Wine Journal

I decided today that I'm going to start a wine journal - I know, I know, it sounds a bit pretentious but really, for me, it's a way of remembering what I've bought that I love so I can buy it again. And of remembering what I've bought that I don't like so that I DON'T buy it again.

My wine journal isn't going to be the least bit pretentious - it can't be, because I don't know enough about wine (except what I like) to make it that way. Sometimes I can taste those front kinds of flavours wine tasters are always talking about - the apricot, the blackberry, the caramel - and sometimes I can even taste the secondary flavours, the ones that linger on the back of your tongue.

I've spent enough time in France to know what regions I particularly like. I love Cotes du Rhone, Beaujolais Village, Cotes de Provence. I love great roses and champagne. This summer I really enjoyed drinking Pinot Grigio, whether from B.C., Washington or Italy. I like cabernet sauvignon and don't like chardonnays. I like French wine better than Italian but I'm willing to be convinced. I'll try almost anything and am more than willing to take advice from servers. I don't believe that you need to drink white wine with fish and red wine with beef. I do believe that you need a wine that will stand up to a meal - so if it's a rich meal, you need a bigger wine. But other than that? I don't think I need to drink white wine with my salmon or red wine with my steak.

I take advice from the merchants at my favourite wine store and they haven't yet steered me wrong. I do know that I don't like Chablis - don't know why, just doesn't work for me. I know there are great B.C. wines. I know that occasionally I buy wine because I LOVE the label. And I've been lucky when I've done that.

So my wine journal will be all about me - yes, if I taste that blackberry or caramel or butter flavour I'll write it down. But I'm more likely to say that I loved this wine, how much it cost, and who, in an ideal world, what and who I'd drink it with. And that'll probably be different with almost every wine.

I'll try and peel off the label - I'm a visual kind of person and am more likely to remember the label than the name - and glue it in my journal. That'll help when I go to buy another bottle. The good news is that the people at my wine store will be able to find me another bottle of wine that's similar if the one I'm looking for is gone.

Not a bad idea, what?

Kate