Wine is memory.
The bottles you've loved are not just liquid in a glass. They mark evenings, conversations, places, decisions, the people who poured them. Most of that gets lost. Khollar exists so it doesn't have to.
The point of the app isn't to track wine the way a database tracks inventory. It's to keep a record that's actually yours: readable in ten years, useful tomorrow, honest about who you are as a drinker.
The shape of the thing.
Khollar is built around a few simple rooms, and we intend to keep it that way.
The diary is the heart. A log is a wine, a date, up to five stars in half-star honesty, and (if you want) a note, a photo, a price, a place, and a tag in your own words. Your tags become your vocabulary, not ours: we suggest the ones you've used, we don't hand you a dropdown of someone else's occasions.
The feed is what your friends are drinking (their logs, follows, lists, likes and comments) in three quiet tabs: Activity, Wines, Lists. It is chronological and capped at three logs per friend per day. It does not scroll forever on purpose.
Your profile is your taste, visible: the wines, the diary, the wishlist, the cellar, your lists, your tags, and how your ratings and colours actually distribute. Not a leaderboard: a portrait.
The label on the shelf is chosen by drinkers. Anyone can photograph a bottle they're logging; the community's most-liked photo becomes the wine's cover. A producer who claims their wine can pin an official image instead, clearly marked as theirs.
The catalogue is kept by drinkers too. Can't find a bottle? Add it in three fields and log it. It lives in your diary immediately. Wines earn their place in the global catalogue when Viners (experienced members who review submissions) agree the details are right. Producers who claim their name can verify and lock their own wines outright.
Producers and dealers are welcome, in the open. A winemaker can claim their wines, tell their story, set an official price and a short note about the bottle. A dealer can say what's in stock. What neither can do is buy their way into your feed.
What we are not.
We're explicit about our boundaries because the wine-app category is full of products pretending to be one thing while quietly being another.
We are not a marketplace.
We don't sell wine. We don't take commission on bottles you buy anywhere else. Prices on a wine page are information: the producer's word, or the average of what drinkers actually paid, never a sales pitch. We have no financial interest in steering you toward any specific producer, region, or price point. The app's only job is to remember well.
We are not an attention economy.
No ads. No "trending creators". No engagement bait. No algorithmic feed deciding what you should want. The feed is chronological and limited: three logs per friend per day, maximum. Khollar is meant to be a quiet place you visit for a minute, not a place that fights for your attention.
We are not a 100-point scoring system.
Five stars, half-steps allowed, and a sentence. If you want to write a paragraph about the tannins, write it. If you only want to mark "yes, again," that works too. Wine is personal. We don't care to rank it on your behalf.
We are not a cellar tool.
Khollar is for people who drink wine, not primarily for people who manage inventory. The cellar and the wishlist exist because a diary needs a "someday" shelf, but the heart of the product is the diary, not the warehouse.
What we will do.
- Keep the app simple, fast, and quiet. Adding features is easier than removing them; we will be slow on purpose.
- Charge for the things worth charging for, and keep the rest free. Drinkers pay nothing. The Viner tier costs a few francs, or nothing at all, for members who help keep the catalogue. Producers and dealers (who get clear commercial value) pay a flat monthly fee. No commission. No transaction skim.
- Treat your data with care. Your logs belong to you. You can export them whenever you like. We will never sell them, ever.
- Be honest when we don't know something, and slow when the decision is reversible.
Why "Khollar".
In the 9th century, the city of Shiraz had earned a reputation for producing the finest wine in the known world. But the very best of it didn't come from the city; it came from a small village in the hills above, called Khollar. European travellers wrote home about it. Marco Polo tasted it. The Persian poet Hafez sang its praise.
Then the village was forgotten. The vineyards fell quiet. The world kept drinking, but no one remembered where the best wine had once come from.
We took the name because we believe wine is memory. The wines you loved should never be forgotten: not yours, and not the ones who loved them before you.