Cellar Management

I've used "Cellar" for a number of years and really find it easy to use and Art is a regular here...again.

I don't use it myself (I have a homemade system too). But I've heard a lot of good things about CellarTracker, and it seems to be gaining a lot of traction.

I've tried a dozen or so different programs over the years, including several attempts at home-grown, and have found Cellar! to be the best overall. There are some limitations that I don't care for, such as the awful print engine, but overall I like it fine. I've now been using it for about 2 years, and track ~1,000 bottles.

Cheers, Gary

I've used Microsoft Access to track my 200 bottle cellar for years now. Seems to work quite well. I can send you the file if you have the program.

Put me down as a Cellar! user. It works for me.

Many folks have already mentioned Cellar! as a great dedicated software for maintaining your wine data. For several years I wrote software reviews for small magazines such as Computer Edge, Peak Computing, and Windows OnLine Review. I also did shareware reviews for seven years for the Ziff-Davis Shareware Library.

Here's the text of a review I wrote in May 2002 for Computer Edge Magazine on Cellar! (keep in mind that the software has continued to develop since then and while the download link is probably still good, some features may be enhanced and pricing may have changed:

Shareware Safari: Networked Wineware By Ed Rasimus

One of the best things you can do with a computer is keep track of stuff. Cataloging and sorting large collections of almost anything is easy and even if you aren't into database design there are plenty of excellent applications available in the shareware world that merely require that you enter your information to take full advantage of the power.

Probably my favorite application of database software has been wine cellar management. Sure, you can keep track of your collection of ante-bellum, rural American wooden widgets with a computer database, but it isn't as much fun as conducting the relevant research of acquiring, managing and, most importantly, tasting your wine collection. There are all sorts of details to log such as wineries, varietals, regions, appellations, vintages, costs and tasting notes. You can track you collection's value, monitor the development of the wine, maybe even scan and organize the labels.

There's no shortage of wine cellar software, but my favorite for personal use has been Cellar! for at least the last six years. Recently I had the opportunity to upgrade to the newest version, 3.1, which finally makes the transition to 32- bit software. Based on the MS Jet database engine that drives Access, Cellar! has always offered a powerful relational database with incredible sorting, filtering and searching capability. The question was where could the program go that would provide increased functionality that wasn't simply extraneous bells and whistles? I've seen too many programs bloat with animations and graphics that really were little more than pasted-in excess.

The answer is networking. Cellar! remains a powerful database with quick conversion of your older version records to the new format, or import of your data from whatever other application you've been using to keep track of your bottles. The big upgrade, however, is the ability to share your information with other wine lovers. A simple click on the Cellar! Online button lets you exchange information from your notes on wines that you've collected and tasted with literally thousands of other users. Find a new wine and want to make sure you've got all the information necessary to properly catalog the winery? Sure you could search the label and painstakingly enter the name, address, phone, zip and region, assuming that you could find it. But, with Cellar! Online, you now can have the software query the master database and automatically update your local winery table records. You'll seldom acquire a bottle that won't already have Cellar! info available.

Been doing a bit of research on wines? Maybe you've found some informative web-sites or stored some links to winery homepages. You can quickly share your records with other users of the program with just a mouse click. A visit to the developer home page at

will show the latest count of shared wine records, wineries, tasting notes and downloads of the trial software.

Of course, there is still plenty of local, un-shared control of your data. You can sort your records on virtually any field, enter data with bar-code scans, share your PC records with your PDA, and generate tables, graphs and data summaries of your collection. Configurability is incredible with plenty of power to organize on country of origin, region/DOC, varietals or maybe price. The overview table lets you see if wines are white or red, whether they are ready to drink or maybe need a bit of age, and where they came from. When you consume a bottle, you can easily grade it or add detailed tasting notes. The multi-page record of each wine offers opportunity to enter as much or as little data as you wish.

The real power of the program is online. Not everyone will be eager to exchange cellar data and that's fine. You can still benefit from the Web links. Want to check a vintage chart? Maybe you need a definition from the wine encyclopedia? How about a rating from Wine Spectator or Wine Enthusiast? Or maybe you want to check the latest auction prices on rare and fine wines? It's all at your fingertips. Best of all, as you use the program you will be building an increasing collection of links to information about wines, wineries, values and experiences.

You can download a demo of Cellar! from the web page and you can register the software for $49.95. For most of us, that's the cost of a couple of bottles of wine. Once you've started using the software, you'll be amazed at the way the program broadens your wine enjoyment. If you will be entering a tasting note, you'll take a few moments longer to consider the flavors and experiences. When some time has gone by, you'll find yourself toggling the "zero balance" button to look back at wines that you've enjoyed over the past months and years, even if you no longer have them in your cellar. Five bottles or five hundred, you'll enjoy your wine more with Cellar!

Ed Rasimus Fighter Pilot (USAF-Ret) "When Thunder Rolled"

I also use and like Cellar!. I think it's best feature is the ability to download producer information and tasting notes from other users.

Also, Gary - if you haven't already, get the recent update, there is a big improvement to the print engine - you can even export reports to Word or Excel files.

dalem

I have been running version 3.4.9 for a while, and did not see that 3.5.0 was available. I am downloading today, and according to the update notes it should fix the print issues. Thanks for heads-up.

Gary

"Andrew Goldfinch" wrote in news:sZZKd.140860$ snipped-for-privacy@news-server.bigpond.net.au:

Andrew, I use Cellar! and am satisfied with it. I am tracking a couple hundred bottles.

You can track wines physical position using whatever convention you want (e.g., 1-5, or R-7). I don't and just say "Rack" or something else that gets me close to the location.

You can add your tasting notes and also comments elsewhere. I really like being able to pull tasting notes down from the net.

If you want a "best before" you can either figure out how to use the drink profile--I have not really even looked at that--or take one of the user defined fields (table columns in the display) and label it "Drink Before" and then put in your guess of when to drink the wine.

Hope this helps.

Bill Hogsett

Well thanks to every one who has taken the time to pass on their reccomendations. I think I will have a crack at Cellar. Cheers Andrew