Wine log: paper, spreadsheet or app
Published September 13, 2026 · 3 min read
The three tools compared on what actually matters: entry cost, ability to sort, and what survives when you stop maintaining it.
Three tools, three trade-offs. The right choice does not depend on how technical you are but on two numbers: how many bottles you own, and how often a year you want to know what to open.
The paper log
What it does well. No friction at all: a pen, a line. It never breaks, needs no account, and outlives every company that publishes an app. For tasting notes it remains the best medium — writing by hand slows you down, and slowing down helps when describing a wine.
Where it breaks. It does not sort. Finding which bottles reach the end of their window this year means re-reading every page. At fifty bottles that is tedious; at two hundred it is impossible, so it does not happen.
Who it suits. Under thirty bottles, or a practice centred on tastings rather than inventory.
The spreadsheet
What it does well. It sorts, filters and calculates. An "end year" column and a filter produce exactly the list paper cannot. It is free, portable, exportable by nature, and you own it.
Where it breaks. Mobile entry. The moment an inventory goes wrong is the moment a cork comes out, and nobody opens a spreadsheet at the table. Second weakness: as columns accumulate, the sheet becomes a form you start avoiding.
Who it suits. Thirty to a hundred bottles, with real update discipline. It is genuinely a good solution, as long as you accept the maintenance.
The app
What it does well. It removes the two frictions that defeat the other two: mobile entry and sorting. It can say "here are the six bottles to drink this year" with nothing for you to cross-reference, and it updates in one tap as the bottle empties.
Where it breaks. It depends on a third party. If export is hard, you are locked in; if the publisher shuts down, you lose everything. That is why export is the first selection criterion, ahead of any feature.
Who it suits. Beyond a hundred bottles, or as soon as "what is closing?" comes up more than once a year.
The decision table
| | Paper | Spreadsheet | App | | ----------------- | ---------- | ----------- | --------- | | Entry cost | very low | medium | low | | Mobile entry | good | poor | good | | Sorting by window | impossible | manual | automatic | | Independence | total | total | check it | | Tasting notes | excellent | poor | varies |
What to remember
- Paper wins on friction and loses on sorting.
- A spreadsheet is the right answer up to about a hundred bottles, if you maintain it.
- An app is justified only by automatic sorting and mobile entry.
- Whatever the tool, the gesture made when the cork comes out decides its accuracy.
Frequently asked questions
- At how many bottles does paper stop working?
- Around thirty. Below that you remember what you have. Above it, the question stops being what do I own and becomes what closes this year, and paper does not answer that one: it does not sort.
- Can a spreadsheet calculate drinking windows?
- Yes, with two year columns and a formula comparing them to the current year. That is exactly what to do if you stay with a spreadsheet. The limit is not the calculation, it is mobile entry: nobody updates a spreadsheet from a phone while pulling a cork.
- What should I do with my old paper log?
- Keep it. Handwritten tasting notes are the part that transfers badly, and also the only part that gains value over time. Move the inventory across and keep the notebook as a journal.