Keeping Tasting Notes Organized

[cheeps]

I'm new to wines and started keeping a chart. Of course I have about 25 bottles of wine at the most at any one time, so it's fairly easy for me.

What I did was take notes as I was reading different books - the "general" stuff needed to know a riesling for example, the different regions in Germany, the different kinds Kabinett, Spatlese, etc., what other countries or regions make rieslings also, like Alsace, and what the differences are from one region to the next.

Then I made a separate chart for the specific wines I have. I just made a simple table with three columns. The first is the price, the second the EXACT name of the wine, vintage, every little detail I can glean off the label so if I want to buy more I know what to look for, and the last column is the tasting notes, when I opened it, what it looks like, smells like, tastes like, etc. Since I don't drink a bottle in one sitting, but over a few days or even a week or more (my bad!) I note if the taste changes over time for better or worse. When I finish the bottle, I "shade" the row out so I can keep track of what I currently have on hand as opposed to what I've already finished off. I just do it all in Word on the computer.

I figure that way I can take my notes with me to the store and understand what I'm finding and I also know what ones I like so I can buy more if they have it and what one's I don't like and won't buy again.