I remember the day I misplaced my first moleskin wine journal, my heart pounded, the sweat rolled down the back of my neck with panic and I couldn’t sleep. It took me two days to find it, it was my life for 2010-2012. Not only did it keep my thoughts about the wines that I’d tasted, it was a journal of my thoughts of each wine day.

In Chicago, the weather changes often and it also affects the way life is perceived regarding wine. People think that weather has nothing to do with your palate, but it does. So going to trade tastings, lunches and or other events I took ALOT of notes. But what is this obsession with people in the wine industry and note taking in a moleskin? These journal books are like no others-soft supple leather, it’s like putting on a well warn pair of leather gloves, when you open it, it takes you to another world, a wine world of knowledge. Taking notes, as we were taught in school at a young age is suppose to cement the thoughts we are learning in that deep, dark filing system in our brain. But does it work? In the world of wine we are constantly tasting, analyzing, enjoying, learning stories…stories about the soil, terrior, thickness of skins, trellising systems, wind configerations, DOCs, DOCGs, AOCs, AVAs, DOs…on and on it goes! A never ending learning cycle…every vintage is different, every region is different, every winemaker puts their fingerprint on his or her creations. Our moleskins get catergorized on the spine: by date, blind tasting, or by trade trips to different wine regions to learn what makes these regions so distinct that an American palate would enjoy. But what do we actually do with them? My palate is not the same as in 2010, but I enjoy reading them to see how far my journey has come. How far winemakers have learned to work with their changing environments, how complex palates have grown in America and how wine regions have evolved. The list is endless. But you really can’t find the answers to all these questions unless you have respect for the wine itself. Wine in other countries is revered and accompany every meal. It always amazes me how someone will pay $80 for a piece of prime beef at their local butcher and then buy a $15 bottle of wine? Why don’t we treat wine with the respect we treat our food? I don’t mean organic wines, I mean delicious wines at approachable prices and this is where the volumes of note taking in moleskins come into play.

We are fortunate in the wine industry to taste and enjoy many varieties of wine from around the world, but we don’t do it to ‘catch a buzz’ we do it because we are obsessed with learning everything we can, tasting every ‘geeky’ wine from pet-nat and ‘natural’ wines to unusual grapes from Croatia, Austria, Hungary, while loving Riesling all the time.

Our moleskins are precious, sacred almost. I look at my collection of books during my career, and open my current volume and think my quest for knowledge will never end and I hope yours never waivers either.

When wine is involved, nothing is difficult. Cheers! Nancy