A system for keeping cellar/tasting notes

[JacobH]

I’ve recently been overhauling the system I use for keeping a record of the Ports I have drunk and have in storage. I thought I might share it with , in case it might be of use to anyone else, although I’m afraid that to get this all set up might be slightly involved.

One thing which I’m quite pleased with how easy it was to produce nicely type-set lists suitable for printing; and to do a one-off of one of those would be straight-forward for anyone who keeps his or her notes in Excel format.

The data is stored in xml for the simple reason that I don’t particularly want to pay to have a database on my web-hosting accounts. The basic idea to have one entry for each wine (e.g. Cockburn 2003 VP) but to allow separate entries for each time the wine is encountered. Therefore, you can keep separate records (with tasting notes) of the one case in the cellar (from which you have drunk 3 bottles); the three cases in storage; and the odd bottle you drank at an offline. This is a basic example of how it works:

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<cellar>
<wine>
  <shipper>Taylor</shipper>
  <quinta>Quinta do Vargellas</quinta>
  <name>Vinha Vella</name>
  <type>VP</type>
  <year>2000</year>
  <bin>
    <location>Some offsite facility</location>
    <stored bottles="24" />
  </bin>
  <bin>
    <drunk glasses="1"/>
    <notes>:tpf: offline. Roses; tangerines; peppermint.</notes>
    <rating>C</rating> 
   </bin>
</wine>
</cellar>

Being xml it is fairly to add further details (e.g. prices, dates, IB/DP status &c.) if necessary.

The xml data can then be displayed in a number of different ways with separate xsl style-sheets. The style-sheet can also sort and process the data. The simplest and most useful is to display it as an html webpage:

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or plain text (the formatting of which is being ruined by phpBB):

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 _______________________________________________________________________
|Year	|Type		|Number	|Rating	|Producer 			|
|_______|_______________|_______|_______|_______________________________|
|N/V	|Ruby		|1	|	|C. Da Silva's 
|	|		|	|	|Amilar
|_______|_______________|_______|_______|_______________________________|
|N/V	|Ruby		|1	|	|Cockburn's 
|	|		|	|	|Assured
|_______|_______________|_______|_______|_______________________________|
|Notes:									| 
|Standard ruby.
|_______________________________________________________________________|
|N/V	|Ruby		|1	|	|Davy's 
|	|		|	|	|Bin 11
|_______|_______________|_______|_______|_______________________________|
|N/V	|Ruby		|1	|	|Delaforce's 
|	|		|	|	|Paramount
|_______|_______________|_______|_______|_______________________________|

More elaborately, you can use xsl to generate a TeX document. Once processed this allows automatic generation of more attractive lists of cellar contents, suitable for printing:

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A couple of extra lines allow booklets of tasting notes to be made, too:

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Finally, the little image in my signature:

is made by using xslt to produce output suitable for passing through ImageMagick.

To get everything up-and-running, it would be necessary to convert your data into xml and then run xsltproc with the xslt style-sheets on the data. For the html and plain text, the direct output is usable. For the others, it will then need to be parsed through the relevant programme (e.g. pdftex or imagemagick). For that I would either use a cron job to do it automatically or some sort of script to do it on demand.

Anyway, as I said, this is probably a bit too hacked-together for it to be of use to anyone else, but if it is, feel free to use it. Equally, if anyone would like a particular bit of this, it would be no trouble to put together on a one-off basis.

[smisse]

Maybe of-topic, but is it theoretically possible to provide TPF members this as a online tool?
It does look interesting and way better then my manual notes yet I have no clue how to duplicate this...

[Alex Bridgeman]

Totally off-topic - but any chance of a tasting note for the Davy's Bin 11? I've not seen or heard of this before, but beinga frequent visitor to Davy's wine bars I would be interested to know what this is like.

[jdaw1]

Petty detail: small-caps look terrible with accents.

[JacobH]

Maybe of-topic, but is it theoretically possible to provide TPF members this as a online tool?
It does look interesting and way better then my manual notes yet I have no clue how to duplicate this...

Yes; should be possible. What I have in mind is something which allows you to upload a CSV file (which can be produced by Excel) and which then produces the PDF. But that will take a little work .

Totally off-topic - but any chance of a tasting note for the Davy's Bin 11? I've not seen or heard of this before, but beinga frequent visitor to Davy's wine bars I would be interested to know what this is like.

I think the Bin 11 is the new reserve ruby that Davy’s has on offer. I’ve only had one bottle of it, when having dinner in the courtyard outside TCP with a friend. I didn’t take any note at the time (and sitting outside would probably have obliterated any nose) but I remember it being very drinkable and entirely inoffensive. I certainly try it again as, if it’s as drinkable sitting inside as it was out, it is probably a good affordable bottle to buy. I’m afraid I’m not sure who makes it (their website doesn’t say and although I probably checked the bottle, I now can’t remember!).

Petty detail: small-caps look terrible with accents.

Hmm...I think it depends on the typeface. I’m using Jannon T Moderne Pro which I think has quite a nice set. I’ve mocked up a page with all the shippers who have accented names here. What do you think? The only one I’m a bit doubtful about is the è in Rozès but then I think French typographic practice would eliminate it in any case.

[jdaw1]

[Hmm...I think it depends on the typeface. I’m using Jannon T Moderne Pro which I think has quite a nice set. I’ve mocked up a page with all the shippers who have accented names here. What do you think? The only one I’m a bit doubtful about is the è in Rozès but then I think French typographic practice would eliminate it in any case.

Tolerable, but I’m generally not a fan of small caps, except for words that are part-way between being words and abbreviations. (E.g., a decade ago LIBOR was in that category, but now I think it’s Libor.) Mixed-case much preferred by me.

And ‟French typographic practice” not relevant for port.

[JacobH]

Tolerable, but I’m generally not a fan of small caps, except for words that are part-way between being words and abbreviations. (E.g., a decade ago LIBOR was in that category, but now I think it’s Libor.) Mixed-case much preferred by me.

That’s a legitimate view, especially with the fake small caps Microsoft Word and the like produce. In the small-caps’ defence, I think when used with a font that properly supports, they are a more attractive method of emphasis than emboldening or underlining. Incidentally, unless I’m looking at the wrong thing, the correct way of abbreviating the London Interbank Offered Rate is bbaliborâ„¢.

And ‟French typographic practice” not relevant for port.

Not even for a French shipper?

[jdaw1]

I was on the steering group that wrote the rules of Libor, and I failed to get the BBA, under whose auspices it is calculated, to write ‟Inter-Bank” thus capitalised. I promise you, the BBA has no idea. (The BBA used to write ‟Inter-bank”, now it writes ‟InterBank” and ‟Interbank”.)