Simple and practical wine rack

[Clariman]

We have replaced our old kitchen which had built in wine racks. New one doesn't so need a free standing solution. We tend to have about 18 bottles at any one time so storage from 14 to 24 bottles would work.

One option would be ones to go above kitchen cupboards in the utility room which could go side by side. Or a freestanding one could go in the dining room but would need to be nice, simple, minimalist.

Any suggestions? An online search comes up with loads but not many simple or elegant ones.

Thanks
Clariman

[redsturgeon]

Ok, you know that wine needs to be stored at cellar temperature in the dark with as little temperature variation as possible, don't you?

With that proviso then I don't think you can beat the standard metal/wood racking.

https://www.wineware.co.uk/fully-assemb ... -20-bottle

Boring but it works...for standard size bottles.

The other option is this stuff

http://www.bigdug.co.uk/shelving-c2/cat ... ack-pp2132

We are having our kitchen redone this year, Mrs RS wants one of these...

https://www.miele.co.uk/domestic/refrig ... WT_6833_SG

I'm not convinced!

John

[Clitheroekid]

We are having our kitchen redone this year, Mrs RS wants one of these...

https://www.miele.co.uk/domestic/refrig ... WT_6833_SG

I'm not convinced!

£5,300? How much convincing do you need?!

[redsturgeon]

We are having our kitchen redone this year, Mrs RS wants one of these...

https://www.miele.co.uk/domestic/refrig ... WT_6833_SG

I'm not convinced!

£5,300? How much convincing do you need?!

A lot!

[bungeejumper]

With that proviso then I don't think you can beat the standard metal/wood racking.

https://www.wineware.co.uk/fully-assemb ... -20-bottle

Boring but it works...for standard size bottles.

Indeed.Certainly works for us. But yes, champagne bottles (and some soft drinks) have a tendency to pull it out of shape, and then the whole thing can go clatterybang unless you fix it quickly.

My eye was caught by this one recently. It wouldn't suit our traditional country kitchen, but I reckon it's just what my office has been crying out for. http://www.johnlewis.com/john-lewis-man ... k/p2771104

BJ

[Clariman]

Well £5000 is a bit out of my target price range! I quite like the simplicity of these (and price). May slot above cabinets in the utility room.

https://www.winerack-plus.co.uk/wine-ra ... -case.html

[Clitheroekid]

My eye was caught by this one recently. It wouldn't suit our traditional country kitchen, but I reckon it's just what my office has been crying out for. http://www.johnlewis.com/john-lewis-man ... k/p2771104

I don't believe for a moment that wine rack's been hand carved. Apart from the sheer difficulty and laboriousness of hand carving perfect circles like that why would you bother when it's so much easier just to drill the holes?

[UncleEbenezer]

Well £5000 is a bit out of my target price range! I quite like the simplicity of these (and price). May slot above cabinets in the utility room.

I have a wooden rack of similar simplicity and price. Good ol' Argos self-assembled.

Lives in a corner of the kitchen. If it were for the dining room, I think I'd prefer something just a little bit prettier.

[Hallucigenia]

We have replaced our old kitchen which had built in wine racks. New one doesn't so need a free standing solution. We tend to have about 18 bottles at any one time so storage from 14 to 24 bottles would work.

One option would be ones to go above kitchen cupboards in the utility room which could go side by side. Or a freestanding one could go in the dining room but would need to be nice, simple, minimalist.

I'd restate the above advice - in order of importance wine wants a)a steady temperature b) dark c) ideally 12-14C d)lack of vibration. At least for long-term storage.

So it depends a bit on how you drink your wine, if you just want to stash it for a few days en route from supermarket to gob then it doesn't matter too much, but if you're at all concerned with looking after it for more than a few weeks then think of the above criteria. But you'll see that a kitchen is just about the worst possible place to keep wine for any length of time. Utility rooms may not be great either, depending on what appliances you have in them, but a classic pantry is not bad at all.

Temperature cycling is the killer. Warmer than cellar temperature isn't ideal, but it tends to make the wine age in a similar way, but faster (and bear in mind that "age" is not all good, for wines not designed for it then ageing means "losing all the fruit without gaining much in complexity"). Whereas temperature cycling makes things happen faster but also in a different way as you're shifting all the chemical equilibria all over the shop, and it really hurts the wine.

A dining room may not be a bad place - it depends how it's used, less good if it's in constant use but if the family mostly eats in the kitchen then it can work. But I'd tend to get away from the fancy rack that is on display. I've known wine keep very well in a north-facing room that wasn't much used (except by the dog) - but probably the critical factor was that the wine was kept in cupboards. That automatically means that it's in the dark and has a bubble of still air around it which helps massively with temperature regulation, and which should survive the occasional increase in room temp. You then don't need anything fancy to keep it in - the cupboards I'm thinking of just had old Wine Society cardboard boxes (the old ones, with full-height dividers - the new ones are far less good) which again added another bubble of still air and insulation, with bottles squeezed in any spaces left over.

OTOH cupboards are less convenient for those bottles that barely stand still between the supermarket and consumption, so there's a balance to be had.

Wine fridges are generally good news, although as with all these things it tends to be a good idea to avoid the cheapest ones if you can afford them (but OK ones can be had for a few hundred quid rather than thousands).

[Clariman]

Thanks H

We don't have a wine 'cellar' i.e. don't store bottles for the long term. We drink what we buy, but that's not to say a few bottles might not sit there for 6 months or more, so we probably ought to take a bit more care over their storage.

We have a garage but it could get very cold in there at this time of year, so not sure about that? Cupboard in the dining room is a possibility for sure but the room has central heating radiator. Utility room is like a pantry to us but it does have a tumble dryer and a radiator, so not sure.

It's complicated!

C

[UncleEbenezer]

Thanks H

We don't have a wine 'cellar' i.e. don't store bottles for the long term. We drink what we buy, but that's not to say a few bottles might not sit there for 6 months or more, so we probably ought to take a bit more care over their storage.

We have a garage but it could get very cold in there at this time of year, so not sure about that? Cupboard in the dining room is a possibility for sure but the room has central heating radiator. Utility room is like a pantry to us but it does have a tumble dryer and a radiator, so not sure.

It's complicated!

C

Cellar is ideal. Failing that, a good spot in the house, where the main thing is to avoid anywhere with sunlight. Anything else is secondary (well, maybe not the extremes of your tumble dryer). One solution I've seen is the bottom of a builtin wardrobe: a wine rack on the floor, under where something that doesn't occupy the full height (his side with the jackets, as opposed to her side with the full-length dresses) hangs.

Sometime soon I'd like to get a wine cooler, which maintains a constant 12 degrees (cellar temperature). Great for fruit&veg in summer, particularly those that shouldn't be refrigerated. Not to mention cheese. Amongst drinks, the beneficial effect on english beer is much greater than on wine - at least those wines I'll ever be able to afford.

[Hallucigenia]

We don't have a wine 'cellar' i.e. don't store bottles for the long term. We drink what we buy, but that's not to say a few bottles might not sit there for 6 months or more, so we probably ought to take a bit more care over their storage.

Some of that will be chicken-and-egg, if you have nowhere to store them then you won't buy with that in mind. Sure, realistically if that's your pattern of buying with say <£8 supermarket wine you don't need the full monty cellar, it's more a question of just avoiding the obvious nasties, like being in full sun next to the cooker. But even supermarket wine (particularly whites) can benefit from being kept for a few months just to recover from bottle shock (the act of bottling upsets the chemistry for a couple of months), and it doesn't hurt most of the reds to rest for a year or two.

We have a garage but it could get very cold in there at this time of year, so not sure about that? Cupboard in the dining room is a possibility for sure but the room has central heating radiator. Utility room is like a pantry to us but it does have a tumble dryer and a radiator, so not sure.

Get a min/max thermometer and see what happens at a likely spot in the garage over the next few weeks, we're bound to have a cold snap at some point. It depends how you use the garage - obviously the temp will be less stable with cars going in and out than if it's used as a junk store like so many are. But particularly with the insulating effect of a cupboard, a quiet spot at the back out of draughts can be not a bad place - or in a mezzanine above. I also know wine being stored in a workshop that is unheated apart from a basic electric frost-free heater - frost is the real danger, the odd chill isn't so bad for the kind of wine we're talking about which has been filtered and stabilised.

Ditto with the dining room - it depends if it's the kind that goes up to 22C with the rest of the house and then cools down every night, or whether it's only used occasionally so it's mostly at say 14C with the odd evening where it goes up to temp - a cupboard, particularly with a bit of insulation, should be able to cope with the latter, the former is less good (but again probably not the end of the world for the kind of wine we're talking about - a bigger factor is whether you want your entire cellar to hand when you get a bit thirsty at the end of a good dinner!!!)

Utility room sounds like another candidate for the min/max, some laundry rooms can be almost as bad as a kitchen for heat cycling, whereas something more pantry like can be pretty good.

[Rhyd6]

Do you have a "spence" - cupboard under the stairs? We have a large collection of wine which is stored in the cellar in the farmhouse which is now owned by my daughter and husband, we're in the converted barn, no cellar. Rather than trail to and fro we keep a reasonable supply, about 40 bottles in the spence. A friend of ours who has a vinyard in bordeaux advised us that the golden rule was constant temperature and no sunlight so a spence is ideal for small amounts which won't be hangung about for too long.

R6

[Clariman]

Thanks R6.
"Spence" is not a word I have ever heard before. Is it regional? Anyway, I gather it is a larder. I've gone for a cupboard top conventional wood/metal wine-rack in the utility room which is used as a larder. Only issue is a radiator and tumble dryer but it is usually pretty dark. I have turned the radiator off and hope that Mrs C doesn't notice!

For any wine we may keep or more expensive wines, I'll put them in a sideboard which gets opened about twice a year!

Thanks everyone
Clariman

[vrdiver]

If those 18 or so bottles are being cycled through in a matter of weeks, then it probably doesn't matter how you store them (within reason!) but if at least some of them are sitting there for a few months or more, then an insulated storage area with constant temperature (or at least minimal variation) is worth thinking about. If the Kitchen won't home them, then an insulated rack in the garage or under the stairs may be an option? Of course, you could find some extra space in the kitchen by just going down.... http://www.houzz.co.uk/pro/winecellarpo ... cellar-pod

VRD