That’s how I read it. In a way, Terry seems to be taking on a bit of modesty, admitting that when he started it was pretty easy to find good producers who needed a U.S. relationship. Sounds to me as if all he’s saying is that the job would be much harder today for someone just starting out. Seems almost self evident.
I read it as a mix of Terry noting the ease at which he was able to begin his portfolio with great wines and wineries and the difficulty of repeating the feat with so many people, like Lyle, “beating the bushes” constantly.
Sure, he preened a bit in his presentation, but who wouldn’t self promote in an interview with Wine Searcher?
That squares with the beginning of the “quote”, but not the quoted closing line which makes a nearly absolute statement. It’s possible Thiese is misquoted, but I doubt there will be a public disavowal of this part of the interview.
Why would Terry even wade into this cluster****.
Cluster**** or not he wouldn’t.
“Matt, we had exactly that situation with an Italian cantina we had a VERY close relationship with and we stopped working with them immediately. The heirs had fired the cellarmaster of 20 years AND were announcing a doubling of production.”
Good for you!
Fyi - my post was not targeted at you.
“I read it as a mix of Terry noting the ease at which he was able to begin his portfolio with great wines and wineries and the difficulty of repeating the feat with so many people, like Lyle, “beating the bushes” constantly.”
I’m not really sure why Mr. Thiese said what he said. He said it very plainly and clearly so I don’t really buy this revisionist stuff.
The odd thing is, that it isn’t that hard to find very good and great German producers.
Quality dry wine production is increasing geometrically in Germany and they taste them all at Wiesbaden.
Sweet wines are hard to sell in Germany and there are plenty of good ones of those and they there for the taking.
At times, we all speak out of our posteriors, perhaps this was one of those times.
An alternative explanation is that most of the great new German producers are making dry wine (this being where the growth is in Germany) and Mr. Thiese is not really focused on dry German wine. His statement is closer to being true if you exclusively focus on sweet wine. You never see any cars in the blind spot when you only look at your mirrors.
I stumbled across this interesting, and much less polarizing, passage from the 2012 Terry Theise German catalog:
I am constantly tasting new estates. A portfolio is
never fully settled. You have to be very careful not to coast,
and I often ask myself “If I were coming to this grower
for the first time, would I want the wines?” That doesn’t
mean I go all lord-of-the-flies on my suppliers; even the
most talented and caring grower will have a dud vintage
once in a while. When that happens you steer customers
elsewhere and wait for the next fine year.
But there’s an assumption this portfolio is somehow
valedictory whereas the small new importers have the real
“cutting-edge” hotties. Would it were true. I’m seriously
encouraged by any new importer for fine German estate
wines: I want them to succeed. But the notion they are
sleuthing cool new things out from under my settled old
gaze just doesn’t wash. In nearly every case, I know of
the new estates coming over, I tasted them and they were
either redundant for this portfolio, or they weren’t good
enough to handle the internal competition.
I find what works best for me is when I can catch
the chicken just as it hatches, and follow it as it grows.
I am proud of the many “unknown” growers in this
portfolio who have since become stars. These days it’s
hard to do. Anyone with any ambition at all is thrusting
himself out there, and unless you stumble over someone,
his name’s bound to already appear in one of the many
guides. Still, one keeps alert.
-Steve
Well, Lyle, you are certainly technically right. The wine landscape changes. Terry T. might remember when Schloss Vollrads and Bernkasteler Doctor were tops. You have to keep moving to keep up.
Off topic, can anyone make a case for music getting any better?
P Hickner
Thiese’s statement about a lack of growers that are worth importing needs to be considered along with his lamentation about the move towards dry wines in Germany.
Not really that close imo. This is a debate between importers, one of whom is not here, the other started the thread. If David B had started this thread with the clear opinion that Terry was wrong, I would be completely comfortable with it. But for Lyle, this is the basis of his new venture. This belongs in CC or Wine Pimps or on Lyle’s blog.
And just to be clear, I think the quote from Terry is an overstatement, and I have no doubt that Lyle is finding some new estates worth importing.
What exactly is the point of this thread?
Absolutely. It just may not be in the genres you are most fond of.
There does seem to be one:
I also agree with Ken’s last points, and I look forward to trying some of the wines Lyle is bringing in, but this whole thread seems out of place here. I don’t mean that as anything against you personally, Lyle; I generally enjoy your contribution here.
As someone who drinks far more trocken than not from Germany, I think this is off base. There are other people with a deep understanding of and wide exposure to German wine, such as Schildknecht, who have commented on the fact that the severity of this trend is causing a lot of trocken wines to be made that would be better balanced with a bit more RS. I have seen it to a (very) small extent, but I’m sure most or all of the worst offenders are not being imported to the US. There are always some very nice trockens in Terry’s portfolio, and he has done (continues to do) his share of work to promote that style, including presenting them to the trade when his allocations are very small to begin with. I’m not saying the man is perfect or that all of his statements are absolutely correct, but I do see people thinking things of him based more on his reputation than his actual beliefs or actions.
The end of the day the statement stands on its own. This can be moved wherever, that is irrelevant to me. People can view it how they want. I have my own view, others have different views. Todd, you can move it, delete it, edit it, do whatever.
His statement isn’t accurate, but on the flip side, for all his evangelizing (and yours too Lyle) you’re both in business to make some money, so I don’t fault either party here.
Please take it all with a small dose of residual sugar. 
I’m sorry, but I think this is nitpicking. I have no doubt Thiese was expressing self-satisfaction. But if you take the hyperboles as just that, he was saying that when he began in the business, he could find one great winemaker after the other with no great difficulty. Now one has to search hard to find a talented one that doesn’t have representation. This really doesn’t deny, that there are new winemakers each year and some of these new ones will be talented and an importer, working hard, could still find them, just that German wine isn’t undiscovered territory. I know he made a more extreme statement. People do when they express thoughtless self-satisfaction. But if you want to, you can tell what he means.
Please don’t close this thread. I just made a second batch of popcorn
Terry has an opinion (and he has many). Lyle has an opinion (and he has many). Either accept that others opinion may be different than yours or …Thunderdome…