The Tasting Notes Spreadsheet of Doom!

Booty yielded from my Master Spreadsheet!

No, not of doom … but of absolute wonder! But it sure took some work to gather all my notes, written haphazardly onto hotel notepad papers and the backs of large receipts. You’d think I’d have been more prepared, but you know what? I’d already done hours upon hours of work researching, contacting all the winemakers (in French!), and putting together each day’s schedule that I hadn’t thought as far as preparing a small notebook to bring with me. (I had my journal, of course, but that was a little too unwieldy.) Organizing the trip activities was admittedly exhausting, but absolutely worth the effort.

After coming home, I fired up a blank spreadsheet and got going. It has 12 tabs, one for each house or location visited (I consolidated the Champagne houses into one). I didn’t even include one house in Burgundy since every single wine I’d tasted there was a total disappointment! Each spreadsheet has 12 columns to cover everything from appellation to plot names, tasting notes, relevant info about the plot or the like, online resources for that wine, etc.

I highlighted all the wines I’d noted as a favorite or standout, and then created a fresh spreadsheet called “Les Vins que J’aime” (“The Wines I Love”). I separated wines from different houses by a simple red line - it helps break it up visually.

A snapshot of a section from the Master Spreadsheet

Now I had my Master Wish List. I visited my awesome local store Artisan Wine Depot, armed with a printed copy, to see what I could find! With the help of Curt Polikoff, Burgundy expert (he loves that Hill of Corton!) and certified sommelier, I left with three wonderful bottles that I can’t wait to try.

• Bouchard Père et Fils Aloxe Corton 2010 (Pinot Noir)
• Joseph Drouhin Beane Blanc “Clos des Mouches” Premier Cru 2010 (Chardonnay)
• Domaine Thierry Mortet Gevrey-Chambertin "Vigne Belle" 2009 (Pinot Noir)

(It bears saying that this purchase set me back over $200 … but it’s Burgundy. Sigh.)

My main worry is that I’m getting really spoiled by the amazing wines I tasted on my trip. But I’m not going to stop tasting and trying different wines from different places. I tried a $8 bottle of La Granja Tempranillo 2011 from Spain a month ago - an impulse purchase from Trader Joe’s - with a simple rice bowl dinner and it was fun!

You don’t always need to have the most complex and beautiful wines all the time. Sometimes you want to stop analyzing and just drink! It *is* alcohol after all, people, so cheers! A la votre!