Jot a Lot
I have written about traveling across the land with wine tasting in mind. I have written about the stages of wine appreciation we seem to all go through. I am now writing to entreat you to write about your own wine journey.
Saintsbury is a well known name among lovers of California Pinot Noir, but did you know that Saintsbury's first name was George? So how did George end up with a winery named after him? He kept "Notes on a Cellar-Book."
One of the first things I tell my students, is to get in the habit of taking notes when you taste wine. It doesn't matter if you ever look back at them, just the act of paying enough attention to take notes reaps great benefit. That said, after you have been at it awhile, look back.
If you keep a record of all the wines in your cellar, it is a great place to jot down a few notes whenever you open something. That is what George did.
Saintsbury was a turn of the century (that would be the last century) professor who not only jotted down notes, his prose was worthy of being published (and republished). Hard to find now, but worth an interlibrary loan to read, "Notes on a Cellar-Book" is a delightful account of one man's pilgrimage through the joyous wilderness that is wine. He is more poetic than accurate, and a century's worth of wine making has made most of his observations moot, but the spirit and pure joy of it still rings true.
I kept such a book in 1985. I was on what would turn out to be my pivotal trip to Europe, and it is a collection of the labels I dutifully (ok, my loving wife dutifully) soaked off every bottle we could get our hands on. On each page is a short description of the wine and the dinner. Reading through it is like leafing through the pages of a diary, it jogs memories and brings more than a few smiles.
Since then my collection of wines notes is a monumental collection of computer files (some so old that there is no way to read them anymore). They tend to be matter of fact records of what I tasted, and lack any connection to an event.
Few of us are ever going to be the literary icon George Saintsbury has become (and I am slowly learning to come to grips with this sad truth), but we can each keep a record of what we taste. A glimpse of our wine journey that can bring us back to a time, as surely as any slide show (and it is about as much fun for your guests).
Get out a favorite pen, a fun bottle of wine, and jot a few notes today.
Saintsbury is a well known name among lovers of California Pinot Noir, but did you know that Saintsbury's first name was George? So how did George end up with a winery named after him? He kept "Notes on a Cellar-Book."
One of the first things I tell my students, is to get in the habit of taking notes when you taste wine. It doesn't matter if you ever look back at them, just the act of paying enough attention to take notes reaps great benefit. That said, after you have been at it awhile, look back.
If you keep a record of all the wines in your cellar, it is a great place to jot down a few notes whenever you open something. That is what George did.
Saintsbury was a turn of the century (that would be the last century) professor who not only jotted down notes, his prose was worthy of being published (and republished). Hard to find now, but worth an interlibrary loan to read, "Notes on a Cellar-Book" is a delightful account of one man's pilgrimage through the joyous wilderness that is wine. He is more poetic than accurate, and a century's worth of wine making has made most of his observations moot, but the spirit and pure joy of it still rings true.
I kept such a book in 1985. I was on what would turn out to be my pivotal trip to Europe, and it is a collection of the labels I dutifully (ok, my loving wife dutifully) soaked off every bottle we could get our hands on. On each page is a short description of the wine and the dinner. Reading through it is like leafing through the pages of a diary, it jogs memories and brings more than a few smiles.
Since then my collection of wines notes is a monumental collection of computer files (some so old that there is no way to read them anymore). They tend to be matter of fact records of what I tasted, and lack any connection to an event.
Few of us are ever going to be the literary icon George Saintsbury has become (and I am slowly learning to come to grips with this sad truth), but we can each keep a record of what we taste. A glimpse of our wine journey that can bring us back to a time, as surely as any slide show (and it is about as much fun for your guests).
Get out a favorite pen, a fun bottle of wine, and jot a few notes today.
