A question for Burgundy lovers and all others

I have never started a controversial topic on any of the boards I frequent. Not my style of communication . I hope this will not become the first one.

I am trying to understand what most of the people who communicate about Burgundy feel the need (or just do) put down most if not all other wines. The best analogy I was able to come up with is - If you are a sport fan and your team is X, do you feel the need to put down team Y?

What is it about people (who communicate on this board) who have a great passion for Burgundy that creates the “need” to put other wines down ?

Peace and understanding.

I think you’ll find it’s actually a very small subset (if anyone - I can’t think of any offhand) rather than most. Personally, I just put down the wines Jay Hack drinks.

I disagree with the premise of your question.

If anything there is more burgundy bashing than the other way around.

In fact your question is more flabby and cloying than a California Pinot Noir.

(Just kidding about that last part)

I haven’t noticed that Burg drinkers are more partisan than any other group of winos. And I’m one who hasn’t gotten the Burg bug. Yet.

I hadn’t noticed that about Burgundy any more than other regions.

But maybe to reassure themselves that they didn’t spend way too much money on Burgundy?

Yeah, sports fans never do that.

Michel,

Please look through this board and find threads on other types of wines where Burgundy lovers come into the thread and announce that the wine is junk and overpriced. I doubt you will be able to do it.

Now, go through Burgundy thread where people are trying to have serious discussions about some topic. You will have multipe posters come in and interupt the thread to gratuitously announce how much they dislike Burgundy and how overpriced it is.

In other words, you have things a$$ backwards.

Michel,

you may be partially right …
I think there is a tendency that (some) real Burgundy lovers look down on people who prefer other kind of wines - but at vthe same time vice versa …

The reason might be that Burgundy is

1. a minefield … more bad than good wines (although quality has improved)
2. usually expensive
3. sometimes hard to get - meaning it takes some time, luck and patience to understand why Burgundy (maybe) is the best wine in the world (IF you have the right bottle at the right time …)
4. even harder to get when the wines don´t have the apropriate age …

So people who think they eventually “got” Burgundy may think they are now on a “higher” level of wine love - and people who didn´t “get” Burgundy (yet) cannot understand what it´s all about

Certainly not a very nice attitude - but it might be one of the reasons …

Or I might be wrong.

BTW: I love most fine French wines … and I didn´t “get” the fascination of e.g. Italian wines till now … (just kidding ) - but I try not to put down other freaks …
(sometimes kind of hard … )

Sorry but this is a ridiculous statement.

IMO, Burgundy aficionados, as a group, definitely have an air of superiority about them w/r/t Burgundy wines. Are there exceptions to this? No, there are not, because I’m talking only about the group, not any specific individual(s) that is(are) part of the group.

OP posted a good, albeit poorly-worded, question, imo. YMMV.

Oh boy, this troll could get interesting!

Thanks for your thoughts.

I do agree with most of what Gerhard said !!

BUT would like to add the following : within the Burgundy Lovers Community sometimes they are too passion for high-end Burgundy and put the lower end Burgundy wines down .

Peace be with you.

In Tao - 2nd Chapter : People treasure beauty because there is ugliness. People like to be in front because there are someone who are behind.

In a perfect society…things should not be like that.

I think the answer to the question broadly, and without singling out Burgundy champions in particular more than any other subset of wine enthusiasts, is that this is increasingly how people communicate in non face-to-face communications now – internet message boards, cable TV, talk radio, newspapers, etc. I think the main reasons, and they are often subconscious rather than conscious, are that:

(1) Polarizing, strident and/or extreme statements are most likely to get responses and reaction, both good and bad. Look at the most successful people in political talk – how many of them are careful, nuanced and evenhanded, as compared to bomb-throwers? Go to the message board page of a football team and start a thread saying “The offense coordinator sucks!! He is an idiot and should be fired immediately!! Everyone who backs this guy is a moron and probably lives in his mom’s basement.” You’ll get 5 pages of reaction. Then go under another name and post a careful comment about some of the things that the offensive coordinator did slightly better and not as good in the last game, and you’ll probably get 3 responses.

(2) Humans are tribal. By our nature, we tend to want to band together as a group in opposition to other groups. Go back to our roots as hunting and gathering tribes, and on forward into clans and fiefs and so forth, and now today into our fraternity/sorority, neighborhood, regional, sports fan, political and other “tribes.” This is how sports fandom really works. And I’m a big sports fan as partisan myself, with a closet full of burnt orange and a great disdain for Sooners and Aggies, so I’m not saying this in judgement or criticism of others, but I’m just trying to acknowledge what part of our human nature tends to make us that way.

Back to WB in particular, the Burgundy / AFWE point of view is clearly the board zeitgeist, and as a result, that group may stand out more than others here. Each internet message board has its certain zeitgeist at a given time, and those who are in the dominant point of view are probably the ones most often thought of in that community as being elitist, arrogant and intolerant.

Having said all of that, I think this board is terrific, and I think the positive to negative ratio as far as what I described above is very high as to most internet discussion groups that I’ve seen. The ratio of thoughtful and nuanced posts and threads to bomb-throwing ones is admirably high here, and the members do a pretty good job of policing troll behavior.

I hope that adds something to the discussion.

No, it isn´t ridiculous IMHO.
If you take all AOCs, all negociants , all vintages … in relationship to the prices asked …

Well, Michael…having recently been caught in the maelstrom of questioning the superiority of Burgundy wines… I guess I came out of that
with the opposite impression of Burgundy lovers. It is clear that there are many people who are very/very passionate in their love for Burgundy
and feel it’s the greatest wine in the world and that’s pretty much all they drink when it comes to Chard/Pinot. But I didn’t get they looked down
their noses at lovers of Calif Pinot, or dismissed those who like those wines as ignoramouses or dolts w/ no taste. They just, by & large, acknowledge
that Calif Chard/Pinot are not to their tastes. Like any group of people who are passionate on a subject, they just wish to share their passions with others.
Now, however, if we talk about Barolo/Barbaresco lovers…
And lets not even talk about the gun-control folks!!!
Tom

Yeah, but you can say this about any and all regions in the world. Burgundy is no worse in this respect than CA or Bdx etc.
Now if only the best village wines were not over $50 I’d be much happier with Burgundy.

One of the most subtile (but also most effective) ways of putting something down is
IGNORANCE !

I´ve watched many threads here about non-Burgundy - and although very interesting they have mainly got ignored.
There are exceptions - but my feeling is that members here think this is mainly a Burgundy board - and
theother board is for Bordeaux and Rhones.

just my 2c

Easy. After paying so much for bragging rights, everything else is swill, otherwise, their paradigm evaporates.

Peter,
not to the same degree!

Take any Bordeaux for 25 € (35 $) … chances that it is at least good are high …
the same trial with a 75 € (100 $) Bordeaux … rarely a problem …

but try it with Burgundies !!!

I think you came out of that fairly well, snagging a bottle of Maison Ilan