Why are there not more Washington State Wine Makers/Owners on this board?

We see lot’s of activity from Oregon and some from California but hardly any from Washington State? Are they just lurking or just not interested in wine boards.

Erica Orr is a WA winemaker on here. Has her own label and (I think) is the wine maker at Baer.

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I don’t think that there is a lot of awareness about Wine Berserkers amongst winemakers here for whatever reason. Any time I mention the website to fellow winemakers in Walla Walla I get a blank stare. I try to chime in occasionally when there are threads about Washington wine, but I do steer clear of some threads for diplomatic reasons and I’ve not had as much time to visit the website as I did in the past. Admittedly, I’ve mostly been a lurker over the years though. Hopefully as awareness of Washington wines continues to increase, there will be more discussion here, which will inevitably get back to the winemakers.

I have wondered the same thing.

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Could part of the problem that many have a day job? Some of these newer wineries seem to have a great paying day job and also start a winery. Maybe no time to BS about wine! [cheers.gif]

Personally I would think this would be the place to introduce yourself and sell a ton of wine.

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I bought some of Erica’s wines on BD day. Fantastic stuff! I know I’ve seen Justin Neufeld on here (looking forward to my September shipment). But I whole-heartedly agree that I wish more WA wineries/winemakers were on here.

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We are fixin’ to go on WA tear too this week or so!

Sure. The flip side is that I also know several winemakers who will not come back here due to board members ripping them about pricing, etc.

Tom

I have always wondered why there seems to be so few who collect WA wines - the consumer level - given the rather significant production from that state. Once the fever around wines like Quilceda Creek and Cayuse died off, it seems there are EXTREMELY few notes about Washington wines here. Oregon has obviously seen a huge uptick in fans (myself included) but there seems to be a great glut in those who enjoy Washington wines on here, which is odd given the massive variety of preferences here (other than Chapoutier, which everybody hates deadhorse )

I make Washington wine, but make it in Oregon (since that is where I want to live). I’m also not sure why there aren’t more WA winemakers on here. I don’t personally start many conversations about my thoughts or notes on wines, as they have previously been disregarded like I didn’t know what I was talking about, so that makes me a bit gun shy to post.

That’s the unfortunate nature of internet forums - all kinds of self-proclaimed ‘experts’ behind a keyboard. I remember this from the old days when I used to frequent car forums, and I’ve seen the same complaints in photography, guns, even crafts lol

Can’t think of many I would rip on price. Most are underpriced.

Others have participated. Ben Smith, Greg Harrington, Lisa Baer all come to mind. But I suspect much of the spare time that they might have devoted to Berserkers is going to maintaining a presence on Facebook and Instagram.

My first thought was that most of the wine is produced by one big player, Ste. Michelle (60% of the State’s total) but I just looked it up and there are actually over 1,000 wineries in Washington. So lots of small producers must be there…

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This.

For all of those who say winemakers and wineries don’t have time to be on WB, I ask that you check out their other means of communication - they’re just not here. Either they don’t feel that there’s ‘value’ in being on here - in terms of sharing info, etc - or as some have pointed out, they’re not ‘comfortable’ here.

But please - we all choose to spend our time doing things we like to do. There is ALWAYS time to spend on this board - it does not take long to check in, see what threads are up, and comment on a few. Please, come on . . .

Cheers.

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It’s likely a variety of factors, but to hazard a guess, I do wonder if Walla Walla being a bit out in the sticks also has to do with it (yes, I know that Woodinville makes wine as well). It takes a bit more effort to get to Walla Walla from either Portland or Seattle vs the Willamette/Napa/Sonoma/SBC and the bigger cities near them.

Mostly, I think it likely has to do with this board having a more natural preference towards Pinot vs Cabernet+Merlot. That’s not to say that there aren’t lots of Cab+Merlot drinkers (and their natural preference goes more towards Napa for understandable reasons), but that there’s just more discussion of Cali Pinot and OR Pinot vs Bordeaux varietals on this forum.

I collect Washington wine moreso than any other region. My love for the wine coming out of this state is deep. That said, I rarely take the time to post much about WA wines because, largely, the posts are ignored or discussed very lightly. This is a decidedly Euro-centric board and, as mentioned above, I see posts about Washington largely passed over or not taken seriously. Part of the fun of a discussion board is conversation, so that could explain it and, at least for me, that’s why I hesitate.

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Don’t give up, Brandon - maybe there are others lurking in the shadows.

I recall the early years of WB where the complaint was that we were too domestic-centric, and NOBODY talked about Burgundy. That has changed, fads (on WB) come and go. Remember also early on Bob Wood was probably the only person consistently talking about Oregon wine. Now it’s a huge part of every conversation.

There’s a huge variety being discussed here - adding Washington to it, if there are enough WA-centric Berserkers - would fit right in

I am guilty of this too - and I drink a fair amount of WA wine but its about a 50/50 chance that I post due to lack of general interest or low reply rates. But that’s my issue and I’ll try to rectify that this week and post on something good.

BTW Let’s give a big shout out to John Glas - the man is a machine in posting some concise and great notes on a bevy on my home state wines.

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I hope you keep it up. Even if there’s little discussion, doesn’t mean that people aren’t reading the posts and finding them useful.

If you haven’t already, hit up Todd with any recommendations for NewbiePalooza you may have. Would be cool to see more WA producers.