In lesson 3, we looked at one way to evaluate a wine. Of course, the most important evaluation is the simple question of whether you like the wine. A more descriptive evaluation, however, helps you explain why you liked a wine–or didn’t like it. As I’ve said many times before, being able to describe a wine also helps you find more wines that you like. Being able to walk into a wine shop and say, “I really like such-and-such. It was a nice, flavorful wine, it didn’t completely dry my mouth out, and it had good aromas. Do you have anything similar?” can really help you find more wines to try.

As time goes on, however, it can become difficult to remember the details about a wine. Writing a tasting note can be a good tactic to help you remember a wine. If you can keep your tasting notes in one place, it’s even better because you can look back through them to better trigger your recollection. As I’ve mentioned before, I really like the DeLong Wine Tasting Note form. I’d encourage you to download it now.

One of the things I like about this form is that you can circle some of the descriptors. There is also enough space to write down things like aromas and flavors. To me, this helps take away some of the head-scratching I used to do when trying to write a tasting note.

Recently, I received an email from Steve DeLong, inviting me to receive a review copy of his company’s Wine Tasting Notebook [affiliate link]. I indicated I’d be happy to review it and leave my thoughts at Amazon.com. Before I go further, I want to make this clear: the following comments are about a product that I was given to review. As I mentioned above, I am a fan of the DeLong Wine Tasting Note form and was well before I received the Wine Tasting Notebook. The fact I received this for free has had no influence on my rave review of this product.

Inside this tasting notebook are 56 pages of blank DeLong Wine Tasting Note forms (single forms, not the three-form version you find in the PDF file). Now, for some people, this feature alone might make the product worth the nominal cost. But in my opinion, what sends this notebook over the top is the little extra DeLong includes–and that you can’t get for free on the web site (unless I’ve missed it somewhere).

In a back pocket of the notebook you will find a four-fold, double sided, sort of laminated sheet. On one side is a detailed (and I mean detailed!) explanation of how to really write a tasting note using the form found in the notebook. That’s nice, but the real treasure is on the other side. There is a whole sheet full of wine tasting terms, including aromas and flavors broken down into categories, like floral, herbal, vegetal, etc. This sheet is like the Wine Aroma Wheel but in a much more portable form. (The aroma wheel is very light, but it’s a laminated circle, so it may not fit easily into a pocket unless you fold it up.) Over fifty tasting note forms plus a good reference for wine descriptors, all for less than 10 US dollars.

Had I known about this notebook earlier, I would have been buying them up regularly. Heck, I would have urged my IU South Bend students to buy one and use it in their studies. While I’m glad to have received a free sample, I will be purchasing these in the future. There’s no doubt in my mind about that.

If you’re not inclined to purchase this tool, you can download a free paper aroma card at Vinography. You print it out, fold it up as shown, and you have a business card-sized aroma reference. One nice thing about Vinography’s aroma card is that besides being free, it is available in several languages: Japanese, German, Portuguese, French, Spanish, Italian, and English. Aromas a grouped together in categories, although the categories are not labeled. Heck, even if you purchase the DeLong notebook, download this card and tuck it in the back of the notebook. You can never have too many references when looking for just the right descriptor.

Your Homework Assignment: This assignment is a two-part assignment. Last time, I assigned you the task of picking up a bottle of Sauvignon Blanc and seeing if you could describe it using some basic descriptors. I forgot to encourage you to leave your description as a comment to that post or over at the Wine For Newbies Facebook page. So, the first part of your assignment is to put your tasting note either as a comment to the previous post or on the Facebook site.

The second part of your assignment is to download the DeLong Tasting Note Form and go out to pick up a bottle of Chardonnay from anywhere but California. Using the tasting note form, write up a tasting note, and then report on your note in a comment here or at the Facebook page.

If you want extra credit, compare and contrast the Sauvignon Blanc with the Chardonnay.

Audio Only

More Wine For Newbies 101

Lesson 3–Evaluating wine, part 1
Lesson 2–Learning to taste wine
Lesson 1–Is learning about wine difficult?

Technorati Tags:
wine, WFN101, wine course, wine class, wine education

Similar Posts:

None Found