If the cooling unit fails you probably have a long time, if you don't
open the door to the unit. After all, the temperature in your house
won't be that high as long as you have electricity, right?

We had a power failure a few years ago, my power was out for almost
exactly 24 hours. The temp in my fridge (kitchen one, not wine
cellar) went up from 38 to, if I remember right, about 50 (this was
over the summer). A wine cellar, with bottles taking up most of the
space (as opposed to mostly air, in a regular fridge), would take a
lot longer to warm up. I don't think that wine will be ruined if for
a day or two it makes it to 70 degrees... after all, it was probably
around that temp sitting in a store before you bought it.

Worst case, you crank your air conditioning down to 68 degrees and pay
a higher electric bill for the month, or find a couple of free
refrigerators on CraigsList...

Shaun Eli
www.BrainChampagne.com