CellarTracker is a
website
A website (also written as a web site) is any web page whose content is identified by a common domain name and is published on at least one web server. Websites are typically dedicated to a particular topic or purpose, such as news, educatio ...
that stores information about
wine
Wine is an alcoholic drink made from Fermentation in winemaking, fermented fruit. Yeast in winemaking, Yeast consumes the sugar in the fruit and converts it to ethanol and carbon dioxide, releasing heat in the process. Wine is most often made f ...
s and wine collections. Created in 2003 by
Eric LeVine, a former
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company, technology conglomerate headquartered in Redmond, Washington. Founded in 1975, the company became influential in the History of personal computers#The ear ...
program manager, CellarTracker has grown to be one of the world's most comprehensive
wine databases. 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
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company, technology conglomerate headquartered in Redmond, Washington. Founded in 1975, the company became influential in the History of personal computers#The ear ...
, 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 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.
This group of third parties varies over time.
Cellartracker divides these parties into "Paid Content" and "Free Content".
In 2023 there are 17 channels of Paid Content from various wine publications that integrate with Cellartracker. One subscribes to the channels of one's choice and that allows each publication's specific reports to be integrated in the Cellartracker website for those subscribers.
Additionally, In 2023 there are 12 channels of Free Content.
For a current list of all channels, see: https://support.cellartracker.com/article/39-integrated-professional-reviews .
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
Internet properties established in 2003