Corrado wrote:Looking to start building my next rack soon (think of that ^^^^ but 2 wide x 2 high, holding 130+ bottles).

why is this style so popular? are triangles and squares the best or is there something better? What about honeycomb? I don't know just thinking outside the box (see what I did there?)

btw here's mine, small and inefficient, also store bought, but my roommate got it.

here

akretz wrote:

why is this style so popular? are triangles and squares the best or is there something better? What about honeycomb? I don't know just thinking outside the box (see what I did there?)

btw here's mine, small and inefficient, also store bought, but my roommate got it.

here

i have NO Idea so corrado feel free to correct me, but i think triangles are a structurally sturdy shape (i feel like i learned this in my 10th grade engineering elective). plus (at least to me) it looks like the wine cube can fit a bunch of bottles in a relatively small footprint.

Corrado wrote:

1) Ya can't hotlink to Picasaweb pages for hotlinked images.

2) The style I've made is good because it's cheap & easy to make and, depending on the style (X or diamond) it does a good job of holding a lot of the same wine.

Where the 'pigeon hole' style makes more sense is for collections that are a lot of onesy-twosy bottles. If you try to do that with a 'cube' style wine rack, Murphy's Law dictates that the bottle of wine you're looking for will be at the bottom of the largest stack of wine bottles, making it a PITA to get at your wine.

The other good point about these styled racks are the pidgeon hole racks are often too small for some bottle sizes. I have two unfinished 44 bottle racks I got on sale at World Market but have to use my X box open rack for the bottles that don't fit. All sparkling bottles and the larger burgundian sized bottles are too wide for the holes of my racks.

Cost Plus World Market sells X styled cubes very cheaply for those not inclined to or (like me) too lazy for tools.

Corrado wrote:I thought I had posted the "Wine X" version of the cube here, but I didn't, so here's the two 2'x2' cubes I built in varying styles. The "X" style on top was easier to build. The only additional tool I used was a 7/8" wood-cuttin drill bit to drill a hole in the center of each of the cross members and then used the saw to cut a slot into each board. I then fit the boards together to make the X as shown.




Mock-up with bottles


...and the finished product (with 'real' bottles and on top of the orignal wine cube/diamond.

You know man, I see the bottles, I count the bottles, I know how big bottles are...and yet I had no idea how big these things were until I saw the other picture that had your wine stash all around. These cubes are huge. Well done. But, being from Cali I have to ask, are those things secured to the wall? Sure I may be overly quake sensitive but I worry about all those wonderful wines going kablooie.

Corrado wrote:...and the final version (sans wine)...

ok my brain can't comprehend. Can you show this to us WITH the bottles and also with the rest of the cellar around it. I can't decide if my brain is making this way to big, or way to small. ( and I suspect both at the same time.)

Corrado wrote:Better?

sick

Corrado wrote:Had several PMs for folks asking about where to find this thread. Seems the Humbug! and Wellington offerings are strapping folks for space!

I think I just need to pay you to make one for me and ship it I can cook desserts, but anything with a hammer and things get destroyed

Corrado wrote:Better?

that is a bad-ass wine rack. guess you really need to have a 'lot' of several wines though.

nice work!

Corrado wrote:...and the final version (sans wine)...

Beautiful!

I'd like to vacation in your cellar. Do you rent by the week and would that come with a cabana boy? :o)

I REALLY need to decide how I'm going to start cellaring my wine, and fast. My little 12 bottle rack for "on hand" wines to drink is full, and with the Humbug and Mollydooker wines I just bought, there are going to be a case and a half of wine here today that don't have homes. Don't know if I'm going to build (or have built), or buy a 50-100 bottle cellar. Wish I was as handy with the woodworking as you Corrado, that last rack you built is amazing.

Thanks for the inspiration for my little rack in the bottom of my pantry:

elspankdog wrote:Thanks for the inspiration for my little rack in the bottom of my pantry:

That's pretty nice use of bottom shelf pantry space. Good work!

elspankdog wrote:Thanks for the inspiration for my little rack in the bottom of my pantry:

that is pretty nice, my pantry looks almost identical, and is cooler, I might consider the same thing...

yeah that is pimp as hell. My poor lopsided CorradoCube (tm) is just stashed beneath the basement stairs. Making a bottom "shelf" in the pantry would be awesome except our pantry gets really warm. Don't know if it backs on a duct or what but sometimes I actually leave the door open so that it cools out a bit. I'm sure it's not good for the oil and vinegar I stash in there.

Okay, I got inspired to build my own CorradoCubes(tm). They are in a closet in the coolest room in the house.



The photos make them look decent, but to a real woodworker, I'm sure they're like a five-year-old's finger painting.



I sorted by drinking window, with the bottles I could cellar the longest at the bottom. I thought I was going to run out of space, so I took out a dozen bottles with the longest drinking window (some Wellington Victory and some Rassmussen) and stashed them somewhere else, so I could shift everything else down. Turns out I have just enough space, so I may move them back.

-- T

timbyrd wrote:Okay, I got inspired to build my own CorradoCubes(tm). They are in a closet in the coolest room in the house.
-- T

They look sharp T, but, um, are they secured to the wall? After all, we are in earthquake country and I'd hate for all that fine bottleage to fall down go boom.

javadrinker wrote:They look sharp T, but, um, are they secured to the wall? After all, we are in earthquake country and I'd hate for all that fine bottleage to fall down go boom.

Hey ,

The upper two cubes are. Since they are in a closet with a wall to either side, I simply put a screw through the side of the cube into the wall.

But that doesn't mean that an earthquake wouldn't ejaculate the vibrating bottles from their rock steady container.

-- T

timbyrd wrote:Hey ,

The upper two cubes are. Since they are in a closet with a wall to either side, I simply put a screw through the side of the cube into the wall.

But that doesn't mean that an earthquake wouldn't ejaculate the vibrating bottles from their rock steady container.

-- T

Just a bump to move this back up. Especially since there is some interest in it again.

Oh man, this is just waaaaay cool! And I was just on the hunt for more wine storage units.

Hey....we should do a tasting/build-your-own-rack seminar!! (we can turn anything into a tasting)

wootvirgin69 wrote:Oh man, this is just waaaaay cool! And I was just on the hunt for more wine storage units.

Hey....we should do a tasting/build-your-own-rack seminar!! (we can turn anything into a tasting)

As long as I get the film rights .... Wine Tasting Wineaux using hammers and nails .... I can see it now .... America's Funniest Home Videos here I come ....

Corrado wrote:Nothing's better than an event involving alcohol and power tools.

EXACTLY!!

MarkDaSpark wrote:As long as I get the film rights .... Wine Tasting Wineaux using hammers and nails .... I can see it now .... America's Funniest Home Videos here I come ....

Three words - YOU WILL WIN. And as long as I get a portion of the proceeds (most likely to help pay the hospital bills), you're on.

So, who has the biggest tool shed to host??

WV69 wrote:Three words - YOU WILL WIN. And as long as I get a portion of the proceeds (most likely to help pay the hospital bills), you're on.

So, who has the biggest tool shed to host??

I totally would have done this myself, except I have nowhere to work. That might be a fun NoVA/DC event -- building wine cubes! We just need somebody with a space and tools.

Loweeel wrote:I totally would have done this myself, except I have nowhere to work. That might be a fun NoVA/DC event -- building wine cubes! We just need somebody with a space and tools.

Hm. If you're all willing to wander down to Fredericksburg, I might be able to talk the bro-in-law into letting us use his stuff. Except I then have no idea how I'd get mine back to Michigan. Maybe get the wood all cut and pieces together, then finish it off at home.

Loweeel wrote:I totally would have done this myself, except I have nowhere to work. That might be a fun NoVA/DC event -- building wine cubes! We just need somebody with a space and tools.

Ummmm....I was mostly kidding (like being mostly dead)?! But I agree that it would be a lot of fun, and extremely useful. I bet we'd get a huge participation...it would be kind of like shop class for wineaux! We would need someone who really knows what they are doing to lead this thing, and maybe (JUST maybe) we would have to leave the wine until the tools are "out of hand."

EDIT: Oh, and meant to say that I think F'burg is a little too far to make folks travel...should probably be inside of, or at least close to, the beltway.

Are we really going to do this??

Corrado wrote:Nothing's better than an event involving alcohol and power tools.

Sounds brilliant! And if anyone on the North side of Chicago has the space, power tools, and know how to do this sort of thing for me I will be happy to provide the alcohol. And of course the parts needed.

I was a little bored before lunch so decided to quote the wine racking discussion from the EHP thread over to here. Also because I wanted a central place for locating it myself. If any feel this deserves it's own thread or shouldn't be in this one, PM/chat me and I'll just start a new thread.

woopdedoo wrote:This holiday season, I will be unpacking the scores of wine in my basement and putting them on some sort of rack.

The question: What seems to work best as far as method of organization - and accounting for the likelihood of adding (and subtracting) from the inventory?

woopdedoo wrote:The question is more towards the organization aspect: Whites, Reds, Years, Varietals, Drinking windows, etc.

laxdad wrote:Well, I use the Adams "tinkertoy" racks because you can make them any shape you'd like. I have two racks, different shapes, I built a base with feet for each to keep them off the floor. Total of about 250 bottles at any given time.

With this arrangement, one rack is for "drink within the next year or three" (pretty much all of my whites except some reserve Reislings), drink-young pinot noirs, zins, blends, oddball gifts. The other rack is for wines that will keep (even if they are a drinker, like cabs) or that need to be cellared for awhile. This rack includes several (cough) PN's, zins, blends, merlots, cabs, cab francs, French and Spanish stuff I can't pronounce, etc.

Wines are stored vertically together, so I will take my most popular daily drinkers (pinot noir for me) and start a vertical run from the top (this rack is 12 high by 12 wide). If I know I will "re-purchase" that wine I will leave the blank spots as the wine disappears. If it is a "will not buy again", I move the wines to fill the blank spots. I try to keep the drinkers near the top and the other stuff nearer the bottom. Favorites on the left, remainder working right. This allows SWMBO to go pick a wine for guests if I am not around - good guests get the stuff on the left!

The "cellared" rack is about 20 wide x 6 high and is filled so that the harder-to-get-to section has those wines I don't want to disturb for several years.

Separate shelf for vertical bubblies, 375's and oddball stuff like the KR port collections still in the box, etc.

This is all in an unheated basement.

cheron98 wrote:The edges of my wine rack (the individual bottle one) are a little difficult to get bottles in and out of, so the ones I want to keep around for a while get put there. Less tempting for me to pull them out because they're less accessible. Then I have each couple of rows devoted to a varietal, and a few for blends. I keep whites on the bottom where the temperature is just slightly cooler so they're ready to go right out of the cellar. On each row, it goes by drinking window, with the ones ready to drink now in the middle, as they're most accessible that way.

I have a wine box rack thing where each bin holds two bottles, so I keep my doubles in there, sorted in the same manner. I also keep magnums & desserts in there.

I also have a case rack where I keep my multiples - there have to be at least 4 to qualify to move to the case rack. Again, whites at the bottom (though I don't have any of those right now). The rest of it is kind of unorganized, but given the nature of the rack, it doesn't NEED to be super organized.

Then I use my CellarTracker to tell me which rack each bottle is in, and I can find stuff fairly quickly from there

Would love to see other people's methods of organizing their wine to a manageable state (especially since I now got over 300 bottles) and would also love to see pictures of what people have done. Especially those who have "cheap" methods of doing so.

I organized my rack by varietal/shelf. Obviously some shelves share varietals, but the syrah and cab shelves are stuffed. The fridge is not organized but it only holds 36. The cube gets stuff that I have huge multiples of (EHP, Toothy, Wolftrap, etc). Everything is identified with a location in CT, with the rack shelves id'd as bins.

Corrado wrote:Nothing's better than an event involving alcohol and power tools.

And TimByrd is hosting such an event in March.