Cellar IQ is an AI-powered portfolio tracker for wine and whisky collectors that adds valuation analytics and a weekly portfolio scan on top of the cellar records you already keep — including in CellarTracker. CellarTracker is the benchmark for cellar record-keeping and community tasting notes, and nothing here argues otherwise. This is not a switch decision. It's a stack decision.
The short version: CellarTracker is where your cellar's story lives — what you own, what you and millions of tasting notes think of it. Cellar IQ is where your cellar's value lives — what it's worth this week, what's moving, and which bottles are asking for a decision. We designed Cellar IQ to run alongside CellarTracker, not replace it. Most collections import in minutes.
CellarTracker excels at recording wine history — purchases, locations, consumption, tasting notes. Cellar IQ focuses on valuation, portfolio monitoring, and collection analytics. Because the two solve different problems, they complement each other rather than compete.
Informational only. Not investment advice.
The comparison
| Dimension | Cellar IQ | CellarTracker |
|---|---|---|
| Primary purpose | Portfolio valuation and monitoring | Cellar records and community tasting notes |
| Community tasting notes | — | More than ten million notes — among the largest wine review databases in the world |
| Valuation data | Weekly secondary-market pricing, plus on-demand refresh | Auction averages (Wine Market Journal), updated quarterly; community averages; user-entered values |
| Valuation coverage transparency | Coverage figure on the analytics view | Cascading fallback (auction → community → purchase price); the tier behind each number isn't surfaced per bottle |
| Value history | Weekly snapshots per bottle, accruing from the day you import | Most recent quarter + up to 6 months of auction history; full history requires a separate Wine Market Journal subscription |
| Portfolio analytics | Gain/loss and return on cost basis, concentration, allocation, vintage × region performance, weekly movers | Collection charts (cellar size, drinking-window distribution, region/variety); value appears as static totals |
| Whisky & spirits value | Valued alongside wine | Spirits can be inventoried, though the published valuation methodology is wine-focused and many spirit entries may not have automatic valuation data |
| Drinking windows | Window status per bottle, tied to value trend in the weekly scan | Drinking windows with enhanced coverage (subscriber feature); drinkability reports |
| Price | Free: $0/mo, your first 50 lots valued weekly. Collector: $19/mo (limited-time intro $12/mo) — unlimited bottles and on-demand valuations. | Free for inventory + community notes; valuation and most features require a subscription: $40–$500/yr by cellar size |
Where CellarTracker is the right answer
Twenty-plus years, hundreds of thousands of collectors, hundreds of millions of bottles tracked, and more than ten million community tasting notes — among the largest wine review databases in the world. If you want to know how the 2016 Brunello you're considering actually drinks tonight, CellarTracker is where that answer lives.
Its valuation feature is also genuinely credible. Subscribers get auction-market averages from the Wine Market Journal — real hammer prices from major auction houses, grossed up to replacement cost — alongside community-entered values for wines the auction market doesn't trade. For insurance purposes, which is how CellarTracker itself frames the feature, that's the right number built the right way.
And the record-keeping is the deepest in the category: per-purchase provenance, storage locations, consumption history, barcoding. As a system of record, it's indispensable. We tell people to keep it. We mean it.
Where Cellar IQ adds a layer CellarTracker doesn't have
Cellar IQ starts where the system of record stops: treating the same bottles as a portfolio.
A weekly scan instead of a quarterly average. Cellar IQ reprices your collection against secondary-market data every week — and on demand when you want it now. CellarTracker's auction valuations update quarterly. A bottle that moved 20% in three weeks shows up in your Monday scan, not next quarter's average.
Analytics with a dollar axis. Where your value is concentrated, which vintages and regions are doing the work, what's pulling the portfolio up and what's dragging it down, gain and loss against what you actually paid. CellarTracker's published chart set describes the collection — cellar size over time, drinking-window distribution, and breakdowns by variety, region, color, and vineyard. Cellar IQ's describe the value.
Sell-timing logic, surfaced weekly. The scan flags positions where the drinking window and the value trend are saying the same thing — a bottle past peak and declining is a different decision than a bottle past peak and still climbing. The signals come to you; you don't go hunting for them.
Whisky counts. If your cellar is reds and whisky — most serious cellars are — the whisky side carries real value. Cellar IQ prices it alongside the wine. CellarTracker can log spirits, but its published valuation methodology is wine-focused, and many spirit entries may not have automatic valuation data available.
Honesty about coverage. No pricing source covers everything. Cellar IQ shows you exactly which bottles it can price and which it can't, with a coverage figure on the analytics view — so you know what your number is made of. Valuations are reference figures from secondary-market sources and may differ from realized prices.
Using both: the setup
- Export your cellar from CellarTracker (CSV — full instructions in our CellarTracker export guide).
- Import into Cellar IQ. Purchase prices, quantities, and vintages come across; your CellarTracker records stay exactly where they are. Most collections import in minutes.
- Your first weekly scan generates within the week, with live values on the bottles the market data covers.
Keep logging purchases and tasting notes in CellarTracker if that's your habit. Cellar IQ doesn't replace the record — it reads the portfolio.
See your cellar's live value
Sign up free. Import your CellarTracker collection in one CSV upload. First weekly scan within the week.
Sign up for free early access →Frequently asked questions
- Free — $0/mo. Import your full collection, 50 lots visible, all bottles stored and never deleted (unless you delete them). Live secondary-market valuations on the 50 lots, refreshed weekly via the Monday scan (no on-demand refresh button — that's a Collector feature). Auto-valued when bottles are first added.
- Collector — $19/mo standard; $12/mo lifetime (for a limited time). Unlocks unlimited bottle visibility + on-demand valuation refresh for your entire cellar.
Informational only. Not investment advice. Valuations are reference figures from secondary-market sources and may differ from realized prices.