Tasting cards for a wine advent calendar
A wine advent calendar gives you a small bottle every day from the first of December to Christmas Eve. It is a lovely idea that is easy to waste: by the tenth day nobody remembers what the fourth one tasted like. These cards keep the month.
Print the cards on A4 or Letter, four to a page, and cut along the grey lines. Keep them in a box beside the calendar. Each card has the day in large type, a ring to colour in with the colour of the wine, and four short lines: how it looks, how it smells, how it tastes, and your guess. A grape or a country is enough; nobody is marking it. Circle a face for whether you liked it, and write the name from the label at the foot.
The cover card goes on top of the stack with your name and the year, and its page explains the routine in four steps for anyone who shares the calendar with you.
When the month is over, the month sheet brings it together. Draw each day's face in its ring, then write your favourite of the month, the surprise, and the one you would buy again. It is the sheet people photograph on New Year's Eve, and the list to take to the wine shop in January.
Two people sharing one calendar can print two sets and compare their guesses at the end of each week. Pour about 4 cl each, look and smell before you taste, and spit if you are tasting at lunch. The cards are free, in black and white, and the blank version needs no setup at all.
Advent cards is chosen for this evening; you can swap it on the next screen.
Questions
What do I write on each card?
One line each for how the wine looks, smells and tastes, then your guess at the grape or the country, and a face for whether you liked it. Colour the ring the colour of the wine and copy the name from the little bottle.
Do the cards work with any calendar?
Yes. The cards do not know your wines, so they fit any 24-day calendar of small bottles, bought or put together by a friend. Six pages of four cards cover the whole month.
How much wine is in a day?
Most calendars hold 5 to 10 cl a day, enough for two tasting pours. Taste, spit if you like, and keep the rest for dinner.