Don’t Whine, Just Wine

Are you an overworked parent looking for a stress buster? Or an exhausted employee? Well, whoever you are, we all know wine doesn't discriminate. 

After a really long day, I'm sure you would love to come back to a quiet corner in your home, your favourite songs on play, sip some wine and rejuvenate your soul. Even if you're on the other side of the coin and like to socialise more often, hosting friends and family for drinks, this one's for you.  

With some cool wine rack hacks, you`ll love this personal space of yours even more.

From simple wine holders to fancy display sets, you have a wide range of options to stack your favourite sips in.

For those that are not concerned with style, a simple wine drawer or a wine shelf is a basic go-to. Redwood and Mahogany, the most popular woods, in terms of resistance to rot, mildew and insects are the perfect choice for building your custom wine cellar. 

However, if you`re enthusiastic about collection and display, there are a vast multitude of options you can choose from. You could try a distinctive decorative piece attached to a wall that serves the purpose of a wine holder. A cliché inbuilt shelf or wall attached cabinet is always an option to display your collection. You can spice it up and choose to make it more stylish with metal pieces carved in different shapes and sizes but solid enough to prevent mishandling in clumsy situations. A little bit of scrolling through online websites could be a huge advantage if you`re genuinely wanting your storage racks to stand out.

Work-tops.com has come up with an excellent sustainable strategy for the stone industry. Our unique remnant section in the website is an effort to put what would be a waste into use.  In simple terms, the remnants are nothing but left out portions from previous kitchen fabrication projects being reused creatively as in this case where wine racks can be DIY-ed for a unique look.

Some basics to remember for storage:

Right temperature: Although ideal temperature can vary from one variety to another, looking for somewhere between 10°C-13°C is generally a good idea. Choose a spot where temperature is likely to be more stable and not deviating often. Extreme heat can cause your wine to mature faster thus posing a big threat for those aiming for long term storage.

Extreme cold: Long-term storage in a fridge is a no-no. There is a chance of your wine flavour becoming dull if kept in extreme cold for too long. Apart from this, strong odours from food in the fridge could affect the quality of it and the dry environment could cause the cork to shrink thereby increasing the chances of wine getting oxidised. However, a few days or week in the fridge isn’t going to be a problem.  

Horizontal positioning: It is advised to store wine bottles in a lying position rather than standing, especially if you`re someone that prefers natural corks. The reason being prevention of your wine from aging prematurely. What happens is if a wine bottle is kept standing for too long it will lead to cork getting dried which causes shrink thus letting in air inside the bottle. This faulty oxidisation will cause the wine to lose its originality as taste and flavour both get altered. Therefore, it is best advised to store bottles horizontally which ensures moistness of a cork at all-times, which means it will be swollen and properly sealed in simple terms thus securing the wine at its finest. 

Lighting:  Transparency of most bottles means the wine is liable to light exposure and constant exposure is not good. UV rays have a degrading impact on the taste, smell and appearance as well. You don’t want a wine with an unappealing aroma and taste, do you?  So, for reasons stated above, it is recommended to store wine bottles at darker and cooler places.