GE Monogram Wine Vault

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed)
Jan 20th 2005 at 1:57PM

General Electric has announced the Monogram Walk-In Wine Vault, a chamber that is professionally installed in the consumer's home. The Wine Vault cools the room to 55 degrees Fahrenheit, maintaining the ideal humidity level for long-term wine storage. · Inventory racks can display up to 1100 bottles while display racks, which have an angled row for display and a tasting station in the back hold 975 bottles. The racks are redwood with engraved metal plates to help inventory wines. The vault also comes with a system called the Electronic Sommelier which uses a touch screen monitor and printer. The system has a bar code labeling system and menus which let the user classify each bottle and manage hold time, drink time for each type of wine. The vault will be available in June.

Filed under: Decor

Source

Subscribe to these comments

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

NCTRNL Dec 18th 2005 6:02PM

That's a heck of a lot of wine. I wonder what costs more, the vault or the wine...

Paul Wyatt Dec 18th 2005 6:02PM

I looked at the GE wine cellar offering.

The quality and design of the rack system the and trim details are not what I would expect from General Electric Co.

Redwood is not the best material for wine racks, although it is adequate.

The reference to "correct humidity" could be meaningless if they do not state the value, and what do they do to handle the wide range of ambient temperature and relative humidity levels in different parts of the world, and how is it being controlled?

Controlling the temperature of a cellar of this size with a bottle mounted sensor, which might have a control range of plus or minus one degree F, means that you will cycle your entire collection through a nominal two degree range every day....

This "bottle probe" concept was developed for use in what I can only call expensive wooden refrigerators, to prevent the condenser from starting up everytime the door was opened. This was to save excessive wear and tear on the equipment, not to save the wine.

By sampling the return airflow conditions and keeping the cellar air climate at the desired temperature, the wine cycle range will be virtually zero. Ideal relative humidity in a cellar is a compromise to protect the wine while also not destroying the label, or setting up for mildew. Controlling the relative humidity (not a particularly accurate number generally) within the range of 65% to 75% is a good compromise.
Above 80% relative humidity there is a chance of wrinkling in the labels, especially on the California wines.

Even with well controlled systems there are times when it will be difficult to maintain desired parameters.

Remember that more wines are destroyed by failure to consume in a timely manner than by poor storage conditions.
The included inventory system included is a good choice from several systems available on the market to help you with this problem.

If you drink one bottle of red wine a week, then a 500 bottle cellar will give you a ten year cycle. Obviously, 1000 bottle cellar is not big enough.

Paul Wyatt.