Getting Started
How to Import Your Wine List: CSV, CellarTracker, or Scan
By Carson Smith, founder of Cellared. Last updated June 25, 2026.
Short answer: Cellared imports CellarTracker exports (old and new formats), Vivino exports, and generic CSV/XLSX files with column mapping. Import typically completes within a few minutes, in the app. PDFs still need label scanning or manual entry.
Key Takeaways
- Takeaway 1
- Cellared imports CellarTracker exports (old and new formats), Vivino exports, and generic CSV/XLSX files with column mapping.
- Takeaway 2
- Import typically completes within a few minutes, in the app.
- Takeaway 3
- For a PDF, printed list, or bottles that are not represented in an importable file, use label scanning to add them individually.
- Takeaway 4
- A CellarTracker import preserves producer, wine, vintage, varietal, bottle size, bin location, purchase date and price, region, your tasting notes, and quantity verbatim. Only the drinking windows are recalculated, by the Cellared Ageability Index.
- Takeaway 5
- You can run the import more than once and it deduplicates, so a partial list and a partner's bottles merge cleanly instead of doubling up.
The fastest path for each source
What works depends entirely on where your list lives now. This table is the whole decision in one place.
| You are starting from | Direct file import? | Fast path | Rough time |
|---|---|---|---|
| A CellarTracker account | Yes, old and new export formats | Export to CSV from CellarTracker, then Settings, Import, CellarTracker in the app. | Typically completes within a few minutes, in the app |
| A spreadsheet (Excel or Google Sheets) | Yes, CSV/XLSX with column mapping | Export the sheet as CSV or XLSX, then map its columns in the app. | Typically completes within a few minutes, in the app |
| A Vivino export | Yes, with column mapping | Export your Vivino data, then map its columns in the app. | Typically completes within a few minutes, in the app |
| A PDF or printed list | No | A PDF cannot be read as an import file. Photograph each bottle with the label scanner, or retype the shortlist. | Roughly 10 seconds per bottle to scan |
| Photos of labels, no list | No file import | Use the label scanner one bottle at a time. | Roughly 10 seconds per bottle |
| Physical bottles, no list at all | Not applicable | Label scanning is faster than typing: point the camera, confirm the match. | Roughly 10 seconds per bottle |
If you are on CellarTracker: export to CSV
CellarTracker is one file-import option. In CellarTracker, open My Cellar, choose Tools, then Export, and select the CSV format. In Cellared, go to Settings, Import, pick the file, and confirm the column mapping before you commit. Cellared looks up each row against its wine database, attaches a drinking window, and flags any bottle it cannot match cleanly so nothing is silently dropped.
The step-by-step, including what happens to unmatched bottles, lives on the CellarTracker import page. If you are weighing the move, the Cellared vs CellarTracker comparison covers what changes after you switch.
If your list is a spreadsheet, PDF, or photo
A spreadsheet can import as a generic CSV or XLSX file with column mapping. A PDF is a picture of text and a photo is just an image, so those still need label scanning or manual entry.
For bottles that are not represented in an importable file, use the label scanner to add them individually. It reads producer, wine, vintage, varietal, and region, then attaches a fresh drinking window as it goes.
Cataloging from scratch, fast
If you have never kept a list, do not start by building a spreadsheet you will then have to migrate. Scan straight into the cellar. Each scan fills the bottle details and a drinking window in one step, so by the time you have worked through a rack you have a real, queryable cellar rather than a text file to import later.
For how the drinking windows are produced, see the Cellared Ageability Index methodology, and for choosing among the cellar apps generally, the best wine cellar apps guide lays out which tool fits which collector.
Import your wine list in the app
Cellared imports CellarTracker exports (old and new formats), Vivino exports, and generic CSV/XLSX files with column mapping. Import typically completes within a few minutes, in the app. Free to start, no card.
Download Cellared - FreeFrequently Asked
Can I import a wine list from a PDF?
Not as a file. A PDF, whether it is a restaurant-style list or a printout of a spreadsheet, cannot be read directly into a cellar app. The fast path is to photograph each bottle with the app's label scanner, which fills in producer, wine, vintage, varietal, and region automatically. For a short list, retyping is sometimes quicker than scanning. There is no reliable way to turn a PDF into a clean structured import without one of those two steps.
Does Cellared import a generic CSV or only a CellarTracker export?
Cellared imports CellarTracker exports (old and new formats), Vivino exports, and generic CSV/XLSX files with column mapping. Import typically completes within a few minutes, in the app.
Can I import my collection from Vivino?
Yes. Cellared imports Vivino exports with column mapping. Import typically completes within a few minutes, in the app.
What carries over when I import from CellarTracker?
Producer, wine name, vintage, and varietal; bottle size, bin location, purchase date, and purchase price; your tasting notes, preserved verbatim; quantity on hand including consumed bottles; and region, appellation, and country. The one thing that is not carried over is the drinking window, which Cellared recalculates from the Cellared Ageability Index rather than importing a number from another source.
How long does it take to catalog 200 bottles?
Cellared imports CellarTracker exports (old and new formats), Vivino exports, and generic CSV/XLSX files with column mapping. Import typically completes within a few minutes, in the app.
Do my drinking windows come over from my old app?
No, and that is deliberate. Drinking windows differ by methodology, so importing a number from another tool would mix two systems. Cellared recalculates a window for every imported bottle using the Cellared Ageability Index, a documented model using up to ten scored inputs, so every bottle in your cellar is scored the same way.
See the drinking window on your own bottles
Cellared calculates a per-bottle drinking window from the Cellared Ageability Index, a documented methodology using up to ten scored inputs. If enabled, Cellared can notify you as bottles approach, enter, and move beyond their peak window.