Do you use Cellar Tracker?

WINE TALK
1

Do you use Cellar Tracker?

  • Yes
  • No

0 voters

I can’t understand why anyone would use anything else. CT Rocks!

2

Inexpensive annual cost for those of us with a few bottles (compared to most of the posters here). I have 138 bottles. That’s twice as many as last year. newhere

$30.00 (suggested for users with fewer than 500 bottles)
$60.00 (suggested for users with more than 500 bottles)
$100.00 (suggested for users with more than 1,000 bottles)

3

Suggestions for future polls:

  • Do you use indoor plumbing?
    Do you use a TV?
    Do you prefer corks to oil-soaked hemp?

neener

4

Wait a minute is that hash oil soaked hemp. newhere

5

i’m surprised there’s actually been two “no’s” so far [scratch.gif]

6

Dont use it.

7

Yup. Love it.

8

given the majority usage of CT, maybe the poll should say “why don’t you use it” which would give a peek into what other options are being employed. For me, I’d use nothing else and am on the site daily, sometimes multiple times during the day. Ask Eric. [thankyou.gif]

9

Believe it or not, a lot of people find cellar management to be overkill, a bore, not suited to their personality etc. I can tell you that the world’s leading cellar management tool is probably Microsoft Excel. There are obviously also hundreds of specialized tools, web-based and installed software. Very few seem to have built much critical mass. I had always assumed that this was a VERY niche category, but I have been very surprised by the number of people who have adopted CT over time.

10

I don’t use it either. For a couple of reasons:

  1. I have been accumulating wine for 30+ years. During that time I have learned that I am undisciplined about cellar management. Don’t want to do it anymore. So I have someone else do it. Jeff Smith has a cellar management company, which picks up, inventories, stores and delivers my wine to me when I want it for the same as I paid for offsite storage. And Smith doesn’t use Cellar Tracker. Yet. He uses Excel and emails an updated spreadsheet monthly as part of the service.

  2. I don’t take or make tasting notes. Ever. Nor am I interested in others’ notes or points. I have 30 or so friends who I drink with regularly. More, irregularly. Who pretty much own and drink the wines I do. Whose palate preferences, strengths, and weaknesses are known to me.

I like Eric a lot and wish him great success. I’m just not a customer.

11

Well, I for one like to be able to find what I own and also see how the wines are embraced or not by those in the community–for that, CT is great. By nature, I am pretty detailed and organized so the tool fits my personality, as you say, Eric. Some like Mark don’t see the need or want to archive their journey or wine experiences and I appreciate that. On my end, I like to be able to look back, see the road I have traveled. I find that reassuring and comforting.

12

I used to, but with a dwindling cellar over the last few years, I haven’t had much of a need. My offsite has an online inventory system, and I only have a few cases at my apartment at any time.

When my cellar starts growing again, I’ll be happy to use it.

13

Mark totally understood.

To clarify one thing, Jeff Smith will do CT if a customer requests it, but, his protestations otherwise, I know that he does not push it hard (and probably makes a lot more $$ selling eSommelier). Marc Lazar who has a similar business to Jeff has pushed CT a lot harder (since he can then barcode people’s collections for them and try to make his clients more self sufficient) and has put hundreds onto CT. Robin Stark, local to you, has also done dozens of large cellars onto CT.

I view all of these folks as VAR’s and do what I can to allow them to use CT to enhance their ability to serve their customers. It is a very mutually beneficial thing for all involved.

14

I could have been among the first users as I was following Eric on the Squires board when it evolved. I resisted for years (2-3?) until I finally signed up this year.

At first, I thought the standard written list or excel spreadsheet would be fine. I guess I haven’t bunked that yet, as probably only 1/2 of my wines are accurately entered!

The big feature for me is the ease of posting TN’s to the boards and now, being able to share them via Twitter on Facebook. It’s just so easy, and a great feature, it enables me to share TN’s with friends who might not otherwise understand what I do.


I actually had a copy of RP’s first cellar map software thing from work in the late 90’s. That was what initially turned me off to cellar software. [wink.gif] [berserker.gif]
Keep up the great work Eric!

15

I had that…it sucked.

16

While some of the responses here are fufilling the definition of Boomer, I believe much of the next generation of wine drinkers will see CT as invaluable.

CT’s community component is probably the most valuable part of the system for the up-and-coming Millennials. My generation can’t imagine a world without social networks - and CT has become an invaluable resource for a generation that really has no use for just one voice cough Parker cough for any subject. Obviously CT is still niche - but as the tech savvy Millennials also gain the buying power to start a wine collection, a tool like CT will be considered a natural exension of thier connected world.

Of course I use CT for my personal cellar, is there any other choice??

BTW - Eric, when will we be able to post our notes to Facebook from the main site? Posting from Cor.ks can be tiresome, and I think Twitter will never be as mainstream as FB.

17

For those of you who do I have to say… wait until you see the new UI. I spent a couple of hours with Eric the other day and the new user interface is a revelation. The designer he’s worked with has done an outstanding job in focusing the interface, making it easy and revealing but very very simple. Eric’s layered in some very cool web stuff that enhances this. The current UI is functional - the new UI is revelatory.

As for using it, I do but I’m not good at the details of updating things. However, unlike Kaplan I do find some value in the community - more for some wines than others, but the ability to see a feed of notes on the wines in my cellar is nice. Every few days I see a note for one or more of the wines I’ve got and as variable as community notes are, they serve as windows into what’s going on with the wines I have. I think the new interface will surface a lot of power that’s there now, but that is rather hidden and will make this sort of thing more useful, more intuitive and more accessible.

18

Rick, I hope so, I hope so.

M(ike) Sai, true Facebook integration will come as soon as I can get this beta out. Meanwhile, one cheesy hack is to use the (flakey) Facebook blog importer and point it at your RSS feed of notes in CT. They then flow right into your Facebook profile. Obviously I can do better with use of their API’s and will do so as soon as I can dig out from under the mountain I am under.

19

Great to hear Eric! I can only see an upside with current CT users basically endorsing your site to all of their FB friends every time they post a note. Viral marketing at its best!

20

As a cellar managent tool my list is like 3 years out of date but someday I’ll change that. I use it all the time to look up wines though. Thats my caveat but Im voting yes. Someday Ill also move my tasting notes there. Its a great website.