When I started drinking wine, I didn't know that anyone else did it, but I started keeping notes because I couldn't remember names. I found out that it was pretty common.

Now I try several thousand wines a year. Of those, three times a month they are formal, blind tastings. I keep all of those notes and of course, when the bottles are revealed, note the names.

My wife and I drink maybe 250 bottles a year just between us with dinner. I keep brief notes on those.

When I visit wineries, I keep notes on the wines. At larger tastings for the trade, I keep notes on many of the wines but there may be several hundred so I usually just keep very brief notes.

They are only useful if you review them once or twice. But then you somehow can remember. So if I were interested in how I felt about the 1999 Brunellos, I can probably tell you now and even mention a few I liked or disliked.

I don't note wines that I have with friends, in restaurants, etc. And I never keep labels or bottles as souveniers.

It's like anything else. After a while, you can kind of remember. I can remember chocolates that I have loved, meals that I enjoyed, and wines that I liked.

I wish I were as experienced, knowledgable, and organized as roses in NY ...but... I try to do this too. You mentioned placing the labels in a book - very cool idea. But HOW do you get those tricky labels off??

But HOW do you get those tricky labels off??
They actually make a product available in wine shops that helps loosen the label.

When I first started wine tasting, I kept a very detailed journal. But as rosesinny says, after a while I keep most of that information in my head.

The link below shows an example of a wine label remover product.

Here is a link that might be useful: Link

Here is a link to the world's greatest wine enthusiasts page. This program will change your life(all things wine)and it is free,thanks to the extreme generousity of Eric Levine. Enjoy

P.S. For all those that find this program useful and a joy to use please donate whatever you may.

Here is a link that might be useful: Cellar Tracker

Thanks for the great links and other good ideas! As for removing labels, I pour boiling hot water in the bottle and the 'self-adhesive' type labels will release if you pull carefully. Other labels of the more 'papery' type will come off if you soak the intire outside of the bottle in water for a few hours or more, then scrape or peel off. These we usually have to press in a dry towel for a while. It's fussy, but it's helpful for me (as a very recent taster of wine) to see the label to help me remember- or maybe I'm more visual than tastual! I hope my experience adds to my memory as well.
hollymolecule

Here's a second enthusiastic vote for Cellar Tracker. It is an incredibly easy way to keep track of what wine you have, where you got it, what you paid, when you drank it, what you thought of it, what other Cellar Tracker users think of it, what wine critics think of it, which wines you've drunk, and much, much more. (and it has pictures of a lot of the labels, too)

Just look it up on line and try it out for free.

I also use it a a reference to see what flavors people find in a wine, how they drscribe it, etc. I've learned sooo much from it.