Perhaps no tool has been more important in turning my strong interest in wine into outright zealotry than CellarTracker. The designer and builder of the site is Eric LeVine, a former Microsoft project and product manager, and he still manages the site mostly by himself. The site was originally designed as a way for Eric, and then other owners of wine cellars, to easily track their inventories online. But as more and more users were drawn to CellarTracker’s outstanding functionality, the site became much richer.
The number of wines in the CellarTracker database is staggering. On average, out of every 50 bottles I purchase, I only need to enter 1 into the site’s database; the other 49 already exist, generated by a different user. This makes it an excellent research tool, both for reading and understanding complex labels, and for reviewing tasting notes. While the notes are not written by professionals, there is power in the sheer number of notes, and I appreciate the populist approach to wine evaluation anyway.
I have heard gripes here and there about the user interface of the site, but I have mostly found the interface to be friendly, which makes me wonder if people are confusing aesthetics with usability. It’s not a flashy site, nor is it colorful, but it is robustly functional, and that’s what matters most to me. It’s also a free site, so I recommend taking it out for a test drive. You could start by perusing my inventory and telling me all the different holes in my collection. (note: there is a suggested annual donation of $30 if you use the site regularly)
I have met Eric on a few occasions, and he is a very sharp, very friendly guy. He is also dedicated to the consistent improvement of CellarTracker, and I would expect to see some big changes in the not-too-distant future.
This site is dedicated (mostly) to the wines of Washington state. Hi. I'm Paul Zitarelli. That's me in the picture. I'm the one that's neither female (my wife Kelli) nor feline (our cat Smoke Bomb)... 
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