Keeping a Wine Tasting Record

If you drink wine, you need to be able remember whether or not you liked it. This will allow you to repeat a good wine experience and avoid a bad one. Unfortunately, as most of us aren't blessed with a photographic memory, this will probably involve some sort of record keeping. If you can just write even two or three key words about each wine you try, you will learn what your preferences are and avoid unnecessary disappointments.

If the wine we drank purely relied on the grape variety for its flavour, then we probably wouldn't need to keep records, we would simply remember the grape that we like: for example, Shiraz. However, wine flavours also depend on the grape quality, the soil, the weather and the winemaking technique.

This is demonstrated in the following example. You may try a bottle of Australian Shiraz, and think that you have found THE perfect red wine. However, on trying more of these wines, you might discover that you really only like one Australian Shiraz out of every three or four. Without record keeping, it may take a while to work this out. Worst of all, you may then forget which ones you actually liked. The Australian Shiraz you like may actually be crafted in a style that is more common in France's Syrahs; less fruity and more tannic.

Your Wine Tasting Journal

We have included a wine tasting journal for you to download, print and record your notes, including a space for you to paste the label from the bottle.

Click here to download (pdf format) >>

Removing a Wine Label

To remove the wine label from the bottle (after you have finished drinking the contents of course!); fill up a bowl or a sink with hot water, and add 2 or 3 drops of detergent. Leave the bottle to soak for about 20 minutes, after which the label should simply peel off. If the label doesn't come off entirely, you could try using a single-edged razor or paint scraper to help slice it off the bottle. The trick here is to work VERY carefully, and to have the correct blade angle to the bottle; otherwise you risk merely slicing the label, or worse yet, your hand.

You will then need to let the label dry. It is best if you do this on a surface that touches only a small portion of the label, like a dish rack. This will help keep the label from adhering to anything else.