A friend brings a bottle without a receipt or explanation. The front label gives you a producer and a name, but the vintage is missing. You can still add the bottle accurately without inventing the fields that are not on the label.
Photograph both sides before opening it
Take a clear front-label photo and a back-label photo that includes the lot, importer or producer details. Include the bottle size and any neck label in one of the photos. Keep the images with the wine record so you can revisit an uncertain field.
Good light matters more than a perfect composition. Straighten the label, avoid glare and make the small text readable. The label-scanning guide has a short photo checklist.
Record what the bottle proves
Producer: Exact wine or cuvée: Region or appellation: Vintage: shown / non-vintage / not visible Bottle size: Closure: Importer or producer details: Lot or batch code: Gift received on: Fields to verify later:
Use "not visible" when the label does not show a vintage. That is different from non-vintage, which is a classification you can use when the wine is presented as such. If you cannot tell, keep the uncertainty explicit.
Keep gift date separate from price
The date you received a gift helps explain when it entered the collection. It is not the purchase date and it does not establish a value. Leave price blank unless the giver supplied it or you have a reliable receipt. A search result is not proof of the exact bottle, vintage or condition.
If the wine matters enough to insure or value, ask the giver or consult a qualified source with the exact label details. Do not turn an estimated web price into a purchase record.
Choose a location and a reason to open it
Give the bottle a stable location as soon as you put it away. Add a note about the occasion if that is useful: "Gift from Alex, birthday 2026". Keep that personal context separate from your tasting note so it does not get mistaken for a description of the wine.
When you open it, record what you learned about the bottle and whether you would buy it. That turns an unknown gift into useful collection history without pretending you knew more than the label showed.