MyWineCellar.org FAQ
  1. What is MyWineCellar.org?
    After I married my wife Jen, she got me hooked on wine. When we went to Italy in 2002, we decided to start our own cellar. Being a geek, I thought "Hey, I'll build a little program that will track my wine. I'll even add reviews of wine both in my cellar and wines I consume elsewhere. Yeah!" A few weeks later, this became the result. I put it up for everyone to use. The software is freely available on SourceForge.net (eventually), and the site will strive to provide the ability to export your cellar contents, reviews and all other information in an easily savable format (like Excel) so you'll never have to worry about losing all of your information even if I go away.

  2. So how does it work? The idea is simple (for me at least!). There are three "parts" to this system: Wine, Bottles and Cellars. Each user has Cellars and Bottles in their Cellar. Each bottle is a type of Wine. Everyone can add a Wine to the database. Then they can add a Bottle of that Wine to their Cellar.
    A Cellar --> has Bottles --> of Wine
    Wine only has information about a wine: vintage, varietal, appellation, alcohol content, bottle size, etc. Bottle contains information about a bottle: how much you paid, how many you have, and optionally where in your cellar it/they are located. Cellar contains information about your cellar: what it is called and where it is located.

    In the near future there will be other things: each Wine can have multiple Reviews; each Bottle can have Notes; each Cellar can be public or private, with or without value.

  3. Wow! Thanks! How can I help?
    Make a donation via PayPal, or just send me a really nice bottle of RED wine every once in a while. That should placate me into continuing my quest.

  4. Why do I have to register?
    The whole idea of the site is community. Everyone pitches in by adding new wines, sharing reviews (anonymously if you like), and we're fairly sure you want to keep your cellar contents private (though we may allow you at some point to show people your cellar contents if you so desire).

  5. Why does each wine have only vintage, producer and appellation? How do I categorize my German wine?
    At first I thought I could add columns in the table for every possible designation, but then I decided that I don't know enough about wine. So I built a system where each wine is described by the minimum of Vintage, Producer and Appellation, since for Italian wine (simplicity in wine naming) can be described fully by those three items. Everything else is user-defined. If you want to put 30 different designations for a wine, go for it!

  6. What is an editor?
    An editor is someone who I think knows more about wine than I do. ;-) If you can tell me the three German quality ratings, or teach me something about wine I don't already know (this should be easy) then I'll make you an editor. Editors can update wines with new or updated or corrected information, delete wines, and do a bunch of other stuff eventually. You have to register first though.

  7. Some wine disappeared from my cellar!
    Sometimes a rogue user adds a wine that has a lot of inaccurate information. Luckily for you, we minimize the impact it has on you by hiding those wines from everyone except the submitter until an editor has "approved" the wine entry. This way an editor will catch a bad entry before you can add it to your cellar. However, while we try to fix wines if they are added to peoples cellars, sometimes we just remove it. So make sure the wine you add has accurate information or it may go to virtual Wine heaven.

  8. Why can't I consume or review my wines?
    Those features are coming in the 0.2 release. You'll have to wait.

  9. I forgot my password.
    Click login and enter either your email address or username, and leave the password field blank. If the system can find your username or email address, it will email you your login information. If not, please contact the site admin.

  10. I want to change my username and/or password.
    First, login. Once you log in, you'll see a menu in the upper right hand corner. Click on your username, or "edit account" from here and change the "Username" and/or "Password" field to update that information.

  11. How do I add a review?
    First, find the wine you want to review. If it doesn't exist -- add it! Then once you add it, view that wine, and there should be a link for you to add your review.

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