I’m not so sure. I have received messages from winemakers upset with things I have posted here. They range from polite but asking me to change something in what I have posted to expletive filled name calling messages telling me I am full of ![[bullshit.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/3/3841080fbf208212e51bd1a961c64308a3a6d06f.gif "[bullshit.gif]")
Maybe this doesn’t extend to a score in cellar tracker but to think that winemakers don’t track on-line comments and don’t at times take offense isn’t true in my experience. Maybe I have just received responses from the few that do care but I doubt it.
I’ve gotten a message from a pretty prominent winemaker telling me my note is BS. So it happens.
It is like work in a way, but just as we trudge to go into the office, it’s for the greater good of humanity. ![[cheers.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/0/0ff9bfcdb0964982cd3240b6159868fbdf215b1a.gif "cheers"){kind=small}
I cannot comment on CT, since I never post tasting notes there, only here and on the interwebs.
'm pretty sure that a winemaker would not be offended (presuming they even care) by a ‘bad score’ from an individual post on CT.
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This being the real world, where people get hurt by a sneeze, happens all the time. I got booted off a list because of negative comments, so this happens more than you might think!
I get no joy in going through the categorical assessment of a wine to arrive at a calibrated score. I get a tremendous amount of frustration at the fact that the exercise generally arrives at a score that is, at best, only loosely correlated with how much I enjoyed the wine I’m rating. I think I did assign arbitrary scores without the process early in my wine appreciation journey but found that it largely centered around an 18 point range from 82-100 with a lot of lumping around 93. Rather than do the “everything’s a 93” route, I just dropped the numbers and do a Drink, Hold, Drink or Hold sort of metric for readiness and a word or two if I’m particularly moved by a wine or should have been (e.g. great wine, but not profound or kept showing more and more in the glass, a triumph).
Occasionally, I go taste with a local group that really wants to have scores at the end of the tasting. In that context, it is about what wine places where in the rank hierarchy, so I use my gut reaction scoring system for those situations. If I transcribe notes from those tastings, I drop the scores in my CT record.
Cheers,
fred
I scored last night! 
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At my age, I was happy to break 90. (No one is impressed with a score below 90.)
I comment and score on around a third of the bottles I drink. Laziness accounts for the other two-thirds.
One thing I often consider when writing a note is how many other reviews or notes there are on that wine. I think it provides value to other people looking at those wines on CT if there are few or no other notes. I recently had a Napa cab with 164 notes on that wine so I wouldn’t be adding much to the discussion. That being said, one of my recent notes was on a wine with 14 bottles currently “in cellars” on CT so hopefully those folks appreciate the effort!
This being the real world, where people get hurt by a sneeze, happens all the time. I got booted off a list because of negative comments, so this happens more than you might think!
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What list? That’s pretty nuts.
Man, time flies, Phil. Out of curiosity, I looked today at CT and my join date was July 2005. In my 16th year already.
I used to rate wines then I stopped preferring to focus on what I thought. Others have noted the flaws of the 100 system, there are tons of threads on that topic alone, I’ll leave that alone.
My choice came from years ago when I thought very highly of a wine, had a nice write up in hand, and a number in mind. I go to CT and see it sitting at like a 70. Someone else chose to use the full 100 point scale, and there’s nothing wrong with that. Their notes were actually complimentary of the wine and I got more out of that than the number sitting next to it. After some internal debate I decided to focus on my thoughts/impressions as they provide more meaning/context than scoring when consulting CT.
I posted a suggestion over on the CT forum a while back regarding splitting the scoring up by “drinking now” and “potential,” since so many scores for BDX and other such wines say 98 due to the perceived potential, but really mean you would get a 90s enjoyment by opening too early. The response by the team was that they are already considering and will have some changes to scoring, or at least some insight into scoring trends. There are so many things to consider, I’ll be interested to see what they come up with.
I don’t doubt stories like this one bit, but they always amaze me when I hear about them. I am always honest when I write my TNs, and that honesty is not always pretty for the wine(ry) being written about. I have never had a winemaker, or winery owner, reach-out to me and ask that I edit or delete a post/TN of mine (here; CT; or elsewhere), and I have never had any such person contact me publicly or privately to give me what-for. Sorry this has happened to you two (and others).
William,
Some folks in CT may have you marked as a “favorite taster” or “fan.” That means your TNs will have a little gold star next to them for those folks, and, depending on their TN display settings, your note will be listed first, above TNs from all other users.
I have a very solid list of “favorite tasters” in CT. If there is a wine with 164 notes, I pretty much read the TNs only from my favorite tasters (and probably the few most recent notes from other users if there aren’t recent notes from favorite tasters of mine). If a wine has 164 notes in CT, and none are from my favorite tasters, that will give me pause and make me reassess the likelihood that wine is for me.
I say all of this merely to point-out that your notes may be among the most important notes for a wine, even amidst a sea of them.
I wasn’t asked to delete or edit it, they just refuted what I said.
The TN should be clear it’s not ready, if that’s what they’re doing. Doesn’t seem like a problem.
Scoring a wine that shouldn’t be drunk now on how it shows shut down or unevolved seems like a really bad idea. That’s a number that will linger in perpetuity, based on user misjudgment. Does it serve the interests of anyone entering 60 points into the system for a very young First Growth from a great vintage that’s shut down hard at the moment? Seems like a perfect case for not rating, though putting a number in the notes can help emphasize how not ready a wine is.
I personally score in CT most every wine I drink. That helps me with a relative scale when I go back look at what I drank. I also pay attention to other ratings, but treat it much like amazon reviews or yelp reviews. A single score or even 2-5 scores and I don’t pay much attention. When you start getting 10+ scores then I pay attention to the averages.
+1 to this. If a wine has 3 reviews with scores on CT then the score isn’t as meaningful as one with 30+ reviews with scores. It’s always funny to see one CT reviewer give a wine an 85 with a comment of “too fruity for me” while the other 8 reviews are in the 90-95 range. Not only did that CT reviewer with the 85 lower the average score of the wine on CT, but added no real details to the review to justify the 85.
Hence why the real benefit and value of CT are the detailed notes for the wines with lots of reviews. Additionally, you can find some great discussions and details in the comments on some reviews.
The CT handle thread on WB is a great thread to find your favorite Berserker and favorite them. Makes it easier to go through reviews for some of the more popular wines.