All of the comments shown below have been made to me over the years.  It is time I shared them along with my responses.

“I never keep wines long enough to make a cellar worthwhile”

I developed Vinote because I suffered from this problem.  By tagging each wine and then referring to the wine cellar software to choose a wine, I quickly controlled my impetuousness and my cellar grew in quantity and quality.  I learned that the essence is to distance the selection process from the actual presence of the bottles.  Bring the two together and the temptation to grab a sacred bottle becomes overwhelming.

 “I can’t afford a cellar”

You can’t afford not to!  If you drink wine, you need a cellar to hold the wines you can buy at bargain prices as well as the precious gems that you want to save for the right occasion.  Buying wine on the as-you-need-it basis is an expensive means of enjoying wine.

“Cellaring is for others”

If you enjoy drinking wine or entertaining with wine, then cellaring is for you.  It will save you money and you will quickly develop a higher level of wine confidence.

“I enjoy discussing the wines I am buying with the retailer”

You will enjoy it even more if you were buying for your cellar.  The same advice will be much more freely given when the retailer knows you are going to cellar it.

“I only buy discount wines which don’t deserve to be cellared”

Discount wines are some of the best to cellar.  Buy in bulk and enjoy at your leisure, but buy a variety in bulk and then spread your wine enjoyment, rather than drinking case by case. 

“I don’t drink enough wines to make cellaring worth while”

Even the occasional wine drinker will gain more pleasure at lower cost by cellaring wine.

“I haven’t got time to accumulate wines”

If you have time to make your ad hoc purchases, you certainly have the time to buy in bulk and cellar, leaving you more time to enjoy your wines.

“I haven’t got space for a cellar”

We know of many cellarers who store their wines under beds, stairs and in the bottom of broom cupboards.  Your wine does not have to be stored all in the same place.

“I don’t know what wines to put in a cellar” 

Starting a cellar is the best way we know of developing wine knowledge and confidence.  When you find a wine you like, buy a few extra and put them away.

“I don’t know when to open wines that I am holding”

Once you have a collection, the act of choosing a wine becomes much easier.  Vinote Cellar and other systems provide best drinking dates which assists in making a decision.

“If I had any more wines I would not know where to find one”

Vinote Cellar makes this job very simple and easy.  You select your wine for drinking from the software and you find the selected wine by seeking a tag number, easily seen within 50 others.

“I can’t be bothered with all the fuss that is associated with cellaring”

There are two answers to this.  Firstly your investment in wine deserves better treatment and secondly your wine pleasures are being limited.  Even if you can afford to ignore the care and attention due to your wines, it is sad to think that you are ignoring the opportunities for wine pleasures by failing to manage your wines. 

“I have a cellar and I know where all my wines are and when they should be opened”

In 12 years of advising and observing wine cellarers, I am yet to find one who knows where all their wines are, when they should be opened and which is the optimum wine to be opened for each occasion.

“How does Vinote differ from other wine cellar software programs?”

Vinote is unique in its approach to wine cellar inventory control.  

By tagging each bottle with a uniquely numbered tag which is recorded in the database, Vinote removes the temptation to select a bottle using the pick and peck method – the first breakdown of a good cellar. Vinote allows you to keep your inventory management well separated from the act of enjoying the wine – a badly managed inventory is the death knell of a good cellar.  

Vinote Cellar offers a huge database of wines and a growing number of tasting notes and drink by dates for everyone to share.