Vin Tech: Smart Storage Options for Your Wine
For those who love automation as much as they love Cabernet, these devices are sure to satisfy.
3 min
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Wine, like nearly every culinary art, is no stranger to smart technology.
With precise temperature requirements, collector preferences and security concerns, wine—and more specifically, wine storage—has been fruitful ground for connected devices.
Here are some of our top picks for smartly storing your vino.
Plum
Plum
Plum is perfect for the collector who is big on wine but short on space. Once a bottle is inserted into this countertop contraption, it automatically identifies the varietal, region, winery and wine, and prepares the drink exactly as the creator intended—precisely puncturing the cork (or alternate top) and bringing it to the optimal temperature identified by the winemaker. Essentially, Plum provides a speedy, sommelier-curated wine cave for those bottles you’ve been keeping in your kitchen cabinet. And Plum’s dual chambers, which can hold bottles at their ideal temperature for up to 90 days, means you can provide your guests (or yourself) with a little vino variety.
Plum is available for approx. $3260.
Café Wine Center
Cafe
For the moderate collector with a mind for display, Café offers a 46-bottle wine fridge with a LED light wall that spans the entire back panel, providing a stylish lighting solution for selecting and showing your collection. Owners can control this lighting feature on the Wi-Fi-enabled Wine Center via SmartHQ app, dimming and illuminating their wine storage with the swipe of a finger. In addition to being chic, the Wine Center covers the practical, with a dual zone chiller—store your reds and whites at different temperatures—which, again, can be entirely controlled by the accompanying app.
The Café Wine Center is available for approx. $3260.
LG Wine Cellar Refrigerator
LG
You can’t talk about high-tech fridges without mentioning LG, and the Wine Cellar Refrigerator doesn’t disappoint. This 65-bottle wine storage solution is Wi-Fi-equipped, meaning users can exercise control over its three temperature zones with the accompanying ThinQ app—but they don’t even need to trouble themselves. Built with LG’s Optimal Preservation Technology, the Wine Cellar Refrigerator automatically works to reduce temperature fluctuations, light exposure and vibrations, while also locking in humidity. And the convenient features don’t stop there. The Wine Cellar Refrigerator includes a smart sensor at the bottom that lets users open the door with a wave of their foot—or with the sound of their voice, as the clever cooler also works with Alexa and Google Assistant. But why open the fridge at all if you don’t need to? The Wine Cellar Refrigerator also includes LG’s InstaView tech, which allows users to simply knock twice on the front glass of the fridge, instantly turning it from opaque to transparent.
LG Wine Cellar Refrigerator is available for approx. $9130.
Sub-Zero Designer Wine Storage
Sub-Zero
A leading name in lowering temperatures, Sub-Zero offers oenophiles style, security and smart features with its Designer Wine Storage series. Holding 59, 86, or 102 bottles, depending on model size, the Wi-Fi-equipped Designer Series allows users to remotely control temperatures across two to four temperature zones, while dual evaporators maintain consistent humidity throughout. And because collections can often be priceless (sentimentally, if not financially), the Designer Series easily integrates with your home security system, ensuring that your beloved Beaujolais remain yours.
Sub-Zero Designer Wine Storage refrigerators are available for approx. $8195 to $12,060, depending on size.
Reprinted by permission of Mansion Global. Copyright 2021 Dow Jones & Company. Inc. All Rights Reserved Worldwide. Original date of publication: April 6, 2021
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Average prime rental values jumped by 5.9%, with some cities seeing jumps of more than 50%
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The growth of luxury rental prices outpaced the sales market in top global cities last year, according to a report Monday from Savills.
Average prime rental values jumped by 5.9% in 2022 across the 30 world cities analyzed in the report, the data showed. Limited inventory and increased demand pushed rents higher, while capital values saw an average of 3.2% rise during the year.
“Rental growth came as people continued to return to cities after the lifting of pandemic-related restrictions, and as rapidly rising interest rates in the latter half of 2022 meant that more people chose to rent,” Lucy Palk, an analyst at Savills World Research, said in a statement. “The rebound in international travel was a factor too, by the end of 2022 international arrivals had recovered to between 75% to 80% of 2019 levels.”
Meanwhile, average rents were up 10% or more in cities such as Singapore, New York, Dubai and Lisbon, Portugal, the report said.
For example, in New York, the median rent for properties in luxury, doorman buildings spiked 53% to almost $5,000 at the end of last year compared to $3,270 in December 2020, the figures showed.
And in Singapore, prime rents shot up by 26.2% annually as the country opened its borders and students, expats and high-net-worth individuals flooded the city. “Delayed completions of new prime stock further contributed to the significant rental rise seen in 2022,” the report said.
Climate, quality of life and strong business environments have been big draws for Lisbon and Dubai last year, where luxury rents were up 25.4% and 22.9%, respectively, according to the report.
The two strongest performing cities in the Asia Pacific region last year were Seoul, with 4.9% rental price growth, and Tokyo, 4.1%, the data showed.
On the flip side, Hong Kong had the lowest rental growth for luxury properties. The country is still subject to Covid-19-related restrictions, and has yet to see the full return of international tenants. In addition, rising interest rates have undermined consumer confidence.
“This suppressed transaction volumes causing pricing declines across all price brackets except the ultra-prime residences,” the report said. “Average prime prices fell by 8.5% in 2022.”
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