Compare the Best Wine CoolersAugust 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

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

Cooler Brands - Price Range

NewAir coolers range in price from $250 to $250, and the highest average cooler price out of all brands is NewAir coolers with an average price of $250.

Avanti coolers range in price from $197 to $197, and the average price of Avanti coolers is $197 which is the second highest average price of all wine cooler brands.

Magic Chef coolers start at $87 and their most expensive cooler costs $125. The average price of Magic Chef coolers is $106 which is the third highest average price of all cooler brands.

Cooler Brands - Average Ratings

We have evaluated 2 expert reviews and 784 user reviews for wine coolers and used these reviews to calculate the average rating for each brand of wine cooler.

Biggest Cooler Retailers

The biggest cooler retailer by number of products currently for sale is Overstock. We found 4 current 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 wine 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 obvious trend. Last year most new wine coolers were released in March, with eight new wine coolers released that month. 17 new wine coolers were released in March 2018 making it the biggest month that year as well for new cooler releases. The biggest month in 2017 for new wine cooler releases was July, with 29 new coolers released that month.

How Fast Do Wine Cooler Prices Drop After Release?

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

A typical new wine cooler costs on average $165. By waiting 6 months before buying you could save on average $60.

Bottle Capacity

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

Across the range of wine coolers, the bottle capacity range from 1 bottles to 315 bottles. The bottle capacity of most 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 cooler with the smallest bottle capacity is the Magic Chef MCWC6B, which is a 6 bottles bottle capacity wine cooler and is on sale for $87.49.

Temperature Zones

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

Across the range of coolers, the temperature zones range from 1 to 3. The temperature zones of most coolers range from 1 to 2. The cooler with the most temperature zone is the Avanti EWC18N2PD, which is a 2 temperature zone wine cooler and sells for $197.49. The Magic Chef MCWC6B, which is priced at $87.49, has the least temperature zone and is a 1 temperature zone wine cooler.

Noise Levels

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

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

Which Are the Cheapest Retailers for 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 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 wine 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.