Wine Storage Organization?

WINE TALK
1

How do all of you organize your cellars? I’m still new to the game (less than 200 bottles), but I am trying to minimize the amount of time I spend sifting through racks and crates to find stuff that I want to drink that is also “ready to drink”. Do you all organize by producer? vintage year? region? drinking readiness? I also need to do something with “daily drinkers”. Any ideas?

Also, do you use crates? racks? x-cubes?

2

Jesse, this question has been asked before. I asked the same question myself in a different thread.

The short answer is have a grid reference system in your cellar (column a, row 1 etc) so it does not matter where you put a bottle. Any organization system will decay over time and so you need something that will remain stable-hence the reference system. Most people prefer racking over bulk storage. Bulk storage only works well for Bdx shaped bottles, burg, champs and riesling bottles are not good in most bulk bin systems… There are creative ways around these issues if you are wedded to a non racking solution

good luck

PS - no matter how much space you have or plan to have, it will not be enough…

Brodie

3

Use Cellar Tracker if not already. Then by column and bin. I use an Excel download for a visual representation if you like paper record.

4

Thanks for all of the replies. Currently, I have all of my wine in a combination of milk crates, large boxes, and racking. I have my largest holdings organized by producer with the “ready to drink” stuff on top and the “needs age” stuff on the bottom.

Here’s a link to an earlier post on the topic: How do you Organize your Storage - WINE TALK - WineBerserkers

5

I recalll not too long ago when I bought by the case. They were on the cellar floor, and I needed to pull an upside down bottle to see what I had. Now I buy smaller quantities and the racking is a godsend for single, twofers and triples.

6

Grid system and Cellar Tracker for me. I once tried to dedicate parts of the grid to regions and/or varieties. That lasted about two weeks (and I’m neither a high volume purchaser nor consumer). I do try to bury wines that I want to age and position daily drinkers where i can easily put my hands on them but even that tends to take more effort and re-arranging than I usually wish.