Regular wine consumers tend to have a thorough understanding of the different types of wine in the market, depending on their variety, color, and origin. Whether you collect wine for business or private consumption, it is paramount that you organize the cellar in a logical manner. Why the need for organizing? Small scale collectors may not find arranging wine bottles as pressing as large scale collectors would.

 

Wine can be categorized into five major divisions as discussed below:

White wine– This is still wine produced from green grapes.
Red wine– This is still wine made from black grapes. Red wine can either be dry or sweet.
Sparkling wine– As the name suggests, this type of wine creates bubbles due to secondary fermentation.
Fortified Wine– This wine is made by mixing wines with spirits and serves as an accompaniment to dessert.
Rose Wine– This wine is a blend of red and white wine. This wine comes from black grapes produced by removing the skins before coloring the wine.

The above broad categories of wine have sub-categories depending on taste; sweet, dry, and semi-sweet. Dry wines result from fermenting all grape sugars into alcohol while sweet wines result from leaving most of the sugars unfermented. Semi-sweet wines have a touch of sugars to compliment acidity levels. Wine collectors need efficient methods of organizing wine without wasting time trying to find particular bottles. Arranging wine by region is a traditional way where you put bottles on shelves marked according to origins such as traditional wine regions in Italy, France or the United States. This arrangement works well with people who have a vast knowledge of wine beyond the usual sweet, dry, sparkling, etc. Organizing wine per their region comes with many benefits as discussed below:

Easier to find wine

A well-organized wine cellar is pleasant to work with as you do not waste time finding your bottle of choice. This method is particularly helpful in restaurants where employees need to keep fetching bottles as requested by clients or wine shops that allow shoppers to browse. It also saves you time while restocking as deliveries are swift by directing to their aisles.

Terroir

Terroir is the natural advantage of a particular wine region, for instance, the type of soil, climatic conditions, and general weather patterns. Terroir suggests that wine acquires a taste that is unique to the area of origin. While regular wine consumers may not differentiate wines per region, professional wine tasters train for this. Organizing wine per region means that these distinct tastes are keep separate with clear labels identifying them.

Know amount of stock per region

Having different sections of your cellar per region is a quick way of knowing how much inventory you have amassed from each wine region. You can do this by filtering data in the wine cellar software by the respective regions. This way, you can track wines that are more popular and make stock adjustments accordingly.

Wine tours

Large-scale wine collectors will often give wine tours to clients or students learning about the wine industry. Having your cellar organized by region makes the visit easier and more enjoyable to the group as you can easily maneuver from one region to the next sharing in-depth information about each area.

Attractive display

If you are a casual wine collector, you may find prestige in seeing your stash organized by region bringing up fond memories from vacations you took with your partner or family. The same applies to commercial collectors; displaying wine by region implies a great understanding of your craft and commands respect from potential customers who may refer their friends to your store. If you operate a wine business, consider placing well-trained attendants per aisle to guide customers in their selection.

Conclusion

If you are considering collecting wine as a career, you need to equip yourself with knowledge on all-things-wine. Start by changing things up in your wine cellar by identifying the origins of each wine. Each bottle should bear this information on the sticker, or you could consult with your wine supplier to get precise regions where they buy. If you import wine directly, you can find this information in purchase orders. Remember to place these shelf labels strategically and preferably, use the full name of the region so anyone accessing the wine cellar can understand the meaning of each tag. Involve your family or employees in the re-organizing process and incorporate their suggestions as well.