Wine Maker Tasting Notes or lack there of.....why

I have been thinking about this a lot and would like the group think on the following:

One of the factors in my wine purchasing decision is trust. As a matter of fact, one of my “leaving” or “firing” decisions is break of trust (I recently left a mailing list because of this but that is another story). Part of enjoying a glass is knowing and trusting The Wine Maker.

This brings me to my BIG QUESTION. Why are Wine Makers so poor/reticent on/to updating their tasting notes. Yes, on release day a big note is posted…but then crickets. What I would really like to see is updates along the way. After year one….”this is how the wine is progressing”, “this is something that is developing that I did not expect”, “I would anticipate this happening”, “I think this wine is fading”, “I think……”

If anybody is able to rate or evaluate the wine shouldn’t it be the winemaker? Why don’t they update their tasting notes? Would you trust/like your wine maker to provide ongoing tasting notes? Why do wine makers not do this? I would be particularly interested in any views from wine makers in the community as well as drinkers!

Carlisle updates the notes on his website.

Probably like all of us, an issue of having the time to do so.

I think most wineries will give you their most recent impression of a wine if you contact them (and off the top of my head, I know Torrin sends emails providing updates on how all/most of their vintages are currently drinking). Perhaps wineries don’t think there are enough people who care about yearly notes on older wines to justify tasting and posting notes on every one of their wines every year or so. I’m sure a lot of customers drink most wines relatively soon, so it might just not be worth the effort for the winery to tell the few hundred or so people that are interested how that [15] year old bottle is currently doing. This of course is just my speculation, so I’m interested to see what others have to say.

Shaffer provides notes on its Hillside Select, by both Doug and Elias not sure about there other releases.

This is a good point…and yet it is a selling point that they are making when they sell the wine. How many times do you read the initial tasting note that says “this is a wine with great aging potential”? If none of their customers are keeping them…they should stop making them that style lol.

Carlisle updates the end drinking note (which is beyond what most are doing), but does not update notes as far as i can see.

Many wineries do not keep a stash of their wines around, so therefore have no library to check on older bottles with. Most simply want to sell out of every vintage for financial reasons.

As a subsequent add on question…Do you trust the wine makers notes that you buy from over a wine rater?

Being slightly provocative. Then how the hell do they say with any reasonable confidence how their wine will evolve. I personally don’t buy into the fact that they don’t keep any back vintage (5 bottles) to track and learn from.

I was a dinner once and Louis-Michel was asked a similar question about notes on his wines. His answer was basically “I am a wine maker not a wine writer. I focus on making wine that tastes good; that I would want to drink. Let someone else worry about how describe it”.

I know this is not exactly what you are asking, but a sense I get from wine makers is writing about their wine is not a priority.

All tasting notes have human subjective biases. Wine makers’ biases about the products they they have worked so hard to produce are perhaps a little more obvious than a reviewer’s. But their descriptions of their own wines potentially have lots of useful information. There are some winemakers whose comments are gibberish, marketing speak, or unduly hype filled. But most of the small, conscientious producers have useful notes.

The key is to read the notes over time and get your own understanding of the POV of the writer so you can extract the information you want. There is no absolute answer - trust must be earned.

I like the notes that Epoch Estate provides with their releases. I definitely agree that getting feedback from the winemaker on the wines and their thoughts on drinking windows is a plus for us as customers.

Larkmead updates it’s “Library” notes annually of all wines produced, I believe.

Besides notes posted here, I follow Cellartracker notes on wines I own.

As Bill Belicheck might say if he were a winemaker: “We’re on to the next vintage!”

Listening to Jeremy Seysses on 2014 Dujac MSD right now (he’s doing a webinar) - really helpful perspective.

He also said 13 and 8 are contemporary 93s

I use Cellartracker for updates on our wines particularly earlier in their life.

Paul

It would be a smart marketing strategy for them to provide updated TN’s. Most wineries do not unload their entire inventory vintage in and vintage out. And by providing updates to their mailing list or members, it would spark some of those folks to inquire about purchase. Wineries win with incremental sales, and wine lovers win by gaining an evolving understanding of the wines they own.

This is my feeling…and funny enough they are doing it on ZOOM.