Now that I have a job again, I can start replenishing my wine supply. Sandra and I drank my 2002 High Trellis (an amazing Grenache) a couple of weeks ago, but apart from plonk, I haven't bought much of late.

Speaking of plonk, you may already know about the Argentine Fuzion (Shiraz/Malbec) in the LCBO right now. At $7.45 a bottle, its a great value. Another great value (and a tastier wine IMO) is the Nero d'Avola Enzo di Sette Rue . Very nice for $12.95.

Anyway, one thing I don't have in my new apartment is a decent wine storage place. I decided to stick one in a closet. A convenient sale and a gift card from Christmas for Canadian Tire, and I had a new wine rack.

After reading some reviews on the Canadian Tire website, I decided to buy some #6 1 1/2" screws to replace the nails provided in this kit.

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The first steps of assembly are the hardest. You need to set all the metal strips up and getting them started is a pain.

Follow the instructions closely and use the plastic plugs provided.

Once all the strips are in place, it's pretty trivial to put the wooden blocks in place. You don't even need to hammer most of them, just putting my weight on them slid them into place. Because you don't get any spares, I was a little dodgy about forcing them, but you really don't have to. If they don't fit easily, just give them a 1/4 turn and they're good to go.

Again, follow the instructions for putting the rear (screwed down) strips in place. Do all the corners first with the cross-braces, then fill screw down all the middle strips.

Because the screws were a little slower than nailing, it took me an hour or so to get this finished. It didn't end up fitting in the closet I'd intended it for (I couldnt' finagle it in the door) so it's in my main closet. Still, it's not against an outside wall although there may be some drafts from under the door. All my really good wine goes in a cooler anyway. I need to put some mounting blocks in place to bolt it to the wall though. The closet has baseboards so the rack doesn't fit flush against the wall. In any case, for storing 72 bottles of wine, it works pretty well. If I buy another, I'll hold out for a sale; for $49, it's a good deal.