This was the weekend to update our cellar data.  It’s not that the wine cellar is large, it’s just a bookcase and not completely full, but we don’t update the data on it often enough.    We use Vinocella  http://www.vinocella.net/.  I like it.  We did a little comparison shopping before buying it, but not alot, so I won’t say it’s the best thing on the market, because I’m not familiar enough with what else is out there.  I know people who swear by Cellar Tracker.  For me this works for now.

So we needed to rearrange the wine cellar and I had added the iPhone ap to my phone, which we could now sync with Michael’s iPad ap.  So we spent time recording the things we drank and adding the new stuff that we had never recorded.  Somehow it just feels better having it organized.  Now we just have to go back and add all the tasting notes on things that are not in the cellar.  We used the iPad program on our trip to the Dundee Hills, but I have my notebook from all the tastings in Sonoma from last month to add.  And I think we have a bunch of tasting notes that we just took in the notepad ap on the iPad from Temecula.

It might be an exhausting process for some people, but I love it. For me it means that I will have a relatively complete list of wines I’ve tasted and what I liked or didn’t like about them, right in the palm of my hand. Over the next week as I try to add in all the tasting notes, it will allow me to remember which wines I really enjoyed.  It’s kind of like watching home movies and reliving the vacation! You can expect to see more blog posts on wineries as I refresh my memory.

Keeping up with these notes can be as simple as a notebook, which sometimes as I’ve mentioned, I prefer.  But with the great aps available out there, you have the ability to add a wine you enjoy at a restaurant right to your database,  and for wine geeks that rocks.  New programs even have bar code scanners so if the information has been added before it will pull it from the data base, saving you from having to type in the details.  And having a label shot comes in handy when you are trying to find something again at the wine store.  I’m working to find the balance between using this technology and obsessing about it.  Wine is meant to be enjoyed, to slow life down a little…but the details on wines are so fascinating that I really enjoy the research also.  I guess it’s a great balance.  Do your notes your way, or don’t take notes, just drink and enjoy.  So many wines and so many ways to enjoy them.  Salute!