If you are an expert carpenter, you can build them yourself. You would need to build a jig, or template, for the racking, and then assemble and build them yourself. If you plan to build many more wine cellars in the future, this is a good option. If you don’t plan to ever build a wine cellar again, this approach is a lot of work for not much gain.

You could also hire a professional to do the entire job for you. They will custom-build your racks exactly to your specifications, and they will install them perfectly. Of course you will pay a huge premium for the design and building of custom wine racks.

I went with the middle option: I bought a kit. With a kit the wine racks are partially assembled, so the installation time is greatly reduced. A kit still gives you the flexibility to design what you want. I believe it’s the most cost effective option: I get virtually custom made racks, at a fraction of the price of custom made.

To start, do your wine cellar planning, and determine how many bottles you plan to store. I decided that storage for around 1,200 bottles was perfect, based on the space I have available, and my expected consumption over the next few years. (If you consume two bottles a week, that’s 100 bottles per year; adding in parties and special occasions and gifts, that may double to 200 bottles per year, so 1,200 bottles is a six year supply. Of course some bottles are consumed young, and others are stored, so you will have to determine how much wine you have for laying down, and how much is for quicker consumption, which will impact on the size of your wine cellar, and the type of racking).

Types of wine cellar racking

Wine Cellar Standard Racking

The most obvious type of racking are racks that hold single, standard sized bottle. As you can see from the picture, the racks are based on long vertical support posts, with small pieces of wood inserted to hold the bottles.

If you have carpentry skills this type of rack is not that difficult to construct, but again, why bother when you can buy a kit. If you normally drink standard sized bottles, this racking is ideal. If you normally consume odd shaped bottles, either smaller or larger than normal, this racking may not be idea.

I’ve found that even smaller or larger bottles will generally fit in this type of racking.

Square Wine Cellar Racking

You can also buy racking that is simply a square, so that you can store large sized bottles, or even wine in boxes or shipping crates. In this picture the cross pieces, in the shape of an X, are removable. They are not fastened in, so you can simply pull them out to store full boxes or crates. Or, leave them in place, and you have four separate compartments per square to store your bottles.

My advice is to combine both types of racking for future growth, and for your changing needs. Perhaps you don’t drink champagne, so you don’t need a place to store magnum sized bottles. But what happens if in the future your tastes change? Having racking that will accommodate many different bottle sizes is the best option.

Wine Cellar Racking - Full View

In my cellar I combined both individual racks and a squares for boxes. As you can see in the picture, it’s nice to have a place to put boxes.

Some of your guests may enjoy beer, so being able to keep a case or two of beer cool in your wine cellar is a great option. Of course my kids also store their pop in the wine cellar, so again, some empty squares are useful for that as well.

Where to Buy Racking

Where to buy will depend on where you live. I purchased my racking, and my cooling unit, from Rosehill Wine Cellars in Toronto.

Racking in Boxes

They will ship anywhere in North America, although the farther away you live, the more it will cost. We actually made the trip to Toronto to see the cooling units and racking in person before ordering. I assume there are many other distributors around North America that can serve your needs.

The racking ships in big boxes, and the delivery man will probably be too lazy to carry the boxes downstairs for you (ours was, even though we offered him cash to do it), so be prepared to carry them downstairs yourself. I did it on my own; they are heavy, but not impossible for one person to lift.

Assembling Wine Cellar Racking

The final job is assembly. If you want to do the job in a few hours, you will need a nail gun. You could do it with a drill and a screwdriver, but since you will need to drill 1,000 holes, that approach will take you a week. If you don’t have a nail gun and an air compressor, buy one, or rent one. It will be money well spent.

Or, do what I did. Call up your brother in law, who happens to be a carpenter with his own tools, and offer him lunch and a few dollars cash, and you are away to the races. It worked for me.

It will take a while to assemble the first rack, but once you see how they go together all of the rest of them will go quite easily.