If you have 250 or more btls in your cellar, why are u not on CT?

Phil_Smith · May 19, 2019, 7:23pm

Such a great application. I wish it existed for some other collectibles…

Markus_S · May 19, 2019, 8:58pm

The mobile app is for pulling a bottle, checking a note, it is not meant for bulk manipulation and operation you are correct.

The desktop version is a monster… 99.9999% of the time when someone says “CT can’t”, on a desktop version, it’s user error / lack of know how.
the mobile app has a long way to go to catch up to desktop functionality, but like i said, i use it mainly to consume a bottle, check a note, and look at inventory here and there.

The criticism here is totally fair. There are still way too many things one can only do in desktop, and the mobile app design predated bigger screens and needs to scale better across a wider range of form factors. We are just lining up a designer to kick off a mobile refresh. As Mark notes, right now the mobile app is better as a companion, but in a world of many mobile-first and mobile-only users we need to do way better.

Not only is the advice below unsolicited, it is ill-informed, coming from someone who currently uses only 1/100th of CT’s functionality but . . . .

Don’t let your redesign for the mobile app get carried away. Too often, in my opinion, designers keep adding features and functionalities until the app becomes bloated and difficult to navigate to do the simple things. The mobile app, it seems to me, is best used for doing simple things when away from your laptop/desktop. If those simple things become more difficult/less intuitive in the process of adding more complex functionalities, the trade off is not worth it.

Just my 2 cents

I agree with Neal. Mobile doesn’t have to do everything. Desktop version is great, though I don’t use it all that much.

David_Glasser · May 19, 2019, 9:51pm

LOL, if only. Just a simple country doctor. Now retired and on a fixed income…

I admit to being one of those who is probably too invested in keeping track of every bottle, TN, and shifting drinking window. Probably satisfies some otherwise unmet need for control. But I love being able to browse the cellar and TNs, mine and others, from the couch. At retirement age, it’s harder to remember everything that’s down there.

Data input is ridiculously fast and simple, at least on the web version from an iPad or computer. With so many wines already in the global CT database, it’s rare to have to enter any wine details other than where it is in the cellar. Even re-locating it all in CT when we moved was manageable.

I was using another proprietary program to keep track of bottles and a decade or more of TNs when CT first came along. I wasn’t afraid of entering the bottles, even in those early days before CT had data on almost every wine I had. But I also wanted all my TNs in one place and asked Eric for help. I sent him my data file and he mapped and imported it into CT, preserving all my TNs, asking nothing more than the time it took me to send the file. I think it was years before voluntary contributions were even a possibility. I enjoy making those contributions.

Robert.A.Jr · May 19, 2019, 11:16pm

Don’t be stealing my country schtick!!!

Sir, I know country. I’ve loved country my whole life. Country is me. I live country. You are no country boy.

lleichtman · May 19, 2019, 11:35pm

If you have 250 or more btls in your cellar, why are u not on CT??? Or at least have a reliable spreadsheet of your own???

I organize a local monthly wine group dinner. And pretty much every month, the last few guys to post their wines for an event, are guys with cellars over 1000 btls but with no means to track what they own. And, these are really smart people. Most of them pretty technology savvy to boot. When asked in the past they expressed the perceived challenge of of; tally, organizing and loading their cellars on the front end. One guy expressed concern over needing to contribute the expected annual donation. He’s pretty tightfisted. These concerns are not without merit but after you’ve accumulated 250 btls +, keeping track of what you have so you can drink them within their window, becomes very difficult. Plus how do you avoid not completely forgetting to drink something before it starts to fall off? Especially once you have 500 plus blts? It becomes very difficult and time consuming to rummage though racks and boxes looking for something you think you still own but drank a couple years ago. Plus, you’re holding up my event thread .

I don’t post to cellartracker because it’s no one else’s business what wine I do or don’t have. I use an Excel spreadsheet to track my wine purchases and cellar.

Neal.Mollen · May 19, 2019, 11:41pm

If you have 250 or more btls in your cellar, why are u not on CT??? Or at least have a reliable spreadsheet of your own???

I organize a local monthly wine group dinner. And pretty much every month, the last few guys to post their wines for an event, are guys with cellars over 1000 btls but with no means to track what they own. And, these are really smart people. Most of them pretty technology savvy to boot. When asked in the past they expressed the perceived challenge of of; tally, organizing and loading their cellars on the front end. One guy expressed concern over needing to contribute the expected annual donation. He’s pretty tightfisted. These concerns are not without merit but after you’ve accumulated 250 btls +, keeping track of what you have so you can drink them within their window, becomes very difficult. Plus how do you avoid not completely forgetting to drink something before it starts to fall off? Especially once you have 500 plus blts? It becomes very difficult and time consuming to rummage though racks and boxes looking for something you think you still own but drank a couple years ago. Plus, you’re holding up my event thread .

I don’t post to cellartracker because it’s no one else’s business what wine I do or don’t have. I use an Excel spreadsheet to track my wine purchases and cellar.

Again, your cellar is private by default. No one else sees it. Use it or don’t use it, but this complaint has no basis in fact

Douglas_Breen · May 20, 2019, 12:16am

CT has added so much joy to my wine journey. I’ve been on it for 13 years.

history of what I drank, who I drank it with and where I drank it. It’s my travel/dinner journal.
hearing from people who drink the wines that are in my inventory. Helps and adds to excitement.
knowing what you have and where it is gives you the ability to drink what you want- not what you find first.
planning wines for big birthdays and anniversaries
the private note section helps with info- when to drink, reviewers comments, price qty bought…

I’ve done two major inventories over 13 years. 98 percent accuracy- mistakes were usually to my favor. I cannot imagine having a wine cellar without Cellartracker!

Anton_D · May 20, 2019, 12:50am

Which country?

David_Glasser · May 20, 2019, 1:10am

One word: Potatoe.

Markus_S · May 20, 2019, 1:24am

Obviously 1st World.

J_Diven · May 20, 2019, 1:56am

Started w CT in 2004 when I had a little more than a few hundred bottles and have never looked back.
I only have around 1700-1800 bottles but the idea of using a spreadsheet or paper instead would be absurd.

The mobile version is very limited and I almost never use it.
If it were improved I would certainly give it a try again.
Browser on an iPad is my main access.
I have saved searches for :
Varietal | Vintage | Producer
Producer | Varietal | Vintage
Location | Bin
Those and Pending summarized by Store probably satisfy 95% of my usage.

I have never bar coded anything.
My bin size is generally 12 with a min of 8 and max of 14 depending on the racking.
I think a bin size of 1 or 2 is insanity and not sustainable.

Give it a try there are terrific advantages.
If you select the correct granularity for your cellar it is not that painful to catalog and maintain.

Tom_G_l_a_s_g_o_w · May 20, 2019, 2:07am

You’re the country lawyer, David is the country doctor.

Robert.A.Jr · May 20, 2019, 2:42am

Look at you playing all mediator and stuff!

Bob_Davis · May 20, 2019, 3:56am

I track it with Excel.

Steven_Pumilia · May 20, 2019, 5:34am

Guilty as charged.
In my situation, I found myself able to buy wine faster than I could add them (well, not really, but that is my position). And I got lazy pulling wines I had consumed. So my account has only a fraction of the wine I own, and is filled with long consumed bottles.
I need to blow it up and start over again. It is a very helpful and usefull tool. I should be using it.

dsGriswold · May 20, 2019, 5:53am

I used to track the cellar on a clipboard with all current wine purchases with the wine in boxes or shippers, some open shelving for lesser quantities. About ten years ago started thinking about doing an Excel spread sheet. Found another tracking site when looking up a wine, a bit later found CT and migrated over. Cellar went from say 250-300 to 850-900, 500 when joining CT. Originally it took the best part of two months to get everything entered, great fun with my OCD. A bit later joined the forum, one thing led to another, WB shortly and here we are.
I check in on both sites daily. Check TNs when buying and post TNs when drinking and really appreciate other TNs on my wines which I check first. I was using a cellar view developed by another user which has ceased to refresh. Another user has a new view App, but have not followed through with the set up, may need to get bottle tags for the individual racking. Weinboxes serve for the overflow multiple bottles.

Graeme_Gee · May 20, 2019, 5:56am

I used Excel for a long while, and had fun with graphs and things.
However, CT is invaluable; especially when I might look to buy again a wine I had before.
I see purchase history, what I paid, when I drank it, what I thought of it.
When I drank the last bottle from my “Excel cellar” all evidence of the wine was gone, as I deleted the row.
Do Excel trackers leave all the evidence of their zero-status bottles? Mine was a ‘stock-on-hand’ report, rather than a real history.
In the washup, it was the end-to-end visibility in CT that won me over, with instant access to my TNs as well.
cheers,
Graeme

Brad_England · May 20, 2019, 7:09pm

It’s subjective. But for me CT is indispensable to the hobby (aka the obsession). It is as important to me personally as Outlook is to many of us professionally. I literally can’t imagine keeping track of inventory, location, undelivered wine, tasting notes, etc without it. I originally loaded something like 4,000 bottles in the cellar in 2006. It probably took a total of 30-35 hours, over maybe six to eight days. Usually had one friend helping me. Hanging out in the cellar, they read off the wine, number of bottles, and location while I entered it on my laptop. Drinking was involved. And it’s very easy to keep it updated with purchases and consumption.

lleichtman · May 20, 2019, 7:24pm

As do I and I put a picture of the bottle in the file as well plus a location in the cellar. Though, someone does seem to keep moving them around. Gremlin or wife, not sure which.

David_Baum · May 20, 2019, 7:35pm

Entered everything into CT about 10 years ago but became apathetic as it was a pain to keep track of. But finally took inventory two months ago and entered it all in/deleted old stuff. With ubiquitous mobile capabilities it couldnt be easier. My iPhone is always in my pocket. When something comes through my front door, I pull out my phone and enter it. When I pull a cork out of a bottle I pull my phone out and remove it. Literally take seconds.

I always knew what I had (about 600 bottles) for the most part. Its just nice having it in one place that is so easy to access anywhere I am and to be able to share access with a friend I’ll be drinking with so we can give each other suggestions of what we want to drink from each others cellars. Plus there is the whole social media and community aspect. Not much different than hanging around here meeting new wine lovers and exchanging information. Lastly, the rough valuation of what I had amassed was eye opening and over 2X what I thought I had if not more. Who knew?