The Auswine Forum

I am wondering how you good folks keep track of your wine cellars. I have all my wines listed on an Excel spreadsheet, in various categories, and add purchases and subtract bottles drunk, which can be on a daily basis! I know there are online tools out there such as cellartracker - what are the best ones, and why are they any better than just running an old-fashioned spreadsheet?

Cheers!!

Ditch the spreadsheet and go to cellar tracker. By far the best out there:
https://www.cellartracker.com

Track inventory, Set up drinking windows, make tasting notes read other's tasting notes. the list goes on....

rens wrote:Ditch the spreadsheet and go to cellar tracker. By far the best out there:
https://www.cellartracker.com

Track inventory, Set up drinking windows, make tasting notes read other's tasting notes. the list goes on....

I'll second cellartracker and add that the reporting is quite useful for seeing how your cellar is spread over vintage variety region and a host of other criteria . There is also a mobile app for it.

Forum member Ozzie W put me on to cellartracker.

Great resource.

CellarTracker has so many benefits over a spreadsheet. Just a warning, CT is so good it's almost addictive.
You can import your existing spreadsheet into CT so you don't need to enter all the data again.

paulf wrote:

rens wrote:Ditch the spreadsheet and go to cellar tracker. By far the best out there:
https://www.cellartracker.com

Track inventory, Set up drinking windows, make tasting notes read other's tasting notes. the list goes on....

I'll second cellartracker and add that the reporting is quite useful for seeing how your cellar is spread over vintage variety region and a host of other criteria . There is also a mobile app for it.

Yes that's why I was asking, because my spreadsheet does all that in summary and graphical form, including spread of vintages, producers, regions, grapes, even average bottle age, so I'm wondering what additional things cellartracker can do that you can't do on a spreadsheet.

WAwineguy wrote:

paulf wrote:

rens wrote:Ditch the spreadsheet and go to cellar tracker. By far the best out there:
https://www.cellartracker.com

Track inventory, Set up drinking windows, make tasting notes read other's tasting notes. the list goes on....

I'll second cellartracker and add that the reporting is quite useful for seeing how your cellar is spread over vintage variety region and a host of other criteria . There is also a mobile app for it.

Yes that's why I was asking, because my spreadsheet does all that in summary and graphical form, including spread of vintages, producers, regions, grapes, even average bottle age, so I'm wondering what additional things cellartracker can do that you can't do on a spreadsheet.

Tasting notes to monitor progress.
Reports by storage location-very handy
Records what you paid, where you got it from
Can combine critics notes.
mobile app-which is very useful when browsing shops etc

Just do it. You won't regret it.
(no pretty graphs though)

i use CT. On my phone I use Corkz which links to CT.
pretty handy to have a phone app to go to when you're at a cellar door
trying to remember what you've bought in the past etc etc.
Like anything CT is great if you use it properly.
But a few lazy moments of not deleting, drinking, removing wines
can create minor chaos.
The other day I did a stocktake of sorts and found some wines didn't actually exist anymore and
some wines popped out of thin air. Easy come, easy go i suppose.

One bigbenefit of Cellartracker, is the inventory of wines already entered. Start typing the wine name in and before you've got the Buiten out of Buiternverwachting typed in, it's already listed all the wines they've made, so the amount of typing required is often minimal.

You can look at a spreadsheet without needing to be connected to the internet though I suppose. Presuming Cellartracker requires online access ?

Can you download a copy of your database so you can view it when offline ?

You can print off all your reports from cellartracker if you'd like a physical spreadsheet as well as export a copy of your spreadsheet. However, you do need internet access to view your inventory through the App.

Chris H wrote:You can look at a spreadsheet without needing to be connected to the internet though I suppose. Presuming Cellartracker requires online access ?

Can you download a copy of your database so you can view it when offline ?

CT requires Internet access. You can export your database to a spreadsheet, so offline access is still possible.

The true power of CT comes from combining the data entered by the 400,000+ people using it. At a glance you have tasting notes and suggested drinking windows for all the wines in your cellar. There's information about over 2 million wines in the CT database - an invaluable resource when considering a purchase, particularly for older vintages which pre-date your Halliday/Parker/etc. type sites.

CT is free to use (although they suggest a donation if you like it). I challenge anyone still using a spreadsheet to try it. I'd be very surprised if you go back to the spreadsheet.

Scotty vino wrote:i use CT. On my phone I use Corkz which links to CT.

I'm curious, Scotty. What do you find in Corkz which you can't do in the CT app? From what I read Corkz was useful before CT had an app, but now the CT app does almost everything the CT website does.

I challenge anyone still using a spreadsheet to try it

I actually use an MS Access database, with a number of "Queries" set up for looking at varieties, region etc

A well designed spreadsheet or database could replicate the cataloging and reporting features of CT, but it would be a lot of work. Even so, you'll still miss out on all the "community" features. For example, every time I log into CT it shows me new tasting notes for wines in my cellar, written by other CT users. The suggested drinking windows of my wines are constantly updated based on what all the other CT users think. And this is just scratching the surface in terms of features.

I wouldn't even consider setting up a spreadsheet over Cellartracker. Sure you could set it up to do the same thing, but why would you when Cellartracker has already been done for you and is no doubt better. Even if you don't agree with 99% of the opinions on there, it's still a good way to gauge what a wine will be like. You can't get that from a spreadsheet. No brainer really.

What part of your wine holdings is public ?

Chris H wrote:What part of your wine holdings is public ?

None, unless you choose to share them with others.

The number of bottles in your cellar is given even if you opt to keep your cellar private IIRC.

User a pseudonym. Don't need to think about the privacy aspect.

Well I'm now a fully fledged member of Cellartracker - it's a pretty great service. While I admit I am still keeping my Excel spreadsheet up to date, I'm not sure how long that will last! I just like to be able to do my own graphs of what vintages I have throughout my collection to try to get some balance (way, way too much 2010 and 2012).

But Cellartracker is a fabulous tool, for any readers out there who are considering how to keep track of their inventory. It's also a pretty good one-stop-shop for wine ratings with fabulous community input.

WAwineguy wrote:But Cellartracker is a fabulous tool, for any readers out there who are considering how to keep track of their inventory. It's also a pretty good one-stop-shop for wine ratings with fabulous community input.

Couldn't agree more. Have been part of cellar tracker for nearly a decade, before that excel and then Torb wines database. Cellartracker is so powerful, user friendly and community based once you move to it never leave - like apple products for a lot of people. Worth providing a donation.

CT is great for getting a global perspective on our local wines. Even if locals reiew the wine you have a Vic reviewing a SA wine and all the other permutations. For those who develop a cellar/state biased palate it is nice to have a second/third etc palate view.

Cheers
Phill

Cellartracker will have graphs....eventually.

I just use Excel, different page for country and region and update regularly.
I can find any bottle I need using this.

Cheers Con.