Cellar Tracker notes - pet peeves

I think the most common offender is “same as last bottle.” But here’s one that annoys me even more.

I see many notes saying a wine that should be good is “done,” “past it,” or “over-the-hill,” with no explanation of provenance. I don’t know what to make of such a note.

It would be super-useful if note takers clarified that the storage was:

  1. known and ideal (stored in my temperature controlled cellar since release, bought EP and stored in-bond, etc…)
  2. known and questionable (purchased from a store a year or more after release, bought at auction, etc…)
  3. unknown (somebody else’s wine)

What are your Cellar Tracker pet peeves?

I agree with you on this one Brady. The done or over the hill note without further explanation is just not that helpful. And yes, sometimes it is a storage issue, so not knowing that makes the over the hill comment not useful, and in fact misleading at times.

The “same as last bottle” does not annoy me as much. Though it would be nice if the poster stated something like “as good as,” or “as bad as” last bottle, so you had a sense of what that meant. If I am really interested then I look up the previous note – often I don’t unless it is something I plan to open soon.

“Tasted with Sally.”

At least, comment on how well the wine paired …

Those damn furners postin’ in Swedish!

Just joking. I know it’s an international forum.

I have just learned to ignore the “over the hill” thing. Lots of people like really young wine. A wine with mature aromas and flavors turns them off.

  1. Tasting ability, experience, of the taster.

  2. Bottle condition, historical.

  3. Wine exposure to oxygen, time prior to and time tasting.

  4. Was the wine tasted solo, or, with other wines and food profile.

  5. The DARK side, manipulation for various psychological and material objectives.

Wine tasting is subject to differing opinions, sprinkled with subtleties, nuances, paradoxes and contradictions.

I have little confidence, generally, in Cellar Tracker, of wine tasting descriptions.

ask sally. this seems obvious.

This. why even bother?

Some people write notes for themselves, don’t care what anyone else thinks, and don’t bother to use the bottle or private note options. Maybe the most important aspect of the note is a self-reminder of who they drank it with. Those notes may be useless or even misleading. I try not to let them annoy me.

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Got it - will make sure all my CT notes going forward are 5,000 word missives complete with character arcs, protagonists, antagonists, and a nuanced moral message which invokes as many questions as it resolves.

Better than “tasted like Sally”

Like most I am sure, I spend a lot of time on CT. Yes, to help decide on when to open something but I also reference CT before most purchases. I have found professional reviews to be almost useless. I take every note with a grain of salt. When someone can describe the wine intelligently it is probably worth more than a score. I find notes from events to be most useful since it reflects how a certain wine showed relative to other data points.

I loved the “coravined on date” note. Really helpful.

Because the note is for the poster’s use and not for yours?

Based on what I see, it seems clear that a lot of posters on CT simply use it as mnemonic device for themselves; any value others might derive from the note is incidental.

Honestly there are very rare instances when a note on CT is useful to me, and then only because I know the poster (usually from this board). Occasionally I will review notes to look for a consensus on whether a wine is drinking well at the moment but as this thread point out even that is fraught. CT notes are, for the most part, just noise on the internet to me.

Sally Maclennane?

Exactly. I’m puzzled people are annoyed at what appear to be notes intended for the drinker’s own consumption. I’m sure my notes are occasionally completely useless to other people. I’m totally fine with that.

I’ve never written a note on CT that was of any value in the least to anyone. And that is only partly because I have never written a note on CT, because if I did write such a note, it would be garbage

This is how some people remember wines. My wife largely remembers wine by the occasion - I’ll say I’m really liking Wine A and would she want to have a bottle tonight, and she’ll give me a blank look, then I’ll say “remember, we had it with Dave and Sandra at Restaurant Z last fall?” and she’ll say “Ahhh, yes, I really liked that, let’s open a bottle.”

Of course, my wife isn’t writing that or anything else on CT, and I agree you should really do that via private CT notes rather than public ones (something I doubt those folks have ever considered or are aware is an option), but it does give me some ability to relate to why some people out there might record their wines that way.

Agree. CT is a service so people will use it as they see fit. I try to put enough in there to be useful (hopefully) to others but am not always as complete as I should be. I do appreciate more detailed notes such as decanting time, comparison to previous bottles, food pairing, etc, which can be very helpful when considering what to open or when to open it.

There is a “No” option for the “Do you find this review helpful?” question. I have used that at times and if enough people use this for the “same as last time” posters maybe they will get the message.

I’m sure my notes have been voted not helpful before but there’s no way for the poster to know that, as far as I know.