Compare the Best Wine CoolersJanuary 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

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

Wine Cooler Brands - Price Range

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

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

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

Wine Cooler Brands - Average Ratings

We have evaluated 2 expert reviews and 712 user reviews for wine coolers and used this data to evaluate the average rating for each brand of cooler.

Biggest Wine 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 Coolers Released?

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

How Fast Do Wine Cooler Prices Drop After Release?

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

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 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 NewAir AW-280E, which can be purchased for $249.95, has the biggest bottle capacity and is a 28 bottles bottle capacity cooler. The Magic Chef MCWC6B, which is priced at $87.49, has the smallest bottle capacity and is a 6 bottles bottle capacity 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 wine coolers range from 1 to 2. The Avanti EWC18N2PD, which can be purchased for $197.49, has the most temperature zone and is a 2 temperature zone wine cooler. The wine cooler with the least temperature zone is the Magic Chef MCWC6B, which is a 1 temperature zone cooler and is available at $87.49.

Noise Levels

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

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

Which Are the Cheapest Retailers for Coolers?

The chart below helps you decide which retailer is normally cheapest for buying wine coolers. For each retailer it shows the total number of wine 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 Wine Coolers for Which Each Retailer is Cheapest?

Assessing how cheap each retailer is for 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.