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Congratulations On Your New Wine Cellar — Now What?

04 May 2017

Important organizing tips for your precious bottles of red, white, and everything in between

Like any self-respecting wine connoisseur, a dedicated wine cellar to house your collection of vino is the ultimate goal. If this is now a reality, congratulations! However, do you know how to properly store, stack, and keep the bottles? If not, our friends at The Vintec Club have indispensible advice on how to do it the right way.

  • HOW TO STACK BOTTLES OF DIFFERENT SHAPES AND SIZES
  • HOW TO REACH MAXIMUM CAPACITY
  • HOW TO STACK FOR EASY ACCESSIBILITY
  • HOW TO STACK WINES FOR AGEING

How to Stack Bottles of Different Shapes and Sizes

It's important to note that capacities of wine cabinets are based on the standard 750mL Bordeaux bottle shape and size. It was the most common bottle shape for a period of time and has become the standard among wine cabinet and wine cellar manufacturers.

Although many bottles may resemble standard Bordeaux bottles, most of them vary in terms of diameter, height, length of the neck and shoulder, among others. Do note that wine cabinets can accommodate different shapes and sizes, but sometimes, at the detriment of the maximum capacity.

  • HOW TO STACK BOTTLES OF DIFFERENT SHAPES AND SIZES
  • HOW TO REACH MAXIMUM CAPACITY
  • HOW TO STACK FOR EASY ACCESSIBILITY
  • HOW TO STACK WINES FOR AGEING

How to Reach Maximum Capacity

When stacking your cabinet, note that some bottles might not fit opposite each other and you'll need to lay them opposite more suitably shaped bottles.

In order to reach maximum capacity, most cellars require stacking of bottles on multiple levels, making getting the layout of bottles "right from the start” even more important. Also take into consideration that the more shelves you have loaded in the wine cabinet, the lesser the total capacity. This is because shelves take up space and shelves on every level tend to restrict bottle diameters that shelves can accommodate.

Tip: Removing a few shelves from the cabinet may allow you to store more wine bottles, as well as bottles that come in unusual shapes or large diameters (like wide Champagne bottles) because lesser shelves frees up vertical space.

  • HOW TO STACK BOTTLES OF DIFFERENT SHAPES AND SIZES
  • HOW TO REACH MAXIMUM CAPACITY
  • HOW TO STACK FOR EASY ACCESSIBILITY
  • HOW TO STACK WINES FOR AGEING

How to Stack for Easy Accessibility

When stacking bottles, we advise keeping bottles from the same case together. Storing same-case bottles in a vertical stack allows for easy access to different wines and facilitates interlocking bottles by laying suitably shaped bottles neck-to-neck.

 

  • HOW TO STACK BOTTLES OF DIFFERENT SHAPES AND SIZES
  • HOW TO REACH MAXIMUM CAPACITY
  • HOW TO STACK FOR EASY ACCESSIBILITY
  • HOW TO STACK WINES FOR AGEING

How to Stack Wines for Ageing

When filling your cabinet, stack the bottles you wish to cellar and mature at the back of the shelves and the wines you wish to consume in the front.

We also recommend that when doing annual cellar maintenance, re-evaluate which wines should be moved forward having approached drinking age and which bottles should remain stored away for longer periods.


For more expert advice on wine, visit The Vintec Club online here