I am in the process of getting quotes for redwood racking for a new cellar, and looking over different designs am having a hard time deciding on the layout. The cellar is not a showpiece, so functionality/ease of use and maximizing bottle count are most important. No need for “display” cases, or serving area since I’ll have a bar right outside of the wine room.
What I’m having trouble with is deciding if I should go with all single slot (for magnums and 750’s), or some bulk storage. If some bulk storage, diamond bins, or shelving/case storage?
I don’t buy more than 3-4 bottles of a single vintage/bottling. Any thoughts? Anything I should think about when making my final decision? I kind of like the way diamond bins and other bulk storage methods change up the look of the room…but it seems like finding bottles might be more difficult.
IIRC, bins don’t give you much more storage than individual racking. Measured against the inconvenience if you don’t store in bulk, I would pass on those and stick with individual slots in appropriate sizes (mags, 375s, etc).
Tough question for anyone to answer because it all comes down to what your personal preferences are.
When I built out my cellar, my requirements were very similar to yours. I wanted redwood racks that optimized function over form. I wasn’t looking for a ‘showcase’ cellar, instead I was looking for more of a closet that was purely used for cool, dark storage. I had the room to go with double-deep racks, but decided against that b/c I didn’t want to have to pull out one bottle just to see what was hiding behind it.
I did not want diamond bins b/c I also usually buy 2-3 bottles of any given wine. My neighbor has diamond bins, but he buys wine by the case and these tend work better for that purpose. Also keep in mind that Burgundy / Rhone / Turley / etc. style bottles don’t stack very well on top of each other.
I would advise going two deep if you can, and include bulk storage like crazy! I wish I had added an area to simply fill with standard ULine 12 bottle boxes.
If you buy single bottles from many different producers where things could get lost, then single deep is the way to go. On the other hand, if you buy regularly the same producers every year to lay down for a while, then double deep is much more effective.
If you have room, go double deep. Leave space at the top for boxes. I have a center island/table with single and mag slots. Use cellartracker to note locations.
Thanks. It sounds like diamond bins are not a good option, but that some bulk box or OWC storage area might be good. Right now I have planned for a room with the racking shaped like a U…the two legs being relatively small. The main wall will all be two deep, and the two side walls with either magnum/375 slots or bulk storage.
I have two deep and it’s fine. My practice is only to use both slots if it’s two of the same wine. Of course, I may have to change that eventually but for now I can do it.
Depends on your space. Single bottle storage is easiest to deal with but you lose a LOT of space. Double deep is something you’ll be cursing every day. Diamonds are OK but you can actually get better space utilization if you build rectangular bins sized to hold three layers of four bottles. I played around with all kinds of designs and models before deciding to do that.
However, the bigger the bin, the bigger the pain in the ass. And if you have only Bordeaux-shaped bottles, it’s easy to stack. OTOH, Rhone shaped bottles are not as easy, and extreme examples like Turley or the old Pax bottles are even worse. So if you have lots of space, go with individual slots. If you’re tight for space, go with bulk.
Greg - do you store your mags in the “bulk storage” section or do you have single slots for those?
Appreciate everyones feedback, starting to zero in on this now.
I’m in touch with WRA, IWA (International Wine Accessories), APEX, and Wine Cellar Innovations, which all seem to be on the larger scale side of things. Any recs?
I’ve got double deep and don’t understand why you find it bothersome; is moving one bottle to get to the one behind really that difficult? Of course, you need either a photographic memory or a spread sheet showing what’s where in the back slots, but that’s not particularly difficult to keep up to date. And unless you buy a lot of wine in bulk, bins can be especially annoying anytime you want one of the bottles on the bottom.
I have no issues with double deep as well, and glad to have the extra storage over single deep options. Labeled the columns 1 to 14 across the top as an example, and the rows A - S going down. Just put the resulting matrix numbers in the BIN field in CellarTracker and you are good to go. If wine X shows as B7, there is a 50-50 chance it is the bottle in front in that slot. If not, it is a 10 second exercise to pull it.
Mine’s under construction, but I did something very similar. I did, however, add diamond bins at either end of the center island (perpendicular to the bottle slots - I didn’t want a lot of them, but I wanted the flexibility for a few odd-sized bottles. I also didn’t do 375 racking; in my old cooling unit, I put 3 375s in double-deep 750 slots as needed.
Not pretty, but after measuring my space and trying to maximize my storage, I put in pine shelving and I put boxes on each shelf with the bottles pointing out. Not pretty but man can I store a bunch in a small space. I hot glue gunned the dividers so when I pull a bottle out of the bottom slot, the others above it don’t fall. No moisture problems so boxes sturdy after many years and glue gun joints just fine. Ugly and functional - (hey you talking about me?)
Diamond bins look cool and when mixed in with single slot its overall a great look. That’s what I have. However, if you are concerned with bulk storage, diamond bins are not a good solution. They are great for traditional bordeaux bottles but burgundy shape bottles only sometimes…depending on the slope of the neck, they can be hard to stack in the bins and your 12 bottle bin often becomes a 9 bottle bin that can be balanced somewhat precariously.
I did mostly diamond bins when I built, for space economy and because I like to be able to see the label when pulling the bottle – this is often easier even toward the bottom of a diamond bin than it is in slots – particularly if you tend to buy in big enough quantities that you’re just putting two or three similar wines in the same bin (maybe with a stray or two).
I didn’t realize how much trouble stacking would be. Bordeaux-style bottles are no problem, but Riesling-style are challenging and Burgundy-style can get precarious. The space economy isn’t as good as I thought, either – as Sean says, the 12-bottle bins never hold 12 – usually 9 or 10. It can certainly be made to work, but if I were doing it again, I’d weight the mix more toward slots.
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