Concept
Documenting a wine collection is not rocket science and it doesn’t have to be tedious; It should be a fun and easy task. The process is simple and anyone with a pencil and paper, or a computer, can do it effectively. Proper documentation allows wine lovers to keep their inventory in proper order, so that when they need to find a particular bottle in the proverbial haystack, it is easy to do so.
This process is relatively easy if you have fewer than a hundred bottles of wine to organize or your wine collection is in the hundreds or thousands. The wine documentation process involves the same principles, whether the winery is large or small. Think of it like organizing a library. Whether there are few books or many shelves, they should be arranged in order, using certain rows and certain aisles to make it easy to find what you need quickly and efficiently. This guide will help you find the best ways to document your wine collection.
Process
Wine enthusiasts with large collections should always opt for the most convenient method of documenting their wines. One popular method is the use of computer software that manages the placement of the wine in the cellar. Software programs like WineBanq, The Wine Cellar Book, The Uncorked Cellar, Cellartracker make wine management relatively easy. Free trial versions of these software are usually available, but trial versions often offer very limited functionality and / or eventual expiration.
One low-tech documentation method is through the use of electronic spreadsheets. The most popular spreadsheet programs are Microsoft Excel, Google Docs Spreadsheets (free), OpenOffice Spreadsheets (free), and Zoho Sheets (free). Using a spreadsheet format, one fills in the columns with descriptive labels for each wine. Mandatory columns include: winery row number, location number within each winery row, vineyard, label description, vintage, grape variety, country, region, location, classification, drink from date, drink to date, class, source, cost and estimated value. The most important columns for inventory purposes are the first two: warehouse row number and location number within each warehouse row. These numbers will indicate the exact location of each bottle of wine in the cellar (or other storage location). By meticulously numbering each physical row and each physical cell within each row, and then matching these physical locations on the spreadsheet, accounting for all bottles is quick and easy.
Whichever method you use to document your wine inventory, make a physical print out of all the information for a manual audit and paper record. Finding a system that works and sticking to it meticulously is key to organizational success.
