Wine is for everyone.

The best way to learn wine? Taste it.

100 Wines is a guided tasting notebook for people who want to understand their own palate — without turning wine into homework.

Get the paperback ↗Get the $5 digital notebook ↗Read the Kindle edition ↗

The Kindle edition is for reading and includes an example tasting page. The paperback and interactive PDF include the full 100-page tasting notebook.

Simple tasting guide · 100 tasting pages · Built to be used

100 Wines: A Guide to Building Your Palate by Michael H. Caputo
Taste.•Write.•Notice.•Repeat.

Start where you are.

You do not have to already be a “wine person.”

Whether you want a simple way to taste wine or you are still wondering why anyone drinks this stuff, there is a place to start.

Learn the method

How to taste wine.

Sniff. See. Swirl. Sniff. Sip. Five steps — and a much easier way to start paying attention.

HowToTasteWine.com →
Not convinced?

Wine is gross.

Too bitter? Too sweet? Too sour? Too dry? Start with what you hate. It already tells you something.

WineIsGross.com →

Watch

The latest from 100 Wines.

Tastings, experiments, wine questions, and whatever else seems worth opening a bottle for.

Follow along

Recent pours.

@100winesbook on Instagram ↗
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Once a week

The Friday Pour.

What I tasted, what I learned, what I am working on, and whatever wine rabbit hole I fell into that week.

Why 100 Wines exists

Wine gets easier when you stop trying to know everything.

100 Wines was built around a simpler idea: taste on purpose, write down what you notice, and let your own preferences teach you what matters.

The problem

There is no shortage of wine information.

Regions. Grapes. producers. vintages. soil. climate. classification systems. There is always more to learn — and that can make wine feel like a subject you need to study before you are allowed to enjoy it.

I wanted something more practical: a way to learn by actually drinking wine and paying attention to your own reactions along the way.

The hard part is not finding wine information. It is remembering what you actually liked.

The idea

Taste. Write. Notice the patterns.

100 Wines is not built around memorizing a list of “correct” tasting notes. Learning wine is not a test.

The goal is to notice what you experience, record the things that matter, and give yourself a consistent place to look back later.

Over enough bottles, patterns begin to show up: grapes you keep enjoying, styles you repeatedly avoid, regions that surprise you, and bottles you want to come back to.

What is inside

A guide first. Then a place to use it.

01

The Guide

A short introduction to the what, why, and how of tasting wine — including the Sniff, See, Swirl, Sniff, Sip method.

02

100 Tasting Pages

A consistent place to record aromas, taste and texture, finish, structure, rating, whether you would buy it again, and your own notes.

03

Your Patterns

The point is not filling pages. It is being able to look back and start recognizing what you actually enjoy.

About the author

Michael Caputo

I work in the wine business, taste constantly, and still get things wrong. That is part of the point.

Wine should not require you to perform expertise. My goal with 100 Wines is to make tasting feel useful, approachable, and personal — something you can get better at by actually doing it.

WSET Level 2Executive Bourbon StewardWine Industry Professional

Ready to start?

Taste 100 wines. Learn what you love.

Start with the guide, use the notebook, and let your own palate do the rest.

Get the paperback ↗Get the $5 digital notebook ↗Read the Kindle edition ↗

Kindle is the reading edition with an example tasting page; the paperback and interactive PDF have all 100 tasting pages.

The shelf

Books, glasses, gear, and things worth using.

A small collection of wine books and gear I think are useful, interesting, or just make drinking wine a little better.

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

100 Wines: A Guide to Building Your Palate by Michael H. Caputo

Start here

100 Wines

A simple tasting guide followed by 100 pages built to help you record what you notice, keep track of what you like, and start recognizing patterns in your own palate.

Paperback on Amazon ↗$5 digital notebook ↗Kindle reading edition ↗

Kindle includes the guide and an example tasting page. For all 100 tasting pages, choose the paperback or interactive PDF.

Books

Keep going down the rabbit hole.

Three books that approach wine from very different angles.

Beginner friendly

Windows on the World Complete Wine Course

The first wine book I ever bought, and still a great starting point if you want to go beyond your own palate and start digging into grapes, regions, styles, and the wider world of wine.

View on Amazon ↗
Reference

Wine Grapes

A massive reference on grape varieties, parentage, history, and where they are grown.

View on Amazon ↗
Visual guide

Wine Folly — Magnum Edition

A highly visual reference for grapes, regions, styles, maps, and the vocabulary around wine.

View on Amazon ↗
Pairing

Big Macs & Burgundy

A fun way into food-and-wine pairing that does not assume dinner always needs to be fancy.

View on Amazon ↗

Glassware

What you drink it out of matters.

From one serious Burgundy glass to simple everyday sets.

Single stem

Riedel Sommeliers Burgundy Grand Cru

A large, expressive Burgundy bowl for Pinot Noir, Nebbiolo, and other aromatic reds.

View on Amazon ↗
Set of 4

Riedel Red Wine Set

A versatile set when you want proper stems without buying a different glass for every bottle.

View on Amazon ↗
Set of 6

OJA Stemless Wine Glasses

Simple stemless glasses for casual pours, weeknight wine, or when you need several at once.

View on Amazon ↗
Decanter

Circulation Wine Decanter — 50 oz

A roomy decanter for opening up young reds and getting more air into the wine before serving.

View on Amazon ↗
Cleaning

Wine Glass Polisher / Drying Machine

A specialty option for drying and polishing glassware when hand-polishing gets old fast.

View on Amazon ↗

Other useful stuff

Not everything has to be a wine gadget.

A few kitchen and home items that earn their space.

Kitchen

Lodge Reversible Cast Iron Grill / Griddle

A heavy-duty stovetop griddle for searing, grilling, breakfast, and anything else that likes cast iron.

View on Amazon ↗
Storage

Ivation 33-Bottle Dual Zone Wine Cooler

Dual-zone storage when you want reds and whites held at different temperatures without dedicating a room to it.

View on Amazon ↗
Coffee

Sorgente Espresso Machine with Grinder

An all-in-one espresso setup with a built-in grinder for the beverage before the beverage.

View on Amazon ↗

Once a week

Want more recommendations?

The Friday Pour is where new bottles, books, gadgets, videos, and whatever else I am currently interested in tend to show up first.

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