In summer 2007 our refrigerator, which had been working a bit less efficiently, started working a LOT less efficiently. As it, we turned the temperature control all the way up (or, really, down), and instead of freezing everything solid, it just barely kept in cool. Refrigerated food spoiled a bit more slowly than if it was out in the southern California climate. Fortunately, when I e-mailed our property managers (they require submission of maintenance requests by e-mail rather than phone, except in emergencies), and asked if they could do maintenance before it failed entirely and had to be replaced, the maintenance guy took a short look at it—and a couple of days later we had a new refrigerator. That's pretty decent service. I haven't always been happy with them, because they get tangled up in administrative issues, but they seem to resolve major habitability issues right away. But I suspect this was technologically very similar to the problem you describe, only with food instead of wine. . . .