Blessed are the Note Posters

I want to thank the small group of folks here (you know who they are) who take the time and effort to post notes on many of the wines they drink. I seldom respond to notes, but want each of you to know that I read almost every note and learn from every one of them. It is largely through your efforts and dilegence that I have "discovered" many new and exciting wines.
THANK YOU, and hopefully I will be motivated enough to get up off my duff and post more notes as a small way of "paying back".
Redwinger

[David M. Bueker]

You're welcome.

Amen, Redwinger.

JuliaB

You've inspired me to start working on my backlog of like 4 weeks' worth of notes! I was pretty good earlier in the year in terms of staying timely, but I've fallen back into my usual bad habit of tardy note transcriptions. Must...vow...to...do...better...again...

It's people like you that keep me posting here, Bill.

My tasting notes often get read but that regular big fat zero in the response column can be difficult to understand. The viewed column is a plus for sooks like me ..... now if that was close to a zero, too ..... you'd really gotta know you have a major problem with the forum.

Amen, Redwinger.

JuliaB

Missed you in chat today, sweetheart. Sue needed womanly support against the powerful countering arguments from Alex, Anders and NKOTB, Felix on the merits and definitions of minerality and terroir! Can you believe it, a major wine issue intelligently discussed at length in Chat? What is the world coming, too? Oh, and Donna was in early but unfortunately left as soon as I arrived. A major disappointment. Cynthia was the ultimate hostess with the mostess, as per usual, but I reckon you could have helped Sue whip all of us guys in your usual indefatigable fashion with your outstanding knowledge of all things vinous (and your trusty whip, of course).

Sorry for the thread drift.

My tasting notes often get read but that regular big fat zero in the response column can be difficult to understand.

I enjoy the literacy, detailed descriptions and often exquisite analogies of your notes, so perhaps it might be helpful feedback if I said that I don't feel (subliminally) invited to respond because they appear to me as self-sufficient, or self-contained, and some of their detail is, well, intimidating, in its suggestion of palate prowess. To take a recent example, I was piqued by "well-hung game" and felt like joking about whether you meant "well-hung" as in "well-endowed," or could distinguish "well-hung" from "poorly-hung," but decided the first was flippant and the latter resentful of your display of discrimination, so I just stayed silent...

David,
I even surprised myself by giving you a pass on that "well-hung" descriptor.
Bill

My tasting notes often get read but that regular big fat zero in the response column can be difficult to understand.

I enjoy the literacy, detailed descriptions and often exquisite analogies of your notes, so perhaps it might be helpful feedback if I said that I don't feel (subliminally) invited to respond because they appear to me as self-sufficient, or self-contained, and some of their detail is, well, intimidating, in its suggestion of palate prowess. To take a recent example, I was piqued by "well-hung game" and felt like joking about whether you meant "well-hung" as in "well-endowed," or could distinguish "well-hung" from "poorly-hung," but decided the first was flippant and the latter resentful of your display of discrimination, so I just stayed silent...

Oswaldo, how refreshing and noble of you to comment so eloquently on my well-hung game. If you could only see the paddock just behind my place, full of some of the best-hung local game you're probably ever going to see, you should feel aggrieved by my ardent discrimination. Unfortunately, my local situation bears no relevance to what I was referring to in my note.

You write very well. I'd be priveleged to read your sage musings over a wine you've tried on a more regular basis. I've always promoted the idea, but, alas, it falls, mostly, upon deaf ears.

I would also like to pass on my thanks and note that most of them are very well written and a pleasure to read.

I must admit to having a personal agendum for posting. If people read them, great, but I mostly post notes for me. And I do it on several sites.

The reason I do this is that I end up with a searchable data base of my own notes, whereas I would have little chance of actually finding a note more than a few months old in my filing....well. 'system' really does it too much credit.

The other reason I take notes is that it forces me to pay attention to the wines - not that I wouldn't otherwise, but a vague recollection that it was pretty good sure isn't as good as a detailed note of what I thought of it. I guess that makes me a wine geek, but that's not a lynchable offence (at least on this site) is it?

I'd like to add my thanks to Redwinger's. I don't always respond, but I value notes like David's even if I don't say so.
Besides the notes themselves, it's the only real way of getting an idea of preferences. So if I post a question about what wine to buy from a region new to me, the response of a frequent note poster is more valuable than someone else's.
I realize some people think they shouldn't post because they are fairly new to wine, but your impressions are valid and responses can be a way to learn. There are always a few people who feel that only "professionals" should post notes, but my observation is that the correlation between those people and total a$%^oles is quite high.

I also find the TN very helpful AND enjoyable. I am very new to the world of wine, at least in a considered way, and learn a lot from the TNs. Someday I hope to contribute notes, but until then, I will enjoy reading them.

I too am grateful for the posters. I'm also grateful for the count on views on this forum. In other places the big fat zero just sits there and you have no idea if anybody reads your notes.

Given my proposenity for obscure California wineries that probably don't even ship out of State, I don't expect too many replies, but I appreciate hearing other more experienced taster's responses to other wines! And, I love reading others' tating notes, although the complexities of Burgundy and Riesling leave my head spinning.

[David M. Bueker]

the complexities of Burgundy and Riesling leave my head spinning.

You should see what they (really Burgundy) do to your wallet.

Hmm...they make 4 different Gevrey Chambertin premier crus. I guess I need all 4 if I'm going to understand the house style vis-a-vis the terroir.

Hmm...they make 4 different Gevrey Chambertin premier crus. I guess I need all 4 if I'm going to understand the house style vis-a-vis the terroir.

And of course you'll need a vertical of at least 4 vintages of each to be able to start t understand the producer....

[David M. Bueker]

Hmm...they make 4 different Gevrey Chambertin premier crus. I guess I need all 4 if I'm going to understand the house style vis-a-vis the terroir.

And of course you'll need a vertical of at least 4 vintages of each to be able to start t understand the producer....

And at least 2 different producers of each site to truly understand the variations of producer style versus terroir.

Discovering Red Burgundy is like jumping into an evergrowing whirlpoool (as well as the cliched, but still apt, reference to the region being a minefield). Get into it and it can awfully difficult to extract oneself. Perhaps the ridiculously high prices for the 2005 vintages have stifled many a Burgundophile's desire (including mine) for current releases (and 2006 looks equally depressing), but in my case it has only diverted my attention to seeking out a little more of the sacred juice from back vintages available for much less on the secondary market. Now I have a reasonably large stash going back to 1993, my spending on red Burgundy has plateaued over the last several years and with recent health issues precluding me drinking alcohol in the volume of the past, I doubt whether there's much chance that I'll be buying much in the future.

This situation has been partly exasibated by my recent acquisition of many dozen bottles of excellently kept, aged red and sweet Bordeaux, some top Rhonies (Chave and La Chapelle from the '80's), fantastic German Riesling from 1976 and 1983, some wonderful Vintage Port from 1963, 1970, 1977 and 1983 as well as some fascinating curio's from the Loire and Australia. Working on what I've got underground and consuming a couple of, perhaps up to three, bottles a week, I'll be pretty right for the next ten to fifteen years without buying another bottle!