White paper on uniquely numbered tags

A presentation on tagging systems for wine cellar inventory control, by James Wilson.

Since 1970, I have held a fascination for the value of uniquely identifying individual units. In those days as a farmer I watched ear tags being used on sheep to display their individual information. Different coloured tags were placed in selected right and left ears to create a form of semaphore. The confusion of colours and position generally led to the need for a notebook as a reminder of their meanings.

This led me to develop tagging systems which displayed a single and unique number for each animal. The notebook then carried all the information relating to the number of each animal. Confusion vanished and accuracy was assured. Various iterations of the unique numbering principal led me to develop many other applications both in and out of the farming world. The computer made the principal of infinite numbering systems work even better.

In developing warehousing systems, I introduced the concept of uniquely numbering each item in a vast warehouse. Multi millions of numbers are used. One of the prime advantages is that a well qualified person can check the goods in. The act of placing a uniquely numbered tag on each unit, becomes a guarantee of what the unit is and an assurance that it was in good order on entry. From then on the unit can be sought and handled by any unqualified person who has only to refer to a single number; colour, style, weight, contents or any other feature of the unit is of no interest. When the goods are shipped the unit is removed from the database, still with no further reference to any features. This unique numbering is no less complex for a computer and much more specific than the use of a single product code for all of the same products.

My enthusiasm for unique numbering introduced me to cellaring wine. It was only after I started tagging my bottles and recording the information in a notebook that I overcame my failure to hold wine for any proper aging. This has led to a passion for wine and wine cellaring and further lifted my conviction that uniquely numbered bottles are the essence of an accurate inventory.

We have grown from little stick-on labels applied to the top of bottles, which always fell off after a year or so, to well proven pre-printed numbered and barcoded tags; in conjunction with excellent software to manage the inventory. However the principal has not changed.

Let us consider the good the bad and the ugly of tagging every bottle.

First the ugly

Many owners of wine like to see their possessions displayed in pristine condition, with no distracting attachments.

If you are one of those and can afford the privilege of owning wine which has no associated inventory control, you are inevitably storing wine which is too old to drink and may well be opening other wines before they have reached perfect maturity. You should also be reminded that the Vinoté Wrap Tags are very discreet.

You may consider the tags on a bottle to be unsightly. This is a minor problem compared to the possible desecration of some of your wine in both value and taste.

Next the bad

There is a cost to tagging every bottle, to which many object. There is also an effort in carrying out this procedure.

Firstly let us address the cost issue. The cost of a pre-printed numbered tag is considerably less than the cork we throw away, not to mention the bottle with two finely printed labels. Yet the cost of a tag can be the reason people reject this method of inventory control. When we choose to save money by not tagging, we ignore the fact that untagged wine is going to cost more in wastage. The cost of a tag is nothing compared to the risk that untagged wines are under.

There is a discipline required to tag and record the wine as it is brought into the cellar. Those who find it most difficult are those who do it haphazardly. With a properly set up system the process is very straightforward. The time spent tagging wines, is considerably less than the time spent looking for wines that either are not there or are hidden behind other unrecorded wines. As in a warehouse, identifying each wine on its entry into the cellar means that its future handling will be accurate and objective.

And now the good

Wines that are tagged with pre-printed numbered and barcoded tags, with their data entered into a wine cellar program, become fully trackable and traceable. From this moment until selection for opening, the wine will rest in the cellar and when the time comes, the bottle will be found with ease and the database updated with effectively.

There is an interesting comparison between fully and partially accurate inventories. A wine selected from a fully accurate inventory is chosen with the sure knowledge that the wine is there and that the timing of the opening is correct. The moment an inventory becomes partially accurate, the wine selection cannot be made with full confidence. This leads to wine being occasionally selected by pulling a bottle out in the cellar. Without tags this action only exacerbates the problem thereby rendering as useless any work done on getting an inventory set up.

Proper, ongoing, accurate inventory control is second only to the wine purchase in cellaring importance.

Without good inventory control, your investment in wine is put at extreme risk.

Here is a list of a few of the many advantages of applying a pre-printed uniquely numbered tag to every bottle.

• Speed - there is no need to pedantically record each cell where a wine is stored.
• Precision - a unique number and barcode means that every single bottle is treated as a distinctive unit and so each bottle is treated individually.
• Integrity - there is no corruption of data. For its entire life, in and out of the cellar, every bottle is reliably accounted for.
• Location - finding a wine using the numbered tags is quicker and more foolproof than any other option.
• Longevity - Vinoté tags will outlive bottle labels in a high humidity cellar.
• Durability - even if inadvertently left in a trouser pocket, the Vinoté tags can still be fully readable after many wash cycles!
• Accuracy - tags may be held for days after a wine has been opened and still the database can be accurately updated.
• Convenience - the tag can be retained with the bottle, until opening. This means that bottles selected for opening but not used can be returned to the cellar, without any disruption to the database - a vital factor in inventory integrity.
• Barcodes - a scanner makes the process of entering wines, using the barcode on the bottle, and reading tags from opened wines so much easier.

Vinoté tags are supplied in sequential order, enabling the software to know which tag numbers are being allocated. As each bottle is entered into VinotéCellar, the next tag out of the box is indicated. Multiple bottles are handled in just the same way, except that the run of tag numbers are allocated to the number of bottles entered.

Comparisons with other methods of wine cellar management.

A. Storing each bottle in a specified location in the cellar.

This option is not really a form of inventory control, but merely a means of finding wines quickly. There are many negatives to such a system.
Identifying each location and then pedantically placing the wines in these locations is restrictive and time consuming.
You still have to look up the location in your cellar management program. If you use this moment to remove the wine and later wish to return it to the cellar, you have to go back to the computer to both reinstate the wine and find its appointed storage space.

B. Storing bottles with hand written tags attached to them.

This also allows for accurate identification of those wines that have been tagged, but some of the negatives to this practice include;

• No associated inventory control.
• Hand writing on tags is slow.
• The writing can become illegible.
• Many hand written tags do not cling to the bottle effectively and can often be found on the floor of the cellar.
• The tags are expensive.

C. Storing each bottle in a specified location and printing a label re-affirming this location.

This option takes you closer to the Vinoté system but does not have the speed or convenience of pre-printed tags. Some of the negatives include.
In actual fact, the cost of printing self adhesive labels is higher than the cost of using pre-printed tags.
The time taken to print and adhere labels is prolonged and distracting from the main purpose of checking the goods in and storing them as quickly as possible.
The material and ink are unsuitable for cellaring conditions and are unlikely to last the full life of a well stored wine.
You still have to look up the location in your program. You can, if you are careful, peal off the label and keep it for updating your inventory later.
If you choose not to open that bottle, you have to return to your computer, produce another label and then place the wine pedantically back in the correct location.

D. Storing every wine in nominated areas in your cellar.

We know of people who do this. Many of these have undiscovered wines languishing in corners. Others have systems which involve moving wines around at the start of each year, placing those which should be opened in the next 12 months in a specified area. Some of the negatives of this system are obvious, despite the professed pleasure the proponents claim.
The year of opening a wine is but one of the criteria for selection. There are so many others such as the occasion, the company, the food, even the mood you are in. The peak year for drinking is just one more. The flexibility of using a cellar management program to assist in this selection far outweighs the apparent pleasure in moving your wines each year, not to mention the disturbance to the wines, which should be left untouched.
As with so many systems, the failure to record opened wines, which is so easy to do when there is only an empty bottle to remind you, leads to a faulty inventory.
There is no summary of what is in the cellar. An inventory will instantly show you when you have too much or too little of a variety, vintage or region. Too late to find that out when your visitors arrive.

To summarise.

The Vinoté system of numbered and barcoded tags is the most cost and time effective way of managing an accurate wine inventory, the heart of every good wine cellar.
A uniquely identified bottle is an assurance of care which every wine deserves. Cents spent on tags will add dollars to your cellar.
The choice between Vinoté Wrap Tags and Vinoté Neck Tags is a personal one. Because the all tags carry unique numbers there is no difficulty in using a packet of each. Vinoté produces printable tags. These are useful for those who wish to make their wine selection in the cellar, rather than from their cellar list. Using VinotéCellar the tags are printed with wine data, as well as with a unique number and barcode. Printable tags have some of the advantages of pre-printed tags, however the inevitable delay in printing the tags before the wine is put away, can become frustrating.