Part of the issue is that no winemaker ever says oh that was a crappy year, Merrill I dont recall you ever saying that any year of your wine was substandard ? you often say your 11’s are excellent while most peoples are not so good. Wine is the result of a farm crop and there are good crops and bad crops, now a bad crop nowadays will make reasonable wine with some TLC but the great crop years will make better wine. I wish that winemakers would be a bit more honest instead of never admitting that yeah my baby was ugly that year.
You are a troll, Alan. It doesn’t matter how candid some us are, you want to poke and prod. I do not enjoy it.
I have not had a bad vintage. If I had one, I would not release it. I rely on my customers for my livelihood, and it goes beyond the current vintage. They trust me because they are buying my wines before they have ever tasted them. Integrity is everything to me.
Your envy and general arrogance in regards to the wine growing and wine making community is very unattractive. I truly do not understand your agenda. You are free to post and speak, but it doesn’t mean it is worthy of respect.
Doesn’t this outline why so many people object to Caymus, Meomi, Kendall Jackson, and other wines that taste the same year in and year out? Can’t different be different instead of bad vs. good it could be a different style? PGC Etzel Block wines are different year in and year out. There are years I’ve liked less than others…but I still like them when they’re different. I hope that if we stop trying to polarize everything there could be more agreement in our culture as a whole. Even if we’re agreeing that it’s going to be different. It still means you have to go back to either one or two successful strategies…
(A) Stick to the tried & true producers you like
or…
(B) taste everything you buy.
Agree totally. For example to date i am not impressed with 2013 everyone else says its a fantastic vintage i find the fines too severe and wonder if the fruit will ever catch up the structure of the wine. All my friends think im nuts so i must be !!
The funny thing here is that you came after me on this thread, i just made a very general comment aimed at nobody and not meant to inflame, i never mentioned any winery being good or bad in 17 just a comment that a lot of people share about possible issues.
You’ve made it very clear that your wine is fantastic every year regardless of any circumstances, good for you. i personally think wines have great years, good years and off years its the nature of wine and i dont have a problem with it. If my gut feeling is that 17 might be an off year im going to cut back a little to guard against it, i did not do this in 11 and got stuck with a lot of bad wine.
So you are batting a 1000 for the last 17 years? That’s impressive. Sounds like you are the only winemaker in Napa/The World who has never a bad vintage…
Sorry, but you can’t come on here and overreact, call people trolls, make blanket statements, and then suggest you do so due to your ‘direct’ personality. And when people push back at you, then decide to bow out of the conversation, suggesting you have better things to do. That doesn’t fly in my book.
You probably know a few people on this board, and perhaps they give you a pass for that. But I don’t know you, and I’ll call you out for your behavior. That’s how I roll…
Thats my point, sometimes mother nature is nice to you or years she can be a bitch, in the latter you can do your best but the wine will not be as good as the former years.
If I’ve done my best, my wines will represent The Vineyards at work with, the varieties of work with, and vintage variation. I never really look at better or worse.
Its like asking a parent who is the best child, they love them all. Im not saying that any are actually good or bad wines im just saying that generally most people will prefer certain vintages
If one is after ‘consistency’ in wines - and I’m not saying that’s a bad idea - one should look towards larger producers who can ‘blend’ to create a consistent product year after year. I cannot - and dig the fact that I can’t.
Well you can “fly” and “roll” any way you want. I detailed my vintages, as I see them, back in April as a counter to my friend Piper’s assessment of the 2016 vintage. That is all I have to say.
Instead of attacking potential customers, why not send Alan a bottle of your 2017 so he can rest assured that at least some of the 2017 vintage was salvaged. It would dove tail nicely with all the posts about your wonderful hospitality and early picked grapes and give you a badly needed PR win on this sadly defensive thread.