Robert Bell's

Wines of Canada

Since 1992

Your Wine Rack

wine rack

The number one reason for selecting a wine rack " how nice it will look in the Kitchen" or dinning room or the den.

Yes you should buy a wine rack that suits your needs and appeals to your eyes. But be careful where you put that wine rack. The first step in choosing a wine rack should be deciding where to place it. 

If you’re thinking about adding a wine rack to your kitchen, be sure to keep it away from your stove, refrigerator, toaster and microwave. These appliances make the temperature fluctuate around them, which effects the wine. Keep your wine rack away from your dishwasher too, as vibration can be harmful to wine and dishwashers can become warm. It’s also best to keep the wine rack away from direct sunlight.

Remember sunlight is the enemy of wine. Direct sunlight or incandescent light can adversely react with phenolic compounds in wine and create "wine faults".

The wine rack should be placed in area where the room temperature is constant. Allowing the temperature to fluctuate, the bottle begins to breathe the liquid and air expands and contracts, this results in either the wine being forced out the neck of the bottle, or air (oxygen) to enter. This is known as weeping.

Different wines like different storage temperatures. Which makes where you place the wine rack even more important.

The ideal temperature for storing white wine is between 45 to 65 °F (7 to 18 °C). Store your wine in a basement, interior closet, or wine fridge to keep it cool. Because white wine is very sensitive to light, store it in a dark place out of direct sunlight and fluorescent light.

Red wine is best between  between 45 and 65 degrees F

The fridge is not the best place to store wine. Use the fridge only to chill the wine. Fridge vibrations can alter the wine’s chemical structure and disturb the sediment at the bottom of some wines. 

Freelance wine cellarist and storage professional Matthew Goldfarb prefers metal racking.  "I like the heavy duty metal wire racking that has nested bottle holders," he says.  "This keeps the bottles on their side at all times and doesn't allow them to slide around because of the bent wire racking that holds the neck in place.  Make sure the racking is on level ground, and if tall, somehow bolted to the wall."

An additional factor to consider not all wines come in the same size bottle.

The wines you place in the rack  should be those that the collector know will be consumed within a short period of time, maximum of a couple of months. Long term or "aging" is a whole new experience requiring the very best location . You need a cool dark space, not sunlight and odour-free and proper humility.

You may decide to buy a wine cooler. That does not limit all the concerns mention here.

Space behind the cooler is important. A freestanding wine cooler is designed to dissipate heat from the back, so this heat cannot escape from an enclosure and eventually will overheat the unit.

Most coolers creat a noise and vibration. Do not buy a cheap unit.

A question to think about is do you want a wine coller with single or dual zone temperature. If single its either red or white. With dual be careful I found teperature fuculations through out the zone. Warm air rises cool air settles.

Wine coolers need cleaning.

 

Please see Proper Storage and Shelf Life of Wines

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