The Auswine Forum

Anyone know of any good places to buy cellar racks? Don't want flashy and don't have an enormous budget, but do have a good cool sheltered room and an appropriate cooler on the way. Want racking for about 700-800 bottles. Anyone got any experience with this?

Genuine inquiry.

thank you in advance,

Richard.

In line with the suggestion made by Tyson in his book (see www.cellaringwine.com ) I used weldmesh sheets. It comes in 100mm squares which will cope with all but the fattest Burgundy and Rockfords Black Shiraz bottles. Actual weldmesh sheets vary in size - mine are 1200mm x 1800mm ie. 12x18 bottles and cost about $50 each. So $100 buys you storage for 216 bottles. Hard to beat those rates...

No experience with pricier options.

cheers,
Graeme

GraemeG wrote:In line with the suggestion made by Tyson in his book (see www.cellaringwine.com ) I used weldmesh sheets. It comes in 100mm squares which will cope with all but the fattest Burgundy and Rockfords Black Shiraz bottles. Actual weldmesh sheets vary in size - mine are 1200mm x 1800mm ie. 12x18 bottles and cost about $50 each. So $100 buys you storage for 216 bottles. Hard to beat those rates...

No experience with pricier options.

cheers,
Graeme

Agreed, with limited experience I too, years ago, made racks fixed to the walls with weld mesh and Timber.

Worked beautifully.

Looked like crap, but I didn't care.

Sounds like a very promising alternative!

Are you saying that they are pretty much all ready to go? What depth are they? (or do you have to weld them?) Where do you buy them?

thanks for your help,

Richard.

Richard wrote:Sounds like a very promising alternative!

Are you saying that they are pretty much all ready to go? What depth are they? (or do you have to weld them?) Where do you buy them?

That's right, you buy the mesh, and make it yourself, so you can determine the depth. You can also determine the angle your bottle lie on by having the front sheet of weldmesh raised slightly higher than the rear sheet.

I bought weldmesh direct from Smorgan years ago & made a rack for 24 dozen bottles for about $70.

Cheers,
Frank.

OK, I think weldmesh is commonly used in the construction industry as the 're-inforcing' in reinforced concrete. Anyway, it's simply a noughts & crosses lattice of steel rods - already welded, naturally. Of course, to store bottles, you'd need to buy 2 'sheets' of the stuff, then mount them somehow parallel to each other, but a bottle height apart. Thus you lie the bottle down with the neck in one sheet and the punt in the other.

I found a photo of something representative via Google; try this - although note that the fencing varieties are quite flexible. You'll want thicker steel and more sturdiness for cellar racks.

In Sydney, a large-sized Bunnings might carry something appropriate.

cheers,
Graeme

It may be an obvious comment....but make sure the mesh is galvinised if possible. No rust on labels!

I also picked up a more professional rack with wood and plastic coated mesh once at auction with Lawsons in Sydney. Cost me all of $5, and a further $40 to courier it home!

cheers,

David M.

I have some Jarrah racking for about 10 dozen bottles, which is surplus to requirements. If there is anyone in Perth who would like them for the right price (free) and is willing to collect drop me an email (peter.gigi@bigpond.com).

I out grew the wooden variety and now use weld mesh... definitely the best value for money racking (apart form the above)

Peter.

I also use weldmesh but have been struggling with:
1. the ideal width to have the sheets of weldmesh apart; and
2. how to fix it to the wall/wood

Any thoughts would be appreciated.
Cheers

I have used smooth galvanised weldmesh from Bunnings, cost less than $20 per 1200 x 1800 sheet as they price matched Robot trading (Bunnings was closer to home). Its the 100mm square stuff of about 4 or 5mm dia wire. Don't get the concrete reo style with all the ridges for the concrete to grip, as it will tear labels when you slide the bottles in.

Some people user a router or table saw to cut a groove in timber frame to space the mesh, an easy way is to us strips of timber nailed to main piece of wider timber, or even just regularly spaced screws either side to hold the mesh to your surrounding timber frame. There's a fact sheet on the ninemsn "ourhouse" site but these days you need a subscription to see it!
Google DIY wine rack shirl to find it.

To get ideas for spacing, look at commercial racks where the bottle is supported front and rear - around 160 - 180 mm seems about right. Put an occasional spacer of some sort between the mesh (and back to the wall) to stop any sway/flex when loaded.

Cheap as chips too - a pair of sheets can store 216 bottles - thats less than 25 cents per bottle. I reckon I saved $1000-$2500 compared to commercial systems to get 720 spaces in mesh racks, plus shelf space for 20 cases on top.
Lots of friends reckon they look great once they filled up with bottles, as you can see the bottles easily, unlike Bordex, which looks nice empty, but pretty much hides the bottles and labels from view.