Organising Your Port

[Alex Bridgeman]

I've just spent a very happy couple of hours going through the contents of my recently moved collection of bottles (recently moved only because the builders are now demolishing the room where they were kept).

I now have all my port ay home in alphabetical order by shipper, chronologically within each shipper and then in sub-order of date of acquiring them.

I know, I'm sad but I did have fun putting them in this order.

So how do you organise your bottles?

[DRT]

I have two wine coolers. I very occassionaly pull all of the bottles out and put them back in chronological order but with no regard to alpha order of the shippers within each vintage. Shoddy, but true.

The exceptions to this are that (a) Nacionals all lie on one shelf and never move until being taken out to drink and (b) anything I have 6 of gets a whole shelf to itself, not necessarily in the chronilogical order.

I am glad I am not as geeky as AHB when it comes to matters of storage.

[Glenn E.]

Mine are grouped more-or-less by age, sub sorted by perceived quality. Since I'm using a wine fridge for storage, I can't be too picky about where each bottle must reside or there will be too many holes on the shelves, so it would be optimistic to say that my bottles are sorted. I do know where everything is, but the "order" would probably not be apparent to anyone else.

Like Derek, I also sort out sets of 6 (or 12) onto separate shelves. In my case, all of my sets of 6 or 12 are younger Ports that need to lie down for many years, so I've migrated them toward the bottom of the fridge where the temperature is presumably slightly cooler (and more constant).

[ajfeather]

I think its fair to say that what I store on site I don't organise. Due to space constraints I don't have that many bottles at home and quite frequently cannot find something or find something I had lost. It can be fun and it can be frustrating, on reflection mostly fun.

I would love one day to organise things much more but that will probably wait until the little'ies grow up a bit.

[jdaw1]

Collections of bottles go in a hole in the rack big enough to accommodate them. If there multiple choices of hole, I endeavour to choose one near like wines (age or house). Bottles have neck tags, and there is the inevitable spreadsheet.

[Portman]

I put my ready to drink and lesser ports up front like pawns to protect my rooks and bishops. The key is to always have a buffer of cellar defenders.

[jdaw1]

cellar defenders

What a great term for quality but everyday-drinking port.

[Alex Bridgeman]

cellar defenders

What a great term for quality but everyday-drinking port.

Now there's an idea for a thread sometime...

[DRT]

cellar defenders

What a great term for quality but everyday-drinking port.

Now there's an idea for a thread sometime...

...and an off-line theme

[Axel P]

I organised them by year and if I do not have enough from a specific year I bundled them together such as 1978 to 1980.

Axel

[uncle tom]

My cellar is ordered loosely, but I put my faith in tagging every bottle, numbering every rack, assigning a letter to every column of each rack and a number to each row - and then telling my computer where I've put things.

For the tags, I have a three figure 'case number' and then a letter for the bottle number.

Thus case number 333C is the third bottle from case number 333. (which happens to be Croft '70) My computer tells me that the first bottle from the case is stored at location 03A06 - rack three, column A, row 6. The bottles are always racked vertically, so I know that bottle C will lie in the row below (rack 3 is a double depth rack)

My main database tells me essential infrmation about each case - which wine, where bought, when, how much for, how many bottles, what format & how many bottles have been drunk or sold.

For each line on the database, there is a link to a case notes file, which records more detailed information for the purchase as a whole - mainly provenance and bottler information - and for each bottle - level and condition, tasting notes or details of to whom sold.

I have also written a raft of macros to analyse the data in various ways..

Tom

[Axel P]

My cellar is ordered loosely, but I put my faith in tagging every bottle, numbering every rack, assigning a letter to every column of each rack and a number to each row - and then telling my computer where I've put things.

For the tags, I have a three figure 'case number' and then a letter for the bottle number.

Thus case number 333C is the third bottle from case number 333. (which happens to be Croft '70) My computer tells me that the first bottle from the case is stored at location 03A06 - rack three, column A, row 6. The bottles are always racked vertically, so I know that bottle C will lie in the row below (rack 3 is a double depth rack)

My main database tells me essential infrmation about each case - which wine, where bought, when, how much for, how many bottles, what format & how many bottles have been drunk or sold.

For each line on the database, there is a link to a case notes file, which records more detailed information for the purchase as a whole - mainly provenance and bottler information - and for each bottle - level and condition, tasting notes or details of to whom sold.

I have also written a raft of macros to analyse the data in various ways..

Tom, you fully lost me on the way. If I had your system, I would only be able to source a bottle when totally drunk, because then it wouldnt matter anyways.


Axel

[Portman]

Some of you guys have some incredible cellars. Case 333? I've got probably 500 bottles and my friends think I am nuts. Just because I go down there and talk to my favorite bottles doesnt prove a thing.

[DRT]

I've got probably 500 bottles and my friends think I am nuts. Just because I go down there and talk to my favorite bottles doesnt prove a thing.

You fit right in here

[KillerB]

Does anybody need reminding that AHB is an Accountant?

If have a space, a new bottle will go in there. That's my system.

[RonnieRoots]

If have a space, a new bottle will go in there. That's my system.

You have tremendous willpower. I don't. My system is: if I have space, a new bottle will go there. If I don't, a new case will have to be nudged in somehow.

But given that most of my bottles are in offsite storage at the moment, I do have a sort of a system. Cases are numbered, and everything is in cellartracker. That way I know where to look if I want something out of there. Which still means that case will be at the bottom of the pile of course.

[uncle tom]

Case 333?

My most recent entry has been allocated the case number 805 - however, I started at 100 and every part case, even lone bottles; get a case number.

Tom

[KillerB]

If have a space, a new bottle will go in there. That's my system.

You have tremendous willpower. I don't. My system is: if I have space, a new bottle will go there. If I don't, a new case will have to be nudged in somehow.

Hang on - I didn't say that I wouldn't buy wine just because there is no space, just if there is space a wine will go there. Hence the higgledy piggledy nature of my filing system. I have cases all over the place and spare bottles hanging around on shelves, stuff precariously dangling by gossamer thin threads from light-bulbs. For pity's sake don't accuse me of restraint.

[RonnieRoots]

If have a space, a new bottle will go in there. That's my system.

You have tremendous willpower. I don't. My system is: if I have space, a new bottle will go there. If I don't, a new case will have to be nudged in somehow.

Hang on - I didn't say that I wouldn't buy wine just because there is no space, just if there is space a wine will go there. Hence the higgledy piggledy nature of my filing system. I have cases all over the place and spare bottles hanging around on shelves, stuff precariously dangling by gossamer thin threads from light-bulbs. For pity's sake don't accuse me of restraint.

Glad to hear that --sigh of relief--

[Portman]

Case 333?

My most recent entry has been allocated the case number 805 - however, I started at 100 and every part case, even lone bottles; get a case number.

Tom

I'm still impressed.

[g-man]

Does anybody need reminding that AHB is an Accountant?

If have a space, a new bottle will go in there. That's my system.

I take the , if I'm still sober, then a new bottle could definitely in the cellar.

Otherwise I'm at capacity =(

[KillerB]

Does anybody need reminding that AHB is an Accountant?

If have a space, a new bottle will go in there. That's my system.

I take the , if I'm still sober, then a new bottle could definitely in the cellar.

Otherwise I'm at capacity =(

I have no idea what you are trying to say here. I assume something about the use of a comma as a pause replacing 'then' but no excuse for the inapproprate space or frankly baffling end to the sentence. If this was an attempt at piss-taking then please ensure that the satire is pertinently accurate

[uncle tom]

Otherwise I'm at capacity =(

At the time of writing, I suspect..

[Portman]

At my other board we use the shorthand "PWI" in cases like these. Posting While Intoxicated

[DRT]

At my other board we use the shorthand "PWI" in cases like these. Posting While Intoxicated

It would be more appropriate to use PWNI on this site to avoid over-use

[SushiNorth]

Let's see... we had a similar discussion and I think my cellaring resembles Tom's in some regards:
Sections of racks, with each row numbered and each column numbered. One difference is that I have a front row and a back row (LRShelves.2R.5 = Lower Right Shelves, second row in the Rear, fifth slot from the left). This makes it easy to also add boxes as they fall into the "mixed stuff" with the box-name becoming the row number (TaylorBox) and then the next available column number is assigned (Mixed.TaylorBox.5 is just somewhere in that box).

This is all very timely, btw, as I JUST installed more shelves last night. And then filled them entirely from the mixed boxes and bins.

As for organization, I try to keep a house together, with the last two decades in the back and the 70's and 80's in the front -- cellar defenders Most of the 70's, and a few special bottles (even from 00 and 03) have a place in a wine fridge.

Cellar fluctuates a bit over the course of the year, I've seen it as high as 62 on a really warm day, and as low as 50 in the middle of an arctic blast. The fridge is more stable. Humidity in both is pretty high, perhaps even too high in the main wooden racks section.

All data is stored in a spreadsheet (which I've improved upon recently). Bottles have tags, but no "ID #s" I was very tempted to put unique id numbers on everything this time around, but resisted. My largest single-bottle stash is the GC80's, of which I have 22 (and 6 more due to TPFers). They came from three batches, so sayeth the labels, and are noted as such in the spreadsheet.

[Glenn E.]

I was very tempted to put unique id numbers on everything this time around, but resisted.

I keep toying with the idea of recording the Selo numbers in CellarTracker, but somehow I don't think that would actually be worth the effort.

[SushiNorth]

Let's see... we had a similar discussion and I think my cellaring resembles Tom's in some regards:

In some regards, only. In quantity, at only about 200 VP bottles, it pales.

[akzy]

I'm rebooting this thread as I've started to lose track of what I have and I only have ~20 bottles of Port. Any new methods being used?

Slightly separate to this, I'm going to have to buy more storage - looking around the ~£1000 mark - suggestions?

[Andy Velebil]

I'm rebooting this thread as I've started to lose track of what I have and I only have ~20 bottles of Port. Any new methods being used?

Slightly separate to this, I'm going to have to buy more storage - looking around the ~£1000 mark - suggestions?

Cellartracker.com is still the best IMO.

[Alex Bridgeman]

Cellartracker's not bad, but I never really got on with it and abandoned my efforts to use it after a few months. Like Tom and probably everyone here, I use a spreadsheet. I like the spreadsheet since it allows me to track whatever I want and to cut and dice the data in whatever way I fancy.

In physical terms each bottle has a "bin" location - which could be that it's stored in Seckfords (Bin 001) or on the death row rack in the garage (020). Larger storage spaces like the wine cabinet get bin numbers for each shelf and whether the front or the back of the shelf. Each bottle is tagged with a small sticker on the cork and on the base so its identity can be easily seen when it is lying down. That way I know when I want a particular bottle I have to go to the front of the second shelf in the wine cabinet in the garage and look until I find the bottle with Cr63 stuck on its base.

I have a Eurocave wine storage cabinet and previously used a Liebherr, which lasted 20 years before needed to be serviced or replaced.

[akzy]

I'll try both methods - see what I prefer and report back in some time. I had a look a vivino which had a photo scanning feature which worked nicely, but apart from that, was lacking severely.

In physical terms each bottle has a "bin" location - which could be that it's stored in Seckfords (Bin 001) or on the death row rack in the garage (020). Larger storage spaces like the wine cabinet get bin numbers for each shelf and whether the front or the back of the shelf. Each bottle is tagged with a small sticker on the cork and on the base so its identity can be easily seen when it is lying down. That way I know when I want a particular bottle I have to go to the front of the second shelf in the wine cabinet in the garage and look until I find the bottle with Cr63 stuck on its base.

Stickers! Why didn't I think of that? Thanks

I have a Eurocave wine storage cabinet and previously used a Liebherr, which lasted 20 years before needed to be serviced or replaced.

Cheers - I'll keep them in mind.

[Alex Bridgeman]

I should have said to keep an eye on the provincial auctions and on eBay (other websites are available) as people occasionally sell off used wine storage cabinets for quite keen prices.