START HERE — NO CAVE REQUIRED
A “cellar” isn't a room — it's any collection you actually keep track of. Here's how to start yours: what to write down, when a spreadsheet is enough, and when a free app is easier.
Know what to open tonight — and never miss a wine at its peak.
Add what you own and Saignée fills in the drinking window, so you always know what to open. Free Taster: up to 100 bottles — no card. Try Saignée free →
Free Taster: up to 100 bottles · 20 AI scans · 10 pairings / monthFree forever · No credit card
You don't need a hundred bottles or a dedicated room to have a cellar. Six to twelve bottles is already enough to lose track of — a mixed case from a wine club, a few gifts, the bottles you keep meaning to save for something. The moment you own more wine than you can picture from memory, you have a cellar. The only thing separating “a pile of bottles” from “a cellar” is a list.
Keep it short. Six columns cover almost everything a beginner needs — and one of them is the field people always forget:
| Column | Why it earns its place |
|---|---|
| Producer | Who made it — the single best clue to style and how long it keeps. |
| Wine / name | The bottling itself, so you can tell two reds from the same producer apart. |
| Vintage | The year on the label. Drives the drinking window; leave blank for non-vintage. |
| Quantity | How many you own, so the list stays honest as you drink. |
| Where it lives | Closet, rack, fridge — future-you will thank present-you for this. |
| Drinking window | The years it's at its best. The field beginners forget, and the whole reason to keep a list. |
Price is optional — handy for insurance, skippable otherwise. If you want a ready-made version of exactly these columns, our free wine inventory template is set up this way and downloads as a spreadsheet.
A spreadsheet is genuinely fine, and it's free. It stays fine right up until three things start to matter: adding a bottle by photographing the label instead of typing, having the drinking window worked out for you instead of guessing, and answering “what's ready to open tonight?” without building a formula. When you hit those, a free app is simply less work — Saignée's Taster tier tracks up to 100 bottles at no cost, and if you already have a sheet you can import it from Excel rather than start over. Not sure an app is for you yet? The best wine app for beginners walks through what one actually does day to day.
Write down what you already own
Don't wait to buy more. Enter the bottles on your shelf right now — that list is your cellar, however short.
Check one age-worthy bottle
Pick the nicest red or a bottle you were told to "save" and check its drinking window free, so you know whether it's ready or worth holding.
Open something and rate it
Drink a bottle, jot whether you'd buy it again. That one habit turns a list into taste memory that makes your next purchases smarter.
Nothing beyond the wine. A "cellar" here means a tracked collection, not a temperature-controlled room — a shelf in a cool closet and a list is a real start. Tracking it is free too: a spreadsheet costs nothing, and Saignée's free Taster tier tracks up to 100 bottles without a credit card.
Not to begin. What matters is cool, dark, and stable — a bottle hates heat swings and light more than it needs a perfect 55°F. An interior closet away from the oven and a sunny window is fine for bottles you'll open within a few years. A wine fridge earns its place once you're holding bottles for the long haul.
Any of them, laid on their side so the cork stays wet (for corked bottles). A rack keeps them visible so nothing gets forgotten in the back; a box in a cool closet works just as well when space is tight. The storage matters less than picking a spot that stays cool and out of the light.
Around 6 to 12. Below that you'll remember what you have; above it, bottles quietly get lost or opened past their best. That's the point where a list — spreadsheet or app — starts paying for itself.
A spreadsheet is a perfectly good start, and our free template gives you the right columns. You outgrow it when you want the drinking window filled in for you, want to add a bottle by photographing the label, or want "what's ready to open tonight" answered without a formula. That's when a free app is the easier path — and you can import your existing sheet rather than retype it.
Two ways to keep going
Grab the spreadsheet columns, or see what a wine app does for a beginner before you commit.
Know what to open tonight — and never miss a wine at its peak.
Add what you own and Saignée fills in the drinking window, so you always know what to open. Free Taster: up to 100 bottles — no card.
Free Taster: up to 100 bottles · 20 AI scans · 10 pairings / month
Free forever · No credit card