Posted on October 19th, 2011 by Lynsey, under Wine, Wine Racks · No Comments
We all need a little helping hand when it comes to choosing items for the home, or gifts for friends or family. A wine rack adds a certain personality to the room or house in which it sits, and as the choice of racks continues to grow, Wineware is happy to help you discover what is on offer.
Start your own terracotta army… of wine racks
Terracotta has been used extensively for thousands of years in sculpture and pottery, as well as in the buildings of past civilisations. Of course it is best known for the terracotta warriors, discovered in 1972 in China. What you didn’t know is that the natural properties in terracotta make for a great wine rack. We know this material is built to last, but the actually properties that make up terracotta mean it’s the perfect temperature for storing wine. Even when it comes to cooling wine, an individual hexogen can be soaked in water, and the terracotta’s natural cooling properties will keep it cool.
Our terracotta wine rack is the perfect choice for a kitchen wine rack, made up of individual hexagons that can be put together in a range of different ways to fit in your kitchen. And as your wine collection grows you can easily add more hexagons and relocate the rack to a cellar or wine room.
Modern wine racks make great gifts
With Christmas just around the corner you might be looking for a great alternative to the usual presents. A modern wine rack is a welcomed addition to the home, particularly because smaller models can do the job of holding your wine, as well as adding to the décor.
So if you often have bottles of wine lying around, or notice your friends or family do, you might wish to look at our range of modern wine racks. Stylish and very affordable, these display racks come in a variety of designs from cork-screw shaped, to mirrored design, to standard metal wine racks that just do the job.
Which wall mounted wine rack?
When deciding on a wine rack you need to consider which type will best suit your home. When it comes to a wall mounted wine rack here is some of the situations where they are the best option:
- In a kitchen, small flat or bungalow
- If you have a small collection of wine
- If you have a smaller budget for a wine rack
I considered adding “If you have your own home bar” to the list, which is also true. However, you may have room for other types of wine rack too, such as the terracotta’s. The wall mounted wine rack is the ultimate space-saver and adds elegance to your room. The main decision you have to make is whether to focus on something that may hold more bottles but might not look as good or sacrifice a little bit of practicality for some ‘Va Va Voom!’
Metal Wine Rack vs. Wooden Wine Rack
Deciding whether you want or metal wine rack or a wooden one comes down to a few factors – taste being one of the main ones, but others to consider include budget, space available, style of the room in which the wine rack will be placed and of course, wine collection size.
Typically, you can buy a metal wine rack that holds up to 72 bottles here at Wineware. However, if you want a larger collection, wooden wine racks can hold up to 144 in our Modularack range, and our made to measure solid oak wineracks can hold even more.
To hold over 48 bottles, wooden wine racks tend to cost less than the metal ones. However, on smaller racks the prices are comparable, depending on model. When it comes to style you need to consider the room, décor and other furniture. A metal wine rack may sit better in a modern kitchen and an oak or stained wood wine rack may look better in a room more traditionally decorated.
We hope you found this short guide useful, feel free to browse the various wine racks we have on offer on our site, including the racks focussed on in this post.
Posted on October 17th, 2011 by Chris, under News · No Comments
The Wine Edition of the Rugby World Cup Final 2011
So after 40+ games in one of the finest sporting nations in the World, the Rugby World Cup is coming to its climax. It’s been a fairly disappointing and quite frankly, laughable campaign from an English perspective what with allegations thrown left right and centre, a gum shield incident and then a swimming race! (Why is it always us?!) At least however, we’ve got two nations in the final that we can connect with in the wine world, the old fashioned and claret driven French against the white wine lovers and young red guns of New Zealand.
The French produce a vast amount of different bottles and vintages of fantastic red, white and sparkling wines, from the world renowned regions of Bordeaux, Burgundy, Champagne, Rhone, Alsace, Loire etc. Their old, traditional habits are still visible and recognisable today and the stubbornness of certain regions not to join in with the modern ways of screw caps and to continue, in vast numbers, with corks, is one I agree with. Their production methods are becoming better every year and are based in the modern era, although traditional values are kept and are the equal of other wine producing nations as they pump out 7 to 8 billion bottles of wine per year.
Their Southern Hemisphere opponents New Zealand, most wine consumers think, play slightly second fiddle to their greatest rivals Australia a lot of the time and the Wine World is no exception. The Australians produce fantastic Shiraz and Cabernet Sauvignon, whilst New Zealand takes the white wine option of perfecting Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc. Oz Clarke is big admirer of the Kiwi’s Sauvignon Blanc and has described it as “arguably the best in the world” and this area is undoubtedly 100% one of the world’s Premier Sauvignon Blanc producers.
So as we’re talking wine, I think France rule the world and therefore they win this battle by default, but if we’re talking Rugby I think New Zealand are going to tear the French apart and celebrate being the World Champions in their own back yard. I’m just glad the final wasn’t Namibia V Scotland!
Posted on September 29th, 2011 by Chris, under Wine Rack Accessories, Wine Racks · No Comments
Collecting wine is an enjoyable and fascinating hobby for many people not only up and down the country, but globally across the World. There are a few differing reasons as to why wine is collected, it could be just for fun, an individual or companies financial gain, generally stored for drinking or for hotels, restaurants and bars. One thing remains in all of this though, and that is that wine should be treated with the greatest of care.
Wine Bottle Neck Tags / Labelling
Wine is usually stored in wine racks, but this can vary, whether it’s a traditional wine rack, a fancy modern wine fridge or simple but effective, wine cellar cubes. A problem with storing wine can be that it’s a nightmare to find certain bottles if you have a large and spread out collection. A simple solution to this is to use wine bottle neck tags to label each bottle, a select row or column or a certain wine type or range. It really does make it a lot easier to find and pin point that bottle of Red you were previously struggling to find!
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Wine Cellar Sleeves
Another annoyance that can occur when storing wine actually occurs when a bottle is retracted from the storage position. We sell Wine Bottle Cellar Sleeves which are a great addition to any collection or cellar. The cellar sleeves act as a protector for the label against dust, stains, insect marks and damp and even between the bottle and the rack as they minimise any tearing of the label when bottles are withdrawn from the rack without the usual care. These are ideal for wine label lovers, hotels and restaurants as there is nothing worse than being presented with a nice bottle of red at the table with half the label missing!
Label Protectors
The Label Protectors can also be used for preventing labels from ripping, but can only be used in conjunction with traditional wine racking. The Label Protectors sit nicely on the metal part of the rack which the bottle neck is placed on. When a bottle is drawn out of the rack, the label hits a piece of smooth plastic rather than hard edged metal.
Bottle Protector Sleeves
The Protector Sleeves are a good combination of the previous two, but can also be used in transport as they supply more protection to the bottle. The polypropylene sleeves are easy to use, simply feed them over the neck and place over the largest diameter of the bottle. These also prevent labels from snagging which is a huge plus point when collecting wine.
Wine collecting can be an expensive and time consuming past time, but just a few simply things can prevent your collection from losing value because of a few snagged labels and makes it easier to find those wines you long for to match your food with!
Click here for more Wine Rack Accessories.
