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Wine rack

Racks for holding bottles of wine have been used for centuries. The proper storage of bottled wines, spirits and beers is important since these beverages can represent a sizeable investment especially when large purchases are involved. Wine racks are well known for storing unopened bottles of wine lying with the neck lowered so that bottle contents wet the cork. They can be as simple as a frame with horizontal shelves spaced apart sufficiently to hold bottles lying on their sides. These racks ordinarily take form of supports that cradle the bottle at two locations along the bottle, one near the shoulder and the ather near or at the bottom of the bottle. Dividers are generally used to keep the bottles from contacting one another, thus reducing breakage. The dividers tend to be rigid slats or other structures designed to fit into the frame. They often are permanently attached. The dividers typically are positioned to create a set of individual compartments, each sized to hold one wine bottle lying on its side. In the field of consumer appliances, there has in recent years been a trend toward providing various appliances and consumer goods in modularized configurations amenable to mounting on the bottom surfaces of overhead cabinets in kitchen, office, and similar environments. A typical wine rack, whether for commercial use or residential use, is designed to fit flush with a straight wall or with another box-shaped wine rack. Residential wine racks tend to be more aesthetically pleasing to the eye with a polished steel construction or perhaps a varnished wood construction. Regardless, all are designed to fit along a straight wall. Wine racks typically include horizontally extending compartments that receive the bottles. The compartments are usually arranged in a three-dimensional matrix of rows and columns so that a large number of bottles may be stored.

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