Wine Racks Blog

Beaujolais Nouveau is the most famous of the vins de primeur – wines that are permitted to be sold the same year they are harvested. Released the third Thursday of November, the BoVo seems to go hand in hand with the holiday season. It’s a lighter, fruitier wine with very little tannins.

Now, I know the bum rap that Beaujolais Nouveau gets – it’s immature, just grape juice with alcohol - but I think it’s a guilty pleasure. It’s pretty inexpensive, and since it’s meant to be served slightly chilled along with food, I think it’s a great wine for impromptu winter dinners with friends. In fact, it doesn’t even need a dinner to go along with it! Just load up a serving cart with some good bread, cheeses and a bottle or two! It appeals to the part of me that likes to snack on leftovers directly from the refrigerator, with the door open. In pajamas.

Plus, Beajolais Nouveau is a great choice for when you’re making mulled or warmed spiced wine. Because of it’s light nature, it doesn’t take on that cloying quality that some hot wine drinks have. Try topping off your next party with a few rounds of warm BoVo! You and your guests are sure to be delighted.

When I turned 21, one of my gifts was a large, 36 bottle wine rack. Not only was I brand new to the world of wine, but I was living in a tiny apartment – with roommates! Not to mention, on my starving student budget, it would have been hard to fill it with 36 bottles of quality wine. The huge wine rack was totally impractical for my life – and, to tell the truth, I felt kind of intimidated by it!

Which is why I say, with the wisdom of experience – if you’re just starting to drink and collect wine – go modular! Most modular racks start small – holding only six bottles. Check out this Modular Storage System! If you start noticing that you’ve constantly got more than six bottles on hand, all you have to do is buy another component, and snap (or stack) them together! Presto – double the storage. It’s a great way to introduce people to the ways of wine storage, without scaring them off. Plus, modular storage systems are easy to move around! You can move them from room to room depending on your mood. Am I saying that modular wine racks are great decorative tools? Yes, I believe I am!

Modular storage racks also make great housewarming presents – especially when they’re already stocked! (Hint, hint!)

It’s been a while since we’ve had a big, furniture sized wine rack on the blog. Tabletop wine racks are great for small spaces, but if you have the luxury of a large living space, why not make the most of it? There’s no sense it not enjoying life to the fullest, and there’s no sense it not taking advantage of extra space to show of your love of wine and wine racks. So, let’s take a look at this Bistro Wine Rack!

Elegant and beautiful, this Celtic Bistro Wine Rack will help with storage, display and organization all in one. Two lower hand stained rattan baskets function as removable drawers while two open shelves and a top rack are extremely versatile. Twelve bottle racks and a set of glass holders makes this an ideal addition for any beginning wine connoisseur. Decorative scrollwork laces the top for a classic touch.  Constructed of powerful, dependable metal, with rattan storage baskets.

I love how the strong metal complements the natural beauty of the rattan baskets! This is the sort of centerpiece style wine rack that lets your guests know that:

You are have very good taste.

and

You like wine.

I’m always impressed if I’m at somebody’s house, and I can tell what their passion is as soon as I enter! Take my friend Emily, she is a dedicated stamp collector. When you go into her house, you are greeted by posters of stamps. She has stamp themed china in her kitchen. She even has sheets with stamps on them! So, if you like wine, why not get a big wine rack? It only makes sense!

Wine never goes out of style - I think we can all agree on that. But sometimes, home decor styles come and go. For instance, what about avocado colored kitchen appliances? Remember those? Or shag carpeting, in that peculiar burnt orange color? Or those weird dolls that were also toilet paper roll cozies? Those things were very odd, and I still don’t really understand the logic behind them. Somethings are better left in the mists of time, that’s for sure.

Trends may come and go, but some design elements remain timeless. Like modern style wine racks. What’s better than a tall wine rack, with bold lines and striking decor? How about a wine rack with those traits, that’s also a wall rack? Or it’s freestanding? And how about two of them? Sounds good, right? Let’s take a look.

Here’s the Blomus Wall Mounted Wine Holder. This wine rack holds the bottles vertically, so you can display the full range of your wine labels. If your labels are a little dull, you can always turn the bottles the other way to just show the bottle. This stainless steel wine rack holds up to eight bottles of wine. Standard sized bottles, that is. This wine rack looks great whether you alternate the directions of the bottles, or just keep them in one direction. The choice is yours! I love the striking look that the chromed steel has. It would be great in a kitchen that gets a lot of light - this rack would be gleaming!

There’s also this sleek wine rack. This tall wine rack is freestanding. A freestanding wine rack means that you can move it around when you redecorate, and you don’t have to worry about putting holes in the wall. This wine rack holds up to 12 bottles, and features a walnut finish. This wooden wine rack also has silver colored accents.

So, as you see, modern design can be a great choice for your home. It’s versatile, and functional, and those are traits that ought never to go out of style.

So, I recently saw the most charming movie. “Ratatouille” is a movie about a rat who wants to become a chef in Paris. It’s very funny, even though rats in a kitchen usually aren’t funny. And don’t worry - they address those issues during the movie. It’s quite realistic in that way. Any way, Remy is a rat who longs to be more than a rat, and his love for french food and wine becomes quite infectious (like the bubonic plague, which is something that rats can bring to a kitchen).

Anyway, after the movie, I got to thinking - What sort of wine rack would Remy have, if he was large enough to use a wine rack. This is a question I often ask after seeing movies - I like to match movie characters with a wine rack suiting their style. It makes movies much more interesting. For instance, I saw The Watchman and I couldn’t help but start thinking about what sort of wine rack Dr. Manhattan would have at home. Then I realized he would probably just make his own. Plus, I don’t think he drinks wine.

Back to Ratatouille! After much deliberation, I figured that Remy would have an old fashioned french wine cart. So, I looked around and found one! I wanted to put a picture of Remy with the wine rack, but I don’t want to get in trouble with Disney - so I made my own artistic impression!

Isn’t it cute! I don’t advocate having ferrets in the kitchen, in my opinion they’re just rats with furry tails, but if you put a beret on one, it’s just adorable. This rolling french wine cart has a natural wood top, and holds over a dozen bottles of wine. I also love the fact that it rolls, because that means you can roll it wherever the party is. You know how sometimes, people at a party always seem to be in the other room. Then you go in there, and everybody goes back to a different room! How strange! This way, you can roll the wine wherever you go, ensuring that you’ll always be at the center of attention. It’s almost like being a bartender, but it’s easier.

See any good movies, or wine racks, or wine racks in movies lately? Let me know!

It’s Friday, so I thought we’d have some fun today!

If a picture is worth a thousand words, then what about a picture with a thousand words? And not just one picture -  a bunch of pictures streaming together. How much is a movie worth? Well, this instructional video about wine racks is priceless in terms of knowledge!  Watch it closely, there may be a quiz at the end!

Okay, here’s your quiz: How great are wine racks! That’s an easy question, because they are really great.

Were you inspired by some of the wine racks in the video? I found a wine rack that looks very “Hollywood A List”, it’s the 44 Bottle Wooden Wine Rack. This pinewood rack will hold, you guessed it - 44 wine bottles. This wine rack has unfinished wood, which means you can paint it or finish it to perfectly match your decor. Plus the nice thing about this pine wood is that it’s kind of knotty. This gives it a little more visual interest than smooth wood.

And if you really want a big wine rack, take a look at the Waterfall Wine Rack. This is like the type of rack you’d see in a wine shop! This massive wine rack will hold up to 270 bottles.

I’m going to spend the weekend looking at wine racks - I think we’re going to redecorate our house, and I can’t wait to upgrade our wine racks. I’m not sure if we’ll be able to get one of these big racks, but there’s no harm in doing some window shopping.

I’ve said before that I love going wine tasting. It’s easy for me to take a leisurely afternoon exploring the wineries in my own backyard of Sonoma County. But I also love going wine tasting when I travel! I’ve been able to check out the Willamette Valley in Oregon, and the Central Coast in California over the last year. And I’ve also been wine tasting in Hawaii!

Yes, that’s right! Paradise got a little more perfect when I came across the Volcano Winery as I was driving around the Big Island of Hawaii. Hawaii may not have the most traditional climate for wines, but these non-traditional wines are certainly delicious! I had a chance to try two wines: The Symphony Dry is a lovely dinner wine. It’s dry but not powdery, and it has a fresh, fruity/floral finish. This wine also uses the Symphony grape, a grape first created at UC Davis by crossing the Muscat of Alexandria and the Grenache Gris.

I also tried the Macadamia Nut Honey Wine. Swoon! I like dessert wines, and this one became one of my all time favorites as soon as I tasted it. This wine isn’t made from macadamia nuts - it’s made from the honey made by the bees that buzz around the flowers of the macadamia nut tree. It is sweet, not cloying, and utterly delicious. Like all dessert wines, it’s best served chilled. Oh my gosh, I wish I could convey to you the absolute wonder of this wine.

Volcano Winery will ship to the mainland, and the website provides a list of states that they can ship to. I hope yours is on it. And when you order some, be sure to invite me over!

A unique wine deserves a unique wine rack, no? So, if you’ve laid in a couple of cases from Volcano Winery, why not store them on this Wicker Wine Rack? This wine rack has the sturdiness of a metal frame, coupled with the laid-back vibe that wicker provides. The scooped wicker trays will hold up to 20 bottles of wine. This floor rack is a great way to get a little island style for your home. Mahalo!

image from Volcano Winery

There’s something very charming about the Fuji Wine Rack. This wooden wine rack can hold up to 12 bottles of wine. I think what I really like about it is how the wine bottles alternate from tier to tier. It reminds me of a building block set.

This one of those wine racks that also works well as a serving table! Or put your favorite wine guide on the top of this table.

The Mendoza Rolling Wine Cart has all the potential to become party central. It can hold up to 8 bottles and 12 wine glasses. It has a storage drawer, and there’s a railing around the open storage area - so it can safely hold more bottles.

Plus did I mention it rolls? That’s a great feature for dinner parties - you know how it seems everybody first congregates in the kitchen, then the party moves out to the dining room and living room? Just roll the Mendoza Cart wherever you need it as the evening progresses!

I’m really starting to like floor wine racks?Have you seen any good ones out there lately?

You know that big movie with transforming robots - well, there’s a wine lover’s equivalent! Behold! The Expandable Wine Bar.

Way cool. This expanding wine cabinet provides a small footprint during the day. It has storage for 9 bottles, glassware, and a pull out drawer. However - when company comes over - it transforms into a full wine bar. Perfect for entertaining. You can serve snacks, people can gather around and drink, and when the party is over it transforms back into it’s smaller form. It’s 16″ wide in its small size, and 50″ wide when it’s in full form.

I love versatile furniture like this. It’s all about the element of surprise. “Oh hey everybody, gather round my wine bar. What? You don’t see it? Well, here it is!”. Then, wait for the applause.

So, if you’re looking to upgrade from your smaller wine rack - take a look at the Expandable Wine Bar!

No, I’m not talking about those compressed carbon pieces that everyone seems so keen on! I’m talking about this Diamond Wine Rack!  

This is another example of how modular wine storage can change your life. This understated wine rack can hold up to 24 bottles of wine. And, since it has an open design - it can even hold differently sized bottles. You’ll have a central space for wine storage, whether you’re collecting magnums, splits, or standard sized bottles.

You can also stack multiples of this divided wine rack - perfect for growing collections. I like the dark finish, too.

I’ve recently been hearing about keeping wines in a closet - it seems to be a good solution when you aren’t ready to invest in a wine cooler, or if you don’t have the space for a wine cellar. This wine rack  from StacksAndStacks.com would be a terrific way to keep your wines, and your closet, neatly organized.