Do You Need a Wine Refrigerator a Wine Cellar or Both?

Wine refrigerators and wine cellars provide separate functions with the essential difference between the two being the optimal length of storage as well as the temperature at which bottles are cached. Generally speaking, sparkling wine, champagne, and lighter bodied white wines such as pinot grigio’s are at their best when they are chilled to a temperature range of 40 to 45 degrees. Full-bodied chardonnays, on the other hand, should be served at temperatures that are about 10 degrees warmer.

Considering that the family refrigerator will normally run at temperatures between 36 and 40 degrees and a wine cellar should maintain a range of 55 to 65 degrees, the best solution for serving these types wine at their optimal temperature will be a wine refrigerator. These refrigerators come in a variety of sizes, with storage capacities ranging from 6 to 200 bottles.



Despite the fact that a wine refrigerator will enable white wines to be served at their best temperatures, it will not be the best choice for the long term storage of a collection. This work is best left for a wine cellar with an environment of 55 to 60 degrees and a humidity level that consistently hovers around 70%, because long term storage at lower temperatures in a wine refrigerator can mute the flavors and varying levels of humidity can lead to a drying out of the corks.

For serious wine collectors, the best solution is to go with a wine refrigerator and a wine cellar. The availability of both storage options allows for bottles of sparkling wine, champagne, and white wine that are ready to be served to be rotated from the cellar to the wine refrigerator where they can be chilled to their optimal temperatures. Bottles that will be aged, as well as the red wines that are ready to be served, can be stored in the cellar, giving the collector perfect wine storage solutions for both the long and short term.

Are You Grilling or Barbequing?

While the terms “grilling” and “barbequing” are often used on an interchangeable basis, about the only similarities between the two cooking styles is that they both involve the cooking of meat in the outdoors. The determination of whether you will be grilling or barbequing starts by defining the cooking style.

Grilling, in terms of sheer numbers, is the more popular and simpler cooking style between the two, being a common sight at beach cookouts, parties, and other events. Grilling recipes are as varied as the people that prepare meat in this fashion with an almost limitless number of rubs, sauces, marinades, and spices that combine with the carmelization of naturally-occurring sugars in the meat to provide a wide range of tastes.
 
If you are grilling:

• You are cooking with high heat temperatures that run in the vicinity of 500 to 600 degrees.

• The meat you are cooking is being directly heated by burning coals or a gas flame.

• Your cooking time is relatively short.

• You are probably cooking higher quality steaks, hamburgers, chicken or hot dogs

Barbequing is completely different from grilling in that the process takes longer and requires some expertise to deliver a successful meal. Most of the meat’s flavor is derived from the smoke that emanates from the embers of selected types of wood.



If you are barbequing:

• You are cooking with lower temperatures ranging from 180 to 250 degrees

• Your meat is not in direct contact with the heating source

• You are cooking cuts of meat that benefit from longer cooking times such as ribs, shoulders, etc.

While the terms are often interchanged, grilling and barbequing are completely different styles of cooking. If you happen to be a person who enjoys cooking with both styles, the Primo ceramic grill is designed to allow grilling on one half while meats placed on the other side of a divider receive the indirect heat of the barbequing process. The grill can also be converted to a full grill or barbeque, depending on the size of the meal and the method of preparation.