The Cellar Journal
Running a cellar,
without the chaos.
Practical guides on inventory, bottling, traceability, and the operational side of making wine.
Types of Red Wine: The 12 Varieties Worth Knowing
From feather-light Gamay to inky Petite Sirah, the twelve reds that cover almost everything, arranged light to bold so the list actually teaches you something.
July 5, 2026 · 9 min read
Read →Types of White Wine: The 10 Varieties Worth Knowing
From razor-crisp Albariño to opulent oaked Chardonnay: the ten whites that cover nearly every glass, arranged crisp to rich.
How Many Calories in a Glass (and Bottle) of Wine?
About 125 per glass, 625 per bottle, and almost all of it is the alcohol, not the sugar. The full calorie math for every style.
What Are Tannins in Wine? The Drying Sensation, Explained
That drying, grippy feeling in red wine has a name and a purpose. Where tannin comes from, why it lets wine age, and how to soften it tonight.
What Is Terroir? Wine's Most Argued-About Word
The idea that wine tastes like the place it came from: part measurable science, part beautiful story, and the entire foundation of wine law.
Wine Alcohol Content: How Much Is in Every Style
From 5 percent Moscato to 20 percent Port: the full ABV table, what actually sets the number, and why wine has been getting stronger for decades.
How to Read a Wine Label: Every Term Explained
Vintage, appellation, varietal, ABV. Everything printed on a wine bottle, decoded, and why European and American labels read so differently.
Types of Wine Explained: A Beginner's Guide
Five categories, one simple distinction each is built on: skin contact, sugar, or added spirit. The beginner's map to every wine style.
Wine and Food Pairing: The Only Guide You Need
Match weight to weight, cut fat with acid, avoid tannin with fish. Three rules that replace a hundred specific pairing charts.
Sweet vs Dry Wine: What the Words Actually Mean
Dry means the yeast ate all the sugar. Sweet means it didn't. Why some technically sweet wines taste bone dry, and vice versa.
Do Sulfites in Wine Actually Cause Headaches?
Almost every bottle has sulfites, including the ones that say they don't. The evidence they cause headaches is much thinner than the myth suggests.
What Does "Corked" Wine Mean, and How Do You Know?
Wet cardboard, damp basement, muted fruit. What TCA taint actually smells like, how common it really is, and what to do about it at a restaurant.
Champagne vs Prosecco vs Cava: What's Actually Different
Same bubbles, three completely different production methods. The one variable, tank versus bottle, that explains most of the price and flavor gap.
Do You Need to Decant Wine? A Practical Guide
Genuinely useful for young tannic reds and old wine with sediment, mostly pointless for the bottle you're drinking on a Tuesday. Here's the honest split.
How to Store Wine Without a Wine Fridge
The best un-refrigerated spot in an ordinary home, what actively damages wine, and the honest signs it's time to buy a fridge after all.
Natural, Organic, and Biodynamic Wine: What's the Difference
Only one of these three terms is legally defined. What organic, biodynamic, and natural wine actually guarantee, and what they don't.
How Many Glasses in a Bottle of Wine?
Five glasses at a standard pour, but the honest answer depends on who is pouring. The full serving math, from splits to magnums.
Wine Storage Temperature: The Complete Guide
12 to 14 degrees for aging anything, but stability matters more than the perfect number. The science, plus what it means at warehouse scale.
How Long Does Wine Last After Opening?
Two days for bubbles, up to a week for tannic reds, a month for Port. What oxygen actually does, and which preservation tricks are worth it.
Wine Serving Temperature: Every Style, One Chart
Room temperature is a myth from unheated castles. The right serving range for every style, and the 20-minute rule that gets you there.
When Is Wine Harvest Season? A Global Calendar
August to October up north, February to April down south. The regional calendar, what decides the pick date, and why it keeps moving earlier.
Wine Bottle Sizes, From Split to Nebuchadnezzar
Every format from the 187 ml split to the 15-liter Nebuchadnezzar, what the biblical names mean, and which sizes actually make sense to produce.
How Long Does Wine Fermentation Take?
Five days to three weeks for primary, weeks more for malolactic. What sets the pace, and the warning signs of a fermentation in trouble.
How Many Grapes Does It Take to Make a Bottle of Wine?
About 600 to 800 grapes, or just over a kilogram of fruit, per bottle. Here is the full vine-to-bottle arithmetic, step by step.
How Much Does a Wine Barrel Cost?
From €50 for a neutral barrel to €1,500 for top French oak. What drives the price, and the per-bottle math that decides if it is worth it.
Wine Tank Sizes: A Practical Guide for Small Wineries
How to size tanks to your actual harvest, why variable-capacity is the small winery's best friend, and the capacity math that prevents expensive mistakes.
EU Wine Label Requirements: What Small Producers Must Show
Mandatory particulars, the ingredient and nutrition rules, and the QR e-label option. What has to be on the bottle and what can live online.
The End-of-Year Wine Inventory Count, Without the Dread
The annual physical count is where inventory sins surface. A process that makes it accurate, and shorter every year after.
The Cellar Calendar: What to Do in the Winery, Month by Month
Racking, topping, blending, bottling, counting. The rhythm of the cellar year, laid out month by month so nothing ambushes you.
The Best Winery Management Software in 2026, Honestly Compared
Full production platforms, DTC suites, and focused inventory tools compared honestly, including where our own product does and does not fit.
Excel vs. Winery Software: When the Spreadsheet Stops Being Free
The spreadsheet is free the way a leaky barrel is free. The honest break-even math on when to switch, and when Excel genuinely is enough.
How Many Bottles in a Barrel of Wine? (All the Cellar Math)
About 300 bottles, or 25 cases. But the useful answer includes losses, magnums, pallets, and the rest of the cellar math you reach for weekly.
How Much Does It Cost to Start a Small Winery?
Realistic numbers from garage-scale to 5,000 cases, and the second-year costs that catch almost every new producer off guard.
The Small Winery Equipment List: What You Need and What Can Wait
Everything a small winery actually needs, split into first-vintage essentials, smart used buys, and the shiny things that can wait.
The Wine Production Process, From Grape to Bottle
Harvest, crush, ferment, age, blend, bottle. What actually happens at each stage, and what a producer has to keep track of along the way.
How Wine Distribution Works for Small Producers
Distributors, DTC, self-distribution, export. What each channel really pays, what it demands from you, and how small producers mix them.
How to Track Wine Inventory Without Spreadsheets
Spreadsheet inventory is eating a full day every month. Here's what works instead, and why live inventory changes how a cellar runs.
Why QR Code Tracking Beats Handwritten Labels
One scan, live inventory. No more guessing which barrel is which, or trusting a label that faded three months ago.
Free Wine Producer Software That Actually Works
Not all free winery software is created equal. Most of it is a demo in disguise. Here's what genuinely delivers value.
Managing Wine Inventory Across Multiple Locations
Cellar, warehouse, bonded storage. How to keep inventory live across all of it without three spreadsheets that never agree.
The Wine Inventory Spreadsheet, Done Right (and When to Retire It)
If you're going to run your cellar on a spreadsheet, at least build it properly. Here's the structure that works, and the ceiling you'll hit.
HACCP Traceability for Small Wineries: A Practical Guide
Auditors don't want your good intentions, they want records. What batch traceability actually means for a small winery, in practice.
Bottling Day Without the Chaos: A Checklist for Small Wineries
The wine is ready and the truck is booked. The difference between a smooth bottling day and a disaster is what you counted the week before.
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