Care · Wine
Wine Zone Setpoints and How to Load the Racks
The number on the display is a preference. Whether the cabinet can hold it is not, and the two get confused on nearly every call about a wine unit said to be running warm. Here is what each generation will accept.
Written byElena Sandoval
- Role
- Refrigeration technician — cabinet, door and seal work
- In the trade
- 24 years in the trade
- Certification
- EPA 608 certified
Sub-Zero leaves the choice of temperature to the owner, and picking what belongs at which figure is somebody else’s trade. What the guides supply is the envelope each machine accepts and the setting it left the factory holding.
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Measure before you adjust anything
A display reports what the control believes. A probe left on a rack for an hour reports what the bottles are living in. Where those disagree by more than a degree, the setting is not the fault.
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The 400 series: two zones, 38°F to 65°F
Every cabinet in that range carries an upper and a lower zone, each adjustable a degree at a time between 38°F and 65°F. They ship holding 45°F above and 55°F below.
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The Classic cabinets, and the older 315W
A UW-24 keeps the same presets and chimes if it drops below 32°F or climbs 15°F above where you set it. A 315W has none of that: one zone, one knob, 45°F to 55°F, warmer at the top and front by design.
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An integrated column reads left to right
On a Designer wine column the home screen puts the lower zone on the left and the upper on the right, in single degrees. Drawer temperature, where fitted, is set from the options screen.
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Load so the cork stays wet
The racks are built for bottles lying with wine against the cork. Magnums need the rack immediately above taken out first, which is how the guides say to store them. Some column racks are fixed, marked by a square cut-out at the right rear.
While you are down there
What temperature should I set my wine cabinet to?
That is your call rather than ours, and the guides deliberately leave it open. What we can give you is the envelope: 38°F to 65°F per zone across the 400 series, 45°F to 55°F on a 315W, with 45 and 55 the factory figures on the two-zone machines. Anywhere inside that, the cabinet should hold.
Why is the top of my 315W warmer than the bottom?
Because it was built that way. Sub-Zero's guide for that model says the interior runs warmer at the top and front and cooler at the bottom and back, on a single zone with no divider between them. Allow it about a day to settle after a change before ringing LA Sub-Zero Repair Pros on (310) 919-2538.
Where the figures come from
- Sub-Zero 400 Series Use & Care Guide — two zones of 38°F to 65°F, factory presets of 45°F and 55°F, one-degree steps, and the sampling interval
- Sub-Zero Classic Wine Use and Care Guide — UW-24 presets and alarm thresholds, and removing the rack above before storing magnums
- Sub-Zero Model 315W Use & Care Guide — a single zone of 45°F to 55°F on a rotary knob, and where the interior runs warmer
- Sub-Zero Designer Wine Use and Care Guide — lower and upper zones on the home screen, drawer temperature on the options screen, and the fixed racks