From the moment that corks were invented in the 1600s, wine lovers have been trying to find the best way to store their collections. A carefully aged wine will improve in aroma, flavour, and value, which is why building a wine cellar is an aspiration held by many vino aficionados.
But before you can start impressing guests with a new wine wall or cellar, you need to understand the precise wine rack dimensions and other measurements involved in safely storing your collection. 

As the experts in custom-built wine cellars, Air Shepherd is your go-to resource for all the technical information you need before starting your own cellar journey.

Standard Wine Bottle Dimensions

Let’s begin with the basics: how tall is a bottle of wine? Wine bottle sizes vary across varietals, regions, and volumes. You’ll need to consider what types of bottles you have (or will have) when you’re picking out wine shelves to make sure your collection fits comfortably. The width and height of a wine bottle will depend on its style:

1. Standard (or Bordeaux) Bottle

  • Volume: 750mL
  • Dimensions: 292mm H x 75mm Dia.

2. Champagne (or Burgundy) Bottle

  • Volume: 750mL
  • Dimensions: 292mm H x 89mm Dia.

3. Magnum Bottle

  • Volume: 1.5L
  • Dimensions: 373mm H x 113mm Dia.

If you collect a lot of sparkling or Magnum bottles, you’ll need wine racks that can accommodate a larger wine bottle diameter. For many wine collectors, the top shelf of a wine rack is the ideal spot for champagne, as the depth isn’t constrained by another shelf above. As you can leave the neck of your wine bottle projecting beyond the edge of the shelf, the wine bottle height is a less crucial factor.

Essential Wine Rack Measurements

Thanks to years of experience, the team at Air Shepherd can look at your available space and quickly determine how many wine racks can fit in your planned cellar. If you’re new to designing wine cellars, you’ll need a little more detail.

The wine bottle holder slot in a wine shelf is known as a ‘cradle’. Most wine cellars for serious collectors will have racks of single cradles, but some fashionable wine shelves will feature double or triple cradles that allow you to stack wine bottles on top of each other.

Most single cradles have slots 90mm wide and a depth of at least 300mm to account for average wine bottle dimensions. However, this sizing will depend heavily on the manufacturer. At Air Shepherd, we fabricate custom metal wine racks, meaning we can craft cradles specifically to fit your collection.

When considering how many wine racks you can fit, you’ll also need to consider access clearance. Cellars are often smaller spaces, but you’ll still need space to comfortably walk in, pull out bottles of wine, and turn around. The minimum unobstructed width for a path of travel is 1000mm. The turning space required for a 90-degree turn is 1500mm by 1500mm. This is the clearance you’ll need to factor in when measuring up your space.

Climate Control Considerations

It’s not just about what dimensions you can physically fit — it’s about how many bottles of wine you can store while maintaining climate control. When picking your wine rack size, you’ll need to consider where in the space you’re going to install your wine cellar climate control system. For proper ventilation, you will require an air inlet and outlet, and you’ll need to make sure they’re not directly across from each other (which creates a draft) or too close to the wine. You’ll also need to make sure that your wine racks aren’t stacked too close to each other, as climate control requires airflow around the bottles.

Your Wine Deserves the Best

If all of this discussion surrounding wine rack dimensions makes you want to crack open a bottle of Pinot, let Air Shepherd take the stress out of planning your cellar. Our team offers a full-service solution; simply show us inspiration pictures or sketches of your dream cellar, and we’ll transform it into a design that we can bring to life. We’ll build the cellar, custom fabricate the metal shelving and doors, and install the climate control system you need to protect your vino. You spent a long time building your wine collection — store it safely and in style with a cellar from Air Shepherd.