Question for Bob Wood!

Bob;

Just had a friend return from the WV after 5 days of tastings. His general impression, from random conversations with tasting room personnel, was that many of the wineries were going to delay release of the 08s. Many still had loads of 07s and was worried that the 08 release would kill the 07 sales. He reported that most of the tasting rooms he hit were still pouring 07s.

You’re the man on the scene, is this your general impression also, or do you believe most wineries will release 08s to their regular schedule? Thanks!

Almost anything I say about this subject would be mostly conjecture and, unlike some people, I’m not going to engage in it. What I WILL say is that mid-to-late spring (i. e. Memorial Day) of this year would typically be the time for releasing the low-level '08s except for those people who normally release early - Evesham Wood, Patricia Green and a few others among them. Consequently, I would have been surprised if your friend - “impressions” aside - had seen many '08s under any circumstances, much less any involving foil-hat theories about the 2007s.

Bob;

Thanks! That’s why I asked you. Figured I’d get a fairly accurate straight foreward answer. I had no way of assessing the situation. The people from which I have ordered futures are not yet releasing their ship dates, so after hearing his comments, I thought I’d ask you. Again, Thanks.

Yet, that hasn’t stopped you from voicing your foil hat theories that implied the 2007 WV pinot noirs were going to get dumped; that they were the equivalent of a child with two heads the parents lock in a closet whenever there are visitors. Look, you may not like the 2007s but there are a lot of us who love them. I really don’t understand why you’re on this crusade.

…and people thought that Jeff and I had issues.

Let it go boys…let it go.

Nice, Gordon reached out for your advise even after all the history and your still a dick to him.

Please note that I don’t start threads taking Gordon to task. Self-awareness isn’t your strong suit, is it?

Gordon didn’t reach out for diddly. He’s trying to make a bogus point based on supposition and conjecture - and the claim that he has no way of assessing the situation is in direct conflict with his previous published WAGs that he offered up as accurate.

But hey, call 'em as you see 'em. I can be a bigger dick if you like. Just invite Andy Raffle to join.

What’s not to like about Andy Raffle ?

The Woodster is an expert on West Virginia wines? Who knew?

Unless it’s a cash flow issue, and wineries just wanting to take advantage of a highly scored vintage, I don’t know of any reason why a winery would release a vintage before selling out of the previous one. This is why we don’t submit for scores…hell, we’re just now releasing our '06 Pinots! (and yes, we make WV Pinot and are still selling '06 as well.)

Sell what’s current in your inventory, not what others expect you to sell because of a vintage or wine rating.

And trust me, while the '08 WV Pinots are good, they still need more time in the bottle. The score will still be there in a year from now.

Oh, Ken. You’re such a card!

How about 3+ spelling mistakes for every 4 words?..for starters.

RT

Actually, to be fair, I think they’re typos - but there sure are a lot of them.

Andy is one of these guys with a misunderstood on-line persona - once you meet him and get a feel for his shtick, he’s a pretty likable guy, and he does have a spectacular collection of mature German TBA’s (just sayin’).

It really is amazing how 2007 is getting such a bad rap. Where is that coming from? Maybe the wines from some producers that picked at the wrong time due to concerns about the rains are getting more attention than those from producers who waited and picked at the right time? I haven’t explored Oregon that much (yet), but my favorite producers so far (Evesham Wood, Westrey, Belle Pente, Thomas) seem to have made excellent wines in 2007.

SHOCKING!

Matt Kramer for one, and he lives here and ought to know better.

In answering my question, Bob made a bad assumption. We know how assume breaks down. I was not trashing the quality of the 07 vintage. I have personally, to date, purchased about 10 cases of 07s, will more to come in that some of the late release wineries, yes read Domaine Serene, etc, are just now releasing their 07s. But my overall purchase of 07s will not be the same as prior vintages.

I believe the economic issues are playing as large a role in the market place as a preceived lack of vintage quality. Having said that, I personally prefer the 04s and 05s to the 07s. That’s my perference, doesn’t have to be anyone else’s. Additionally, with the very hyped 08s coming, I am saving part of my money to go very long on 08s. This presents (has presented) both overall financial considerations and long term storage considerations. Add to that, I have purchased a lot of excellent 07 CdPs and Rhones, and am in the process of procuring the excellent 07 CA cabs, in that the cab part of my cellar has strank considerable. All of this, along with the economy has affected overall 07 Oregon pinot purchases, not only by me, but by many, imo.

In past years, many of the wineries are sold out of the past year releases by now. I can tell by wine offering on the websites, and from talking to vintners that is not the case for 07s. Is that comment generally in dispute. So what is the game plan? I don’t know. My friend spent almost a week in the WV and came back with his impression. I thought that I’d bounce it off Bob, being there, to see if there is any validation in my friend’s comments. Bob being Bob, and showing his typical true colors, that was a mistake on my part. I have learned from this mistake and will not repeat it. We move on.

Bob, imo, Matt Kramer’s reputation and credibility far exceeds yours with in wine world. You dumping on Kramer was a bit silly.

Not from me.

+1, +2, +3, +4

RT