Vintage Beacon 2009: The Wine Log, Or How I learned to discern the wines I like from those I don’t

This little bit o’ blog is about my new Wine Log program that I bought from the iTunes store (with a lot of help from my husband Eddie as I am a technology wimp) for my iPhone (another purchase from Eddie) to record information on wine.

scvbeacon logo squareNow I realize that if you don’t have this particular phone you may not care about this particular program, but with the way technology is headed your own cellular phone will probably be offering something better than this, or has already.

Think of it this way: You are at a friend’s house, a wine bar, or a wine event and you are not a wine writer so you don’t have a pad and pen handy to jot down notes about a wine you tried and liked.

You can 1: Buy the wine right then if it’s available.

Or 2: Commit the wine to a memory dulled by said wine.

One of the pitfalls, and there are many, is that if you don’t record what you liked, or didn’t like, you may remember the label anyway. So the next time you are at Bev Mo for the 5 cents sale you will dawdle over a choice as you simply can’t remember if the wine you are considering was the one you liked it or didn’t!

The program saves the Varietal, Name, Winery, Region, Tasting Notes and takes a photo. I tell you that the photo part is the best because if you have a memory like mine, the label is the part you normally do remember, literally like it or not.

So I record the wines I like, and the wine I surely don’t want to forget that I didn’t like!

I can’t help but pull it out and use it every time I’ve had a bottle lately, which for some reason happens more often than I previously realized.  And then I figured out that anyone could do a little of the same by just photographing wines they like with their phone.  Period.  No need to mess around using the teeny tiny keyboard to “text” your tasting notes.

Then I went online and found another gizmo to check wines when you can’t remember on your own.  Wine Spectator Mobile has their wine ratings on a program you can purchase, or obtain for free, if you are a member like me.  “At a restaurant and don’t know which wine to order? Trying to figure out the best value at the wine shop? Take Wine Spectator scores and notes wherever you go.”

I could go on but they don’t pay me.  Check it out: http://www.winespectator.com/mobile.  They show it on an iPhone and a Blackberry, but I have to wait for Eddie to load it on my phone. (Big surprise there)

I’d also join Wine Spectator online first to see if you really need to have 200,000 at your fingertips.  Some people don’t want to know what WS or RP (Robert Parker) or the rest of them rate a wine.  They like what they like…and that’s fine.  But does that mean they are smarter than me and can remember what they like too?  Only if they don’t drink as much.  And that’s more likely.  At the very least WS online membership has given me a window of when a wine should be drunk or held.

So the goal is, and always has been, collecting more!  Especially now that I’ve helped you with a program to help you remember which ones you want to drink…with a scorecard or without!  Just take the photo, or, buy the technology.  It’s just one more way to converse about wine and make memorable times that much more palatable.