If you run a bar or restaurant, we have good news and we have bad news. The good news is, your customers know more about wine than ever before. That means they’re more likely to buy the more expensive brands on your wine list. The bad news is...your customers know more about wine than ever before! The flipside of that is they’re more likely to appreciate the difference between what’s good and what isn’t; if the wine they order isn’t up to scratch, they’ll send it back.
A lot of the problems with the wine being served in New Zealand restaurants is that it isn’t stored properly. Even though New Zealanders understand wine more than ever, a lot of hospitality owners haven’t kept up with this increased “wine IQ” by properly storing their wine. For example, white wines are often kept in the same fridges as beer stubbies, which means they’re often served far too cold. When that happens, the flavour of the wine is “frozen out” and that is picked up by the more discerning taste buds we seem to have these days.
Meanwhile, red wines are often stored on open racks at “room temperature” - this might have been alright a few decades ago when the average room temperature was several degrees lower. But in this day of open fires in bars, and heat pumps in restaurants, things are so much warmer. This has a terrible effect on red wine; excessive heat can taint the flavour and compromise the seal of the bottle on cork-topped wines, which can cause oxidisation.
We have the solution . A modern wine fridge is ideal for storing both white and red wines at the perfect temperature; this is made possible by what is known as split zones. One zone can operate at a temperature best suited for white wines, while the other zone can run a the optimum temperature for red wine. A wine fridge is perfect for storing your more premium brands that may sit on the shelf a little longer than your high-turnover cheaper labels, but with the increasing demand for high-end wine these days it is a smart investment that you’ll get a lot of use out of.
Kiwis are getting serious about wine, so it’s time you finally got serious about how you store it. Contact us and discuss your wine fridge options, and keep those discerning palates happy!