As your wine collection grows it's safe storage becomes an important factor and the use of wine racks has been used for many centuries as a practical solution. Wine storage racks come in many forms and styles, and are made from various materials, but they all satisfy one important criterion, in that they must store the bottles at a slight angle so keeping the wine in contact with the cork. This contact keeps the cork wet and so firmly stopping the bottle and thus allowing too much air to enter the bottle that would contaminate the wine by oxidation, a sure way to ruin any flavour.
So, from big commercial wine racks to small singular domestic wine racks, the correct storage of the bottle is paramount and an understanding of the anatomy of a bottle is crucial. Starting at the top there is the cork. Cork comes from the bark of cork oak trees chiefly found in Portugal and around the edges of the Mediterranean . It is the most efficient form of closure for wines requiring ageing and the minute exchange of air which develops character, although modern plastic tops can provide a complete seal more efficiently. A good wine storage rack is then essential for the ageing. Covering and protecting the cork is the capsule which is traditionally, and most people think ideally, made of lead, but often of tin-foil or plastic, it is to keep the cork clean, stops insects like the weevil eating it and help maintain moisture, stopping the cork drying out.
Moving to the shape of the bottle, its form has evolved along with the design of wine racks, especially wood wine racks. At the top of the bottle is the ullage. This is the gap between the closure and the wine. Ideally, you want as small a gap as possible, because a large gap will show that the wine has begun to seep through the cork; since it will be replaced by air at a faster rate, decay will set in. A well designed wine rack, be it a metal wine rack or a custom wood wine rack, will allow easy checking of the ullage.
The most common bottle shape is the Bordeaux shape bottle and this typically has high shoulders. It is the easiest of all to store, since the straight sides allow easy storage in the wine racks. After passing down the main body of the bottle that contains the wine labels, there is an indentation in the bottom of the bottle known as the punt, and this is designed to catch sediment. Since few cheap wines have sediment, many of them are in bottles without punts.
Given this evolution of the wine bottle, wine racks have developed accordingly and now there are many wine racks for sale. To sample the best range of styles of wine racks the internet offers a host of wine rack dealers offering on-line wine racks. So, from large commercial wine racks to wall wine racks, through metal wine racks and wood wine racks, the right choice of wine rack will aid the ageing of a burgeoning wine collection.
