Keeping a Wine Tasting Journal

Wine tasting is a journey filled with many experiences. And like most journeys, there are favorite destinations.

A wine-tasting journal (download a page right now) is the best method you'll find for revisiting your favorite spots—and making sure you stay on the right path. Like diaries, wine journals help you record your impressions, sharpen your observations and enhance your memories. So if you've never considered keeping a wine journal, here are some excellent reasons to get started:

For beginners—

Helps organize your impressions of different varietals
Keeps track of your favorites and not-so-favorites
Adds fun to wine-tasting parties
Captures your memories of great wines and great friends
Provides a handy reference for future purchases

For experts—

Improves your wine-tasting technique
Sharpens your ability to evaluate wines
Maintains a record of favorite wine & food pairings
Records subtle differences of wines purchased by the case to determine how each bottle's aging improves its taste

Where to begin—
1. Your journal can be as simple as a spiral notebook or as artful as a bound journal. Or you can download our sample page, then place copies of that page in a binder.
2. Evaluate each wine according to look, swirl, smell and taste.
3. Make your notes as you taste. Remember there are no right or wrong answers. They are your personal impressions and perceptions.
4. Carefully remove the wine label and paste it to your journal page.

Wine journals make excellent gifts—accompanied by a bottle of wine from H-E-B, of course.

The next step is yours, so begin the trip now to a grape destination.