Cypress custom wood wine racking - any experience?

WINE TALK
1

Considering due to cost. Any experience with using this wood. Any dimensional issues. I know it does not rot. TIA

2

Nobody?

3

I’ll take a crack although it’s not from wine-racking experience.

Cypress is used traditionally for Japanese furniture and especially restaurant counter tops due to it’s beautiful blonde grain, stain and rot resistance, and in general durability. When unfinished, it does have a bit of citrusy/coniferous aroma that may cause problems with tainting your wine.

So if you use it, you may want to make sure it’s fully cured and/or sealed. Not as bad as cedar, but more fragrant than Redwood.

Take it for what it’s worth as I have not actually seen or heard of Cypress wood racks.

4

Kelly - My experience is also not from wine racking. Cypress has a beautiful grain to it and would look nice with a light stain/tung oil to bring out the patterns. You should know that the rot-resistant qualities are from the heartwood and found mostly in older trees. Most of the current lumber is not any more rot-resistant than other woods and I don’t think this is a factor for your wine rack unless it will be in contact with ground moisture.

In my experience, it is a soft wood that easily dents and shows damage. Many years ago I came across some cypress lumber and made a firewood stand for my father. It still looks nice on the outside, but is pretty banged up on the inside.

Is it already pre-cut racks or are you building from stock?

5

Thanks for the replies. This would be custom made. Was not aware that it had any odor. I have seen, online, a few rack manufacturers who offer it as an option but it does not seem very common. My builder says he has had them made before and they came out great but he never followed up as to their performance over the long haul. Based on my limited research it seems that structural and dimensional stability are not an issue. Just trying find any potential down sides. Using heart wood or sinker is probably the way to go. Thanks.

6

Kelly,
First,the cypress readily available today will rot,but I don’t think that will be an issue in a cellar.

It’s as soft as western red cedar and redwood,and as far as aroma,heart wood from cedar or redwood would be slightly stronger,but again,it wouldn’t be an issue…so i say,worry not.

7

Thanks Bill.

8

My pleasure,Kelly…and another thing,cypress is a wood from our hood…