Avid wine collectors are fond of showing and sharing their prized bottles to friends and family, which is why vino aficionados often host wine tasting events. If you love holding wine parties, you can impress your guests even more if you showed them how you organized your wine cellar. There are numerous ways to organize bottles in a cellar. Our experts, here at Custom Wine Cellars San Francisco, share the top methods of organizing a wine collection.  

Organize Your Wine Cellar and Find Your Favorite Bottles within Seconds! 

You prepared for the evening’s party. The dining table is set – the fancy candelabras, gorgeous charger plates, posh napkins, and fine silverware are all in place. The aroma of roast chicken from the kitchen is filling your home. Your guests begin to arrive, and you cheerfully greet them. As you have them gathered, you serve the hors d’oeuvre that you’ve prepared. Then suddenly, you remember that you still haven’t selected a wine to serve tonight. 

You head towards your wine cellar. As you enter, the coolness of the room caresses your skin. Right at that moment, the perfect wine for the evening pops into your mind. You’re excited to serve your guests with your favorite bottle of Merlot you recently brought from France. However, you’re not sure where you kept that bottle in the cellar.  

You check every rack. You go through every row and pull out one bottle at a time. You scour the entire cellar as you inspect all the wine labels. As you search high and low, you begin to tell yourself, “I have to make time to organize this wine cellar!”  

It took you around 30 minutes to find the bottle, finally! As you take it to your guests, you promise yourself never to let that happen again. You decide that as soon as this party is over, you’re going to make sure that your wine collection is properly organized, so that it’ll be easier for you to find your favorite vintages.  

There are various ways to organize a wine cellar. The following are a few of the most popular methods: 

1. By Origin or Region 

Many wine drinkers won’t notice that there is a similarity in the characteristics of wines that are produced in the same region. Professional wine tasters, however, are thoroughly trained to distinguish and identify these unique characteristics. The flavors and characteristics of wines are largely determined by environmental conditions (terroir) of the region where their grapes were grown. The soil and climate conditions of a location influence the sweetness, acidity, and aroma of the wines produced in the area. To learn and observe the similarity among wines from the same region, group the bottles in your cellar according to their origin.  

2. By Timing 

A common misconception about wines is that you need to age a bottle before you open it. The truth is it depends on the wine. Some wines are made to be consumed as soon as they are bought, while there are bottles that should be allowed to age before they are opened. So that you won’t get confused on which wines to open now and which ones to age, you should organize your collection by timing. You can group your bottles into two categories: “drink now” or “drink later.”  

3. By Grape  

There is a wide variety of grapes used in winemaking. The type of grape used determines the distinctive characteristics of the wine produced. Wines made from Merlot grapes, for example, are noted to have the sensual aroma and sweet flavors of Black Cherry, Plum, and Raspberry. Wines produced from Cabernet Sauvignon grapes are full-bodied red wines that feature dark fruit essences and savory black pepper and bell pepper tastes. Sauvignon Blanc grapes are known to produce wines with bright fruity flavors of green apple, passion fruit, white peach, and lime.  

4. How to Organize Your Wine Cellar By Type of Wine  

The three basic wine types are red, white, and bubbly. Grouping your bottles according to these three types is the easiest and fastest way you can organize your wine cellar. This type of categorization of wines will make it quicker for you choose a bottle, depending on what dishes you have served. If you have seafood or chicken on the menu, you can select a bottle from the white wines. If you have red meat served, red wine would pair well with it. If you’re serving your guests cream cheese and bread, you can grab a bottle of sparkling wine from the bubbly bottles row.  

Purchase a Dependable Wine Cellar Inventory Software or App 

The advancements in technology are God’s gifts to modern man. Organizing a wine cellar is so much easier these days because of the existence of inventory apps. Not only will an efficient software help you keep track of all your wines, it will also help you locate your favorite bottles at exactly where they are in the cellar. There is a plethora of wine cellar tracking programs available on the market. Choose an app that allows you to track each bottle in your collection, know the right time a vintage should be opened, and enter your personal tasting notes for each of your wines.  

Organize Your Wine Collection in Durable, Custom-Designed Wine Racks

The methods enumerate above are all suggestions of how to organize your wine cellar. You can organize your collection in any way you want, as long as you are comfortable. In order to achieve your desired method of organizing your bottles, you need the appropriate racking system. Custom Wine Cellars San Francisco can build you custom-designed wine racks that will help you achieve your cellar organization goals! Whether you’re dreaming of suspended cable wine racks or the more traditional wooden wine racks, call us today, and learn about our products and services. Click here!