A "wine closet" to build

**Detroitpete** · 28th November 10, 11:11 AM

Hey lads,

I'm finally converting a basement closet into a wine/beer closet--not really a finely temperature controlled wine room, but close enough for my needs. I'm adding shelves, racks and assorted other storage bins to handle about 75 bottles of wine and 3-4 cases of my homebrews in bottles.

The room is very small 6ft wide, 8ft long and has an 8 ft ceiling. I'd be interested in any of your ideas for wine and beer bottle storage. If you're interested--post some pictures of racks, etc that you think might help me out.

Thanks!

**piperdbh** · 28th November 10, 04:08 PM

I'd suggest the wire shelving like you can get at Lowe's or Home Depot. It's quick, easy and fairly inexpensive to install, and very customizable. And invite us all over to give it a test drive once it's fully stocked.

**Bill aka Mole** · 28th November 10, 05:22 PM

Kindly don't forget to store any beverage using a cork stopper on their side with the cork submerged by the bottles liquid. Regular corks will dry out over time and break apart into small dusty particles when removed later.

**Detroitpete** · 28th November 10, 06:01 PM

Thanks! I have few years of experience working with wine

so I have the bottle tilt and temperature taken care of. I'm mostly concerned with coming up with a design that is functional and still attractive in such a tight space.

**NewEnglander** · 28th November 10, 06:17 PM

I'm envious! The floor of my closet is littered with specialty bombers of beers that I'm saving for some future occasion AND 5 gallons of homebrewed Scottish Wee Heavy that I'm aging for a bit before bottling it for the Holidays.
My only advice (and I've never actually had the chance to do this) is that I believe that a STEADY temperature can be just as important as a COOL temp. Best of luck and be sure to post pics of your final results!

**Detroitpete** · 28th November 10, 06:50 PM

Originally Posted by NewEnglander

I'm envious! The floor of my closet is littered with specialty bombers of beers that I'm saving for some future occasion AND 5 gallons of homebrewed Scottish Wee Heavy that I'm aging for a bit before bottling it for the Holidays.
My only advice (and I've never actually had the chance to do this) is that I believe that a STEADY temperature can be just as important as a COOL temp. Best of luck and be sure to post pics of your final results!

AYE! The room is in the basement--I've handled both the temperature range and humidity--I'm a lucky guy. I however have limited funds for this project--so I'll see what I can come up with. I'm thinking of cradenza-like storage for supplies flanked by tower racks or cubes. I'll document the madness with pictures.

**NewEnglander** · 28th November 10, 07:02 PM

Cinder blocks and planks always used to do the job for some basic shelving, if you don't want to go more than one level up.

**Bill aka Mole** · 28th November 10, 07:05 PM

A while back I visited a winery that had made their racks out of 1 x 1s for the framing and about a 3/8 thick by about 2 wide for the actual racks. It appeared that for the backs they had used a standard 3 or 4 inch diameter cut while the front was cut at about 1-1/2 inches diameter. It used the neck of the bottle to prevent the bottle from falling out of the rack. If there is a winery in your area that is currently open for purchasing from, they usually have a very proper wine storage rack for holding the wine in storage. Perhaps you could get the dimensions for diameters and spacing from them and then adjust those to you basement's available area.

Another method I have seen was old wooden soft drink crates lying on their sides with the opening angled towards the back so that the bottles rested on their corks.
The amount of vintage that could be stored in a crate was pretty much determined by the bottles dimensions. Only items needed were the crates and a 2 x 4 on the floor to angle the crates, the boards were merely pushed together and the crates rested one atop the other. The bottles necks were away from the opening and it was actually easy to read the labels. Each crate was a specific vintage.

**artificer** · 28th November 10, 07:55 PM

If you didn't want to do the wire rack solution, which is both inexpensive and easy, and your basic carpentry skills are fair, it's pretty easy to build a system using 2x4s and 1x2s, similar to what BtM described.

The problem is that at a certain point your workload of cutting (not to mention fitting into a tighter space) can detract from the 'fun'. If you can find custom wire racks that will support the weight, you can save a TON of time going that route. Just be sure to keep those corks wet with either a tilted shelf or raised foot (and a 'stop' to prevent bottles sliding is never a bad idea either).

I had a small cellar in our last house, which was wonderful. I don't tend to keep 'vintages' (I like DRINKING my wine

), but sometimes if I find something wonderful but a touch young I'll lay a case or two by to cellar for a few years. '93 was a particularly AMAZING year (IMO) for Australian Shiraz, and we managed to keep the better part of a case of one of my favs for about 10yrs.

**Big Mikey** · 28th November 10, 08:16 PM

The following is what I have used for a few years now. It is about 50 years old and from southern Oregon. If you were wanting to make a road trip I may be coaxed out of it or you might just like to copy the design.