Wine racks store and organize wine for oenophiles, or wine connoisseurs who care about all the particulars that are said to affect a wine’s taste. While no definitive proof exists for many of the most cherished beliefs held about such particulars, most wine-lovers follow various theories of wine storage as passionately as ever.
The use of wine racks is one such belief. It is generally held that wines should be stored horizontally, and most racks position bottles in just this manner. Some oenophiles contend that the best position is actually somewhere in between vertical and horizontal, and there, of course, racks that accommodate such theories.
Specialty models are available to suit special circumstances: obviously, big bottles larger than the standard 750-ml size require wine racks that feature stronger construction to handle the additional weight. Also, as wine itself becomes more common and less of a luxury, racks have become more diverse in their styling and designs in response to an ever more multifaceted market.
This is probably due in no small part to the “foodie” trend of the past decade, which itself is probably derived in large part from the popularity of cable television cooking shows. Thus, as more and more people get into wines, companies have made all kinds of racks in order to appeal to the sheer variety of consumers.
Such popularity has obscured another purpose of using a rack, which is to age the wine. Most people store wine just in order to keep them handy for consumption or, even, mere display and décor, but oenophiles store wine to age them in place of a proper wine cellar. Of course, many factors go into the aging of a wine – the aroma, color, mouthfeel, and taste reflect grape variety, vintage, the wine region, and the winemaking style – but storage conditions will also influence the result.