Name the place before naming what is in it
Use stable location names such as Home cellar → Rack A → Bin 01. A label such as “summer whites” describes contents that can change; a rack-and-bin label can stay attached to the same physical space.
Keep the hierarchy only as deep as it helps you navigate. One cabinet does not need imaginary extra rooms. Several rooms or cabinets need a top-level name that prevents “Bin 01” from meaning three different places.
Everycork records Cellar, Rack and Bin as separate levels, with optional levels. When importing a spreadsheet, use one column per level. A slash or arrow inside a single Bin cell is ordinary text, not an instruction to create a hierarchy.
Choose one numbering direction
The example rack has two shelves and three bins per shelf. Number across the top shelf from left to right, then continue across the next shelf: 01, 02, 03 / 04, 05, 06. This is a location scheme, not a claim about the app’s automatic rack layout or bottle capacity.
Home cellar → Rack A
Put the label where you can read it when the space is occupied. Keep a small key with the inventory: which side you face when reading left to right, whether a shelf has a front and back position, and how you label overflow storage.
Use prefixes when they prevent confusion. “Bin 01” keeps the identifier visibly textual, including the leading zero that a spreadsheet can drop from a bare number. Reuse exactly the same spelling in the CSV and the app; case and stray spaces can create separate location records. The label does not set the app’s bin order.
Count one location at a time
Choose a starting bin and finish it before moving to the next. Read the producer, wine name, vintage and bottle size, then count the bottles that share those details. Record the location beside the group while you are standing there.
If one wine occupies two bins, keep a row for each location in the inventory template. For example, three bottles in Bin 01 and two in Bin 04 are five bottles across two locations. Entering five in both rows would record ten.
Separate an empty bin from a bin you have not checked. On a paper count sheet, write “empty” with the date for the first and “not counted” for the second. In Everycork, create an empty storage place through Bins → Add location. A zero-quantity CSV row cannot create it because the generic importer accepts positive quantities only.
Resolve differences without guessing a history
When the shelf and record disagree, first compare the full location path, bottle size, vintage and quantity. Look for the same group recorded under a different spelling, a move to another bin or a duplicate import. Recount before changing a total.
A recount tells you what is present now. It does not prove that a missing bottle was consumed rather than gifted, moved or recorded twice. Keep that uncertainty in a reconciliation note instead of inventing a consumption date or event.
| What changed | What the record should distinguish |
|---|---|
| Bottles moved to another bin | A location change; total stock has not left the cellar |
| A bottle was consumed | Stock leaves, with a consumption record |
| A bottle was gifted or lost | The appropriate departure reason, not a guessed consumption |
| The count disagrees with an old sheet | A discrepancy to investigate before correcting the record |
The table is a record-keeping distinction. It is not a promise that Everycork will infer the reason from a quantity change. The app’s current data model keeps stock locations and departure events separately.
Keep a move from becoming a missing bottle
Before a move, note the source and destination. After moving, check both locations and update the record while the action is still clear. A location change should not be used to stand in for a consume or gift action.
Everycork’s current Move flow changes the location of the whole selected stock record or group. Its destination sheet does not offer a quantity field for a partial split. Read the move title carefully: a detail move names bottles, while a batch move names selected lots. One lot can contain several bottles.
If only two bottles from a five-bottle group change bins, your record must show three remaining and two at the destination. Keep both quantities in your working sheet and use a workflow that can record the split; relabeling the five-bottle record would move all five in the app. Do not record the move as consumption to make the source count smaller.
For printed lists, date a replaced sheet so it is clear which copy describes the current arrangement. For spreadsheets, keep a source copy before an import. Everycork’s current CSV import appends records, so importing the same updated sheet again is not a location-update mechanism.
Make the next count easier
Keep location names steady and record the small changes when they happen. Choose a recount interval that fits how your cellar is used; there is no required monthly or annual schedule in this method. After a busy period or a storage rearrangement, check the affected bins rather than treating an old count as current.
The blank inventory CSV provides separate Cellar, Rack and Bin fields. Everycork provides the app’s location record and current product details. The method helps organize what you already own; it does not value the collection, choose a drinking window or recommend a bottle.