The Wine Cellar Book

What's new in Version 3.2

This version does not have that many visible enhancements, but we upgraded a lot of the tools we are using, including Python, wxPython and Firebird SQL in preparation for version 4.0.

Wine families

Up to version 3.1 we used the definitions by “Larousse des vins” for this. In version 3.2 we are changing it to use the much more detailed definitions by ISWN/WARPA . During the update your data will automatically be changed. We will use the ISWN code which comes closest to the “Larousse des vins” code you used on a wine, however this is not 100% perfect and you might want to review your wines and make any corrections needed.

Recipe sources

The recipe source code dialog now allows you to define a web site. The information for issue year, issue number and page number is no longer in the dialog but is available on each recipe. The recipe now has a section for recipe source information, as well as a web site link and a local file link for each recipe.

Recipe list and search

The list for recipes shows some additional columns and the search options have also been expanded.

Recipe copy

There is a new option on the toolbar which allows you to copy a recipe. Now you may define the fields to be copied, and these are configured in a file called “copyConfig” which is stored in your configuration folder (normally “C:\TheWineCellarBook\config”). The file has two sections, one for the cellar book and one for recipes; each section lists the fields/columns which can be copied.

Recipe ingredients

The notes for each recipe ingredient allow now nearly unlimited text (a maximum of 32,000 characters). Please note that this text can be changed directly on the ingredient page.

Preferences

There are two more options, one can define a folder for an application backup and the other allows to define a base folder for locally stored recipe files.

Statistics

The statistics tab has received some much needed attention. We added additional information such as average and percentages and improved on the readability. The maturity statistics (now only accessible via the statistics toolbar button) have been improved to show first, best and past maturity information per drink type.

Application backup

A new option on the file menu for a complete application backup has been added. This option will backup everything in the data folder (normally “C:\TheWineCellarBook”). The existing database backup should still be run on a regular basis as it creates a backup of the database which is needed should you have a serious database corruptions (as far as we know this has never happened yet – but one never knows).

Search

The search options now use the newer control which allows for sorting and searching within the codes. Some of the searches are now accent and case insensitive, which means you can now search “Chateau something” and drinks where “Château” is written correctly with the accent will be found.

Vintage tab

Added two fields which allow to attach e.g. a PDF, DOC, or HTML document and a web URL with detailed information about the vintage. We recommend to use the folder “cellarBookDocs” under your data folder (in a standard installation this is “C:\TheWineCellarBook\cellarBookDocs”) to store these documents.

Geo. region dialog

It is now possible to sort the country name column.

Area dialog

It is now possible to sort the Geo. Region name and country name column.

Thank you:

I would like to thank everyone who has provided enhancement suggestions and reported problems, without this help the software would not be as good as it is now. Special thanks to: Giancarlo P., Klaus O., and Henk K..

What's new in Version 3.1

vinochetta bottle tags
The vinochetta bottle tags are provided on A5 sheets with 6 tags each, they can be used to manually write wine information onto them or more easily the application can print relevant information onto them for you.

A special micro perforation form has been created to have a cut out which allows you to hang the tags onto standard 70/75cl bottles and it will also work for special bottle sizes like magnum or 37.5cl bottle.

Screen layouts
The applications screen layout has been totally reworked and it is now possible to arrange the different notebook tabs/pages to your liking (the larger resolution you use on your screen the more freedom you will have with this feature).

Enhanced statistics
The system now calculates some summary statistics and shows them at the top of the drink detail notebook.

There is also a new notebook page which shows 8 graphics – this page is optional, to activate it change the setting in the menu option File/Preferences. The graphics include number of bottles per country, purchase value per country, number of bottles per region, number of bottles per drink type, purchase value per drink type, consumption per drink type (for the last five years), number of bottles reaching best maturity per year for the next 10 years and this per drink type, and last but not least price change per drink type for the last 5 years.

Price change tracking
A new table has been added to the database (“pricechange”) which tracks all the price changes for the columns “last purchase price” and “current value”. This table is used for the graphic mentioned above and might find some other use in the future. Please note that a price change from “not defined” (null in database jargon) to something is ignored.

Recipe source
Another new table has been added to the database (“recipesource”) which allows you to define where you have found the recipe (e.g. Cuisine et Vin, year 2008, Issue 12, page 52).

Rack
It is now possible to create a consumption directly from the standard rack view.

Reports
It is now possible to integrate ones own custom reports into the application menu “Reports”. Most cellar book report have now Cellar as a selection criteria.

Search criteria
Additional search criteria have been added, it is also possible to save the search criteria.

Thank you:

I would like to thank everyone who has provided enhancement suggestions and reported problems, without this help the software would not be as good as it is now. Special thanks go to: Giancarlo P., Klaus O., Jesper R., Alain H., Lars J., M. Augay, Yan G., Gabor S., P. Daniel

What's new in Version 3.0

Spirit management
Besides being able to manage your wine collections you can now manage spirits, such as Whisky.

Note that the following pages will change depending on the drink type you select, if it is a wine (including champagne and sparkling) then the pages are similar to the 2.x version, however if you select a spirit drink type (e.g. Whisky, Armagnac, Cognac etc) then you will see the following changes.

Drink details page:
Here you can select besides the producer, supplier also a distiller. The category selection and oak cask check box are not available for spirits.

Vintages/Bottles page:
Here you can define the vintage, alcohol percentage and what type of casks have been used for the maturing and/or finishing of the whisky.

Additional Vintage details page:
Additional information specific to a spirit can be entered on this page.

Tags/Owners page:
Additional information per bottle tag can be added on this page. This is available for both spirit and wine drink types.

Search page
The search fields which were available just below the drink list have been moved to a new notebook page called “Search criteria” and we added some new search and sorting options. This also had the advantage that some more space is available to see more details or more drinks on the result page.

WWW search page
This provides you some wine specific searches on the Internet. Currently we support a wine availability search and a vinoXML wine profile search both using the Global Wine Stocks web site and a food and wine matching site.

Help files
The help system has been totally reworked using a new help generation tool, this will enable us to more easily maintain the different languages.

Drink's list
A much nicer presentation of the drinks you have or had in your cellar. This list control (widget) allows to group by a particular column. You can also control through the menu option “Master data – drinks/Listctrl configuration” the order and width used for each column.

It defaults to group/sort by the first column which is changed to show the country code during conversion from version 2.3, should you want to use a different column as your first one please use the menu option mentioned above.

Right clicking on the list allows you to print the drinks currently listed, there are two options, which show the same data but use a different presentation.

Date entry
All the date entry controls (widgets) have been changed to use a more modern version which allows you to select the date from a calendar display. When you click on the calendar symbol or down arrow a calendar for the current month will be shown, with the arrows you can “page through” the different month, if you click anywhere on the top (e.g. onto the description of the month or in between the description and the left/right arrows) you will see a listing of the month, if you do it again you will see a listing of the years. This allows you to easily select a date in the past or the future by clicking on the day you want to select.

Bottle detail consolidation
We implemented a tool which allows to consolidate/move bottle details (purchases, consumptions, tastings, ratings and bottle tags) from one bottle entry to another. This is helpful when one entered a drink by creating a new vintage and/or bottle size and realized only sometime later that one has created a duplicate entry.

Technical
A lot of work has gone into this version, to enable some of the enhancements above and to be better equipped to move forward with this product.

The following tools have been upgraded:

Python, the programming language used is now at version 2.5.4
wxPython, the Graphical User Interface is now at version 2.8.9.1 Unicode
Firebird SQL, the database engine is now at version 2.1
SQLAlchemy, the new database middle ware used is at version 0.5
Report Manager, the reporting tool is now at version 2.8

A lot of this work is not certainly visible but it was necessary to be able to move forward with the application and to be better prepared for future enhancements.