A Wine Log That Knows What Is on Your Rack: How the Wine Ledger Works
A wine log with a wishlist, a cellar list, vintages, tasted dates and ratings: how the Wine Ledger logs each bottle from your phone, form to sheet
A wine log is worth keeping for as long as it can answer three questions: what is on the wishlist, what is on the rack, and what did I think of the last bottle. The Wine Ledger is built around those three questions. It is a Google Sheet with a phone form: each time a wine is added, cellared or tasted, the entry travels form to sheet and the list updates from it. Logged in-the-moment, the night the bottle is open and the glass is still in hand, the sheet holds a cellar worth coming back to.
The form that writes to the list
The form is called Log Wine, and a link to it sits on the Dashboard under the heading "In-the-moment entry." It asks for the date, which falls back to today when it is left blank; the wine, chosen from a dropdown of every wine on the list; a new-wine question for a wine that is not on the list yet; what happened, which is Added, Cellared or Tasted; Bottles, used for how many bottles an Added entry brings; a rating from 1 to 5, meant for a Tasted entry; and a note.
Everything the form collects lands as one row on the Wine Log tab, so the whole history sits in one place, in order.
Three words for three kinds of moment
Added puts a wine on the list: from a shop shelf, a restaurant or a friend's glass. It starts on the Wishlist. Cellared is the day the bottle is on the rack; its Stage becomes Cellar and the date goes in its Cellared column. Tasted is the night the bottle is opened; its Stage becomes Tasted, the date goes in its Last Tasted column and the rating is copied onto the wine. A few words in the Note can say what was noticed in the glass.
A rating is optional. A Tasted entry with no rating is fine, and the wine is still Tasted. The latest rating logged is the one the wine keeps, so another bottle can earn a new one.
A new wine, typed on the phone
A bottle poured at a friend's table is not on the list yet. The new-wine question takes its name, the wine joins the Items tab on the Wishlist, and the entry is logged against it. Typing the same name again, in any capitals, finds the existing row and never makes a twin.
The Items tab is the list
Every wine has one row on the Items tab. The owner's columns are Item, Category (the style), Region, Bottle, Producer, Vintage and Notes. The sheet fills in the rest from the log: Rating, Stage, Cellared, Last Tasted, Added, On Hand and Tasted (12 months).
Region can be a country, such as France, Italy or Spain. Bottle is the size, such as 750 ml or 375 ml. Vintage is plain text, so a year or NV reads just as it does on the label.
The Wishlist, the Cellar and what was tasted
The Dashboard shows a row of counts across the top: wines on the list, and how many sit at Wishlist, Cellar and Tasted, with a count of the wines tasted in the last 12 months. Below it, the Wishlist lists every wine still to try, ordered by style, with its producer, vintage and region. With nothing waiting, it says "Your Wishlist is empty."
In the Cellar lists every bottle that has been cellared and not yet tasted. With nothing on the rack, it says "Nothing in the cellar yet. Log Cellared when a bottle goes on your rack." Recent Activity shows the latest entries from the log.
Styles and regions, in the owner's words
The Customize Forms tab holds two short lists: Region and Categories. They start with France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Germany, Austria, USA West, Argentina, Chile, Australia, South Africa and Canada, and Red, White, Rose, Sparkling and Dessert. They fill the dropdowns on the Items tab, and any of them can be renamed, added to or removed, so the sheet describes the owner's own rack rather than a template's.
Starting with a sample list, then making it your own
The Wine Ledger arrives filled with a sample list of 37 wines across every stage, style and region, with months of log entries, so every list on the Dashboard shows something real. The wines and producers are invented. Clear Sample Data, on the custom Ledger & Light menu, empties the log and the wines, keeps the styles and regions, and leaves the Items tab ready for the owner's own list.
Owned, not rented
The Wine Ledger is a Google Sheet bought once and kept, living in the owner's own Google Drive with no subscription to renew. Because the log is a list of rows, a cellar that grows simply adds rows to the same sheet, and the history stays in one file.
This article describes how the Wine Ledger works. It keeps the drinker's own list, in the drinker's own words and ratings.
Common questions
What is the Wine Ledger?
The Wine Ledger is a Google Sheet with a phone form for logging wines. Each time a wine is added, cellared or tasted, the entry travels form to sheet, and the Items tab and Dashboard update from it.
Can a wine log show what is on the wishlist and what is on the rack?
Yes. The Dashboard has a Wishlist of every wine still to try, ordered by style, and an In the Cellar list of every bottle that has been cellared and not yet tasted, with its producer and vintage.
Does the Wine Ledger record ratings and tasted dates?
Yes. A Tasted entry puts the day's date in the wine's Last Tasted column and copies the 1 to 5 rating onto the wine. A rating is optional, and the latest one logged is the one the wine keeps.
Can the styles and regions be changed in the Wine Ledger?
Yes. The Customize Forms tab holds two lists, Region and Categories. Either one can be renamed, added to or removed, so the dropdowns describe the drinker's own rack.
Does the Wine Ledger come with sample data?
Yes. It arrives with a sample list of 37 invented wines across every stage, style and region. Clear Sample Data, on the custom Ledger & Light menu, empties the log and the wines and keeps the styles and regions.