Compare the Best Wine CoolersJuly 2020

A wine cooler is a specialist fridge specifically designed for storing wine bottles, to allow them to be stored safely at the optimal temperature. They are a step up from a bottle store in your fridge - if you find your bottle collection taking over much of the fridge, or if you want your wine cooled to a very specific temperature, it may be time to invest in one of these appliances.

Wine coolers vary dramatically in their bottle capacity, and how much wine you want to store at once will large dictate your buying choice. Our coolers range from very small 2-bottle coolers - effectively very efficient ice buckets - to enormous cabinets that can hold 300 bottles at once. Coolers also vary enormously in their shape and the number of shelves/baskets they contain - some will allow wine to be stacked closely on top of each other for maximum storage room, others concentrate on less storage, but display the bottles in a more aesthetically pleasing way.

Temperature Control

One of the biggest benefit of a specialised wine cooler is that you can set the temperature to whatever you want - allowing you to keep your wine stored at a different temperature than the rest of your food in the fridge. This is helpful, because certain types of wine favour different temperature ranges, both for storing and drinking.

More advanced (and therefore, expensive) wine coolers also have separate temperature zones. You can set the temperatures in these zones independently of each other, allowing even more flexibility in storing your wine.

The top-range coolers may even have a humidifier unit installed - this allows a high degree of control as to the storage humidity for your bottles. Humidity control is important to keep expensive wines in top condition for long periods of time: too much humidity, and mold may form on the bottles. On the other hand, too little humidity could cause the corks of your bottles to dry out. While humidity control may substantially increase the price of a wine cooler, it may be worth the extra investment if your wine collection is particularly rare and expensive.

Built In Freezer

Some wine coolers also have a separate freezer section - this can be helpful for storing ice and whiskey cubes to chill the wine while you drink it, or a sneaky carton of ice-cream!

Alarm System

Higher-tier wine coolers may have an alarm system - either a visual or aural alarm that goes off when the temperature strays outside it’s set boundaries. This can be very helpful for warning you if the door is ajar, there is a power failure, or some other problem that could threaten the climate of your cooler.

Cooler Prices

In total we found 4 wine coolers ranging from $87 to $250. The average price of a new cooler is $165 and the 80% of wine coolers are priced between $87 and $250. The most expensive cooler that we found is the NewAir AW-280E at $250, and the cheapest is the Magic Chef MCWC6B at only $87.

Cooler Brands - Price Range

The average price of NewAir coolers is $250 which is the highest average price of all cooler brands. NewAir coolers start at $250 and their most expensive cooler costs $250.

Avanti wine coolers start at $197 and their most expensive wine cooler costs $197. The second highest average wine cooler price out of all brands is Avanti wine coolers with an average price of $197.

Magic Chef wine coolers range in price from $87 to $125, and the average price of Magic Chef wine coolers is $106 which is the third highest average price of all wine cooler brands.

Cooler Brands - Average Ratings

We have checked 2 expert reviews and 786 user reviews for wine coolers and used this information to evaluate the average rating for each brand of cooler.

Biggest Cooler Retailers

The biggest wine cooler retailer by number of products currently for sale is Overstock. We found 4 current wine cooler offers from Overstock. The second biggest retailer is Walmart with 1 offers. That means Overstock is over 4 times bigger than Walmart when it comes to coolers.

When Are Most New Wine Coolers Released?

We looked at the release dates for new wine coolers over the last 3 years, but couldn't see any prominent trend. Eight new coolers were released in March 2019 making it the biggest month that year for new wine cooler releases. In 2018 most new wine coolers were released in March as well, with 17 new wine coolers released that month. In July 2017, 29 new wine coolers were released making it the biggest month that year for new wine cooler releases.

How Fast Do Cooler Prices Drop After Release?

On average, in the first 6 months after release, wine coolers drop in price by 37%.

That means that on a typical cooler costing $165 you could save on average $60 by waiting 6 months before buying.

Bottle Capacity

'Bottle Capacity' denotes the maximum number of bottles the wine cooler is capable of holding at once.

Across the range of coolers, the bottle capacity range from 1 bottles to 315 bottles. The bottle capacity of most wine coolers range from 0 bottles to 30 bottles. The wine cooler with the biggest bottle capacity is the NewAir AW-280E, which is a 28 bottles bottle capacity wine cooler and currently retails for $249.95. The Magic Chef MCWC6B, which can be purchased for $87.49, has the smallest bottle capacity and is a 6 bottles bottle capacity wine cooler.

Temperature Zones

'Temperature zones' are separate parts of the wine cooler, which can all be set to differing temperatures.

Comparing all coolers, the temperature zones range from 1 to 3. The temperature zones of the majority of coolers range from 1 to 2. The wine cooler with the most temperature zone is the Avanti EWC18N2PD, which is a 2 temperature zone cooler and is available at $197.49. The cooler with the least temperature zone is the Magic Chef MCWC6B, which is a 1 temperature zone wine cooler and is on sale for $87.49.

Noise Levels

The noise level of the wine cooler, measured in decibels (dB).

Comparing all wine coolers, the noise levels range from 25dB to 55dB. The noise levels of the majority of wine coolers range from 38dB to 41dB. The Magic Chef MCWC12B, which sells for $125.47, has the loudest noise level and is a 39dB cooler. The NewAir AW-280E, which can be purchased for $249.95, has the quietest noise level and is a 25dB cooler.

Which Are the Cheapest Retailers for Wine Coolers?

The chart below helps you decide which retailer is normally cheapest for buying coolers. For each retailer it shows the total number of coolers where they currently have a market leading price. The chart below helps you decide which retailer is normally cheapest for buying wine coolers. For each retailer we took all of their prices and looked at what proportion of those prices where the cheapest on the market. The cheapest retailer that we found was Overstock. 4 of their cooler prices were the cheapest that could be found anywhere.

Proportion of Coolers for Which Each Retailer is Cheapest?

Assessing how cheap each retailer is for wine coolers by counting the number of cheapest prices for that retailer, makes the retailers that offer the greatest number of cooler prices more likely to offer the greatest number of cheapest prices. The chart below considers the proportion of each retailer's cooler prices that are the cheapest compared to other retailers.