Tiny Space, Big Taste: Unique Wine Storage Rack Solutions

My wine storage rack transformation: From chaotic collection to organized library!

Being a wine influencer is truly a dream come true. Sometimes, I still can’t believe that I receive so much wine for free because of the amazing platform and community that we have built together.

In addition to receiving a ton of wine in PR, I love to go shopping for wine, and I travel a lot, enjoying bringing home bottles from my wine adventures.

With that said, I have accumulated a lot of wine, and honestly, I didn’t have a great organizational system. I would just get a bottle and put it on my wine storage rack, and in some cases, forget about it.

My wine rack was overflowing with dusty bottles, and I lost track of what was in my collection.

I got tired of this and decided it was time to create an effective system for managing my wine collection in my small apartment without a wine fridge or a wine cellar.

In this blog post, I am sharing how I got a hold of my wine collection in my small apartment with just a wine storage rack and a colored sticker system for easy identification.

Why Organization Matters

Let’s face it – there’s nothing worse than letting a good bottle go bad because you forgot about it! I know we hear the saying “aging like fine wine,” but most wines are meant for the here and now and are not meant to age at all.

So, getting a grip on my collection became my mission to avoid this!

Storage Space and Solutions

If you’re anything like me, you don’t have a wine cellar in your home, you don’t pay for offsite wine storage, and you don’t have a wine fridge. But, you LOVE wine and have a lot of bottles that you need to organize.

While having a wine cellar is a dream of mine, I have to work with what I have right now!

Currently, I organize my wine with a 75-bottle wine storage rack that I purchased online pretty inexpensively. It’s affordable and easily wall-mounted. This rack optimizes space while keeping bottles accessible.

GET YOURS HERE

The Organization Process

Step 1: Initial Cleanup and Sorting

First things first, I took all the bottles off the shelf and dusted them. There was so much dust, and I just could not handle it. *Makes mental note to dust this more often*

Step 1b: Separate Partially Consumed Bottles

When I was cleaning off my metal wine rack, I noticed that I had several bottles that I had used the Coravin on or bottles that I may have opened and put back on the shelf (who knows why). I took all those bottles off the wine storage rack and left them separate because I was worried about the integrity of the wine.

I already tried two that went bad, and I will continue to drink through those until they are gone.

Step 2: Organize by Country

After dusting the wines, I organized them by wine country. I found this exercise quite enlightening, as it highlighted the regions from which I frequently purchase or get wines and those I’m curious to explore further.

I had a lot of wines from California and France! On the other hand, with just one bottle of Hungarian Tokaj in my collection, I hope to explore Eastern European wines more this year.

Step 3: Categorize by Style or Variety

After all the wines were dusted and organized by country, I took a step further to categorize the wines by style or variety within each country.

For example, in the French wine category, I decided to keep all the regional wines together, so the wines from the Loire Valley, Beaujolais, and Bordeaux were all kept in the same area on the wine storage rack.

The same with California—I had a lot of California wine, so I kept all the Pinots, Cabernets, and white wines from California together.

IMPORTANT NOTE:

This is a working system, so you’ll have to look at your collection and figure out what system works best for the types of wines that you have.

Exceptions and Creative Choices:

One exception that I made in my initial organization setup is keeping all the rosé together. I found that I had a lot of rosé from France, but I had some California and other regions sprinkled in. But I just kept all those together for easy identification.

Another exception I made was for sparkling wine. The sparkling wine bottles are a bit wider at the base, so they are best on the top of the wine storage rack regardless of what region they are from.

I wish I had a shelf that could fit some of these odd-shaped bottles better, but again, we’re working with what we have.

Implementing the System

It’s time to put them on the shelf. For me, I put all the sparkling wines at the top, then the rosés, and then all my domestic bottles—anything local and then California. After that, I organize everything alphabetically.

I came up with this system because I knew what bottles I would pull frequently and replace frequently, so I decided to keep those towards the top of the wine stoage rack. You’ll have to do what works best for you and your collection.

Fun Wine Storage Rack Solution: Color-Coded Stickers

Now, the fun part – my color-coded sticker system.

My partner and I love to have wine on a random weeknight. Sometimes, we pair wines with what we cook for dinner or when watching TV. On some occasions, my partner wants to have wine without me (he has become a wine enthusiast, too).

So, to make it easy for him to pick a bottle and not have to worry about whether the wine is ok to drink or to consult me first, I created a color-coated system for identifying when to drink the wine.

I purchased a pack of small colored stickers to label the bottles.

Green sticker wine labels

Green stickers are for wines that are OK to drink now—these are everyday wines that are not meant to age.

Orange sticker wine labels

Orange stickers are for special bottles that we would save for a special occasion, maybe when we’re hosting or going to a friend’s house who’s having dinner, and we need to bring a gift.

Yellow sticker wine labels

Then yellow stickers are used for bottles that have come to me in PR, and I need to either use them for a brand collaboration or post them on my social media.

That is it as far as I went with color coding, but I can imagine there are a lot of creative ways that you can use stickers. For example, you may want to pick a color for bottles that you have been aging for five years or more, or you want to color-code special vintages.

The possibilities are endless, and you have to create a system that works best for you and your wine collection.

Evaluation and Adaptation

The sticker system isn’t set in stone. I’ll check in every few months to make sure I’m not missing out on hidden gems or letting precious bottles go to waste.

I’ll probably check the stickers once a quarter just to make sure I am moving through the wines that need to be consumed and that the wines are still correctly categorized.

Tips on Proper Wine Storage:

Regardless of what system you have for managing your wines, here are some general tips for properly storing them in your home.

Tip #1: Select a Safe Storage Location

Avoid places like the kitchen close to heating elements in your home like your water heater or other appliances that may increase in temperature, get cool in temperature, or cause vibrations as that can also have a negative impact on the wine.

Tip #2: Place Wines in a Temperature-Controlled Area

Put it in a place that is fairly temperature-controlled. If you’re not working with a cellar, it can be hard to achieve the perect cellar temparature of 55°F to 59°F, but you want to do your best! Make sure that it’s not too cold and not too warm.

Also, avoiding direct sunlight is crucial as this can cook your wines.

Tip #3: Position Cork-Sealed Bottles Horizontally

Bottles sealed with cork should be stored horizontally to keep the cork in contact with the wine so that it stays moist and expanded. If the wine cork dries out, it can travel and cause the wine to go bad.

Do your best to find a place in your home that meets these requirements when storing your wines.

Future Plans

I’m pretty happy with how my wine storage has turned out. Now that I have my bottles organized, I realize that I have way more wine than I thought, and I have a lot of bottles that I forgot about.

I’m glad that I went through this exercise, but now I need to find some additional storage. Getting a wine fridge is high on my wish list.

I will be doing a ton of research on the wine fridges and will try to pick a size that makes sense for what I have now but also allows room for growth in my collection.

Once I get a wine fridge, I’ll likely need to reevaluate my entire system. There are nicer bottles that I’ll want to keep in the temperature-controlled wine fridge, and I’ll keep the everyday drinking wines on the wine storage rack.

Look out for more to come as I evaluate the system. I hope this helps you, and I look forward to hearing about how you tackle your wine collection.

Conclusion

Wrangling a wine collection in a small space is an adventure in itself. Whether you’re a fellow influencer or just a lover of wine, finding your groove in organizing ensures every bottle gets its moment.

Share your stories, and stay tuned for the next chapter in my wine-taming escapades!

Wine Storage Rack Recommendations