CellarTracker! Press Release

Release date:

March 23, 2006

CellarTracker! makes wine accessible to all wine lovers

Leading virtual wine cellar helps educate increasing number of US wine consumers

            SEATTLE – For the millions of Americans now enjoying record amounts of wine, tools such as CellarTracker! have become an indispensable resource for enhancing the wine experience of the seasoned connoisseur, as well as educating the novice wine enthusiast just embarking on a wine hobby.

By 2008, U.S. consumers will account for 25 percent of all the wine consumption in the world, according to a study conducted for the Bordeaux-based trade group, VinExpo.  This statistic is up from 19 percent in 2005 and data shows every indication this growth will continue.

For CellarTracker! a leading virtual wine cellar inventory management Web site, this rising interest in wine has contributed to the development of a database that now includes 180,000 wines – one of the largest tasting databases in the world.  The database also includes more than 86,000 user reviews so any visitor to the site can read about thousands of different wines to learn about specific wines before purchasing.  Approximately 250 new tasting notes are added to the site each day. 

CellarTracker! also allows users to independently track the current market value of their cellar distinct from the purchase price (a.k.a. acquisition cost).  Thanks to a collaboration between WineBid.com's Auction Trends™ software and CellarTracker's own internally developed software, the product automatically updates auction prices for wines stored on CellarTrackers' cellar management site. Collectors can easily see the value of their cellars summarized by country, region, producer or in dozens of others ways. The feature is available to CellarTracker! customers who are also WineBid.com customers.  While this tool is useful for insurance purposes, it also helps users keep tabs on how different wines are appreciating.

Eric LeVine, founder of CellarTracker!, attributes the site’s growth to the increasing number of Americans who are making wine their beverage of choice.  LeVine notes that while many of CellarTracker! users are collectors with more than 500 bottles of wine in their cellars, an increasing number of users have collections as small as 50 bottles.  Wine, LeVine notes, is sometimes perceived to be a hobby that is more accessible to those with higher incomes, but CellarTracker! is out to change that perception. 

“In addition to providing information for the collector who is already a wine expert, our goal is to reduce the intimidation factor many Americans have about wine and to create a faster learning curve so people can figure out what they like and begin to keep track of their likes and dislikes,” said LeVine. 

CellarTracker! has secured a unique niche in the wine community due to its easy-to-use features and flexible Web-based technology.  Unlike most PC-based cellar software programs, which can only be accessed at one location, CellarTracker! has the ability to connect users via any Web-enabled device, including a cell phone or PDA.

Several features of CellarTracker! include:

• Report and search a user’s wine cellar inventory by producer, vintage, varietals, maturity, etc.
• Input purchase price and valuation data
• Log personal tasting notes
• Record bottle location
• Print restaurant-quality wine lists and individually bar-coded bottles
• Participate in a vibrant online community of wine enthusiasts, including more than 86,000 tasting notes
• Upload images of bottles and wine labels

CellarTracker! continues to update and improve its software and Web site.  In addition to the October 2005 integration of Stephen Tanzer’s International Wine Cellar (IWC), CellarTracker! now features label and bottle images available for upload, with a library of more than 13,150 shared images; shopping lists and the ability to track resale value.  For subscribers, IWC tasting notes, ratings and reviews will be automatically integrated into a CellarTracker member’s inventory descriptions.

CellarTracker! launched April 25, 2004 with 265 members and 65,000 (virtual) bottles.  To date, CellarTracker! has registered 12,650 members, more than two million bottles of wine, and continues to add approximately 1,000 members and 150,000 bottles each month.

CellarTracker!          

CellarTracker! is Web-based wine cellar inventory management software and a community of wine lovers. Once registered, users can report and search their virtual wine cellar by producer, vintage, varietal and drink ability, as well as log personal tasting notes, price, valuation data and more. CellarTracker! is accessible from any Web browser as well as a PDA or cell phone.  For more information, please visit www.cellartracker.com.

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Media Contacts:          Susannah Peskin / Jason Hamilton

                                    Richmond Public Relations

                                    Tel:  (206) 682-6979 / Cell: (206) 851-2256

                                    susannahp@richmondpr.com