – 9 degree zone. This works well for a fridge that is going to be used for your everyday drinking wines.

They will be ready to serve immediately. Single zone fridges are also good, particularly for long term storage while you are waiting for your best clarets to hit their drinking window.

The capacity of all wine coolers is assessed as standard 75cl Bordeaux bottles, so if you have a mix of burgundy bottles, champagne and a few magnums, then capacity goes down.

Larger bottles will fit in, so long as you can take out some shelves. For long term storage of wine then you might consider one that has fewer shelves so you can close -stack the bottles to increase capacity.

Brands for wine fridges are different from the usual kitchen appliances. Wine fridges need to have controlled humidity and vibration, and if yours is to be sited in the dining room, then it needs to be low noise too.

Brands such as Dunavox, Swisscave, Cella and Eurocave all come with several years of guarantees.

Finding somewhere to go look at wine fridges is difficult, however Elite Wine Refrigeration, (www.elitefridges.co.uk) based in Chester has a showroom with several specialist wine cooler brands.

Operations manager Hayley Warner is immensely helpful in matching what you need to the right kind of wine fridge. Elite also has an arrangement with four wine shops in London with different wine fridges so you can see them in operation.

But if Chester or London are not on your regular route, why not take a serious interest in the wine fridge in your local restaurant or wine shop.

Talk to the people who use it and see whether it does the job well. That way you can work out the best configuration that will suit your kitchen or dining room.

Prices start for a small under the counter wine fridge at around £500 and go up to eye watering prices if you want to transform your dining room with a temperature controlled ‘wine wall’; so you can show off your collection of fine wine to your guests.

If, like most people you are not thinking of spending quite so much for a Christmas present, then there are plenty of other wine-related gifts that will fit most budgets.

Books

The Wine Flavour Guide, by Sam Caporn, Vintage Publishing, £20: Master of Wine Sam is a well-known wine writer and consultant, and, in this book, she has taken a new approach to the taste of wine.

With a ‘flavour tree; diagram she relates the aromas and flavours in various fruits and flowers to give direction to your tastebuds as you encounter new tastes.

There is a step-by-step guide to tasting, what to look for in the glass and the aromas and tastes. She follows through with tips to finding the best bottles within a budget and there is a useful section on pairing the right wines with different foods for each season.

This is a book with a fresh approach, well written and will be referred to endlessly as the reader develops their wine interest.

Hugh Johnson’s Pocket Wine Guide 2025, Mitchell Beazley £15.99 is the perennial of the wine bookshelves.

Packed with up-to-the-minute information on regions, vintages and wines, this is the essential reference book for any wine-lover. New this year is a brilliant piece about Pinot Noir, discussing its variation in style when grown on different terroirs. There is also a serious piece about how much wine should really cost, to get good quality.

There are ten wines to try in 2025, including a Croatian red and an amphora-aged Portuguese white. The real joy of this book is the easy-access, unbiased, concise information about the wines of the world. It is a perfect stocking-filler for the festive season.

Gadgets

Perfect for parties, the new Cuisinart wine opener can open up to eighty bottles of wine without any effort at all.

It stands on its own charger, looking very stylish and then when you need to open a bottle, just remove the top of the foil with the foil cutter that fits into the charging base, then place the device on top of the wine bottle and press the button.

There is a corkscrew inside the device that rotates and pulls the cork out. It works on both natural and synthetic corks and is the simplest corkscrew I have ever used.

It comes with a three-year guarantee and not only is it a useful gadget it actually opens the bottles with a smoother action than most other openers, which is better for your wine, in particular anything with a sediment.

As part of the kit there is a vacuum sealer so you can keep any remaining wine in good condition. This comes with a date marker so you will know when you sealed the bottle.

The Cuisinart Wine Opener is available online at around £50.