Board darlings you don't like

As an off take from the Board Darlings post, what do you do when you have bought into a board darling that you have determined you don’t like and just don’t understand the love. I don’t want anyone to mention specific wineries because that is not the purpose, but there are times I feel I should not give a negative response here or on CT (forum or tasting notes) about a winery that gets love here or on CT. I don’t want to rock the boat, but there are some wines I now have in my cellar that I will let sit because either I don’t like them, or will drink because they are good but don’t think they are worth the price.

I don’t do CellarTracker so that’s not a concern for me.

However, I’m not afraid to express a negative opinion and have done so about one particular WB Darling. It has been pointed out that I may be opening them FAR too soon, so I might seek out an aged specimen to see if that’s the case.

Saying you don’t like something isn’t necessarily “rocking the boat”. There’s always Commerce Corner!

Isn’t that what CC is for? (Unless it’s Schrader)

Jay Miller’s little dog.

Hey!

I think Buzzini’s cellar is a Board Darling. It’s friggin’ nice!

I have to admit. I am not a fan of Dirty and Rowdy’s reds, but Becklyn’s whites have grown on me (didnt try the cab yet) and I love Veleta.

Second only to his chiseled edge noche travertine backsplash.

Luckily I don’t have a lot of wines in my cellar that I don’t love because I don’t buy wines I don’t like. I’m not really sure what are board darlings actually. I assume they’re all CA and all Sonoma? Or is that wrong?

I’m not generally a fan of most PN, so to the extent that those are board darlings, I guess those could be examples whether opened too soon or not. But I’ve had a few that are pretty good on occasion, si I can’t say I’d write them all off.

I’d like to see a list of board darlings because chances are I’ve not had most of them.

Tonight I had a Teroldego from Lodi. Interesting wine and pretty good. I’ve never heard of it before but I liked it. A little on the lush and ripe side, but it was different and it was a singularity as I’ve had no other CA Teroldego. Definitely not a board darling, and unlikely to become one, but I’m glad I tried it. I can’t say enough good things about Harrington wines - interesting, different, and I’d drink them any day. But nobody ever posts about those. And Paul Gordon’s wines are exceptional as well. Faiella is another one. Are those board darlings? Probably not. But good.

In response to your post, I, too, will pull from another thread (pulling from my own post): Honesty. If you don’t like a wine, please say so! This can be done politely/without being an aresehole, so you shouldn’t feel otherwise. Dishonest responses are “negative.” Honest responses are positive. Be honest!

Paul
Never be afraid to post your own thoughts, based on your own palate. As Brian says, do it with honesty and integrity and if that provoked a bad response, it’s not you who is the problem.

Wine enthusiasts can be sheep at times, and we’ve certainly been through an era where a critic saying it was a great wine, convinced an awful lot of people it was a great wine, even if their palate was shouting the opposite.

We should never forget how scary the world of wine appeared when we first explored it. It was so complex so we latched onto those confident people who seemed to know what was what. That might have been an experienced friend, relative, wine retailer, wine magazine or wine critic. Whilst some of those sources would be very genuine and extremely helpful, there are examples of each that used their knowledge as a tool to massage their ego, or in some cases to build a successful business trading off the insecurities of others.

Sometimes we need to do more blind tasting, not to indulge ourselves in the ‘guess the wine’ parlour game, but rather to remove our veneer of assumed knowledge, and simply taste what’s in the glass and appreciate it for what it is, not what we expect it to be.

regards
Ian

Second the request for a list of board darlings. I found Harrington through the board and made the initial purchase via Berserker day. There isn’t 5, I love Harrington threads right now but it’s not Leo Steen either.

BTW, I really like Bryan’s wines and his customer service is top notch as well.

Can’t name all of them but I can start with what I think are the 4 most adored brands…

Bedrock
Ridge
EMH
Dirty and Rowdy

Most earn their reputation by making great wines and having excellent customer service, plus a bonus for interacting and contributing here. Not everyone will like their products though.

Very good picture Dennis! LOL

Is Rhys considered a board darling?

Well, Greg…I post plenty on BryanHarrington’s wines. And on the Failla Syrah and Viognier.
But…of course…if you put TomHill on “ignore”…you won’t see them!!
Tom

The irony is if he DOES have you on ignore, he won’t see that post either.

There are some board darlings that I don’t care for much. Groupthink is a powerful thing, which is why blind tastings often yield surprising results.

I don’t post a huge amount of tasting notes on WB (usually leave that for CT), but I would not post a negative note here or a winemaker that has a presence here. To me, it just seems a bit unseemly. OTOH, I wouldn’t have a problem posting a negative note on CT, though I think there’s a way to phrase things so as to avoid being overly harsh (ex: “well-made, but not my style”) and generally I won’t score.