“We should collect the labels of the wines we like.” That offhand comment by MSO finally prompted me to do something I’ve been meaning to do for years — keep a wine diary. Now, just so we’re perfectly clear, I know very little about wine. I just know what I like (reds, not too fruity) and what I don’t like (whites, sweet wines). Hence, anything that falls into the extremely broad category of “not white, not sweet” is OK with me. That being said, I do know a decent wine from rocket fuel when I taste it; I just lack the oenophile’s vocabulary to describe it (as demonstated in the first photo, under Why We Liked It: “Damn good”!!). And apart from a few trusty standby labels (which I will surely share with you in a future post), I almost invariably forget the name of a much-enjoyed bottle of wine before the coffee is served.
Hence, project Wine Diary. While at Indigo the other day, I picked up a 3-pack of cute notebooks, not exactly sure of what I’d use them for (I have a weakness for stationery, I must confess), but they came in handy sooner than I thought. Cleaning up after our dinner described in my Attempting Risotto post, I was struck by inspiration. I popped the kettle on, steamed the label off a bottle of tasty wine one of our guests had brought, and slapped it in the aforementioned notebook.
Riding the wave of my inspiration, I even added my own version of the 5 W’s on the facing page: When (we drank it), Where (we drank it), Who (brought, purchased or recommended it), What (food we paired it with), Why (we liked it).
On a roll, we added a second label just a week later:
Move your mouse over the photos for the names of these wines. If you try one of them, let me know what you think. Now, the trick will be to actually remember the notebook the next time I head to the liquor store!!
