I love to access my cellartracker data when at the wine shop.  The only problem is that the data connection on my Windows Mobile phone is slow and there is no Wi-Fi for my IPod Touch to connect to.

So, I have been downloading my various lists via Excel, printing them and then taking them along.  I don’t like paper and wanted to get my database on my IPod Touch somehow.

I happened to be scrolling through the Apple Apps store and came across this cool little $1.99 application called “CSV Touch”.  CSV, hmmmm.  I know I can export data to CSV, maybe this app can pull it in and cache it?   YES IT CAN.

So, I purchased the app, went to http://www.cellartracker.com/ow.asp?ExcelDownload to find out how to export to CSV, then realized I can create them on the fly with the following:  http://www.cellartracker.com/xlquery.asp?table=List&User=<your_login>&Password=<your_password>!!!  Be sure to add on &Format=csv for the proper CSV Export.

So I pointed this app to these custom URLs and BAM, it cached my entire wishlist, tasting notes and other lists.  You can select the columns to display so it doesnt get too clogged, when you click on an item, you can see all the data.

Obviously, if you have an IPhone (with v. 2.0 firmware), it will work even better as you can update on the fly without need for a wi-fi hotspot.

Anyway, if you have 2 bucks to burn, download it from the Apple App Store (Search for CSV Touch) and give it a go.

I hope this helps some of you out there who cannot get access to cellartracker while shopping, it will certainly help me!!!

More info about CSV Touch can be found here:  http://www.ozymandias.se/Ozymandias/Home.html

Since it is a CSV database, you can use it for anything!

Tags: apple,cellartracker,software,Wine
Categories: Tech, Wine
2 Comments »

If you happen to know me, you are aware that I really like wine. I’m no wine snob or oenophile, but I do happen to prefer wine as my drink of choice. I started getting into it a few years ago. I’d go to the store, pick up a few bottles and enjoy them with food and friends. As time has gone on, I’ve become a bit savvier. I’ve taken some tasting classes, read books, and visited Napa a couple of times.

While I dream of one day having my own wine cellar, I manage to get through now by keeping 12-18 bottles on hand in my Brooklyn apartment.

I was interested in starting to track my purchases, wines I liked/disliked and storing general information. I started putting together a spreadsheet and even tried tinkering with phpwims, which is a web application that I installed on my server, but it was lacking in features and function. Maybe there is an online app that could fit the bill?

I then queried the great Interwebnet for such an application. I stumbled upon a great online app called CellarTracker. So rather than storing this information on my computer, I could use this service to host it online and have my data available from anywhere.

So what is CellarTracker anyway you ask?

It is an online cellar management and tasting notes application developed by Eric LeVine.

CellarTracker is suited for collections of any size. So if you have 3 bottles or 38,409 (the largest cellar on the site!), it’s all good. It’s free to use, but if you have a large collection or wish to use some premium features you should make a $30 per year payment (which I have done to support the creator’s efforts)

As far as a list of features, here are the main ones (taken from their site):

Cellar Inventory Management

• Report and search by producer, vintage, varietal, drinkability, etc.
• Purchase price and valuation data (locale settable)
• Consumption history
• Barcode support
• Restaurant-quality printed wine lists
• Per-bottle location & bin tracking
• Personal tasting notes
• Uploadable label images
• Wish lists and shopping lists
• Track pending deliveries (a.k.a futures)
• Premium feature: Automatic valuation of your cellar (read more)
• Express import tools for existing spreadsheets (read more)

Tasting Notes

• Record your own notes
• Group a series of notes into tasting events
• Read community tasting notes
• See what others say about wine in your cellar
• Automated integration with Stephen Tanzer’s IWC (for co-subscribers)
• Store other professional reviews and scores (in compliance with copyright)
• Community bulletin board

The great thing about it is the community of other users. You can see other peoples tasting scores and notes, inventory, and even what others have paid for their wine (with paying subscription to the site). There are RSS feeds which allow you to stream your reviews or other data to your blog or anything that uses RSS. There is a mobile site so you can access from your smartphone while on the road.

The reports are really cool too. There are tons of reports and even the ability to create custom ones. I personally like the “Print a wine list” report. You click on it, select your options and presto! You get a restaurant styled wine list:

There are so many great features on this site that I could go on for days. I suggest, that if you enjoy wine and want to document your experiences, you should hop over and try it for yourself.

It’s located on the World Wide Web at: http://www.cellartracker.com

Tags: cellartracker,review,Wine
Categories: Tech, Wine
1 Comment »

Here is a very interesting interview with Jeffrey Davies, a long time expert in Bordeaux wines. This is from a daily video podcast called Wine Library TV. Check it out.

Tags: Wine
Categories: Wine
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