Wine cellar software

[chefrodrigo]

hmmmm....perhaps a 'How To Use' thread by Cellartracker on eG??? it is free shareware..........

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Where to begin...

Seriously, if anyone has any questions, I am very happy to answer them here, via email to eric@cellartracker.com, or at www.cellartracker.com/forum.

I don't want to overstep my bounds by overpromoting, so I would prefer to respond rather than spam if you know what I mean.

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Hey Eric

Nice to see you on egullet.

Rodney in Portland

[cellartracker]

Hey Eric

Nice to see you on egullet. 

Rodney in Portland

Hi Rodney, nice to see you as well. I hope that things are very good for you and Elizabeth.

[MaxH]

Everyone uses Eric's Levine's Cellar Tracker!:

Not everyone, ademello.

Not to take anything from the celebrations of a particular special-purpose product or its fan club, but having no vested interest in selling anything here or validating my purchase of anything, let me cite for the record (the testimonials are on other fora) that many people use the stock Microsoft spreadsheet program, Excel. It's flexible and the data are uniquely portable, since most PC users have the software already. (Don't know about the automatic links to ratings. Don't use them myself.)

Beyond that, if any product is indeed "by far the best option" then it's helpful if we can possibly see some information about why, or links to it; dispassionate comparison against real alternatives; etc. This is not a complaint specific to that posting; public online fora tend to bring out assertions.

All the best -- Max

[LindaJ]

I'm not a "fanboi" of Cellar Tracker - but after using lots of stuff I find it the best for the purpose. The purpose is a comprehensive software that has all the bells and whistles, yet is simple enough that a computer novice could use it. I wouldn't use Excel for the same reasons I wouldn't use Access or MySql. Why reinvent the wheel? Unless you are a computer geek that enjoys building your own, there's no real reason. Heck, why not open up Microsoft Word and build a table?! Makes no sense in the long run.

Celler Tracker is web based which seems to make it more user friendly and portable than just Excel itself. Anybody with a web brower can check it from anywhere including your cell phone when you're in a boring meeting.

The reason I'm not going to post a PC Magazine type usability matrix of all the software options I looked at is that I'm not going to pony up the cash to buy all that stuff. If someone wants a retired internet company owner/stay-at-home-mom/wino to do that, PM me to send me the software.

[MaxH]

Celler Tracker is web based which seems to make it more user friendly and portable than just Excel itself. Anybody with a web brower can check it from anywhere including your cell phone when you're in a boring meeting.

Fair enough, LindaJ. My first few years of using a computer for my wines (early 1980s) I used a simple text file. The inventory is now more complex and geographically disparate, and various hyperlinking might be helpful. But I haven't yet found the need for Web-based access to it (sounds kind of scary in fact) nor such things mentioned here as automatic tie-in to the latest critics's view (since the wines tended to be off that radar anyway when bought, for value). I can see how specialized software might be useful if I did want those features. I don't use Excel either; as already stated, I have no horse in this race. Merely an observer.

Edited August 9, 2005 by MaxH (log)

[melkor]

The functional difference between some cobbed together thing you do on your own and cellertracker is night and day. CT lets you keep track of pending deliveries, drinking windows, compare purchases against your consumption by region, etc, etc.

[MaxH]

The functional difference between some cobbed together thing you do on your own and cellertracker is night and day.  CT lets you keep track of pending deliveries, drinking windows, compare purchases against your consumption by region, etc, etc.

Right. So does Excel.

-- Max

[cellartracker]

Max,

Excel is a fantastic tool, and if you are savvy with pivot tables one can create some very cool reports. (I just finished a 13-year stint at Microsoft working in the Office team including Excel.) I too started out with my wines in Excel, but personally I was frustrated as it doesn't handle relational data very well. And since I like to code I decided to make something for myself that is web-based.

One key thing is to consider how much data one wants to store and what you care about. For example, do you have a row for every wine or for every bottle? If the former, what happens if you purchase the same wine twice. Do you want to record that or just the average price of your purchases? Do you record pending deliveries in a separate sheet or in the main sheet? (I used to use a separate sheet, but it was a pain looking at my pendings separate from in stock.) What gets tough is that the same strings appear again and again and again, and you will get lots of typos. Databases like Access and SQL Server are good in that you would have a table of wines linked to a table of producers, appellation etc. Less chance for typos. Excel is also not a very friendly place to store tasting notes. You can do it, but really long text values are tough to print and search. I just found myself never taking them. If people want to store consumption history then you need another sheet. More data to maintain, copy around, opportunities for mistakes etc.

Web-based doesn't have to be scary, although I know that it scares some people. Of course if you are here posting in a forum like this you probably aren't too scared. A few key things:

• All data that users enter into my site is backed up 48 times per day. Archives are stored on multiple machines in separate data centers. So if Seattle slides off the face of the earth, people's data can still be recovered and the site restored.
  
• There is a simple spreadsheet at www.cellartracker.com/webquery.xls. I encourage everyone to download it. It uses Excel web queries, so users just enter their username and password. Then the spreadsheet goes and fetches a copy of everything they have entered into the site. It is nice for backup as well as offline access.
  
• Users have a lot of control over the privacy of their cellar. You can read more about that here: http://www.cellartracker.com/forum/CellarT...ns/m_793/tm.htm
  

Of course, web-based has benefits too. For example, you can access your cellar while you are at a wine store or even when you are out to dinner just using a web-enabled cellphone. I have saved myself a lot of unwanted purchases just by referring to tasting notes from other users or looking at my own purchase or tasting history. Sorry, I can't keep it all straight in my head. Also, people find that it is easier for them to keep their cellar up to date if they can enter a purchase right when it happens, such as when they respond to an email at work from a reseller or happen to make a web purchase. If your inventory only lives on one computer at home then you have to remember to go there and update it when you get home from work etc.

There are other benefits to the web-based approach. For starters, the database of wiens is now 100,000 strong, and there are images for 20,000 of these (I just added image upload 8 weeks ago and people have been busy using it!). So adding new wines takes a lot less typing than if you are doing it all yourself. Also, users are posting more than 100 tasting notes per day with an archive of nearly 40,000 now. It is 1-click to see notes from other people on wines that you have. A lot of people find that up-to-date info on how a wine is drinking is really helpful instead of relying on a review from a critic that was written some number of years earlier.

I hope this answers some of your questions and explains some of why people are so excited about CellarTracker. There is an awful lot more in fact.

[Dirty Rice]

I would like to organize my cellar with one of the multitude of software solutions that are available. I have read good things about "The Uncorked Cellar" is anyone using this program? It has a built-in database that is up-datable online, which I thought would be handy.

What other programs are people using to organize their home cellars?

Looking forward to your suggestions.

[melkor]

I use cellartracker and am very happy with how it works. My only complaint would be that the website is slow from time to time.

[SBonner]

Many of my clients like cellartracker for their home cellars.

I do know that it is sluggish sometimes as stated in this thread.

Cheers,

Stephen Bonner

Vancouver

[Rebel Rose]

I will also recommend CellarTracker, and ManageYourCellar.com

[joiei]

voice number 4 for cellartracker. It is so much easier to use than anything by Robert Parker.

[jackal10]

No 5. Wonderful resource

[barolo]

Another vote for CellarTracker.

[Carolyn Tillie]

Hands-down concur - Cellartracker...

[Dirty Rice]

Thank you all for your recommendations. I have begun the input process on CellarTracker.com. It is a GREAT resource!

Bonus, I get to save the $100 that the "uncorked cellar" software would have cost!

I think I should have you all to my home for a glass of something red.

[cellartracker]

I use cellartracker and am very happy with how it works.  My only complaint would be that the website is slow from time to time.

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Dave, just curious, do you still find the site slow? Right around the time you write this I had just upgraded database servers and in general have done a lot of work on site performance over the past few months. Anyway, if there are specific things that still seem untenably slow, please shoot me an email eric@cellartracker.com or post over on www.cellartracker.com/forum

And thanks everyone for the kinds words and recommendations!