CellarTracker is a

website A website (also written as a web site) is a collection of web pages and related content that is identified by a common domain name and published on at least one web server. Examples of notable websites are Google Search, Google, Facebook, Amaz ...

that stores information about

wine Wine is an alcoholic drink typically made from fermented grapes. Yeast consumes the sugar in the grapes and converts it to ethanol and carbon dioxide, releasing heat in the process. Different varieties of grapes and strains of yeasts are m ...

s and wine collections. Created in 2003 by Eric LeVine, a former

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation producing computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at the Microsoft Redmond campus located in Redmond, Washing ...

program manager, CellarTracker has grown to be one of the world's most comprehensive

wine database Wine is an alcoholic drink typically made from fermented grapes. Yeast consumes the sugar in the grapes and converts it to ethanol and carbon dioxide, releasing heat in the process. Different varieties of grapes and strains of yeasts are ma ...

s. CellarTracker is free to use and relies heavily on its users for data input, constantly increasing the number of tracked bottles as well as user tasting notes. CellarTracker also has a donation option which gives access to a series of services through CellarTracker's cooperation with other online resources, such as Stephen Tanzer, Wine Market Journal and Jancis Robinson.

History

CellarTracker was created in 2003 after creator Eric LeVine, then a programmer at

, had made the program for himself, tracking his wine. Some friends suggested he launch the concept online which he did in 2004. The CellarTracker concept proved popular and over the years it out-paced other similar resources, such as Cork'd, while increasing cooperating with other wine-related services. An early contributor was US wine critic

Stephen Tanzer Stephen Tanzer is an American wine critic and editor at Vinous. From 1985 until he joined Vinous in 2014, Tanzer was the publisher of the critically acclaimed bimonthly ''International Wine Cellar'', an independent journal read by wine professional ...

who offered his scores to donating members of CellarTracker. Other collaborations followed, the most notable being with

Jancis Robinson Jancis Mary Robinson OBE, ComMA, MW (born 22 April 1950) is a British wine critic, journalist and wine writer. She currently writes a weekly column for the ''Financial Times'', and writes for her website JancisRobinson.com, updated daily. She ...

. In early 2010, Eric LeVine launched a sister site for CellarTracker, called GrapeStories. GrapeStories relied on the same database as CellarTracker, but was intended to be a more user-friendly approach to tracking wine and sharing wine experiences as well as providing a better interface. LeVine had been dissatisfied by the static interface in CellarTracker, and was trying to create a more dynamic and engaging interface with GrapeStories. In December 2010 however, he announced his decision to abandon the GrapesStories rename, and keep the Cellartracker name with the new interface. As of January 2014, CellarTracker has more than 288,000 registered users with 30 million individual bottles, and nearly 3.8 million wine reviews from users.

Concept

CellarTracker works by keeping track or "tracking" the user's wine. The user is supposed to search for the wines in his cellar on CellarTracker's database and then enter number of bottles and price (optional). If the wine does not already exist in the database, the user can create it himself, thus adding to the completeness of the CellarTracker database. When drinking a wine, the user marks the bottle as drunk and enters a tasting note (optional). The idea is that by having a large number of users generate tasting notes for other users to read, this helps guide the user in choosing the right wine to drink, buy etc. Thus, CellarTracker relies heavily on the users' input and willingness to add to the database.

Partnerships

CellarTracker offers a multitude of services provided through cooperation with third parties. These include *

Wine Market Journal Wine is an alcoholic drink typically made from fermented grapes. Yeast consumes the sugar in the grapes and converts it to ethanol and carbon dioxide, releasing heat in the process. Different varieties of grapes and strains of yeasts are ma ...

– a wine auction trade list providing the latest auction results *VinousMedia – wine reviews from

Antonio Galloni Antonio Galloni is an American wine critic. He is the founder and chief executive officer (CEO) of Vinous for which he is also the lead critic covering the wines of Bordeaux, California, Italy, and Champagne. From 2006 to 2013, Galloni was a wine ...

– wine reviews *Allan Meadows' Burghound.com – wine reviews *View from the Cellar – wine reviews *For The Love Of Port – wine reviews *Champagne Warrior – wine reviews *The World of Fine Wine – wine reviews *Vintage Tastings – wine reviews *

Gary Vaynerchuk Gary Vaynerchuk (born Gennady Vaynerchuk; November 14, 1975; , ), commonly known as Gary Vee, is a Soviet-born American entrepreneur, author, speaker, and Internet personality. He is a co-founder of the restaurant reservation software company Re ...

's Wine Library TV – wine reviews *Burgundy Report – wine reviews *Rockss and Fruit – wine reviews *Sommelier Journal – wine reviews *New York Cork Report – wine reviews *Cellar Sensor – temperature and humidity monitoring system. *

Wine-Searcher Wine-Searcher is a web search engine enabling users to locate the price and availability of a given wine, whiskey, spirit or beer globally, and be directed to a business selling the alcoholic beverage. There are also both Wine-Searcher and Whiske ...

– wine pricing

Awards

On January 4, 2010, Eric LeVine, founder of CellarTracker.com, was named the "Wine Person of the Decade" by user voting on popular wine blog, Dr. Vino.com.

Notes

External links

Official CellarTracker! homepage
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cellartracker Wine packaging and storage Wine websites