Wall Mounted Wine Racks

This is a bar shelf rather than a wine rack: two short wood-topped shelves, each with a rail underneath that hangs stemmed glasses upside down. Bottles stand upright on top, which is fine for what you will open this week and wrong for anything cork-sealed you want to keep, because an upright cork slowly dries. The maker's limit is six bottles across the pair, and that is the figure to respect. For a serving corner, it does the job neatly and cheaply.

Not for: Keeping wine for more than a few weeks. The bottles stand upright, so nothing keeps the cork wet.

Two hand-finished solid wood boards carrying eight black steel brackets, about 34 inches tall and just over 4 inches deep. The boards go up as one run or as two separate pieces, which helps on a narrow wall or either side of a doorway. It ships with fixings for both drywall and studs, which is more than most racks at this price include. It is a decor piece that also stores wine properly: the bottles lie flat, so the corks stay wet.

Not for: Champagne and Burgundy drinkers. The brackets are made for standard 750ml bottles, and the listing makes no claim for wider ones.

The best-selling wall rack on Amazon, and for a first rack it earns that: nine bottles in a strip about 10 inches wide and 28 inches tall, standing only 3 inches off the wall. Bottles lie flat, so corks stay wet. Two things to know before you buy. The holders are cut for standard bottles, and buyers report Champagne fits only the top spot. And it ships with two screws and two plastic anchors, the part most reviewers complain about. Full, it carries about 25 lb of wine, so put a screw into a stud or use rated toggle anchors.

Not for: Anyone who regularly buys Champagne, Burgundy or other wide bottles. Most of the holders will not take them.

VintageView makes the steel wall rails you see in restaurant cellars, and this is the version spaced for big bottles: nine magnums or 750ml Champagne bottles, lying on their side with the label facing the room, so you read the collection at a glance. About 45 inches tall, 15 inches wide and 5.25 inches deep with bottles in. Fixings for drywall and wood-backed walls come in the box, and it carries a lifetime warranty. It costs more than anything else on this list, and it is the one built to stay on the wall for good.

Not for: A collection of slim Bordeaux bottles on a budget. The standard W Series racks are made for those, and this one's wider spacing is wasted on them.

The rack to buy if you drink sparkling wine. Its slots are 3.7 inches wide, more than the 3.5 inches it takes to fit every 750ml shape, so Champagne and Burgundy go in as easily as Bordeaux. It holds 20 bottles two to a row, about 22 inches wide, 41 inches tall and 6 inches deep. The capacity is also the catch: twenty full bottles weigh around 55 lb, more with heavy sparkling glass, before the rack itself. Fix it into studs or masonry, never into drywall alone.

Not for: Renters, and any wall without studs where you want the rack. At this weight it needs fixings into the structure.