It's not as if I haven't been enjoying wine either, just not writing about it. Well, to be quite honest, I haven't even frequented my cellar lately, and most of the parties that I've had already get their fair share of wine contributions without me having to provide my own.
But then I realized that when my computer crashed last year, my WineXT file went with it, thus providing me no window to look into my collection. How old is everything? When should I drink what?
Well no more, because I started re-entering my collection into CellarTracker, a web-based cellar tracking software. What's nice about it is that it leverages the power of its user community so that 1) you don't have to enter in all the data from a wine bottle. Chances are, something you have is also owned by someone else (so far I've run into only 3 exceptions to that); and 2) you get to see how people rate/comment the bottles of wine that you have.
Yet as nice (and free) as it is, it lacks somewhat in the user experience department. Interaction flows are strange, navigation can be inconsistent, and sometimes there is just too much information. (Although this isn't surprising considering its founder was a PM at that Redmond-based software company.). It needs to be 37 Signal-ed transformed into a nice, clean, mainstream web application that will make users happy to input and view their collection. Right now it's still in that early stage, where you're willing to endure it because of the content and community you're connected to. In the meantime... I know I have one of these somewhere...
Thanks for the note. I know that CellarTracker is long overdue for a UI overhaul. Just bear with me for a while, and it will get there...
Thanks,
-Eric LeVine
CellarTracker.com
Posted by: Eric LeVine | August 28, 2006 at 10:43 AM