Posting on flawed or off bottles?

I need some guidance from others on an issue I have often struggled with.

Is there any point-benefit-value to posting WTNs on wines that are "slightly" off or flawed? I say "slightly" since, obviously, if a wine is corked, it just gets dumped. However, there are times, such as tonight, when we have a wine that may have a few redeeming features, but also displays some obvious flaws. We drank the wine and I took notes, flaws and all, but is there any point in my posting my impressions?

This becomes a more difficult question when I am dealing with a wine I have never tried before. Are these really flaws, or is this simply a poorly made wine, perhaps from a weak vintage, that simply isn't worthy of my time? Based on a positive review I read of this wine, I suspect it is a flawed wine, but who knows?

So, I would appreciate hearing your views.

[Robin Garr]

Bruce, it's really a judgment call. Generally speaking, when a wine is corked, cooked, or otherwise damaged in a way that clearly makes it an atypical representation of what the producer made, then I think most of us would hesitate to post a standard TN presenting the wine as if the flaw were its normal condition. (With the exception that I might do it, with a disclaimer, in a <I>Wine Advisor</I> article if I chose to use the flawed wine as an example to teach the flaw.

If I think the flaw is from the winery and likely to afflict all the bottles of that selection and vintage - VA or brett, for instance - then I'm likely to post it.

The difference, as I see it, is whether the negative element is a one-time problem probably not typical of the wine, or if it IS typical of the wine.

This isn't a "rule" by any means, but it seems to me to make some sense.

Sounds like a good approach Robin, and in case you can't tell whether it is spoiled or a flaw that pervades all, post the notes with a question, and see if others have tried it, and whether they found the same thing.
So Bruce, what's the wine, and the "flaw?"

So Bruce, what's the wine, and the "flaw?"

Tenuta di Castiglioni 2005, a Cabernet-Sangiovese blend from Frescobaldi.

The "flaw" is a very strong bitter, dirty, rough streak throughout the wine. Also, the nose was lovely at first, lots of chocolate and perfume, but it quickly disappeared, leaving not much of anything in its place. A "disappearing nose" is something that usually warns me of a bad bottle.