Hi all - I know that this has been discussed many times on this forum,
but I can't find any really recent threads. Would love to know what
people are using these days.

I have a dedicated cellar with just over 1,000 bottles of wine. I'm
currently using cellar! and generally speaking I find it pretty good,
albeit a bit cumbersome at times. I find the ageing profile feature
to be too complex, I don't have the patience to enter five or six data
points for each wine. I do like the shared tasting notes feature.
Also I can rarely get the auction values stuff working correctly. Most
importantly, I don't feel like the software provides a good way to
summarize my cellar by wine type, vintage, etc.

Would appreciate any input.

On 21 Nov 2004 12:07:01 -0800, (JC Farber) wrote:

>Hi all - I know that this has been discussed many times on this forum,
>but I can't find any really recent threads. Would love to know what
>people are using these days.
>
>I have a dedicated cellar with just over 1,000 bottles of wine. I'm
>currently using cellar! and generally speaking I find it pretty good,
>albeit a bit cumbersome at times. I find the ageing profile feature
>to be too complex, I don't have the patience to enter five or six data
>points for each wine. I do like the shared tasting notes feature.
>Also I can rarely get the auction values stuff working correctly. Most
>importantly, I don't feel like the software provides a good way to
>summarize my cellar by wine type, vintage, etc.
>
>Would appreciate any input.

For nearly eight years I was doing software reviews for Ziff-Davis
Online Software Library (ZDNet). One of the categories I was
responsible for was food/wine. Of the twenty or more wine databases I
reviewed during those years, the one that I chose for my personal use
was Cellar! It offers all of the power, sorting, searching and support
features I need. Over the cycle of several updates it has kept pace
with the evolving underlying Access DB file changes and it has done
the best job I've seen of integrating online information sources.

I assume you've got a recent version of the software--latest is 3.4.9
and can be downloaded with just a click from the C!Online menu. You'll
also find the latest auction files through the download menu.

As for the tedium of adjusting profiles, you should be able to set
some standard profiles for quick entry rather than manually tweaking
the graphs for a each wine.

The shared TNs are great and I've used them regularly to determine if
a wine I'm considering purchasing is really what the adverts say it
is. I also like the online access to the winery info--entering a wine
into the database which isn't already listed in the winery files is as
simple as a quick online query which brings up a detailed listing of
the wineries to consider.

As for cellar summaries, the search options are pretty extensive but
readily accessible through a right click menu on any factor in the
table listing. Sorts are fast and can be kept for future recall, such
as all Burgundy or all California or whatever.

The only other software I still see regularly is the Robert Parker
package, but it is considerably more expensive and most users complain
about a heavy-handed overlay of the Parker taste preferences.



Ed Rasimus
Fighter Pilot (USAF-Ret)
"When Thunder Rolled"
www.thunderchief.org

"JC Farber" > wrote in message
om...
> Hi all - I know that this has been discussed many times on this forum,
> but I can't find any really recent threads. Would love to know what
> people are using these days.
>
> I have a dedicated cellar with just over 1,000 bottles of wine. I'm
> currently using cellar! and generally speaking I find it pretty good,
> albeit a bit cumbersome at times. I find the ageing profile feature
> to be too complex, I don't have the patience to enter five or six data
> points for each wine. I do like the shared tasting notes feature.
> Also I can rarely get the auction values stuff working correctly. Most
> importantly, I don't feel like the software provides a good way to
> summarize my cellar by wine type, vintage, etc.
>
> Would appreciate any input.

'Any input'? Are you sure?
My own cellar is modest compared to your 1000 bottles. I don't need software
because I keep notes in a book and on the bottles with a fine tipped chalk/
Posca type pen. I also have the brain of Mysterio X Einstein and the memory
of a god.
Also, while my judgement is informed by other peoples experience, my own
*taste it and work out when it'll be best* has proved best method for
realising optimum cellaring.
I suggest that if you can't do this then you might be cellaring more than
you can properly cope with. I also suggest that I might be just a bit
jealous.
In good humour and with a little seriousness.
Sammy

"JC Farber" > wrote in message
om...
> Hi all - I know that this has been discussed many times on this forum,
> but I can't find any really recent threads. Would love to know what
> people are using these days.
>
> I have a dedicated cellar with just over 1,000 bottles of wine. I'm
> currently using cellar! and generally speaking I find it pretty good,
> albeit a bit cumbersome at times. I find the ageing profile feature
> to be too complex, I don't have the patience to enter five or six data
> points for each wine. I do like the shared tasting notes feature.
> Also I can rarely get the auction values stuff working correctly. Most
> importantly, I don't feel like the software provides a good way to
> summarize my cellar by wine type, vintage, etc.
>
> Would appreciate any input.

'Any input'? Are you sure?
My own cellar is modest compared to your 1000 bottles. I don't need software
because I keep notes in a book and on the bottles with a fine tipped chalk/
Posca type pen. I also have the brain of Mysterio X Einstein and the memory
of a god.
Also, while my judgement is informed by other peoples experience, my own
*taste it and work out when it'll be best* has proved best method for
realising optimum cellaring.
I suggest that if you can't do this then you might be cellaring more than
you can properly cope with. I also suggest that I might be just a bit
jealous.
In good humour and with a little seriousness.
Sammy

JC Farber wrote:
> Hi all - I know that this has been discussed many times on this forum,
> but I can't find any really recent threads. Would love to know what
> people are using these days.
>
> I have a dedicated cellar with just over 1,000 bottles of wine. I'm
> currently using cellar! and generally speaking I find it pretty good,
> albeit a bit cumbersome at times. I find the ageing profile feature
> to be too complex, I don't have the patience to enter five or six data
> points for each wine. I do like the shared tasting notes feature.
> Also I can rarely get the auction values stuff working correctly. Most
> importantly, I don't feel like the software provides a good way to
> summarize my cellar by wine type, vintage, etc.
>
> Would appreciate any input.

I've begun to use CellarTracker. It's pretty good. (www.cellartracker.com).

Dan

"Sammy" > wrote in message >...
> "JC Farber" > wrote in message
> om...
> > Hi all - I know that this has been discussed many times on this forum,
> > but I can't find any really recent threads. Would love to know what
> > people are using these days.
> >
> > I have a dedicated cellar with just over 1,000 bottles of wine. I'm
> > currently using cellar! and generally speaking I find it pretty good,
> > albeit a bit cumbersome at times. I find the ageing profile feature
> > to be too complex, I don't have the patience to enter five or six data
> > points for each wine. I do like the shared tasting notes feature.
> > Also I can rarely get the auction values stuff working correctly. Most
> > importantly, I don't feel like the software provides a good way to
> > summarize my cellar by wine type, vintage, etc.
> >
> > Would appreciate any input.
>
> 'Any input'? Are you sure?
> My own cellar is modest compared to your 1000 bottles. I don't need software
> because I keep notes in a book and on the bottles with a fine tipped chalk/
> Posca type pen. I also have the brain of Mysterio X Einstein and the memory
> of a god.
> Also, while my judgement is informed by other peoples experience, my own
> *taste it and work out when it'll be best* has proved best method for
> realising optimum cellaring.
> I suggest that if you can't do this then you might be cellaring more than
> you can properly cope with. I also suggest that I might be just a bit
> jealous.
> In good humour and with a little seriousness.
> Sammy

Sammy -

I am definitely cellaring more that I can properly cope with...there
is no question about that! But I'm having a lot of fun doing it.

I spent some time yesterday fooling around with cellar! and got it to
do most of what I needed. I will try plugging in some standardized
drinking profiles as suggested above. I'm sure that will save time.

I still do find the auction data feature a bit cumbersome but I guess
it's serviceable.

Thanks -

JF

"Sammy" > wrote in message >...
> "JC Farber" > wrote in message
> om...
> > Hi all - I know that this has been discussed many times on this forum,
> > but I can't find any really recent threads. Would love to know what
> > people are using these days.
> >
> > I have a dedicated cellar with just over 1,000 bottles of wine. I'm
> > currently using cellar! and generally speaking I find it pretty good,
> > albeit a bit cumbersome at times. I find the ageing profile feature
> > to be too complex, I don't have the patience to enter five or six data
> > points for each wine. I do like the shared tasting notes feature.
> > Also I can rarely get the auction values stuff working correctly. Most
> > importantly, I don't feel like the software provides a good way to
> > summarize my cellar by wine type, vintage, etc.
> >
> > Would appreciate any input.
>
> 'Any input'? Are you sure?
> My own cellar is modest compared to your 1000 bottles. I don't need software
> because I keep notes in a book and on the bottles with a fine tipped chalk/
> Posca type pen. I also have the brain of Mysterio X Einstein and the memory
> of a god.
> Also, while my judgement is informed by other peoples experience, my own
> *taste it and work out when it'll be best* has proved best method for
> realising optimum cellaring.
> I suggest that if you can't do this then you might be cellaring more than
> you can properly cope with. I also suggest that I might be just a bit
> jealous.
> In good humour and with a little seriousness.
> Sammy

Sammy -

I am definitely cellaring more that I can properly cope with...there
is no question about that! But I'm having a lot of fun doing it.

I spent some time yesterday fooling around with cellar! and got it to
do most of what I needed. I will try plugging in some standardized
drinking profiles as suggested above. I'm sure that will save time.

I still do find the auction data feature a bit cumbersome but I guess
it's serviceable.

Thanks -

JF