Your wine contributions to events - how important to you?

Listen, Kevin, I had an appointment!

Pheww, I'm glad it was you and not me Dale

David,
I must admit that at one point in my life my wines/perceptions of my palate/etc. held some importance. That is no longer the case. I didn't make the stinkin' wine, I just bought it. If you don't like it, don't drink it!!
Then again, most of the folks I drink wine with on a regular basis are jerks by any reasonable standard...if they aren't insulting you or your wine they probably don't like you very much. That's what I like about them.
William

Bill, I didn't know you drank wine routinely with a certain NYC wine importer! But now that I do know, I shall henceforth give you credit for having reason to be a certified curmudgeon! And I will of course cut you a reasonable amount of slack as well.

Then again, most of the folks I drink wine with on a regular basis are jerks by any reasonable standard...if they aren't insulting you or your wine they probably don't like you very much. That's what I like about them.

You Blue Grass boys are a tough crowd.
Best, Jim

Then again, most of the folks I drink wine with on a regular basis are jerks by any reasonable standard...if they aren't insulting you or your wine they probably don't like you very much. That's what I like about them.

You Blue Grass boys are a tough crowd.
Best, Jim

Damn, Jim, you are just entirely too quick for us country boys.

My most treasured bottles I hope to drink with just my wife, or maybe another couple. In offlines, I prefer 8, but am ok with 10. I seldom do more than 12, but have in the past.
The thing is that sometimes that group of 10 includes several people who have shared with me bottles that far (FAR!) exceed anything in my cellar. So while 2 or 4 might be my preference, several of my most cherished bottles have been served at offlines, as a small attempt to repay the generosity of those friends. One bottle that was probably in my Top 10 or 20, was at a dinner with 22 people. But I was happy to bring, even for a 1 oz pour, because it was a special occasion. Of course, it turned out to be probably below average in value, as others brought some incredible bottles to this farewell offline. But from my 1 oz pour I thought my bottle did well, and I was happy to share it.

At offlines I always seem to be the oldest one there, so of late I have been making an extra effort to bring bottles that I think should be pleasing. A twenty-something who just discovered the grape has an excuse for bringing plonk but I don't.

As for TCA and other spoilers, that's a heck of an embarassment -- or should be -- if you bring corked or otherwise flawed wines that you had to decant at home in advance, such as VPs. Otherwise it can't be helped, but if you want to be known as a first-class offliner it helps to bring backups.

Surprise, surprise, I agree with a lot of what has been said in this thread. My favorite events are smaller, but I do attend some of the bigger events, including 1-2 massive tastings every year. In those latter, I spit. It's the mid-size jeebuses events where the most indecision arises. I like bringing wines that'll appeal to the audience, but my life doesn't depend on their approval, either. So, for instance, I brought a Biale Zin to Rahsaan's going-away dinner in Berkeley as a bit of a joke, but also had an '86 Clape Cornas to assuage any guilt I'd feel at bringing a bottle that wouldn't appeal to most of the participants. Dale's point about wanting to share very special bottles with his wife applies, too. I'd feel more than a bit bad bringing a very special wine to an event that Jean wasn't a part of; fortunately, there are certain wines in the cellar that I know she isn't fond of, such as very funky N. Rhone Syrah, so I can bring those bottles with no qualms. As for a corked or flawed bottle: that's just the breaks of the game. I can't imagine feeling too bad about it unless it was part of a vertical tasting.

Mark Lipton

Mark-
Two words========>INDIAN MERLOT
Your amigo,
'Winger

Is this a POINTS discussion under another guise???

Mark-
Two words========>INDIAN MERLOT
Your amigo,
'Winger

How did I know that you were going to mention that wine, Bill?

Mark Lipton

Mark-
I'm really glad I didn't disappoint you.
It is like I said in my earlier post in this thread.

Then again, most of the folks I drink wine with on a regular basis are jerks by any reasonable standard...if they aren't insulting you or your wine they probably don't like you very much. That's what I like about them.
William

Mark-
Two words========>INDIAN MERLOT
Your amigo,
'Winger

Bill, did you mean INDIAN, or did you misspell INDIANA?

Mark-
Two words========>INDIAN MERLOT
Your amigo,
'Winger

Bill, did you mean INDIAN, or did you misspell INDIANA?

Bob,
No typo...one of the few times I speled somethin currectly.

[Jenise]

It got me to wondering how much of people's self-image is wrapped up in other folks perceptions of the wines they bring to events. I know I used to be very self concious (still am to a lesser degree) about how wines were received.

Thoughts?

Self-image? Very little. What drives me is a desire to make sure that I give at least as good as I get, and that whoever invited me (if there's a central instigator) is always glad they did. Like anyone else I'm susceptible to loving it when a wine I bring ends up being a favorite, but I'm neither competitive nor vain enough to aspire to WOTN honors nor, in fact, do most of the groups I taste with formally elect such a thing.

But it took me a couple misfires to work that out. The first couple offlines I went to, I was a nervous wreck trying to pick out my wines as if, yes, my entire being would be judged by their performance. Both were these combat type tastings with like 16 people with multiple bottles flying around the table. I took my best wines and hardly anyone noticed but for sure anyone bringing anything too ordinary would have been written off in a nano. My second offline was similar. So for what was probably the third tasting I went to, with a smaller and I might say more thoughtful group, I then scaled back a bit and remember selecting something known and sought after but not terribly expensive or rare among geeks, and bypassing something my husband suggested as "too common." The tasting turned out to be blind, which I hadn't known beforehand, and dang if my wine was a dud while someone else brought that very commoner I'd passed on--which showed brilliantly and made it's owner look like an absolute genius.