ThePortForum.com

Obviously is a huge tasting note resource, but I was wondering what methods members use for their own personal records.
I have made some loose notes for myself previously but want to do a better job of this going forward, as I intend to pursue my passion for Port more seriously and hopefully join you in lots of tastings in the future.

So, I would be grateful for any tips or advice on how you collate and record your notes. Do some members still record everything on paper/record cards or is electronically the way to go. Can anyone recommend any software or point mein the right direction of a spreadsheet template.

In the main I like to record my thoughts hand written but I would very much appreciate any viewpoints from you much more experience folk. My thanks in advance.

Hi there
Julian's TN sheets are the only places I record port TNs from a TPF event.. I have a notebook that I use for anything else. Eventually everything gets typed up and uploaded to this - TPF is my database and I don't need a personal one. I find a notebook and pen a much more useful and flexible thing to use if I'm out at a tasting or in a restaurant or bar than an phone or tablet.
YMMV!

Welcome to TPF Simon

Like Daniel, I also just keep my notes here on TPF. I use an iOS app called VinoCell to keep track of what bottles I have.

Look forward to meeting you at a tasting.

I use my TN sheets, and type them into TPF, without maintaining a personal database.


FYI, some people have stars on their TN sheets. If you want stars then say how many (five is the usual), and which arrangement you prefer.
= /Upright
= /Alternating
= /Sideways

Thank you for the replies, tips and welcomes.

The consensus seems to be to use the tasting notes thread, which I will adopt too.

I use Excel, in part because I track all bottles I own that way, and because I want a local record which allows me to easily search (e.g. How many different vintages of Quinta dos Canais have I drunk? How have the bottles from a particular case compared when drunk?). Also I am somewhat more private about my tasting notes, since I do not feel I am particularly good at writing them; a lot consist only of a rating (and then we can all argue about ratings and rating scales!). A (small, local, well-designed) database would likely serve better, but Excel was simpler to begin, with incremental growth, and is still sufficient for me.

Welcome to

PhilW wrote:I use Excel, in part because I track all bottles I own that way, and because I want a local record which allows me to easily search (e.g. How many different vintages of Quinta dos Canais have I drunk? How have the bottles from a particular case compared when drunk?).

Phil makes a good point about tracking the variation within a case, or indeed between various sources of the same port. While I write most of my notes up in a notebook I think I might have noticed sooner a few iffy sources I have come across. I am thinking particularly of the Croft 77 which has been excellent from one source and rather tired from two others. Like Daniel I now tend to write my tasting notes more often here than in my notebook. But the notebook is more like a journal than a list of wines, although I do index it all eventually. I use a moleskine notebook, they seem quite durable and you can get more once you have filled one up. I was once given one of the moleskine notebooks specially designed for taking wine notes but abandoned it as I did not find it any good.

Good to have you on board, the more people to rabbit on about port to the better.

Excel spreadsheet. I have tasting sheets which I immediately transcribe to the database--even if just a score and couple of quick notes. I like it, its searchable and I can keep track of my inventory and what I've drunk easily.

I keep a small notebook (around 6"x8") and when it fills up I start a new one. That way, if this forum, any other forum goes away I will always have my notes. That also preserves my notes for quick easy access until I die, and after if anyone wants them. I will never have to worry about a hard drive crash, corrupted file, some new operating system that isn't compatible with the old one, etc.

After I write my notes, when I have time, I upload them to various wine forums.

I have an absolutely foolproof way of keeping track of what I have tasted. When a Port is put in front of me that I can't instantly remember I turn to AHB and say "have I tasted this before?" The normal answer is "Yes, then, then and then..." - "Did I like it? - "Yes, apart from the third one which was corked".

It never lets me down and takes the absolute minimum of maintenance

In order to provide DRT with the seamless service that he requires, I use a spreadsheet to keep my tasting notes. I will take handwritten notes at a tasting / bar / restaurant and transcribe them onto my database and then to when time permits. I like the spreadsheet as it allows me to quickly analyse my tasting notes and gives me a good record of what I have thought of a particular wine.

I use fields to record or calculate:

• How many times I have tasted the wine
• Shipper name
• Vintage
• Tasting note, including source of bottle where known
• Score
• Date tasted
• Year tasted
• Age of port when tasted
• Decant time, if known
• Event or location tasted
• Whether a bottle from my cellar or not
• Style of port
• Bottle format

AHB wrote:In order to provide DRT with the seamless service that he requires

… you should record with whom you tasted it, as well as

AHB wrote:

• How many times I have tasted the wine
• Shipper name
• Vintage
• Tasting note, including source of bottle where known
• Score
• Date tasted
• Year tasted
• Age of port when tasted
• Decant time, if known
• Event or location tasted
• Whether a bottle from my cellar or not
• Style of port
• Bottle format

jdaw1 wrote:… you should record with whom you tasted it, as well as

True, I could. Currently I have to cross-refer to the Review thread on TPF to see whether he was there or not.