Patent ID: 8756940

Claim:
A temperature and humidity controlled housing for storing and preserving wine bottles, said housing having a storage compartment for supporting a plurality of wine bottles; a division wall in said storage compartment defining a front and a rear chamber, said housing having a door for access to said front chamber for positioning and retrieving wine bottles from individual bottle supports, said bottle supports being secured in relation to an associated one of a plurality of passages formed with said division wall whereby a neck and spout end portion of said wine bottles extend into said rear chamber and a body portion of said wine bottles extends supported in said front chamber, said passages each being provided with displaceable closure means, said displaceable closure means each being provided with a flexible circumferential sealing membrane to substantially isolate said rear chamber from said front chamber and to embrace said neck portion of a wine bottle extending therethrough when disposed on an associated one of said bottle supports from said front chamber, refrigeration means in said rear chamber to refrigerate said storage compartment, a fan in communication with said rear chamber through pressure venting valves associated with a venting passage in said rear chamber communicating said rear chamber to atmosphere when in an open position by pressure created in said rear chamber by said fan, said refrigeration means having one or more cold plates disposed in said rear chamber, said fan creating a regulated ambient air flow in said rear chamber through said pressure venting valves to cause condensation to form on said one or more cold plates, programmable control means to operate said refrigeration means depending on sensed temperature in said storage compartment and humidity conditions of said rear chamber provided by sensors, said programmable control means operating said fan to control the humidity in said rear chamber whereby said spout end of said bottles is maintained in a controlled humidified environment.