Building a cellar - racking

WINE TALK
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We’re renovating a new (to us) house, and I think I’m taking the plunge and excavating a crawl space under part of the house to make a real cellar. I think I have construction of an insulated room with a cooling system under control, underpinnings and all. Call the space roughly 25’ x 12’. What I’m struggling with a bit is racking. Lots of racking vendors out there; I’ve also looked into building shelving (which, surprisingly, isn’t that much cheaper than prefab racking even if one is just building birch plywood bins-seems to run $150-200 a linear foot). I think I could probably shave off a good chunk of construction cost by channeling college days and doing brick-and-board bins, though at the expense of capacity. (I’m looking for max capacity utilitarian shelving, not the Chez Marquardt tasting room - I plan to get the bottles and carry them to the nice part of the house, not make everyone put on a jacket to sit in the storage space). I think I’m leaning toward a mix of bottle racking and a few bins, mostly because I don’t see a solution that’s so much cheaper that it’s worth the hassle of dealing with double-deep 15 bottle bins (or whatever).

Anyone have a particularly nifty solution (or a particularly cost-effective racking vendor) that they want to share?

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While I built my own single bin racking that fits within storage cabinets that previously had adj. shelves, I think I would go with adj. shelves with spacer bars to keep the bottles from rolling and allowed stacking one or two rows high. I just did this for a customer in their dining room base cabinets. Telling them they could just turn the shelves over if needed for storage. This is a very versatile system for bottles or case storage. Not Sexy, but practical.

3

I ran 1x3 ledgers around the cellar and screwed into them 1x12 pine as shelving. I tip wine boxes on their side and store bottles in them. I hot glue the inside of the box at various points to give them integrity and allow me to pull out a bottle at the bottom of the box without others falling. I seriously doubt there is a more efficient use of space. Nothing pretty, but has functioned for years for me with no decay of boxes or shelving.

4

I know many here don’t like the cube/diamond bins, but it works fine for me. I got mine on sale, which ended up costing about $1.60/bottle. I built a stand-alone, single-bottle rack that holds 144 bottles for near-term drinking and the bins hold the rest.

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Single bottle racking for me. Too many bottles are not properly shaped for safe bulk binning. I put in a few diamond bins for half bottles, etc. I’m happy with my decision for single bottle majority of my racks.

Used rack kits from wine racks america, http://www.wineracksamerica.com/instacellar/?PHPSESSID=e7900602e8ee85cccd634754e0d9a26f … Put double deep single bottle shelving everywhere, with mag shelving, diamond bins, half height units here or there, and whatever else you’d like. I used the unfinished redwood, and no problems on that front to date.

Here’s a thread I started with some pics upon completion. New Home + New Cellar + First Deliveries of the Season - WINE TALK - WineBerserkers

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I have double deep individual slot racking in roughly a 10x10 space. So long as you keep track of what is in the back slots, this works fine, and since pulling bottles from the front slots is so easy, hiding the bottles you want to be sure to age in the back slots works very well. Everything is in CT and I just used column and row designations, so 26-08-B means 26th column, eighth row, back slot and I keep track that way. If I want the 1947 Cheval Blanc, I just put the wine into CT and find the location, which in that case is “You jerk, you should have bought it 40 years ago when it was available un-countefeited for a reasonable price, and now it’s no where to be found in your cellar.” [cheers.gif]

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Paul,
I bought my racks a while back from Vigilant Woodworks - Home - #1 in Wine Cellars, Wine Racks, & Cigar Humidors | Vigilant Inc.
Lots of options, very good quality at a good good price.

Don

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Thanks, everyone. My initial option was something very much like Nick’s setup, except that I have enough space to have racks in the center of the room as well (and my current tracking system in double-deep coolers is exactly the same as Jay’s, except that I have to designate which cooler and I don’t bother with front and back (you have to pull the front bottle anyway; either the one you want is that one or you need to get it out of the way).

9

Does anybody do slightly inclined racks? Maybe even double deep? I figure that would put my mind at ease in earthquake country. (No, not north London, this is for a cellar 1.5 miles from the San Andreas fault.)

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I do’t see what the incline will do - the bigger risk is the whole rack tipping off the wall - you need to make sure it’s well secured.

11

I think in the end you’re best off biting the bullet and having someone make the racks for you. Sure, you can DIY, but it’s a lot of cutting and nailing, which probably isn’t worth your time for the money savings.

12

Brady, I didn’t see Paul’s response when I initially replied. The issue is not only that they stay affixed to the walls, it is whether the racks themselves fall apart - I also believe that the items (usually loose bottles or OWC boxes) stacked on top of the racks will also fly off the racks. My racks are all “stapled” together with a nail gun, as I assume are most. Even if the backer boards are securely affixed to the walls, I don’t know if the racks will pull apart from the backer boards if there is enough force and I would assume they will fail in a decent quake.

For this reason, i try to keep my best wine closest to the floor!

13

Skip the precarious diamond shelving. If you have high enough ceilings you can add rectangular open bins underneath the single-depth racks.

If you use Cellartracker to keep your cellar organized, then double deep bins are the way to go. You have the space for it. Double-deep open bins seem like an exercise in frustration, but WRA also offers racking extension kits. Call them direct to get double-depth extensions.

And if you like champagne or Turley-sized cult wine bottles, WineRacksAmerica (WRA) also offers “secret” Turkey-sized bins that are larger than their already generous bins but smaller than their magnum bins.

14

My wine closet is very small (6’ X 6’), so I built bins to fit the space with maximum storage in mind.
Each of my bins holds 12-18 bottles, CellarTracker keeps track of where the wine is. Although I don’t
live where earthquakes are a major concern, I chose to tilt the bins back just so that mixed and oddly
shaped bottles would not fall out, I think it is a big help.

In my case I built each level as a separate piece, bottom, back, sides, and dividers. The first one
(on the floor) is propped up in the front, and then each level is screwed to the one beneath (made easier
with the staggered dividers). I did also attach them to the wall behind, although I think it was totally
unnecessary in my part of the USA.

The racks are made from 1x10 and 1x12 pine planks, I have a total of 10 columns by 7 rows of bins, plus
space on the top for more bottles. In my closet there are about 1100 bottles, total cost was under $600,
including the battery-operated circular saw and screwdriver I bought for this project.

15

Steve, I have seen your’s over on CT. Not too pretty, but overly practical when you just want to store wine.

16

Thanks! As you might imagine, in a 36 square foot closet stuffed with wine, “storing” it is about all there is room for.

17

Wow, this is turning out to be a great thread.
I love to see the different alternatives people have come up with vs standard/prefab racking.
And, Steve, well done! [cheers.gif]

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Paul,

I’m building my own racking and constructing some jigs to make it quicker and less painful. Let me know if you are interested.

James

20

Paul, don’t go cheap you will regret it. And don’t do bins. You buy too much burgundy and bins suck for anything other than bore-dough.