Wine Cellar Book & Drinking Windows
A cellar is not inventory. A case of tinned tomatoes is worth what it cost until it is used; a case of wine is worth what it cost for a number of years, and after that it is worth nothing. Nobody holds that number for forty bottles. Put your cellar in here and the tool says, per bottle, whether it is still too young, ready, in its last year or past its window — with the money standing on it.
How it works
- 1
Put your bottles in
One line per wine: bin, name, style, vintage, how many bottles and what they cost. The list price is optional; it is only there to show what the cellar is worth once it is all poured.
- 2
Pick the style, not the region
Twenty-four styles grouped by colour, each carrying the years that wine drinks well. A Muscadet drinks for two years, a Barolo for twenty-five. You never type a date: style plus vintage is enough.
- 3
Read off what has to move
The tool puts every bottle in exactly one state — too young, ready, last year, past — and totals the money behind each. Wines with no vintage are always ready; they were bottled to be drunk now.
- 4
Print the cellar book
A4 landscape, by bin, with a blank count column. Print it empty and walk the cellar with a pen, or type it up and print it as your record. An empty field prints a ruled line, never a gap.
- 5
Print the pull list
A4 portrait, only the bottles in their last year or already past it. That is the sheet for whoever decides what goes on the list this month and what moves by the glass before it is worth nothing.
When does each style drink?
| Style | Drinking window | Wine |
|---|---|---|
| Fresh sparklingSparkling | 0–3 | Prosecco · Cava · Sekt |
| Champagne, non-vintageSparkling | 0–5 | Champagne NV · Crémant |
| Champagne, vintageSparkling | 4–20 | Champagne millésimé · Franciacorta Riserva |
| Crisp dry whiteWhite | 0–2 | Muscadet · Pinot Grigio · Vinho Verde |
| Aromatic whiteWhite | 0–3 | Sauvignon Blanc · Albariño · Grüner Veltliner |
| Oaked whiteWhite | 1–6 | Chardonnay barrique · Rioja Blanco |
| White for keepingWhite | 2–10 | Chablis 1er Cru · Meursault · Sancerre |
| Dry rieslingWhite | 1–10 | Riesling trocken · Grüner Veltliner Smaragd |
| Off-dry rieslingWhite | 3–20 | Riesling Kabinett · Spätlese |
| Dry roséRosé | 0–2 | Côtes de Provence · Bandol rosé |
| Light redRed | 0–3 | Beaujolais · Gamay · Zweigelt |
| Pinot noir, village levelRed | 1–8 | Bourgogne rouge · Spätburgunder |
| Pinot noir, top levelRed | 3–15 | Gevrey-Chambertin · Volnay 1er Cru |
| Everyday bordeauxRed | 1–6 | Bordeaux Supérieur · Merlot |
| Bordeaux for laying downRed | 5–25 | Cru Classé · Pomerol · Saint-Émilion Grand Cru |
| Red rhône & grenacheRed | 1–8 | Côtes du Rhône · Grenache · Garnacha |
| Northern syrahRed | 3–18 | Hermitage · Côte-Rôtie · Cornas |
| Everyday italian redRed | 1–6 | Chianti · Valpolicella · Montepulciano |
| Italian red for keepingRed | 5–25 | Barolo · Barbaresco · Brunello · Amarone |
| Rioja reservaRed | 3–15 | Rioja Reserva · Ribera del Duero Reserva |
| Structured red for keepingRed | 2–12 | Douro · Priorat · Cabernet Sauvignon · Malbec |
| Noble sweet wineSweet & fortified | 3–30 | Sauternes · Tokaji Aszú · Trockenbeerenauslese |
| Vintage portSweet & fortified | 10–40 | Vintage Port |
| Fortified wine, ready to drinkSweet & fortified | 0–5 | Tawny Port · Sherry · Madeira |
Five terms your cellar book needs
They are here because they end up on your sheet, and because half the arguments in a cellar are about exactly these words.
- Vintage
- The year the grapes were harvested — not the year of bottling and not the year you bought it. It is the only number a drinking window can be worked out from, and it is on every bottle that has one.
- Non-vintage
- Wine blended from several harvests: most Champagne, tawny Port, sherry and nearly all house wine. It is bottled to be drunk straight away, so there is no window and nothing to watch. In this book it is always ready.
- Drinking window
- The years a wine drinks well: from the year it opens up to the last year it still does. After that the bottle is not necessarily undrinkable, but it is unsellable to a guest who is paying for it.
- Bin number
- Where it sits in your cellar, not where it sits on your list. A3, rack 2, slot 7 — whatever you use, as long as somebody who does not know the cellar can find the bottle with it. Without bin numbers a cellar book is a list, not a map.
- Cellar turn
- How long your money stands in the cellar before it becomes revenue again. A slow cellar is not wrong — wine for keeping is supposed to turn slowly — but you have to know how much is locked, because that money cannot be spent this season.
Frequently asked questions
Is this wine cellar book free?
Yes, completely free, no account and nothing to install. Everything stays in your own browser; nothing is uploaded. You fill it in and print straight from there.
Where do the drinking windows come from?
From the style, not from the bottle. Every style carries the years after the vintage over which wine of that type drinks well in a restaurant cellar. They are deliberately cautious windows: a wine a collector still finds beautiful is often past it for a guest paying sixty euro for it.
My wine has no vintage. What does the tool do?
It marks it ready and leaves the window empty. Non-vintage Champagne, tawny Port, sherry and house wine are bottled to be drunk now — no clock applies, and they must never end up on your pull list as 'past'.
Is this a valuation of my cellar?
No. The tool works with what you paid for the bottles, because that is what a cellar book is supposed to record. What a buyer or an insurer would put on it is a different question, and it belongs with your accountant.
How is this different from the wine list editor?
The wine list editor designs what the guest reads. This book keeps what you own. A bottle leaves this book and appears on that list — and the list should change the moment this book says a window is closing.
How many bottles can I put in?
As many as you like; it stays one list and there is no cap. It works comfortably for a cellar of a few hundred bottles. Save it with bin numbers and the cellar book doubles as your stocktake sheet.
This is a house record, not a valuation and not an insurance schedule. What a bottle is worth to a buyer, which duty and stock rules apply and what a cellar must be insured for differ per country — settle that with your own accountant and your own policy, not on this sheet.