How do you Organize your Storage

[Markus_S]

@Greg Smith

The cellar was constantly in chaos so I went to an admittedly strange system where I box up by anticipated year of consumption. I might have a bottle that I think should be enjoyed in 2018-2024 and box it up for 2020. I have now opened all of the 2014 boxes. I will review all of those wines that I boxed up in the past and decide if they are still good for 2014 or if I should rebox them for a future year. I tend to have 50 to 75 bottles per year for about the next 8 to 10 years. 2014 and some of 2015 are put on the racks and ready for selection. Of course I also add some 2014’s during the year for current consumption. Strange but it works for me.

Cool idea, and very practical (for the wine drinker). I’ll try to bury things that are not going to ready anytime soon and try to make the earlier drinkers more accessible.

[Markus_S]

@J a y H a c k

It’s easier than standing in the cellar pulling bottles and looking at them.

Maybe, but certainly not as much fun!

[J_Diven]

@J a y H a c k

…we decided to number each slot with a column, followed by number of rows from the top, followed by F or B for front or back slot. Thus, if I want to get a bottle of 2007 Saxum James Berry Vineyard to serve to some of my AFWE friends, it takes me [timing now with stop watch] 43 seconds from a dead stop to open a new tab in IE, log on to Cellartracker, wait for CT to load since Eric needs to speed up the server, and locate the wine in 21-21-F, which means that the wine is in the 21st column (which happens to be an all Saxum column but that doesn’t really matter) the 21st row from the top, and the front slot. It took a long time to accurately log in all the wine and do two data integrity checks to make sure it was correct. But it was worth it. Now if I can only find the time to do the other 500+ bottles on the left side of the cellar, it will be fine…

We’ve had this thread at least twice before this one, but here goes my usual response. The problem with this approach is not only the pain of the initial organization but you are now forcing yourself to identify each new bottle you buy individually in CT. CT has ‘bulk’ editing for a reason. My approach which carries over from when most of my inventory was in case boxes, has been to define a CT ‘bin’ as something between 8-14 bottles, depending on the physical racking. Most of my racking is double deep with 18 slots per column. So in the first column bin ‘01’ is the first 6 slots (12 bottles), followed by bins 02 and 03 below. Column 2 has bins 04-06, etc.

Yes, I may have to pull out a few bottles to find the correct wine if I don’t recognize the capsule, etc. BUT when i’m accepting receipt of purchased wine, I can keep a CT Location/Bin view tab open to see if I have a bin with enough open slots to accommodate the quantity of a wine I am putting away. In most cases I can bulk accept the wine into one or two bins. In your case you have to inventory each bottle individually. I don’t know about you, but I rarely buy wines for cellaring in quantity one. Especially with double deep racking - the front and back positions are ALWAYS in the same bin. When I take one out, the other just gets shoved to the back. Keeping track of the exact position of each bottle seems like an unmanageable nightmare to me. I would fail completely. I have enough trouble just remembering to remove the bottle from inventory when we drink it let alone which exact bottle it was - row/column/front/back. Ouch.

[Nick_Gangas]

So for the first time I’m actually making a point to organize and inventory my wine. Holy crap do I have a lot of Truchot.

[David_Glasser]

As noted above, my routine satisfies some of my control issues. So here goes, I suspect I may be in the running for most anal about this…

Old World on left, New World on right.

Separate sections for Germany, Champagne, Red Bordeaux, White Bordeaux, Sauternes, Red Rhone, White Rhone, Red Burgundy, White Burgundy, Ports, Italy, Spain, US, OZ, Sweet Reds, Other.

All the white sections are together on the top shelves and separate from the red sections.

Within each section, organized by year and then alphabetically by producer, then wine.

Double deep racks, every front bottle has tags labeling the wines in that rack and listing the drinking window when I bought it.

This allows for easy cellar browsing in person, or remotely with CT.

I have extra room so the empty spaces as I drink stuff aren’t too problematic, but every couple of years I have to reshuffle the bottle locations in the cellar and in CellarTracker. Usually takes several evenings but it’s relaxing, kind of like gardening. The hands-on reshuffle often rekindles interest in wines I’ve been ignoring for a while.

[Randy_Bowman]

At one point, it was by country and varietal. Now it’s where ever there is room and slap a large name tag on it. I guess I can’t help you.

[J_a_y_H_a_c_k]

@J Diven

@J a y H a c k

…we decided to number each slot with a column, followed by number of rows from the top, followed by F or B for front or back slot. Thus, if I want to get a bottle of 2007 Saxum James Berry Vineyard to serve to some of my AFWE friends, it takes me [timing now with stop watch] 43 seconds from a dead stop to open a new tab in IE, log on to Cellartracker, wait for CT to load since Eric needs to speed up the server, and locate the wine in 21-21-F, which means that the wine is in the 21st column (which happens to be an all Saxum column but that doesn’t really matter) the 21st row from the top, and the front slot. It took a long time to accurately log in all the wine and do two data integrity checks to make sure it was correct. But it was worth it. Now if I can only find the time to do the other 500+ bottles on the left side of the cellar, it will be fine…

We’ve had this thread at least twice before this one, but here goes my usual response. The problem with this approach is not only the pain of the initial organization but you are now forcing yourself to identify each new bottle you buy individually in CT. CT has ‘bulk’ editing for a reason. My approach which carries over from when most of my inventory was in case boxes, has been to define a CT ‘bin’ as something between 8-14 bottles, depending on the physical racking. Most of my racking is double deep with 18 slots per column. So in the first column bin ‘01’ is the first 6 slots (12 bottles), followed by bins 02 and 03 below. Column 2 has bins 04-06, etc.

. . .

Ah yes, important point. Depends on your buying habits. I rarely buy full cases. I have about 25 full cases and they are designated similarly in the case columns, except there is no front or back. Once I break up the case, I just enter it as above. My buying habits are more towards trying to try every wine ever made at least once before I die, so even when I buy Saxum, it doesn’t come in the case. AND woe are my Carlisle columns - all onsies and twosies and a rare threesie.

[J_a_y_H_a_c_k]

@Markus S

@J a y H a c k

It’s easier than standing in the cellar pulling bottles and looking at them.

Maybe, but certainly not as much fun!

We were discussing this with another guy over dinner last night. He has just started on the Road to Perdition - he only has about 300. We agreed that we both like to just go and look at our wine from time to time. AND if I want to poke around and decide which wine to pick without going to CT, that works too. My columns are loosely organized by producer when I have a lot from the same producer and by country and grape (one for Burgs, three for Bordeaux) when I don’t. However, the one thing everyone tells me is that such an organizatrion will eventually get screwed up over time, so I have allowed for the necessity of putting new Bordeaux purchases into former Burg slots by keping precise location.

[GregT]

Randy - what wood did you use for that cellar. Looks very practical. Also looks like 2x4s for the supports - correct?

[Steve_Pohlman]

In CT it’s important to make numbering 01, 02 etc. Otherwise 10 shows up after 1 and before 2…if you want to see you wine in the same sequence as the racking.

[dsGriswold]

@Steve Pohlman

In CT it’s important to make numbering 01, 02 etc. Otherwise 10 shows up after 1 and before 2…if you want to see you wine in the same sequence as the racking.

I use an Excel download for a visual of the cellar. I tried the A01. etc. and went back to just A1, etc. because the formula didn’t work with A01. I have learned to leave well enough alone. I also tried AB01 etc for expansion past Z01 and that did not work either, so I just doubled up a second tier on Excel for those past Z. I have 3 pages of 1-12 & 2 pages of 13-24 to cover rows of 12 in each column.
I generally look at my Excel now to organize wines and update CT locations.

[Robert_B]

Randy - I applaud you sir

[Randy_Bowman]

@GregT

Randy - what wood did you use for that cellar. Looks very practical. Also looks like 2x4s for the supports - correct?

Greg,

Yes, 2x4 framing, 2x6 shelving. Notice the metal racks in the center? Added 2 of them too.

Randy

[Robert_B]

Randy - Here is the deal… You invite me into that room… You leave to take a phone call… I am left alone in that room for about 3 minutes… You come back… See if you can tell if anything or any crate is missing… Deal?

[Steve_Pohlman]

@dsGriswold

@Steve Pohlman

In CT it’s important to make numbering 01, 02 etc. Otherwise 10 shows up after 1 and before 2…if you want to see you wine in the same sequence as the racking.

I use an Excel download for a visual of the cellar. I tried the A01. etc. and went back to just A1, etc. because the formula didn’t work with A01. I have learned to leave well enough alone. I also tried AB01 etc for expansion past Z01 and that did not work either, so I just doubled up a second tier on Excel for those past Z. I have 3 pages of 1-12 & 2 pages of 13-24 to cover rows of 12 in each column.
I generally look at my Excel now to organize wines and update CT locations.

You can use 1A as long as your slots don’t get to double digits.

[Chris_Blum]

I’ll probably change things down the road, but I decided to store by grape/varietal and region. Domestic cabs and Merlots in one cabinet, domestic pinot in another, burgs in another etc.

So I ended up giving each of my Eurocaves a name on Cellartracker; Alice, Bertha, etc. Then, because they have five distinct racks, I am logging stuff in as
Location: Bertha, Bin: 3

[Dav_d_Parta_n]

Haphazardly.

[David_Bu3ker]

It was well organized at one time. Now that the cellar is straining the limits of space it has gotten very haphazard. I am hoping to do a total reorganization this winter.

[Markus_S]

@Randy Bowman

At one point, it was by country and varietal. Now it’s where ever there is room and slap a large name tag on it. I guess I can’t help you.

The title say it all! http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xlkof_neil-young-helpless-w-the-band_music

[dsGriswold]

@Markus S

@Randy Bowman

At one point, it was by country and varietal. Now it’s where ever there is room and slap a large name tag on it. I guess I can’t help you.

The title say it all! http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xlkof_neil-young-helpless-w-the-band_music

Just toke up and who gives a rip about organization.