If people who have paid for their wines are satisfied then Ray is doing his job well enough. If they feel deceived in a consistent basis they should spend their wine dollars elsewhere. What else to say? If they believe information is slow coming and this thread provides relief then it appears to have value as well.
Ray Walker wrote:
"The 2011s will indeed be bottled shortly and shipped out to the US before the end of November. I make it a point to not speak about my views on my own wines but I can say that I believe they are what they should be and that the time has treated them well.
If anyone has further questions please don’t hesitate to contact me. I don’t have staff to answer emails, never have, so I thank you for your patience in my time responding."
“November” above referred to November of 2013.
I don’t feel deceived, but when someone relatively inexperienced keeps changing his mind and is keeping the wine in barrel far longer than the norm, it makes you wonder whether something is wrong.
This is sounding more and more like a winery Premiere Cru should be handling, sell it first then figure out how to fill it second!
I gott he same wording from Ray in his original 2013 release email on November 9th:
“2011 will be bottled shortly. This has been a topic of great interest for some. In short, a longer time in barrel provides the wines with more time to mature in one place without movement. It is an added benefit for the wines, especially those intended for a long evolution. In making this decision we have considered the patience involved and we appreciate your understanding that we do things quite differently here at Maison Ilan. We don’t take the short cuts. Every decision is made based upon sheer intuition. The goal is to work as simply as we can while giving respect to these vineyards that have been cherished for numerous centuries. To that end, we allow the wines to move at their own pace not the pace of our modern times. Wines of this level do best when given time to express what makes them unique. Thank you for understanding that this is an essential part of our wines.”
He is also announcing the Abbaye for the second time – I take this as him resending the release email, not that the 2011s are yet to be bottled. I don’t have any confirmation of this, just my hunch.
“He’s got everything he needs, he’s an artist, he don’t look back”…
The incentive is to bottle earlier. Wine takes up space at a winery. A lot of wineries bottle based on room - getting room for the next vintage. Also, wine evaporates some in barrel. That is why wineries top up (or add marbles or something to the barrel). So, the longer you wait to bottle, the less wine you have to sell.
I am not sure what the incentives are to holding up bottling other than an artistic judgment that the wine is not ready. Would someone please tell what “larger story” they think is going on here.
I think these threads will teach other wineries the lesson to never discuss what they are doing and why. Anyone who sees what Ray has gone through for being open and then changing his mind (or whatever) would never utter a public word about their plans.
So, what you guys have accomplished is to drive Ray from wine boards and to discourage any other winery from being public about their thought processes. Congratulations.
Howard - I don’t think it is that clear cut. And I am not talking about Ray Walker and Maison Ilan, specifically. I am talking about what it is for wineries to be involved in these public forums.
On the positive side: wineries here (and on the other boards) mostly receive respect. Publicity. Connections with potential customers. Connections with people who share our passion/interest in wine - after all, most of us wineries are also (as people) consumers, geeks, collectors and into all things wine. Not all of us, but I would say most of us. And for me one of the largest pluses: we get to meet and develop relationships with incredible people from so many different places.
But the negatives to being transparent, available, and for sharing our thoughts and methods is that what we do, as a winery (and sometimes privately, as an individual), is leave ourselves open to perhaps more discussion than we intended, more criticism than we hoped for, and the occasional onslaught of judgement that cuts to the core. Sometimes there are people on these boards who appear to “cheerlead” too much for their favorite wineries or labels. Or, the inverse, tend to display something that can feel like they have an axe to grind.
I say it is all part of it. Participation on wine boards is, for everyone, - wineries included - voluntary. If it detracts from your business or your own sense of well-being, then it is time to re-evaluate that participation.
His blog states (from an entry last week) that “Each 2011 terroir has been bottled and is ready to go besides the three grands crus.” and should ship to importers this week.
http://blog.maison-ilan.com/2014/02/07/hold-tight-2011s-coming-cant-rush-rain/
I have to say, I like an artist doing what they think is right. What would Pollack or Dali have produced if working by concensus?
The problem is telling everybody, because you can always find 10 people who disagree, and in this internet-age - highly publicly. Ray would surely have communicated differently if he’d hired a PR pro. But it seems you get what you see.
The wines will be what they will be be, let’s see then…
The irony is thick here. If there’s one business lesson for other wineries to learn from the Maison Ilan story it’s about the power of internet marketing. I’d be hard-pressed to think of another winery that has benefited more from the existence of internet wine boards than Maison Ilan. There probably wouldn’t be a Maison Ilan without internet wine boards.
I can see you’re really upset about this. I honestly think you ought to sit down calmly, take a stress pill, and think things over.
Talk about mass confusion. It is clear to me that Ray simply resent the earlier offer email (presumably to wider distribution). Here is the email from the OP (I received it too yesterday). Note the bolded section.
2013 Maison Ilan Offer > (please disregard this section if you have previously received a related email)
Hello everyone
it’s that time of year again. 2013 will mark our 5th vintage in Burgundy. There are lots of updates that will be fleshed out in the coming days but this email is to focus on three things.
- 2010 & 2011 delivery
[…]
2011 will be bottled shortly.
I went back and found the same email (with the comment about the 2011s) sent on November 9, 2013.
2013 Maison Ilan
Hello everyone
it’s that time of year again. 2013 will mark our 5th vintage in Burgundy. There are lots of updates that will be fleshed out in the coming days but this email is to focus on three things.
- 2010 & 2011 delivery
[…]
2011 will be bottled shortly.
Fair enough. But I would like to see more participation from winemakers like you. I like to learn on these wine boards rather than prove how much I know.
Thank you, Howard. On Monday, I just finished my tasting/blending trials for my 2012s. I and the couple of people who tasted my final cuts were so excited - euphoric, almost! And I was tempted to start a thread about this kind of excitement, and some of the realizations we all had while doing this rather involved exercise (that as a winery, I will live with until the last bottle of this vintage is sold). But after weighing out the gains versus the pains of laying out this stuff “to the world,” I decided I wasn’t ready for that kind of exposure…that kind of questioning that can lead to questions I don’t feel it is best to answer. And I know there are likely some people out there who will make me wish I had not said anything at all.
As I said before, it is all “part of it.”
Merrill, I find that very sad and I feel like I am losing out on a lot of interesting information because of a few people who want prove how important they are.
Check out Ray’s Instagram, here are a couple of videos and pics of the wines being bottled… not sure if this will clear things up?
video:
http://instagram.com/p/jjwvKJj1_0/
pics:
http://instagram.com/p/kAkTZ2D19-/
http://instagram.com/p/jsGFQSD17X/
http://instagram.com/p/jr8b1kj1-p/
fine. fine. everything is copacetic. okay?
Apparently Ray understands how to use web 2.0 tools like instagram, facebook and a blog, but can’t get his story straight in emails.
I choose not to follow everyone on instagram, facebook and blogs so I apparently miss out on how he carries his wine up the cellar stairs two buckets by two buckets exposed to the sky before dumping them into his bottling tank.
Just chill, C. You judge Ray, and others judge you. What outcome were you hoping for?
I think Cary needs a Howard Cooper in his corner ![[snort.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/b/bdc3944606213c4dca6c1169cf0a166c8bc4f8c9.gif "snort.gif"){kind=small}