winemakers -- how often do you need to bite your tongue when reading this board?

I wonder sometimes before posting a note on a wine made by an active participant on this board–what if they think I’m a total moron, and unworthy of their product?

I know that back when I wrote for a living, I often had to endure someone telling me what I meant to say in a script–and it was agony, since they were usually wrong.

So, how about it winemakers? When one of us armchair critics is waxing poetic about the “hints of white pepper on the finish” and you know the peppermill was nowhere near those barrels…what do you do?

Excellent question, and one that should have some interesting answers.

Winemakers have special expertise in making wine (obviously) - they don’t necessarily have special expertise in the kind of aesthetic and/or sensory discernment that goes into tasting wine and writing about it. I have been around winemakers who can’t even recognize a corked bottle! So unless your tasting notes are speculating on winemaking processes I think you can post away without fear of an Annie Hall Marshall McLuhan moment.

I agree with Keith. I bet that most of the winemakers are more interested in reading the varied notes than biting their tongues because the notes posted are ‘wrong’.

Isn’t it more the norm that winemakers actively pursue notes from others?

I grin and bear it, baby!!!

Everyone is entitled to their own independent opinion about a specific wine, and NO TWO PEOPLE will ever experience wine in the same way . . . we ALL have our differences in terms of the foods / smells / tastes / wine we’ve been exposed to in our lives, and this serves as the basis for our individual olfactory and palate experiences . . .

So what if someone feels one of my wines is ‘over-oaked’ even though I use no new oak . . . To THEM, it is . . . No biggee from my perspective . . .

Now if someone thinks one of my wines is CORKED, that’s a different story

Next!

I absolutely agree with Keith and Todd in what they said.

I would think that winemakers would also WANT to hear the myriad of thoughts people had on their wines. If only to at least get a perspective of what others think. Sure, sometimes they might disagree, but I think as a winemaker you probably would understand that tasting is for the most part subjective.

I rarely bite my tongue… I usually bite back Actually, I agree with Larry when it comes to people expressing their opinions. But I disagree that when someone states something that’s factually wrong (eg too much oak in a non-oaked wine), I do feel the need to correct that.

People’s subjective opinions never really bother me, as long as they’re presented respectfully. There’s a huge difference in saying that you don’t like something versus saying it’s somehow “wrong”. The latter mostly happens in cases of style preference.

As winemakers, you generally have to have thicker skins than the grapes you work with.

I am going to skip over this thread, much like I skip over Ken’s tasting notes.

Or a rapier wit like Linda.

Well played, Sir.

Hehe. Well, since nobody ever reviews our wines, I guess I don’t have to worry too much…

As far as a winemaker not being able to recognize a corked wine, of course, everyone has different thresholds for different components in wine, but winemakers really should hone their tasting skills. We were trained in school to basically taste for flaws. One of the major functions of a winemaker is to be a problem solver, and part of that is being able to recognize a potential problem starting to form, whether that is Brett, VA, disulfides, etc.

As far as reading someone else’s notes, I would look at it as a learning tool. Unless it was horrible, and then…

Never have to really bite my tongue when someone is talking about my wines. As Larry said, everyone has their own opinion. What they perceive in my wines may be different than what I perceive, but that doesn’t invalidate their experiences.

However, I have had to bite my tongue many times over the years in reading boards and not get involved in some discussions. There are some threads, IMO, that a winery (or someone else ITB) can not participate in and have it end positively.

Come on, name one!

I wish I had your discipline. Like a moth drawn to a flame, I usually dive in head first.

I’ve witnessed people purposely starting such discussions and openly claiming the winery can’t refute them without hurting themselves. Quite unsavory.

However, I have had to bite my tongue many times over the years in reading boards and not get involved in some discussions. There are some threads, IMO, that a winery (or someone else ITB) can not participate in and have it end positively.[/quote]

I’ll second that one. Sometimes you know too much within this business, have an opinion but know to keep it to yourself. Having dinner with friends, I might rip people I know and the wines they make, guys who I think are pricks and the boards adore and stuff like that. People who know me know I’m pretty much a straight shooter, but on the boards I usually keep my weapon holstered.

I’ve seen and spoken with winemakers who exemplify this quite well. I used to put them on a pedestal just because of what they do. Then one day I had a conversation with one who didn’t even like his own wine… That was weird…

Where’s Mary? She likes to mix it up… I remember a couple of eBob threads about phantom CT note writers that were bashing Dover Canyon.

I am not the winemaker, but as co-owner I tend to be more vocal and participatory here than any of the other wine bb’s I belong to. I’ve seen people (ITB) asking a question and the other posters rip them new ones. One, I remember quite well was a producer from Oregon who was questioning if his wines had been accidentally omitted because he was sure they were going to be reviewed… a couple of members lit into him like he was honey to the bear, accusing him of posting just to advertise. As it turned out they had been accidentally omitted and were added a day or so later. That experience makes me more gun shy, but here I feel I am amongst friends and am less likely to hold my tongue. I wish I knew more about the technical aspects of winemaking, I do bite my tongue there because I don’t know enough to fully participate.