How To Organise Your Wine Collection

If you’re a wine lover and want your wine collection to be organised in the right way, then it’s important that you have good storage space for your wine - and that you know how to organise it in the best possible way.

If you have an extensive wine collection, it can be a lot more difficult than just putting reds on one shelf and white wines on another. Everybody is different, so the way you organise your wine may be different from your friend or colleague - but many people will organise their wine either by price, type, age, region, or producer.

Keep reading for more information on wine storage options, and for tips on how to organise your wine collection in an efficient and tidy way.

 

Where Can I Store My Wine?

Wine has an optimal storage temperature which can help the wine age in the best possible way, and bring out the right flavours, textures, and aromas. This is why wine is best stored either in a wine fridge or in a wine cellar - at anything between 11 and 14 degrees Celsius depending on the wine type.

 

Wine Fridge

A wine fridge is a unit that stores bottles of wine at a chilled temperature to keep your wine fresh and well preserved. Many wine fridges have different temperature settings, which means you can have some bottles of wine storing in the long term, and bottles ready to be served. Serving wine at the optimal serving temperature will make your wine taste fresher, as it can bring out the right aromas and flavours.

Wine fridges come in different shapes and sizes, and there are many different designs that offer different things. You can find wine fridges with displays, with special lighting, and with different shelves - sliding shelves, standard shelves, display shelves, and serving shelves.

You can also get wine fridges that integrate into your home, wine fridges that stand alone wherever you choose to put them, and built-in wine fridges. Each has its own perks, and some can be more expensive than others. Most wine fridges can accommodate standard-sized bottles of wine (75cl), but some will allow you to rearrange the shelves to fit in bigger bottles - such as Champagne or Prosecco.

 

Wine Cellar

A wine cellar is the best place you can store your wine collection, no matter how large or extensive your collection may be. In fact, many people with wine cellars will store hundreds of bottles of wine at a time. Like a wine fridge, wine cellars provide a cool space to store your wine at the optimal storage temperature. However, wine cellars are generally more expensive - as they’re typically much larger and can drive up your electricity bill.

The size, design, brand, and temperature controls can all affect how expensive a wine cellar is, but it will usually cost you thousands of pounds to built and maintain. Wine cellars are generally kept in an underground basement, but spaces can be converted into a wine cellar - for example, under the stairs. A wine cellar consists of organised shelves, which can help you order the wine in the way you want.

 

How Do I Organise My Wine Collection?

A good wine collection deserves to be organised in the best possible way. Whether you organise it by colour, price, age, or region, it’s sure to look great. However, certain ways of organising can be more convenient for you.

 

Type Of Wine

Many people choose to organise their wine collection by the type of wine. For example, people may have red wines on one side of the room or on one shelf, whites on another, and sparkling on another.

Having different sections for your white, red, rose, sparkling, and dessert wines can be super convenient. However, this is generally done by those who have smaller collections or who aren’t too fussed about grape variety or pairings. People with larger collections or wine cellars may still organise the wine by type but will organise the wines into different categories within the type (e.g by age, producer, or price).

 

Price

If you have a large wine collection, you most likely have a few expensive bottles that you’re either saving for a special occasion or you’re reluctant to open. If this is the case, it’s generally best to store them on the bottom shelves or at the back of your wine cabinets to prevent you from drinking them on impulse or by accident.

However, many people choose to display their most expensive wines - so if you can withstand the temptation of drinking them, you may want to place your most expensive wine bottles on display shelves. If you have wine that you want to get rid of or that you don’t mind opening, it’s a good idea to store these in a more accessible location - near the front of your wine fridge, or at shoulder height.

 

Age

Age is an important factor for any wine-lover - and many wines are meant to be stored for years in order to get the best aromas, flavours, and textures.

To organise your wine by age, take note of the ideal drinking dates. Store your bottles that are ready to drink closer to the top of your storage space, bottles that will be ready soon a little bit lower down, and the bottles that still have years left of storage near the bottom areas of your wine storage space. Labelling can also help you to keep your wine collection organised, so on small labels, write down the date of the wine and the ideal drinking date.

 

Region

If you have a large wine collection, you most likely have bottles of wine from various different regions around the globe. The way you organise it depends entirely on your preference - some people will have their French wines on one side of the room, with different regions on different shelves. If you have a preferred wine region, then you may keep bottles from this region on display shelves, or near the bottom of your fridge or cellar to prevent you from accidentally taking bottles.