From the monthly archives:

May 2010

Wine Bottle Rotation

by Basement Wine Cellar Guy on May 31, 2010

In my previous discussion of wine cellar inventory management systems I commented that I use a simple system: Each bottle has a wine bottle tag, with a number on it, and I simply arrange my bottles in numerical order.

It’s a simple system; I start at the top, and keep filling, one bottle at a time.  But how do I handle wine bottle rotation?

An alternate system would be to number each spot on your wine rack, and the bottles could be placed in a spot, and your database would keep track of the “hole in the wall”, not the bottle number.

That system is too complicated for me, and I’m always afraid I’ll lose track of a bottle.  My system is simple.  However, a simple numerical system has one big disadvantage: empty holes.

Empty Spots in the Wine Rack

After a few months or regular wine drinking, there are lots of empty spots in the wine rack.  In my case, most of my wine deliveries occur either in the spring or fall.  I live in Canada, and overseas wineries do most of their wine shipping during the moderate temperature months, during the mild spring or fall, not during the heat of the summer, or the freezing cold of the winter, since the wine would be more likely to spoil.

So, at the end of a long winter, before many of the new shipments arrive, I’ve got lots of empty space.  Here’s what I did this year:

First, I looked in my wine inventory database and marked every wine bottle remaining that should be consumed this year.  I moved all of those bottles to a separate section of my basement wine cellar.  They will be easy to find, and since I they won’t be around a year from now, I won’t have to move them again.  I made three sections; one each for reds, whites, and rosé.  Each wine is arranged numerically in it’s section.

Wine Rack with all spaces filled

Then, I took the remaining wines, and moved them to their appropriate place, to fill up all of the holes.

As you can see, all spaces are now filled, and all wine bottle tags are easily visible.

I thought about creating another section for wines that are intended for “laying down”, that will be cellared for five or more years, so that they would not need to be moved again next year.  I don’t have that many bottles, so I decided to keep it simple.  I have one section for “drink this year” wines, and all of the rest are arranged in numerical order.

My plan is to fill the holes by moving up the bottles twice a year: once in the spring when the new shipments arrive, and once in the Fall as more shipments arrive, and I get ready for a long winter.  That’s my wine bottle rotation plan.

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Wine Cellar Inventory Management Systems

by Basement Wine Cellar Guy on May 17, 2010

If you have a wine cellar, you have more than a few bottles of wine, so you need a wine cellar inventory management system.  Here are your choices:

First, you could simply not keep track of your wine.  You could put all of your reds in one section, and all of your whites in another.  You could further arrange them by type of grape, or winery, or whatever other criteria you choose.  Then, when you want a bottle, you go to your cellar and hunt around until you find the bottle you want.  This system is simple, and if you only have 200 or 300 bottles, this may work well.

The next simplest system of wine cellar inventory management is to record your inventory in a book.  You have a page for each case you buy, and you list the bottles.  Again, you can segregate your pages by red or white, or date purchased, or whatever other system you want.

I don’t like either of those systems, because I like to track lots of details.  That leaves you with a computerized system.

There are many systems, such as the one offered by Uncork, which contains a computerized database of wine, and even has a bar code reader.  You scan the UPC bar code on your bottle, and you can connect to a database to find tasting notes, and whatever else you want.

I haven’t tested it; it’s probably a great system.  Personally, I don’t have 10,000 bottles, and I don’t always want to scan every bottle as I drink it, so I’ve designed my own system.

First, I created a database using Filemaker.  This database software is relatively simple to create and use.  You don’t need to be a programmer.  Obviously there are lots of other database programs you could use, such as Microsoft Access, but I’ve always found it to be more cumbersome.  You don’t need a fancy database; something simple will suffice.

I created the fields I wanted.  The obvious ones are:

  • Wine name
  • Year
  • Grape
  • Country
  • Price per bottle
  • Date added to wine cellar

I live in Canada, so I purchase most of my wine through Opimian, a not for profit buying group.  (Sorry, they only operate in Canada).  Each order book contains various other details on each wine, so I’ve added those to my database, including:

  • Tasting notes
  • Suggested serving temperature
  • Years the wine is best
  • Suggested food matches

Here’s how I do it: when I pick up a new case of wine, I enter the information into the database, and I print wine bottle tags to identify each wine.  I them print a hard copy of my wine cellar inventory (one page for each case of wine).

When I want to drink a bottle, I can either do a search on my computer (by grape, food match, or whatever other field I want), or I can look at my printed binder to find something quick (I arrange the pages by red, white and rose).

It’s simple, and easy.

Want to see a copy: here’s an empty copy of my Filemaker Wine Cellar Inventory Management System.  You will need Filemaker to open it.  My database is free, but of course it’s also entirely unsupported, so use it at your own risk, and good luck.

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Wine Bottle Tags

May 8, 2010

So now you have a basement wine cellar.  You start filling it with wine.  How do you keep track of it?  You need a wine cellar inventory management system. You can use a computer, or use a notebook.  I’ll let you do your own research on that topic.  Today, let’s discuss how you find the [...]

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