TN: Oh my!

[Florida Jim]

2002 Claude Branger, Muscadet Les Gras Mouton:

Unripe pineapple, white grapefruit, flowers and lime skin with a hint a vanilla that shades into nutmeg, all riding on an ocean of intense, complex minerality; tightly coiled at present but the makings are so remarkable that one senses the quality from the first sip; fabulous cut, intricate aromas and flavors, beautiful focus and a presence in the mouth that is all but forever. It should be said that I love Muscadet, believing good examples to be the best QPR white wine in the world and one of the most food friendly. But this takes my delight to new heights and its potential is such that, at peak, it would not surprise me if this was the best white wine I’ll ever taste – of course, that remains to be seen, because this obviously needs another decade or more in the cellar. Imported by Vintage ’59, 12% alcohol and about $14; worth a lot more. Profound.

Best, Jim

[Carolyn Tillie]

Jim, out of curiosity, are you compiling your impressive collection of tasting notes into a database at all? I love reading them and realize that over the years, you easily have the most expansive collection of notes Doing a comparison reading of similar bottles and vintages would make for a fascinating read!

[Florida Jim]

Jim, out of curiosity, are you compiling your impressive collection of tasting notes into a database at all? I love reading them and realize that over the years, you easily have the most expansive collection of notes Doing a comparison reading of similar bottles and vintages would make for a fascinating read!

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Carolyn,

I save them all but my organizational skills are poor. Thus, comparisons would take a lot of work.

Best, Jim

[flicman]

I save them all but my organizational skills are poor. Thus, comparisons would take a lot of work.

I know that there are a couple of software programs that track what you've got in your cellar and might even have space for tasting notes. That said, my first impression after Carolyn's question was that it would be a relatively-easy thing to create a 4-column (or whatever was deemed necessary) database that took:

1) Producer

2) Type/Varietal

3) Year

4) Notes

and tossed them into a database. Then, with a simple search function, you could return every wine that you described as having a "hint of vanilla" or every Malbec, sorted in pretty much any order, by year, producer, or your final rating (which I don't think you do, so I didn't make that a fifth category). This would make comparisons very easy. So easy, in fact, that you could make the whole thing available online, if you wanted.

I'm a computer guy, though, so this seems like a natural idea to me. I'd guess that importing all of your notes might take awhile, but depending on how you store your notes, it might be well worth it to you and others.

[Florida Jim]

I'm a computer guy, though, so this seems like a natural idea to me.  I'd guess that importing all of your notes might take awhile, but depending on how you store your notes, it might be well worth it to you and others.

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They're stored in Word and appear exactly as they appear in a post. Thus the importing would be a hell of a job. And I would have to remove all the imbedded commands.

Fortunately, most websites that I post on have search functions that are more sophisticated so anybody that really wants notes from the past about Malbec or vanilla can probably get them.

And I know this is going to sound a bit odd but, I don't own a camera either. I don't like to be an observer, I prefer being a participant. And I see trying to organize my notes in some formulated structure as being more about archiving and less about free flow expression. For me, tasting notes are an emotional outlet and good writing practice not an effort to create a database.

But then, I'm old and crotchity - to each is ever-lovin', blue-eyed own.

Best, Jim