Wine Tasting Journal

Wine tasting journals range from jotting down a few points in a notebook to collecting favorite wine labels and detailed reports of each wine. Whether you choose a small book or ornate journal, this type of record keeping can become invaluable for keeping track of your favorite wines.

Even if you are a novice wine enthusiast, a wine journal will serve you well. With so many wines to choose from, you may forget about past wines you have sampled but would like to try again. Many journals are well organized by type of wine and include ample space to record the name, taste, price, vintage, occasion, and who you enjoyed the wine with. Consider these journals:

• The Wine Log: A Journal and Companion, $12
• The Wine Journal: Label Collection Album & Label Removal Kit, $38
• The Little Black Journal of Wine, $10
• Spiral Bound Wine Journal, $13
• A Wine Lover’s Journal, $10

While these books are helpful, some people may find they don’t need to keep track of all of the details of a good glass of wine. For those folks, there are less fancy versions, including a good old-fashioned notebook.

For someone who is learning about the ins and outs of wine and tasting, there are many journals available that include some context about wines, including a glossary of common terms and tips on what to look for in each type of wine. Consider one of these journals if you need a little help with identifying the finer features of wine.

What do you get the wine lover who has everything? If they don’t already possess a wine tasting journal, this is a fun wine lovers gift to consider. Pair it with a bottle of their favorite wine or perhaps include it in a wine and cheese gift basket for a well-rounded present. A lovely leather bound book or perhaps one with a beautiful illustration on the cover are just a couple of thoughtful gift ideas.

If you’re serious about collecting labels from your preferred wines and keeping them in your journal, there are a variety of options. Some books come with label removers and include an area for affixing a label to the page for additional notes.

If you find it difficult to remove some labels, and would like to include one in the journal, consider taking a digital photo and placing the picture next to the description and notes.

While beautiful leather bound wine journals and cleverly organized books that allow for extensive wine tasting notes can serve their owner well, there is one very no-frills option available: a notebook. Don’t overlook the value of this note taking tool. A small notebook can fit nicely in your pocket or purse and be a handy go-to option when you’re out dining or during an afternoon of hitting the wine trail and want to note the wine. Besides, you can always jot down a few notes, then transfer the information to your more formal journal.

Living in the technological age, you would assume there would be plenty of options online for maintaining a wine journal. One of the larger sites is Cork’d, a free way to log your wine reviews, share with others, and read other wine reviews as well. There’s also a “shopping list” to keep track of wines that you would like to try in the future, with the ability to add wines that other members have reviewed.

Winediary.com is another free online journal for rating wines and viewing what other members like or dislike. Easily click through various links, including “Best Bottles,” “Best Reds,” and “Best Whites.”

Another option for keeping track of your favorites online is to start a wine blog. There are a number of sites that offer free blogging space, allowing you to keep online journal entries. This can be a fun way to tell more of the story of your experience with each wine tasting and can be shared with family and friends, as well as others in the online community. Try Blogger.com or Wordpress.com to start a free blog.

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