The Denver Wine Cabinet Handbook · Part 6 of 7
Loading the racks without blocking airflow
A wine cabinet does not chill bottles so much as chill the air around them and keep it moving, which is why two cabinets on the same setting can hold two different temperatures at the top. Loading is the one variable an owner controls completely. Denver Sub-Zero Repair Pros sees more warm top racks caused by how a cabinet was packed than by anything that needs a part.
Where the cold air comes from
Open an empty wine cabinet and the interesting thing is not the racks, it is the moulded grille set high in the back wall. That is where chilled air enters, and it has to be able to move through the compartment and round the bottles for the cabinet to hold a steady figure from top to bottom. Nothing about that is fragile. It simply stops working the moment the opening is covered.
The top of the compartment is where a loading problem shows first, because that is where the grille is. Bottles stacked against the back wall at the top, or a case stood on end inside the cabinet, put a wall in front of it.
Magnums, half-bottles and the rack above
Sub-Zero’s own guidance is specific. The racks are built to take 750 ml bottles, half-bottles and magnums, and when magnums are stored, the rack above has to be removed. That is a point about fit rather than about air, but the effect is the same: a magnum forced under a rack that should have come out leaves nothing between the glass and the liner.
Before taking any rack out, empty it. The guide prints that as a caution and it is a sensible one — a loaded rack tilted up and lifted clear is a lot of glass moving at once.
The racks that only go in one place
On the current generation, some racks have one position rather than a choice of them. The top two racks in the upper compartment, and the top rack or two in the lower one, cannot be placed anywhere else, and they carry a small square cut-out in the right rear corner to say so. If a rack will not settle where you are putting it, look for the cut-out before you force it.
The routine
- Before a delivery arrives Decide where the case is going before it is in the house. A dozen bottles put away in a hurry is how the back wall gets closed off, and nobody unpacks a cabinet twice.
- Whenever a rack comes out for magnums Take the rack above out rather than wedging the bottle under it, and lift the bottles off that rack before you lift the rack. Both of those are the manufacturer's own instructions, not house style.
- Every season Look behind the top rack with a torch and make sure the grille in the back wall is clear. It takes ten seconds and it is the single check most likely to explain a warm upper zone.
- After a party Reload deliberately rather than putting everything back wherever there is a gap. A cabinet emptied and refilled in one evening is the commonest way a good loading pattern gets lost.
Stop here A top zone that stays warm with the racks correctly loaded, the grille in the back wall clear and the door closing properly has stopped being a loading problem. Denver Sub-Zero Repair Pros takes it from there — call (720) 790-9436, or reserve a slot.
Two follow-ups
Does it matter if the cabinet is only half full?
Not much, and less than most owners expect. A half-empty cabinet has more air in it, not less, and air is what does the cooling. What matters is where the bottles sit rather than how many there are: six bottles piled against the back wall at the top will do more harm than a full cabinet loaded rack by rack.
Can I take a rack out permanently to fit more in?
You can lift a rack out, and people do it for magnums, but leaving one out permanently changes how the bottles stack and how air gets past them. On the newer cabinets some racks are fixed positions anyway. If you want the layout changed and kept right, ask Denver Sub-Zero Repair Pros on (720) 790-9436 to look at it.