You're hosting a dinner party. You've wined and dined your guests--important clients of yours--through the appetizer course, and things are going without a hitch. You head down to your wine cellar to grab the bottle of very special Cabernet you've been saving for an occasion just like this one. But the bottle isn't there. You scan your shelves, growing increasingly panicked. Will the dinner party be ruined?

If you're a serious wine collector, your collection represents a substantial financial investment. So why skimp on the care and organization of your collection? Modern wine-cellar management systems offer collectors a way to keep effortless track of every wine bottle in their collections. A high-tech management system will ensure that you don't even lose track of a bottle. Even more importantly, they keep you constantly in tune with the conditions of your cellar, alerting you instantly if the temperature or humidity isn't what it's supposed to be, and protecting your investment.

One popular wine cellar management system is the Sensaphone wine cellar monitoring system. The Sensaphone acts like a personal security guard for your wine collection. It monitors all the conditions in and around your wine cellar: it connects to your smoke alarm to sense potential fires, as well as monitoring the precise conditions within your wine cellar, including the exact temperature and humidity, and even checking the floor for water to sense floods. The moment the Sensaphone detects a problem, it calls your personal telephone and leaves a custom voice message. In the event the Sensaphone doesn't reach you, it places phone calls with multiple designated people until it reaches someone who can fix the problem. Sensaphone is especially great for people who travel often. With just the touch of a button, you can dial into your Sensaphone remotely to check on your collection.

Another great monitoring option is the eSommelier wine cellar management system. Think of eSommelier like a personal valet for your collation. Its interface is a touchscreen that you keep in your wine cellar. eSommelier comes with a bar code scanner and printer, allowing you to scan in bottles when you purchase them, and scan them out when you're ready to drink them. In between times, you can use the touchscreen to effortlessly scroll through all the bottles in your collection, letting you instantly know what you have without having to hunt through your cellar. eSommelier can be added to with upgrades such as a temperature and humidity sensor, and software that allows you to handle multiple wine collections. With its intuitive touchscreen system, eSommelier is the most elegant option out there for keeping track of your inventory.

You'd never leave the selection of wine to be served at your dinner party up to chance. So why would you leave the organization and safety of your collection up to fate? Wine cellar management systems let you always stay in sync with your collection, making sure that perfect bottle is always there when you need it.