Halloween is now but a month and a day away, and that can mean only one thing: It’s time for America’s department stores and shopping malls to put up their Christmas decorations.
I was shopping at Costco over the weekend, and there they were, right in the middle of the store: three rows of holiday decorations, holiday candy and other holiday stuff.
’Tis the sesson…
Which got me thinking: What will I be getting my wine-drinking friends for Christmas this year?
Well, for a few very good friends, the answer is the Floating Wine Rack from SkyMall.com. You can see more photos of it or make a purchase here.
The rack holds 18 bottles on top and eight or nine wine glasses underneath.
Now, normally, I would not recommend storing wine in an upright position, as the Floating Wine Rack requires (in order to accommodate its capacity of 18 bottles). But I can definitely see this rack serving a purpose in any home where wine is consumed on a regular basis.
That purpose: as a place to hold and display the next bottles of wine that one plans to consume — and to free up space on the main wine rack or in the wine cooler.
We suggest storing wine bottles on their side — a position accommodated by most rack systems — in order to keep a little bit of moisture on the corks, thus preventing them from drying out, cracking and allowing wine-damaging air inside the bottle.
But a few weeks in an upright position won’t hurt a bottle one bit. So, as long as a bottle remains on a Floating Wine Rack for a limited period of time, there should be no problem with wine spoilage.
Alternatively, the Floating Wine Rack could be used as a place to store bottles topped with metal screw caps rather than corks, since such bottles don’t need to be laid on their side in the first place.
The Floating Wine Rack is priced at $109.99, and like many shop-by-mail products, assembly is required. A hanging rail system is included for easy wall mounting.
With that, allow me to be the first person to wish you a happy, healthy… and wine-filled… holiday season.
