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For connoisseurs of wine, storage for their precious liquids is an important aspect to ensuring that the wines age well. Wine collection is a source of pride for many who atest to knowing their vino, and it is important to provide a safe, cool place to keep all of those bottles. While a wine cellar maybe proves too much for the budget, all is not lost as there are other ways to accommodate your collection of wine. To age and developed the delicate taste of wine properly, it must be stored in an area (cellar) away from the low humidity and temperature variations.
You can be spoilt for choice with the many wine racks and wine coolers available in the market for purchase. These may range from simple one-bottle holder to large room-filling coolers where you can keep each bottle in optimum conditions until they are ready to be taken out and enjoyed.
If you’re creative enough, there are also DIY options to building your own wine storage rack. This method reduces the cost of spending a lot of money on purchasing one from a wine store. Building wine storage racks can be a very simple project to complete, and you can customize it to size and to the number of wine that you want to store.
Modular systems
A modular system provides you with the ability to build a custom wine storage rack without having to do everything from scratch. In the case that you want to store the wine racks in a cellar, these systems do not require anchors and can be placed wherever you want them to be placed.
Another type of wine storage is a countertop wine rack that can hold up to 15 bottles and take up very little room. These systems also provide eye candy for your visitors, holding your impressive collection of wine. They come in kits and designs in varying styles and colors. All you have to do is to choose one to your liking (as well as one that fits the décor of your home) and assemble them.
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Building Your Own Wine Rack
However, if you believe you’ve got the patience and creativity to build a wine rack from scratch (from design to finished product) then by all means do so. This option allows for greater customization than modular wine racks.
Tip: When building wine storage racks, make sure that you build the wine rack in such a way that it allows for easy and horizontal storage of the bottles. Horizontal storage allows easier identification of each bottles because the labels are visible, eliminating the need to lift the bottle up to view which wine is stored in the bottle.
Steps:
Once you’ve decided on building a wine storage rack, measure the dimension of the area you wish to have the wine rack placed, as well as the dimensions that is needed to store the bottles of even seven inch width securely. If you are storing larger champagne bottles, then wider measurements are needed.
Type of Material
The next step is to choose the type of material you will be using to build the rack. Some prefer wood (which is the easiest to work with in a DIY). When choosing the kind of wood you will use, take into account the types that will match well with your décor. You can also decide on whether you would like to stain or have a natural finish to the rack.
Mahogany wood will make an impact on the overall look of your wine rack, and provide a sturdy hold for your bottles. However, they can be rather pricey. If you’re on a budget, softwoods such as fir or pine would be more suited. These types of wood are also strong enough to safely hold your wine bottles.
When building a wine rack, the bottom line is to make sure that there is enough storage space to go about, the proper wood to use for the finished product for aesthetic and storage strength.
Did you know that you can also build a wine rack from recycled mailing tubes? These mailing tubes can be found cheaply at office supplies stores; and the fastest and easiest way for this project is to slot the tubes into the bottom of a bookshelf in a honeycomb manner. Ensure that the tubes are angled correctly to keep the corks wet in the bottles.
Basic storage racks (whether wood, metal or any other materials) will provide the wine an area that is ventilated and separated. When creating your wine storage area, you may also want to reserve an area for wine accessories like glasses, corkscrews, bottle openers and wine chillers or buckets.
The way a DIY wine storage looks is only limited by your imagination. Whether big or small, elaborate or simple, the skies the limit and its totally up to you, as well as your abilities to build and the space that you are working with to come up with a functional design.
More Reading:
DIY Wine Cabinet: http://www.barossa-region.org/wine/DIY-Wine-Cabinet.html
DIY Wine Rack : http://winecast.net/2008/02/06/diy-wine-rack/
DIY Wine Rack: http://readymademag.com/printarchive/article?id=1155
