How-To Shop for a Wine Rack: 3 Factors
by Erika S., Wine Enthusiast Companies
Spring is here and for many people that means, Spring cleaning. If your floors are cluttered with homeless wine bottles, it may be time to invest in some organization. If you’re not ready to purchase a temperature-controlled unit or if you buy wine for quick consumption, a wine rack will suit your needs perfectly.
There are 3 factors when selecting a wine rack, these are: Price, Material, and Bottle Count.
1) Price is the easiest place to start, since that may determine the other 2 factors. Set a realistic budget for yourself. We offer basic racks for as low as $16 and designer, furniture- style racks as high as $900. It’s up to you how much you’d like to spend.
2) Next, select your preferred material. Most likely you’ll want it to match the design of your home but you are free to get creative. Select wood (pine, mahogany, or natural), wrought iron, stainless steel or go-green with storage containers made of recycled materials. 
3) Finally, select a bottle count that will allow your collection to grow. People often underestimate how quickly they acquire new bottles. You want to have plenty of free slots for new purchases. Provide racking for at least double the bottle count of your current collection. If you have a case of wine at home, select a wine rack to hold at least 24 bottles, for example.
It’s that simple!
Do you own a wine rack? How did you make your selection?
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Filed under: Wine Racks
8 Comments
8 Responses to “How-To Shop for a Wine Rack: 3 Factors”
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March 29th, 2009 at 7:19:51 PM
You have left out where you are planning to place the wine rack. Your pretty picture shows a lovely window and lots of natural sunlight – a real enemy of proper aging due to both heat and light degradation. Having learned the lesson of looking good in the well-lit corner; a whole bunch of bottle prematurely becoming “past” their time of drinkability, I strongly suggest the sunlight and temperature issues be dealt with up front. Only then will the other three points be successsfully dealt with.
March 30th, 2009 at 4:30:28 AM
I live in a condo so needed a wine rack that wouldn’t take alot of space but large enough to hold+
my current “collection” and to fit in a particular space. I ran across a wire wine rack at C&B which fit the need. Unfortunately, the purchase a rack that holds double the number of bottles you currently have advice came too late as my three case wine rack is dwarfed by the dozen plus cases I have stashed around the condo.
April 2nd, 2009 at 2:37:52 PM
@Gregory You raise a great point actually. Wine should definitely be protected from excess sunlight which can cause temperature variations. I’m sorry if our glamour shot was confusing, we were trying to put the rack in the best “light”, not to suggest that wines should be stored under sunlight!
April 25th, 2009 at 2:19:20 AM
In the Material section,maybe add one thing in it:polish or natural.
Right?
Polished as general furniture can make the rack stand there for more time.
March 30th, 2010 at 10:23:47 AM
You’d also want to consider your wine-drinking habits. Are you looking to age your wine, or are you investing in wines that are of the “Drink Now – 2011″ variety? If you buy a 2008 vintage that needs a good 7 or 8 years under its belt, that spot is effectively gone from your rack till then. If you’re buying a bottle like that maybe once a month, by the time you start free-ing up space, you’ve got almost a hundred bottles collected over the long haul.
April 28th, 2011 at 7:58:39 PM
The wine rack specs do not take into account the larger bottles of sparkling wines. My current rack doesn’t accomadate the large bottles.
August 17th, 2011 at 4:43:56 PM
What about stain? Is there any certain type of stain that should or shouldn’t be used? I’ve researched this topic on the internet pretty heavily but only found one website with minimal information. It said not to use stained racks as the odor can creep into the cork and ruin the wine.
I have a column wine rack that I love. I bought it from a website called Wine Rack Guru and assembled it myself. I bought it in Pine but would like to stain a little darker.
Help Please.
August 18th, 2011 at 2:43:52 PM
Hi Matt- If you want to stain the racks yourself of course you would make sure to clear out the wine first. When you go ahead and do the staining, just make sure to not use anything oil-based.
Cheers!