Frequently asked questions

We are in public beta with open signup. Here are the key answers on memberships, learning, tasting, and collection management.

What is The Wine Atlas?: The Wine Atlas is an integrated wine workspace where you can learn wine at your level, research bottles before buying, run structured tastings, keep organised tasting notes, maintain your wine log, manage your collection, and host or join group tastings. Instead of relying on separate tools for study, notes, cellar records, and events, The Wine Atlas brings them together so your knowledge, decisions, and records all work in one place.
Why does that matter?: Wine is still a category where information is often fragmented, records are scattered, and important buying or collection decisions are frequently shaped by other people's incentives rather than our own understanding. The Wine Atlas is built to give us more clarity, continuity, and control - so we can build knowledge, keep better records, and make more informed decisions for the wines we buy, taste, and collect.
Is The Wine Atlas open for signup now?: Yes. We are in public beta and signup is open.
Do I need a paid membership to start?: No. You can start on Novice for free. Members who choose advanced memberships help support our mission, and those memberships include additional features and higher capacity across cellar records, wine logs, and tasting notes. Advanced memberships are designed to add practical benefits as your usage grows.
Are learning tools free to use?: Yes. The Learning Path, Knowledge Centre, and Diploma Resources are free to use. We believe better transparency and education can benefit the wine market as a whole, so we keep the entire learning layer open. Advanced memberships are designed to add convenience and capacity, not to gate core learning.
Where can I see full pricing and feature limits by tier?: See the full transparent breakdown on the memberships and pricing page.
Can I use the learning path without logging in?: Yes, you can preview selected lessons publicly while logged out. Please sign in to save progress and continue with tracked completion.
How does tasting work in The Wine Atlas?: Tasting notes are built as point-and-click forms, so you can work at flavour-cluster level or at individual flavour level. For newer tasters, this acts as practical guidance on what to look for in the glass, shifting the task from “what flavour can I invent?” to “is this flavour actually present?”. The result is faster, cleaner note capture than messy paper sheets, with notes that stay organised and easy to compare across wines and sessions.
Can I import my existing cellar data?: Yes. You can import from spreadsheet files and consolidate records from multiple storage sources into one collection view. Cellar descriptions are handled as free text, which supports partial and full matching for flexible filtering, selection, and sharing of collection subsections.
Can I delegate cellar access to someone else?: Yes. Delegated roles can be scoped to specific subsections of your collection, not just the full cellar. For example, you can delegate only wines tagged as Bonded Storage with Merchant A, while keeping Merchant B and Merchant C as separate delegated scopes. You can also aggregate those subsections with broader filters (for example all bonded storage) to run analytics or exports across the combined pool. This lets you grant view/edit rights precisely where needed, including for agents or prospective buyers, while keeping control over the rest of the collection.
Can I export my data?: Yes. You can export relevant records; your notes and collection data remain under your control.
How private is my data?: Your account is your personal space. Sharing is controlled by you, and access is permission-based. You can delete your account at any time, and all your records are deleted. Nothing is kept, not even for a grace period.
Where can I get help?: Email support@thewineatlas.com and we will help you directly.