It works well, but it's not magic

I have been trying to develop my wine palate this year. It's one of my new year's resolutions. Part of drinking and enjoying wine is serving it at the right temperature.

Room temperature is usually way too warm. I keep my house at around 68 degrees in the winter. By that same token, refrigerators are way too cold. Malbec is supposed to be served at 63 degrees while chardonnay should be served in the 48 degree range.

This unit is designed to get a bottle of wine to the right temperature. It has a built in database of 33 red, white and sparkling wines. Simply select the wine you want and hit go. The unit whirs away for a while and eventually beeps to let you know it has reached the right temperature. I started with a bottle at 68 degrees. It took about 20 minutes until I heard the beep.

The problem is that glass is a good insulator. When the unit beeps that it's done, it has only cooled the outside of the bottle. The "coolness" hasn't penetrated into the wine so it is likely the same temperature as where you started. In order to get the wine to the right temperature, you'll need to leave the bottle in the unit longer. The unit will cycle on and off periodically to maintain the preset temperature. As you leave it in the unit, the temperature difference will eventually seep into the wine and cool it.

The unit has a fan on it that runs as it's cooling (or warming). The fan is a little noisy so this isn't something you'll really want to have right next to you at the dinner table. It would be good in a room where there's conversation going on though... perhaps a dinnery party or wine tasting party.

It seems to be well built and solid. No complaints there.

I recommend this unit with the caveat that it's not magic. You can't take a 70 degree bottle of wine and chill it to 60 degrees in 5 minutes. For that, you'd need something like the Cooper Cooler which uses ice, water and motion.

As long as you know what you're buying with this unit I expect that you'll be happy with it.