How much fluctuation in degrees is allowed for red wine?

My Danby wine cellar fridge is fluctuating from 45-54 degrees.
Is this acceptable for storing red wine?
Please reply.
Thanks.

Welcome to WLDG, John.

Fluctuations of plus or minus five degrees are generally considered too extreme for storing fine red wines. I believe Danby specs this range on their units.

A couple of problems with that range -- if the temp sensor is at the top of the unit, bottles at the bottom will be held much too cold; if the temp sensor is at the bottom of the unit, bottles at the top of the unit will be too hot.

In general, wine fridges are meant for short term storage, less than a year for sure. You probably can get by with those flucuations if you turn your inventory relatively quickly, but you really can't reliably age wine in such a unit.

The Danby is really a nice looking unit and the price is attractive. But it generally is rated lower than higher priced units, in large part because of the wide fluctuations in temps.

Regards, Bob

[David M. Bueker]

45-54 is a pretty wide range, but it's also really cold, so I'm not sure I could see it being harmful. Below about 53 degrees your wines will outlive you by a long margin as they just won't evolve. That would be my primary concern.

If you are having that much flutuation you might need to look at the door seal. Is there a cold air leak anywhere around the unit?

but, what is your alternative? if its storing at a constant ambient temp of say 65, you are better off as you are.

but, what is your alternative? if its storing at a constant ambient temp of say 65, you are better off as you are.

Actually, I would say that a constant ambient temperature of 65 is better than a rapidly fluctuating temperature range of 10 degrees between 45 (which is really too low anyway) and 54.

-Paul W.

This is my primary reason for not storing more wine...in the San Joaquin Valley it gets mighty hot in Summer. The air temp will go to 75 in the house at times.


On that level, I have a question: Should I keep my reds in the refrigerator, then?

Thanks for the feedback. I got this Danby fridge for free.
It is a dual zone which red is stored on top and white is stored on the bottom. I'm trying to figure out if a refridgerator repair man can tamper with this fridge, maybe adjust some settings so the temp can be around 55 degrees. Are there any wine fridges that red wine can be aged in?
Thanks John