It's known on the grapevine that holding up every great wine collection is a just-as-great wooden or metal wine rack. To make sure you find a storage solution worthy of your prized collection, it's imperative to look for a sturdy yet stylish number to suit your home's decor.
VintageView, Alessi and X-cosrack are at the top of their game, creating rustic and chic wall-mounting, freestanding and countertop racks with modular and stackable designs. Cranville, meanwhile, are all about housing as many bottles as possible in your wine cellar or basement. Whatever you need, we've ranked the 10 best buys from Amazon, John Lewis, Argos and eBay to ensure no wine is left behind.
A wine rack works best when the integral points of type, material, bottle space, assembly and unique features have been accounted for. This simple yet informative buying guide will put these points through their paces in order to make picking from the top 10 a breeze.
Wine is best stored in a cool but not too dry place. This need for a little moisture in the air is to reduce the drying of the cork, with the wine spoiling as a result. Obviously, in the UK, this possibility is minimal but it's certainly smart to keep in mind when storing wines.
Wine racks come in a few varying types that are strictly influenced by where they're intended to be situated in the home. Standing up of their own accord, freestanding racks offer the greatest scope for size, suiting exciting wine collections with no endpoint in sight.
Counter or tabletop racks are good for storing a few bottles here and there and come in a wide range of stylish designs. Wall-mounting racks, on the other hand, can be a great space-saving option but they too are often worthy of being a home design feature in themselves.
There's not much point in having a pride-inducing collection of your favourite wines if your rack isn't up to scratch in terms of strength and security. The storage you end up selecting needs to be built with a clear intention of longevity at the forefront of its construction.
The hardwearing metals of steel and iron are at the very core of most racks, but especially freestanding ones owing to their unmatchable strength when faced with multiple bottles of wine. The great thing about these metals is their ability to be transformed into a vast array of both rustic and modern designs to suit all types of decor.
Wood is another stronghold of the wine rack market, with hardwoods and bamboo being good choices for their strength and durability. A combination of wood and metal is popular too, as natural materials can soften metal's harder appearance. Materials to avoid are the less sturdy wood imitations of MDF and chipboard, as well as plastic.
Another important aspect that relates to the functionality of a wine rack is how many bottles it's built to house. The spectrum for this is vast; some of the smallest countertop designs hold a maximum of four bottles, while the grandest of freestanding racks store up to sixty!
Choose a rack's bottle capacity depending on, not how many bottles you have right now, but how many you envision in your wildest wine-ageing dreams. There's nothing sweeter than ageing your own wines, only to one day pop the cork and reward yourself for your patience.
If though, you're someone who just wants a few young wines at hand for a cheeky drink here and there without the commitment required for ageing, then a 4 - 6 bottle rack will suffice just fine. Look for 9, 12 or 42 bottle designs if you'd like a happy midpoint between the two levels.
Although this point could be chuckled at by the DIY enthusiasts out there, whether a wine rack comes fully assembled or needs building could be a major deal-breaker for some. And by some, we mean the folk who would rather be enjoying themselves and drinking their wine, instead of spending hours fiddling with screws and upside down instructions.
Unfortunately, the rule book is out the window where self-assembly is concerned, with some of the larger freestanding racks coming fully assembled while other smaller countertop options require a few screws to secure. So be sure to look out for what each product demands of you in terms of time, tools and expertise.
A clever way for wine racks to stand out from the more standardised pieces is to incorporate some fresh and innovative features. One such feature we recommend in freestanding racks is a tabletop. A tabletop, however small it may be, offers you a second use and gives the rack more of a purpose as a piece of furniture.
Another feature that's sought-after in wall-mounting designs is the possibility to house wine glasses for easy, on-show access. By including rungs into their designs, wall-mounters are able to up-end glasses, suspending them safely for effect.
Other features include collapsing opportunities to ensure that wherever you go, your wine will follow, or more style-focused features like zig-zag shelves, minimal designs and a marble veneer.
With the points of the buying guide fresh in your mind, it's now time to revel in the 10 best wine racks found online. This list is as eclectic as the British people's drinking and storing needs, with style and design at the forefront of each design. Sit back, get comfy and pour yourself a glass in preparation!
£52.99
Type | Freestanding |
---|---|
Material | Wood |
Max. Bottles | 60 |
Assembly Required | Yes, interlocking design (no nails or screws required) |
Unique Features | Natural wood, good for varnishing |
Size | L 110 x W 30 x H 71.5 cm |
£42.99
Type | Wall-mounting |
---|---|
Material | Steel |
Max. Bottles | 12 -16 |
Assembly Required | Yes, needs wall-mounting |
Unique Features | Rungs to fit 12 wine glasses |
Size | L 50 x W 20 x H 17 cm |
£65.79
Type | Freestanding |
---|---|
Material | Metal, marble veneer MDF |
Max. Bottles | 11 |
Assembly Required | Yes |
Unique Features | Marble veneer tabletop, shaped like a wine glass |
Size | L 30.5 x W 38 x H 84 cm |
£12.99
Type | Countertop |
---|---|
Material | Steel, bamboo handle |
Max. Bottles | 9 |
Assembly Required | No |
Unique Features | Collapsible |
Size | H 36 x W 30cm x D 17 cm |
£55.10
Type | Countertop |
---|---|
Material | Thermoplastic resin |
Max. Bottles | 6 |
Assembly Required | Yes |
Unique Features | Modular pyramid shape |
Size | H 24 x W 15.5 x D 34.5 cm |
£30.00
Type | Countertop |
---|---|
Material | Bamboo |
Max. Bottles | 10 |
Assembly Required | No |
Unique Features | Set of 2, horizontal and vertical storing options |
Size | H 53 x W 13.4 x D 12.4 cm |
£37.99
Type | Countertop |
---|---|
Material | Iron, wood |
Max. Bottles | 12 |
Assembly Required | Yes |
Unique Features | 3-tiered, stackable |
Size | L 41.9 x W 17.8 x H 41.9 cm |
£95.95
Type | Wall-mounting |
---|---|
Material | Metal |
Max. Bottles | 9, 18 and 27 options available |
Assembly Required | Yes |
Unique Features | Minimal |
Size | L 13.3 x W 30.5 x H 91.4 cm |
£65.00
Type | Freestanding |
---|---|
Material | Metal, wood |
Max. Bottles | 12 |
Assembly Required | No |
Unique Features | Zig zag framework |
Size | H 62 x W 33 x D 20 cm |
£47.88
Type | Freestanding |
---|---|
Material | Galvanised steel, dark oak stained wood |
Max. Bottles | 42 |
Assembly Required | No |
Unique Features | UK manufactured |
Size | L 62 x W 22 x H 62 cm |
Image | 1 ![]() Cranville | 2 ![]() John Lewis & Partners | 3 ![]() VintageView | 4 ![]() X-cosrack | 5 ![]() Argos Home | 6 ![]() Alessi | 7 ![]() SimplyWire | 8 ![]() Kings Furniture | 9 ![]() AcornFort | 10 ![]() Sogesfurniture |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Name | 42 Bottle Wine Rack | Zig Zag Table Wine Rack | Wall Mounted Wine Rack | 3-Tier Wine Rack | 2 Bamboo Wine Racks | Noé Modular Wine Rack | Collapsible Wine Rack | Marble Finish Wine Rack | Wall-Mounting Wine Holder | 60 Bottle Wine Rack |
Features | The Best Classically Styled Oak Rack | Design Focused Yet Practical Too | Show Off Your Collection With High-Quality Steel and a Satin Black Finish | A Stackable Design Gives You Even More Choice | Choose Vertical or Horizontal Storage With This Earthy Set of Two | Modular and Style-Focused for Designer Homes | Sleek and Collapsible for Small Homes or Trips Away | A Quirky Wine-Shaped Rack With Faux Marble Top | Safely Stores Your Wine and Your Glasses | A Mighty 6-Tier Cabinet to House 60 of Your Finest |
Price | £47.88 | £65.00 | £95.95 | £37.99 | £30.00 | £55.10 | £12.99 | £65.79 | £42.99 | £52.99 |
Type | Freestanding | Freestanding | Wall-mounting | Countertop | Countertop | Countertop | Countertop | Freestanding | Wall-mounting | Freestanding |
Material | Galvanised steel, dark oak stained wood | Metal, wood | Metal | Iron, wood | Bamboo | Thermoplastic resin | Steel, bamboo handle | Metal, marble veneer MDF | Steel | Wood |
Max. Bottles | 42 | 12 | 9, 18 and 27 options available | 12 | 10 | 6 | 9 | 11 | 12 -16 | 60 |
Assembly Required | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes | Yes, needs wall-mounting | Yes, interlocking design (no nails or screws required) |
Unique Features | UK manufactured | Zig zag framework | Minimal | 3-tiered, stackable | Set of 2, horizontal and vertical storing options | Modular pyramid shape | Collapsible | Marble veneer tabletop, shaped like a wine glass | Rungs to fit 12 wine glasses | Natural wood, good for varnishing |
Size | L 62 x W 22 x H 62 cm | H 62 x W 33 x D 20 cm | L 13.3 x W 30.5 x H 91.4 cm | L 41.9 x W 17.8 x H 41.9 cm | H 53 x W 13.4 x D 12.4 cm | H 24 x W 15.5 x D 34.5 cm | H 36 x W 30cm x D 17 cm | L 30.5 x W 38 x H 84 cm | L 50 x W 20 x H 17 cm | L 110 x W 30 x H 71.5 cm |
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There's nothing quite as sorry as a half-full wine rack, except perhaps an empty one. By ranking the 10 best red, white and alcohol-free wines online, we've given your new purchase a kickstart into its long and illustrious career of storing your vino.
A wine rack is a simple enough household item, that, for better or worse, has been gifted with the huge responsibility of keeping your collection safe. We hope you were able to find a suitable option from this top-shelf list, one that'll allow you to rest and drink easy knowing your wines have been accounted for.
Author: Connor Macanally
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