The Wine Butler

Very nice, I like it a lot. What kind of wood is it.

-- We are the people our parents warned us about.

I made this out of Birch, although it is not totally solid wood since the sides of the boxes are made out of birch plywood which I won’t do again. The next one will be totally solid wood, I am thinking of a combination of walnut and maple. The entire case and base will be walnut and then I am going to add a cheese and cracker serving tray that will set on top out of the maple.

Thanks for the compliment by the way

-- Joe Truehart, www.craftsmanswoodshop.com

If you don’t mind: What’s the standard inside dimension for each space holding a wine bottle?

-- Gary, Florida

I like to flexability of a modular system but it’s hard to find a nice one. This one does not even look modular, nice job.

-- If all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail!

Each square is 3.5” x 3.5” clear inside

-- Joe Truehart, www.craftsmanswoodshop.com

Yup it all comes apart. There only a couple of screws holding the top on. But remove those and then the boxes just lift off. The bottoms of the boxes is recessed so a 1/4” piece of plywood on top of the lower box will keep it aligned and stationary.

-- Joe Truehart, www.craftsmanswoodshop.com

Thanks Joe.

-- Gary, Florida

That is a very nice piece. The modular construction is quite interesting.
What does the basket of eggs have to do with wine (-:

I have one comment on making anything bigger. Having lived for many years in the wine mecca of the country, California I know that Wine needs to be stored at a constant temperature and the closer to 50 to 55 degrees the better. Storing a lot of wine at room or household temperatures (60 to 75 degrees) that fluctuate from night to day will lead to premature degradation of the wine in a short time. Even inexpensive wine needs proper storage.

-- Les B, Oregon

Beautiful.

Les B is technically correct, but—having just finished a wine rack, myself (and having a brother and SIL who are /stupid/ into wine)—I learned that you really need to “properly” store wine if it isn’t going to be drunk within a couple of months.

My 24 bottle rack is going to be for “drink soon” bottles. I’ll be doing something else for the basement—much cooler, much more constant temps.

Les? If you have other/better info, I’d surely be open….

-- -- Neil

Yes sir that is correct, and I do store we do store the majority of our wines in refrigerated cooler that holds quite a few more bottles than just these two cases. Like Beener said, this is where we store it once we bring it up from the basement. I am planning building a wine cabinet that has a built in cooler, but I have gotten around to it just yet.

The wine doesn’t sit out too long before it we drink it up, this is probably only about a months supply. I need to start a vineyard.

-- Joe Truehart, www.craftsmanswoodshop.com

This is great Joe

-- Jim from Heirloom Woodshop Southern Oregon

This is a great design. I would like to see your version with a cooler in it.

-- Ed E. " Taking one board at a time "

I agree. That is a very nice wine butler. Do you know if wine has a high enough alcohol content to dissolve the shellac?

-- "A goal without a plan is a wish."

NBeener,

I have nothing particularly more enlightening on wine worth hashing over. While temperature is important a constant temperature is even more critical. The higher the temperature the faster the wines age and constantly varying temps are the worst. Keeping a few bottles in a nice wine butler like this one is very attractive and convenient. However most red wines should be served at about 60-65 degrees (lower than most people keep their homes) and white wines should be chilled. My general view on wine is if you taste one you really like you need to buy one or more cases of it because you may never be able to get that particular vintage again. Therefore you need a place to properly store your cases of wine. My wife is the real wine buff in our family and we have a temperature controlled storage room that holds about 20 cases. Most in racks but there is space for about 8 case boxes; and apples, potatoes, onions, garlic…all those things that keep better at 50 degrees.

-- Les B, Oregon