The quality of the ambient air when storing wine is decisive in its development because airborne contaminants can transfer to the wine and harm it. Read on to discover how Liebherr’s FreshAir filter can help you safely store your premium wines.
The classic natural cork keeps wine in the bottle, but in no way hermetically seals the bottle. Air permeates into the bottle through the cells in the cork – and this air contains more than odour-free oxygen. If the bottle is stored in a cardboard box, the wine can take on the odour of the cardboard, and food odours are particularly problematic for wines. When wine is stored at home, especially in a typical kitchen environment, it can irreversibly lose its terroir and type characteristics – in other words, it can spoil! Glass stoppers and screw caps act as airtight closures for bottles. Wines with such closures age more slowly because they only come into contact with the oxygen in the bottle. Plastic corks, on the other hand, allow too much air into the bottle and are therefore less suitable for long-term storage.
How to get the right air quality for storing wine
All Liebherr wine cabinets have an in-built FreshAir activated charcoal filter to ensure optimum air quality. The FreshAir activated charcoal filter absorbs all kinds of odours as the intake air passes over it. As a result, no odours from the ambient air can enter the cabinet interior and distort the taste of the wine. Each wine safe in Vinidor freestanding and built-in appliances has its own FreshAir activated charcoal filter; wine cabinets in the UWT and WT ranges have a FreshAir activated charcoal filter fitted in the divider, which filters both areas. The filter can be ordered as an accessory and is easy to replace (something we recommend doing once a year).
Ideal humidity
When storing wine for a prolonged period the correct humidity level is essential. At a humidity level below 50% even the best natural corks start to shrink, allowing more and more oxygen to penetrate the bottle and allowing alcohol to evaporate – the fill level sinks and the risk of oxidation increases. Under such conditions, wines gradually become sweeter until they spoil completely. Liebherr wine storage cabinets provide a humidity level above 50%, offering the best conditions for corks and wine, and employ a large evaporator system and specially-regulated circulating air. The multi-temperature wine cabinets in the Vinothek range have different temperature zones and use porous lava stone, which retains moisture, and provides excellent humidity regulation.
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