The 8 Best Wine Box Shelves & Tables

You have a few options when building a DIY table or shelf made of wooden wine boxes. There's alot of considerations to take into account, and depending on the level of quality your looking for, the project can go from easy to complex pretty quickly.

The table or shelf doesn't need to be made from the actual boxes themselves. Every wine box has a branded side with the artwork of the vineyard that made it. This side can be removed from the box, and these sides are called wine panels which can be placed on surfaces like tiles. You can take an existing table and apply wine panels to a table-top like this:

or like this:

Although this kind of project appears easy (Simply lay down the panels onto the top) it's not. The first thing you'll need are alot of perfectly straight panels. Depending on the size of the table will depend on how many panels you'll need to cover (Approx. 2 panels covers 1 square foot).

In order to get one straight panel you'll need to dismantle at least two wine crates. This is because the wood from wine crates is unfinished and prone to bending. Your best bet is to order the wine panels already inspected, prepared and done so you can start the project immediately. Breaking up hundreds of wine crates is time-consuming, expensive, and there's no guarantee they'll all work for the project. Visit the Wine Panels page to order them directly.

Your next consideration for building this kind of table is it's condition. Does it need repair or finishing? Are you going to layer the panels on top of the original table-top, or replace it all together? The above tables are finished with the panels replacing the table-top and they're all flush to the sides of the table. These were professionally done and took several days to complete. Make sure to plan accordingly.

One of my favorite wine panel tables is this one:

It's a small outdoor table which appears like it was easily to put together. What makes it unique is that the panels were stained with 3 different colors. It's a work of art which inspires conversation without a doubt.

Another wine crate table option is to add drawers to one. This can be fairly easy so long as the drawer cubbies can fit wine crates. The average size of a 12 bottle wine crate is 19 1/2" L X 13" W X 7" H. You can buy wine crates for this project on the Wine Crates page. Below are some examples of tables turned into wine crate shelves:

Add a small wine rack to the bottom:

And finally a mix of both options: A table-top adorned with wine panels above a wine crate chest of drawers!

Lumberjocks

Last but not least, making a table out of the wine crate itself like this:

The tricky part is the legs. If you've ever built a chair or table you know! The leveling to assure balance is the most important aspect, but once that hurdle is done you have a very elegant and unique piece.

You can also put build several wine crates together to make a table that can include casters and shelves like this:

The table above is fairly elaborate with a glass table-top. Not an easy DIY. It gets alot easier sans the shelves and glass.

As you can see there's alot of room for creativity when it comes to wine crate tables, and there's new styles being invented everyday. When you decide to make one for yourself visit www.winecratesandboxes.com

Patrick
sales@winecratesandboxes.com
518-475-8625
www.winecratesandboxes.com

The 6 Most Traditional Wine Crate Designs

Original wine crates date back to the 16th century. Prior to that, wine was transported in wood barrels during the BC era, until the invention of glass wine bottles in the late 1500's AD. The ancient Romans picked up that wood barrel transport trick from the Gauls, and most French wine is still fermented in oak barrels to this day.

Not all French vineyards still make wooden wine crates however. Most French vineyards stayed in the family for many generations, but in the 19th century things started to change. It could be modern technology, or it could be that the younger generation wasn't interested in viticulture because there were so many options available to them. Whatever the reason, a great many vineyards in France were sold out in estate sales or mergers over the years.

Fortunately, many vineyards that were sold to outside parties still maintained the old ways because they worked so well. Some of the timelessly traditional wine crate designs are below:

Chateau Pape Clement (Chateauneuf Du Pape) - Named after Pope Clement V, the vineyard is one of the oldest in France

Domaine De Marcoux (Chateauneuf Du Pape) - Another vineyard from Chateauneuf Rhone, Domaine De Marcoux has been in the same family producing fine vintages since the 1300's

Domaine Beaucastel (Chateauneuf Du Pape) Yet another Chateauneuf. This is because the Rhone region of France is the oldest to have been producing wines similar to the ones we drink today. The most traditional styles of wine crate design labels are typically either Papal symbols or cotes of arms.

Chateau Grand Puy Lacoste (Medoc) Getting into Bordeaux, the 5th Growth Grand Puy Lacoste has been producing modern-style wines since the 16th century. The design is simple yet elegant and deeply engraved. Very traditional.

Chateau Y'quem (Sauternes) - One of the oldest and most renowned vineyards in Sauternes, the famous desert wine Chateau Y'quem holds great prestige, as well as having one of the highest detailed traditional designs.

Chateau Haut-Bergey (Leognan) Haut-Bergey was a noble house dating back to the 16th century, and began making wine during that time. The branding on the wine crate is the house of Haut-Bergey and it's truly stunning.

Most traditional wine crate design labels can range between very simple to highly ornate. Unfortunately Burgundy is unrepresented in this list due the to the great lack of wineries in the region that make wine crates. It's safe to say that Burgundy has been making wine on it's land for thousands of years, but many of the oldest Burgundian vineyards were purchased during modern times making it difficult to pin down genuinely traditional designs.

We also had to leave out alot of the 1st - 5th growths because many of them were making wine crates post-17th century.  There's many more wine crates with unique and traditional designs, but the vineyards above represent some of the oldest and best.

Send me an e-mail or give me a call to buy some antiquarian wine crates to decorate your home or wine cellar. They make for excellent decorations and will beautifully enhance your decor!

Patrick
sales@winecratesandboxes.com
518-475-8625
www.winecratesandboxes.com 

Wholesale Wine Crates by the Pallet

When you buy wine crates individually they're usually for DIY projects such as wine bottle racking, storage, making tables, planters or wall hangers. A wholesale option is not needed for projects like this. However, if you have a very large wine cellar, want a unique window display, or need to store a great deal of Bordeaux wine bottles then wholesale pallets provide an ideal solution.

There's two options available for the wholesale wine crate pallet lots:

Half Pallet: (25 Wine Crates w/o Lids)

Full Pallet: (50 Wine Crates w/o Lids)

Each of the wine crates in these pallets hold 12 Bordeaux-style wine bottles. These means you can elegantly store and protect 300 bottles in a half pallet and 600 in a full.

Wine crates also enhance the look of your wine room, cellar and bar, and can add an authentic wine-inspired feel to any space. When it comes to the pallet lots though, make sure you have the space to accommodate!

Average size of each wine crate: 19 1/2" L X 13" W X 7" H

Buying wine crates on the pallet is easy. Click the link below for more options and to purchase:

https://winecratesandboxes.com/product/wholesale-wine-crates-pallet-lots/

We also offer wine crates by the truckload! Here you can purchase 600, which is tailored more toward businesses with warehouses and significant storage needs. The truckload allows you to store up to 7200 bottles, so you'll definitely need alot of space for this option:

https://winecratesandboxes.com/product/wholesale-wine-crate-truckload/

Have questions or want to order a half, full pallet or truckload? Send me an e-mail or give me a call.

Patrick
www.winecratesandboxes.com
518-475-8625
sales@winecratesandboxes.com

Matching Wine Boxes to the Style of Your Wine Room

As you may know, I love to talk about wine crates and boxes! What I want to talk about now is how you can match wine boxes or crates to the specific style of your wine room. There's 3 primary styles: Traditional, Modern and Old World. Inside those 3 categories are sub-categories, but to keep it simple let's stick to the primary ones.

There's many accessories available for wine rooms and cellars, and with a little love (and alot of time) they can be beautifully accented to become your perfect entertainment area, or for that matter, a great place to be alone and de-stressify.

Enhancing the visual appeal of your wine room can make all the difference in the world. When planning out your wine room you'll most likely include at least 1 wine rack and a temperature control system. Most likely you'll have many racks depending on how many bottles need to be stored.

Nowadays most wine racks include cubby holes to store original wooden wine crates or boxes. Generally these are modern-style so let's start there.

Modern Style

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The modern style is usually comprised of mahogany, red oak or a dark hardwood wine racks. The layout of the floor and ceiling is also critical to capturing this look. In this case you have dark hardwoods, so a good contrast would be to store lighter wood wine crates in the cubby holes instead of darker ones.

More often than not a modern wine room will have New World wine bottles in it such as vineyards from the US. Since most vineyards in the US already produce light wood wine boxes, decorating a modern wine room or cellar with them can be fairly smooth.

There is one caveat though: Rare cult Napa vineyards (The ones that make wine boxes) are often high in demand and have tiny productions. This presents a bit of a challenge, and you may have to improvise since Napa wine boxes may not be available to you when you need them. One way to get around this is to order Italian wine boxes which are also made of light color wood. In the meantime, buy yourself a few cases of Super-Tuscan wines so the match can be completed while you wait for the Napas to come on the market.

Next, lets talk about the Old World...

Old World Style

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The Old World wine cellar is often made of stone and can quickly capture your imagination, and take you back in time to a different era. 

In the case of the above picture it appears that the racks are made of reclaimed pine planks. The owner of the cellar seemed to mix in a rustic feel to the space, but this doesn't take away from the look at all. As a matter of fact I think it looks better. Creating a simple yet elegant environment is quite difficult. Ask any interior decorator and they'll say the same.

The same rule of dark wood racks to light wood wine boxes still applies. As you can see, the boxes brighten up the room and brings out the Old World look, like an exceptional Grand Cru brings out the flavor of a filet mignon. The Old World style reminds you that some things never change.

Onto the Traditional Style..

Traditional Style

Your Traditional style wine room will often have light-toned hardwood racks and a tiled or brick floor. The ceiling is often matte, and the lighting will be ornate. 

As you can see in the cubbys below the wine racks there's a mixture of different wine boxes and crates. What you'll want in this case are darker-tone ones to contrast the light-tone wine racks. Ideally your looking for stained, dark-grain or ones with vibrant color designs/pictures such as red or green. 

A traditional wine cellar is ideal for use as a calming, personal environment as opposed to one for entertaining but with a few tweaks that can be changed. Personally I like this style because of it's simplicity, and because I enjoy a serene environment. I like to visit the Modern and the Old World, but I like to live in the Traditional. That's just me...

When it comes to you though, you may want to start acquiring wine crates for your own decorative accents. When your ready, send me an e-mail or give me a call. Alot of our clients send pictures of their incomplete wine rooms to us for suggestions. I'd be happy to take a look at yours and give you a recommendation!

Patrick

sales@winecratesandboxes.com

518-475-8625

www.winecratesandboxes.com

Screaming Eagle Wooden Wine Box

The Screaming Eagle vineyard is the most exclusive winery in Napa Valley. In order to purchase a 3 bottle case once the wine is released, you'd have to be on the waiting list, and It takes 2 years to be considered for it.

Very few bottles of Screaming Eagle are produced per year (Less than 500), so once your actually on the waiting list there's no guarantee you'll receive the wine on any given year. Between the waiting list, extremely low production and exclusivity, Screaming Eagle wine is a star among investors. It also makes the wine box highly collectible as well.

A traditional wine box for Screaming Eagle is the 3 bottle case as shown above. Only once was a 6 bottle size made (First Flight) and those haven't been available anywhere for some time.

The style of any Screaming Eagle box is unique with a flip-top lid. Both sides of the lid are deeply branded with the signature Eagle. The four sides of the box are also deeply engraved with the Screaming Eagle text. Construction-wise, the wood is "Standard Napa" with a thick and durable western pine that has a light texture. It's a work of art.

At the moment we don't have any in stock. Ironically there's a waiting list for the wine box as well as the wine! If you'd like to be added to the list give me a call or send me an e-mail.

Patrick
sales@winecratesandboxes.com
518-475-8625
www.winecratesandboxes.com

Bond Estate Wooden Wine Box

Bond is a cult vineyard in Oakville near the heart of Napa Valley. The winery is reknowned for producing Grand Cru style Cabernet Sauvignon in the California sunshine.

Among they're spectacular and highly sought after wines, the vineyard also creates some of the most unique and highly detailed wine boxes and crates. The Matriarch label of Bond is exquisite, and the design changes every few vintages or when there's a special release. Most of the time Bond makes 6 bottle wine boxes, but the image above is of a single bottle special release.

The most notable aspect of the featured picture is the design on the lid which has an elegant braiding in the center of it. The lid is slide-top style with unique top-rounded brackets crafted into the wood which creates a natural lock. This ensures maximum durability as well as an interesting look. Like most Napa wine boxes, the Bond is made of a nice, light and thick California pine. The appearance of the box gives your wine room or cellar a modern feel.

At the moment we have a few of these in stock but that will change fairly quickly with the holidays coming. At the risk of sounding like an infomercial, If you'd like to reserve one or more for your collection send me an e-mail or give me a call while supplies last!

Patrick
www.winecratesandboxes.com
518-475-8625
sales@winecratesandboxes.com  

Chateau Mouton Rothschild First Growth Wine Crate

Chateau Mouton Rothschild is arguably the most prestigious of all the First Growth vineyards, It's definitely the most famous among collectors due to name recognition and popularity at auction.

The Mouton wooden wine crate has a rare format. Since the 2000 vintage, every one was made oversized by a few inches. This makes quite a difference because most wine crates from Bordeaux are about the same size.

Traditional Bordeaux Format: 19 1/2" L X 13" W X 7" H

Vintage 2000+ Mouton Wine Crates: 22" L X 14" W X 7 1/2" H

This presents a bit of a problem for storage as most wine cellar cubbies designed for wine crates are generally to match the traditional format. Unless the cellar build has some wiggle-room on the cubby holes, your Mouton Rothschild wine crates will be stacked either on the floor or on top of the racks.

The crates are also quite a bit heavier than the traditionals by about 3 pounds which is significant. This is because of the overall construction. The sides, base and lid are about a quarter-inch thicker. It's a very sturdy piece.

Besides the size and weight of each crate, what distinguishes a Mouton Rothschild from any other is the artwork. Every few years the vineyard commissions a different and famous French artist to re-design the ram logo to introduce the vintage. The look of each of these new re-designs is subtle but tastefully unique from the others.

As far as rarity they're very difficult to acquire because so few are made.

Little known fact: Only half of all Bordeaux wines are exported outside of France. The other half is distributed throughout the world. Mouton Rothschild creates around 12,000 cases every year, so this means only 6,000 are available to everyone else! Mouton Rothschild wine crates are, in all literal terms, a 1 in a million item.

We do however have a few available if your interested. Give me a call or e-mail to buy one for yourself while we still have them in stock!

Patrick
www.winecratesandboxes.com
518-475-8625
sales@winecratesandboxes.com