Wine Tip: Keep Notes
Whether you are in a wine course, casual learner, or just someone who likes wine the best advice out there is to keep notes. There are so many wines to taste and try, and it can get confusing. Keeping a simple record of what you’ve tried and some quick notes on it will help you understand grapes, regions and styles much more quickly than any other tactic. Of course, this begs the question: what’s the best way to keep wine notes. The answer is: whatever works for you! Some of us prefer handwritten notes in a notebook or even official tasting journal while others are fans of apps. We’ve compiled the best of both worlds and would love to hear what you think of these, or about ones we’ve missed!
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The 3 Best Physical Wine Tasting Journals
Wine Folly Wine Journal
Hands down, Wine Folly makes one of the best wine tasting journals out there. Not only is it the perfect size, but it also includes some really helpful extras like a color chart. It’s hard to remember how to describe color and this makes it easy. Plus, using the same chart and language each time means you’ll get consistent (and confident) much more quickly than winging it or using a digital version.
The beginning of the journal holds all kinds of great tips and tricks for your tasting practice and then there are tons of pages for writing in your notes. Pro tip, add some post-it flags to that back pocket to mark favorites or wines that are a style benchmark for fun comparisons!
Clever Fox Wine Journal
This wine journal gives BuJo vibes, perfect if you want to spend more time over a glass, get creative or use it as a diary of your wine trips. Like the Wine Folly journal, it has a color chart and back pocket. It also has great references and guides.
We like the segmented pages that have structure but also allow for customization. We’re not big into visual representations of our wines, but for those who are visual learners this has what the Wine Folly journal doesn’t when it comes to graphic representation.
1 X Wine Journal (Spiral-Bound)
Nancy used this journal for years when starting out in wine and still talks about it. It’s much smaller, which isn’t great for formal wine study, but is perfect for those who have a more casual approach to their wine. Along with room for traditional tasting notes, the journal leaves room to include the occasion for and company with the wine was enjoyed and even the conversation had.
The spiral binding also means this journal, unlike most, opens flat, and can be folded over to take up as little space as possible.
The 3 Best Wine Tasting Apps
All apps available on both iOS and Android.
WSET Tasting Notes
While not nearly as flashy or feature-packed as other wine apps out there (or even on this list), we are fans of the WSET Global tasting notes app for anyone who wants to practice and develop their skills tasting. You don’t have to be a wine student to use it; the app is free. It allows you to keep your notes following the same systematic approach every time. This means using the WSET terms, which are especially helpful if you’d like to start taking wine classes. For this reason, it’s our top recommendation and the one most of couch + cork wine professionals have used to practice.
Delectable (iOS and Android)
Delectableog.delectable.com/ is used by wine students and pros, has a shopping component and social features but what sets it apart for us is their blog. Regularly updated, and spanning many topics, it’s a great way to learn more about wine quickly. We can’t tell you how many posts we’ve read while on the subway heading to an event or waiting at the airport.
Vivino (iOS and Android)
With over 60 million users, there’s a reason everyone (everyone!) uses Vivino. It’s a high-quality app with many useful functions. Find information on almost any wine by just scanning the app, or scan a wine list and it will give you at-a-glance ratings and help you choose which wines you are likely to enjoy. It also keeps your tasting notes for you, which is what we’re recommending today. The app has social and badge components that are also fun.
The Most Important Part of Taking Tasting Notes…
No matter what method you use (or if you decide to use multiple methods) the most important thing is that you start and continue to take notes on the wines you sip consistently. Using a physical journal or app is the best way, because it will keep your notes structured. Happy tasting!
