This is the manual for the “Grand Cru” Compressor Wine Cooler, available and distributed through Costco locations in Australia.

We’ll attempt to e-mail copies to readers who have left comments asking for copies.

Picture of the label on the box

A few weeks ago we decided to have a few bottles of wine after work.  The selection was a treat, but two bottles really stood out.  The first was a Tuscan entry by producer Michele Satta; a Bolgheri Rosso from the Tuscan region which was an intimate blend of Cabernet (major contribution) blended with varying amounts of Sangiovese, Merlot, Teroldego and Syrah (Shiraz).

This Tuscan would have done well to breathe and mature a bit more, but still displayed outstanding notes of currants, medium tannins and a hint of spices. 

The next bottle was a handsomely aged liqueur Muscat from the New South Wales Mudgee region.  This bottle, with a simple label (from named producer “Seldom Seen Vineyard”) was bliss, especially when sampled a few days after the initial opening.  Intoxicating alcohol levels blended perfectly with a syrupy taste of orange, with a savoury hint of cigar box.

Since then, we’ve been playing with various factors which have impacted the fridge’s ability to regulate its internal temperature. 

The previous article has proven to  be quite popular, so we decided to compile what we’ve learned about the fridge since we first switched it on last year.

This might be particularly useful for those contemplating purchasing, or for those who already own one.  Thanks to the folks who commented on the previous article, we’ll collate some of the information from those comments here too.

Fridge at a distance

Installation

Once you have the fridge in your home or office, the first thing to do is unpack and position the fridge in the desired location.  Once this has been accomplished, you’ll need to finish the fridge by attaching the door arm.  Note that if you want to reverse the door hinge, it’s best to make that decision up front.

If you do decide to reverse the door hinge, be warned that in our experience the bolts had been factory ratcheted far, far too tightly and we ended up threading a bolt head and had to drill it out/file it flat (not happy). 

Be careful to ensure that you have inserted the seal back into the door properly, or this could affect the fridge’s ability to regulate temperatures.

A note: .You should avoid powering the fridge until you’ve let it sit for 12-24 hours after unpacking and configuring the unit.  We recommend not stacking any wine until you’ve let the fridge run for 24 hours.

    
Upper zone / Lower zone

Operating the fridge

Once the fridge is running, you can use the central console to set the temperature range for the upper and lower zones.  The panel supports both Celsius and Fahrenheit, and you’ll need to give the fridge some time to settle once you’ve decided on the values you want.

Given the amount of expensive wine we have stored, we did not leave temperature control up to the fridge – therefore we purchased separate thermostats and put them on two shelves in the upper and lower zones.

We found through trial and error settings which gave us the result we were looking for (we’re averaging 13’C in each zone) and this has been proven both by day and by night and over the hot summer.

A note from the distributor

The “temperature surfing” was a little frustrating (even a little mind boggling) until we read some interesting information on the design fo the fridge.

With thanks to reader Stanley, who posted the following information he received from the factory, via the distributor:

Feedback from the factory is as follows. The unit is working normally, because:

1- our dual zone model is designed with a non-independent ventilation channel, where by the coldness goes from the upper zone to the bottom zone through a fan built inside the middle insulation layer. This means the upper zone will always colder than the bottom zone.

2- since we use a normal compressor not an inverter one, in our PCB software design, there is a 2C tolerance (up or down) between the set temperature & real temperature.

In your case, the compressor stops when the upper zone reaches 12’C, but the evaporator fan keeps running for a while so as to take away the coldness from the evaporator surface, the upper zone may display 9-11’C shortly, and the bottom zone may be 12-13’C in real(ity) but display as 14-15’C.

When the unit keeps working for a period of time (e.g. a week), there will be similar temperature for both zones, and the display digital is only a logic calculation result by the PCB.

So that might explain both the inaccuracy of the temperature gauges, plus the sluggishness of the changes in ambient temperatures.

For reference, here are our independent temperature gauges:

    
Upper zone temperature / Lower zone temperature

Large Champagne Sized Bottles

Something to be aware of is the lack of space for larger style bottles, particularly Champagne bottles, which have a larger bell shape.  The fridge can accommodate some large bottles (probably around 20) on the top drawer or bottom drawer (the extreme zones) which theoretically allows bottles to be stacked vertically.

We had trouble balancing the bottles, but it may be possible to use some independent wooden shelving to increase the ability to stack bottles in the larger space.

After some investigation, we discovered that the top shelf of the bottom zone has a bit of extra height, and can accommodate an entire row of Champagne sized bottles, as illustrated in this picture below:

    
Top shelf / Top shelf of the bottom zone

 
Bottom shelf

Need a copy of the Manual?

We’ve scanned our copy and uploaded it to the site.  Sorry, it’s a little bit out of order, but we think it’s still useful!

Check out this article for a link to the download.

Contacting the Manufacturer

We’ll be scanning and uploading the operating guide/instructions shortly and will link to them on this article.

If you are having trouble with your fridge and the tips and suggestions here don’t help you, you can always try contacting the distributor, using the details below (again, thanks to reader Stanley for the info):

Clever Home Products Pty Ltd
Level 5, 15-19 Claremont St
South Yarra, Victoria
Australia, 3141

Telephone: +61 3 9827 5619
Email: matthew@cleverhomeproducts.com.au
Website: http://www.cleverhomeproducts.com.au

Notice: This unit has now been sold!

We don’t often advertise directly on the Aussie Wine Guy website, but as we’ve personally owned this rack for over ten years, we felt compelled to give it a bit of publicity for anyone in the market for something nice.

This excellent 16+ bottle wine rack was briefly available for sale, which had capacity to handle the larger style Bordeaux red wine bottles (Champagne size) to the smaller white wine bottles. There was extra storage along the bottom and a very large wooden drawer on top to store all your wine accessories.

We had this rack since our early days in Sydney, but the need for it was superseded by the purchase last year of a new 166 bottle wine fridge from Costco. This rack was a really nice item though, visually it was well crafted and quite solid. It has held countless bottles over the years, and we never had any issues fitting it in – until now. We were forced to part with it as we wouldn’t have had enough space at our new location at the end of the year.

We’ve been taking a break from our regular posts to celebrate the new year.. and the Chinese new year as well.  There is a backlog of articles, and they’ll be coming through shortly.  Our next article will focus on last year’s acquisition, the 166 bottle wine fridge sold in Australia through Costco warehouses.

There’s been quite a bit of interest in the unit, so we’re going to write up a few recommendations on how to run it the most efficiently, from the moment it is unboxed, to the moment you pluck your first bottle from the shelves.

Check back soon, some exciting articles coming..

AWG

Last Friday night, a group of wine fatalists took a trip to the top of Black Mountain, to dine at the Alto restaurant.  The fare here is a touch sophisticated, and we all were to some degree salivating at the menu options available.

Welcoming us as the lift doors opened, we were greeted at a small desk and quickly whisked away to our table.

The restaurant revolves, ensuring an equal share in the rich views of the Canberra countryside as well as the city lights and sights.

After ordering entree and main dishes, some of our party adjourned to the observation deck to take photos of Canberra and the surrounding countryside.  The view from Black Mountain has not diminished in recent years, in fact Canberra has begun the slow journey of growing around the mountain.  The first new estates are being built in the Molonglo region to the south west and development continues in the far north in Gungahlin.

When we returned to the table, our entrees arrived.  To compliment a varied mixture of entree selections (cheese & zucchini soufflé,  quail and pear) and to introduce some of our party (visiting from Canada) to a noble white wine we’ve perfected; I chose a Hunter Valley Semillon by Meerea Park called “Terracotta” (2006).  The zest and citrus flavours really accentuated (in my case) the incredibly tasty soufflé.

After the entrees were cleared, we retired once again to the observation deck to snap photos of the city as the city lights started twinkling below us.  We were also entertained by a squadron of fighter jets who were practicing aerial stunts over near the Brindabella mountains.

Returning to the table, we were met with our main meal selections.  Again, the table chose an interesting mix of meat – Kangaroo, beef and lamb.  For the accompaniment,  and owing to some degree to the tastes and palates amongst our group;  I selected a bottle of McWilliams “1877” Cabernet Sauvignon Shiraz (2004) from the Hilltops region of New South Wales.

The wine and meals complemented each other very well, especially with the beef (perfectly cooked) as the juice of the meat activated deeper flavours within the peppery red, unlocking aspects of the Shiraz which fought bravely against the refined and structured cabernet/sauvignon blend.

For dessert, there was a mixture of tart, chocolate pot and cheeses – no wine accompaniment owing to time, and cost!

In summary…  Alto is a very wine restaurant with perfect location, impeccable service plus; and offering unparalleled views across the Canberra region.  The wine list is well appointed and provides a number of options from the discerning wine enthusiast to the casual wine spectator and casual diner.  Recommended.

2-Course Meal: $65
3-Course Meal: $75
5-Course Degustation: $105/$155 with wine pairing

2006 Meerea Park “Terracotta” Semillon – Hunter Valley (NSW)
2004 McWilliams “1877” Shiraz Cabernet Sauvignon – Hilltops Region (NSW)

From all of us at Aussie Wine Guy, we hope that you are welcoming 2013 in style.  We had a bit of a break over the holiday season, enjoying the odd premium label as the days passed by.

Stay tuned for a number of new tasting notes, but we’ll start with this one.. behold a special label from the Hunter Valley’s Brokenwood wines.  This release, a cellar door only wine, was purchased a few years back (possibly in 2007) during one of our many journeys to the region.

Tasting Notes

The 1996 Brokenwood HBA Shiraz is a really fine wine.  Made from a blend of the best from Brokenwood’s Graveyard block (in the Hunter Valley) and from the best of the Rayner block (in McLaren Vale), the wine was bottled in 1997 and then held for over a decade at the vineyard – constituting a museum release.  Incidentally, the ‘HBA’ stands for the first initial of the surname of the three original partners of Brokenwood – James Halliday, John Beeston and Tony Albert .  The blending was inspired by some of the great regional blends of the early heydays in the region, particularly from the 40s, 50s and 60s.

Our tasting began on Christmas Eve, December 24th, 2012.  The wine was opened and the cork extracted carefully – the cork broke, but the remainder was extracted without corking the wine.  The wine was decanted into a Riedel decanter (as pictured) and then poured back and double decanted as there was a fair amount of very fine sediment – almost too small to be filtered.  You can see the sediment on the picture of the decanter – it is very, very fine.

The wine was left to breathe for several hours before being presented at the Christmas Eve dinner, where it was faithfully poured into Riedel vinum Shiraz glasses (why not?).  Brokenwood’s website lists the 1996 HBA Shiraz as a ‘good to outstanding aged style’ however, based on our experience the wine is brilliant at this age.  Provided the bottle has been carefully cellared (as this one had been) it should be drinking at its peak.

The bouquet was simply outstanding, an array of delicate flavours resembling something of a well cared for Burgundy.  The extended hours breathing in the decanter really brought out the full complexity of the wine, the initial sips revealed something of a velvety texture; finely crafted and lush with an array of tastes from spices (slight cloves, etc.) to a silky oak flavour.  The wine finished with a long, but subtle aftertaste which resonated for quite a while between sips.

To say that this experience set the standard for our holiday break would be an understatement.  What struck me is that the wine has been so masterly crafted – the blend from the tighter, more complex nature of a McLaren Vale Shiraz coupled so perfectly with the softer ‘all-round’ nature of Hunter Valley Shiraz is simply inspiring! The extended bottle maturation obviously has something to do with the success of this wine – this is not something we’ve encountered regularly.

Stay tuned for more – new tasting notes coming soon.

[ Links ]

Brokenwood Vintage Chart    – http://www.brokenwood.com.au/wines/vintageChart/

Brokenwood’s Tasting Notes – http://www.brokenwood.com.au/wines/productRange/default.asp?emp=86

Further Reading about the HBA – http://www.theage.com.au/executive-style/top-drop/the-valley-of-the-kings-20110125-1a3jr.html

For those with a sweet tooth, we also acquired something of a curiosity – from California, a 2010 vintage orange Muscat from producer Quady, this wine is labelled as ‘Essensia’. 

Lastly, from New South Wales’ Riverina region, a perennial favourite – a bottle of the 2008 DeBortoli “Noble One” botrytis Semillon, which is really sweet gold in a bottle.