Maison Ilan (I think I can confidently say that I would be completely ignorant of Maison Ilan if I did not participate on wine boards; for that reason, Ilan has to be my #1 best discovery from reading wine board(s))
Rhys (while I, technically, didn’t find out about Rhys on WB or another wine board, it was the collective excitement and reports thereon that eventually convinced me to step into the Rhys pool.)
Quinta do Tedo (technically, didn’t find out about these guys on a board, but I would have never found out about them if it weren’t for a connection I have made through wine boards)
Yves Cuilleron and Pierre Gaillard (same general thing as for Quinta do Tedo, although I would have found out about Yves Cuilleron a couple years later on my own).
Best discovery from the Squires board: Rhys and Arcadian (thanks TTT, Brian G, and several others)
Best discovery from WB: Digioia-Royer (thanks Berry)
I’ll add two more discoveries from the Squires board…CELLARTRACKER and WINEBERSERKERS!!!
Two life altering websites.
All from ebob:
Loring: Very good wines, but I haven’t bought much over the years and nothing in several years now.
Rivers-Marie: Started with PNs, but in the end like the cabs much better.
Rhys: Remember signing up 18 months before the first release due to the hype started by TTT el al. Haven’t bought too much over the years and never managed to try the flagship wines.
A complete list off Cellartracker of the wines I have discovered due to BB participation. You can decide which are the best, Some I may regret. Interestingly, Scholium is not one of them - I discovered Abe before I got to E-bob.
• Carlisle
• Saxum
• Pax
• Aubert
• Rivers-Marie
• Copain
• Outpost
• Quilceda Creek
• Black Sears Winery (indirectly by way of Outpost)
• Cayuse
• Agharta Wines (indirectly by way of Pax)
• Ceritas
• Alcina Cellars
• Scarecrow
• Kosta Browne
• Loring Wine Company
• Colgin
• Radio-Coteau
• Benovia (indirectly by way of Siduri)
• Domaine de Pouy
• Fattoria Viticcio
• McManis Family Vineyards
• No Girls Wines (by way of Cayuse)
• E. Guigal
• A.J. Adam
• Yalumba
• Bodegas El Nido
• Kamen Estate (indirectly by way of invitation to charity event from Poe)
• Poe Wines
• Switchback Ridge
• Sea Smoke
• Siduri
• Rhys Alesia
• Karl Lawrence
• Grand Rêve Vintners / Force Majeure
• Fritz Haag (by way of The Count)
• Lewelling
• Kongsgaard
• Charles Smith
• Bodegas Uvaguilera Aguilera (by way of Vaynerchuk)
• Dain Wines
• Novy Family Wines
• Luciano Sandrone (by ay of Francois Mauss)
• Futo
• Fontodi
• Rhys
• Schrader Cellars
• Williams Selyem
• Sloan (a swap with random board member)
• Tardieu-Laurent
• Tenuta San Guido (Sassicaia)
• Weingut Keller
• Reinhard & Beate Knebel (By way of Lyle Fass through E-bob before assorted bannishments)
• Hospices de Beaune Hospices Auction Group
• Gould Campbell (by way of Roy Hersh)
• Greenock Creek
• Nicolas Joly
• Maysara Winery
• Merus (another trade through Bob Properino)
• Alban Vineyards
• Alvear
• Case Basse (Soldera)
• Castello Banfi
• Cálem (gift from someone I met on e-bob)
The list is very long and goes back a long time, but since my cellar is full and I’ve cut back my buying dramatically the last couple of years there are only a few recent additions, most notably Campesino, Liquid Farm, and Pott.
I already ‘discovered’ Rhys and Pisoni Estate early on from a friend. Many others have come and gone (Williams Selyem, Aubert, Peter Michael, Kongsgaard) I also discovered through friends and wine boards.
Carlisle and Ceritas are ones that I never would have known about and am very happy to have some in my cellar. And, continue to add to my cellar along with Rhys and Pisoni Estate.
Before being on WB I had never heard of the following and I have no doubt that I ever would have.
Torrin
Arnot Roberts
Bedrock
Rhys
Charles Jouget
Linne Calodo
Ovid
Switchback Ridge
Villa Creek
Cayuse & No Girls
Madeleine <---- just saw this today and I’ve already reached out for a purchase! … and really SO MANY OTHERS
More importantly, I would never have known about the excellent wines coming from Loire (The Cab Franc thread) and Alsace (German reisling is too sweet for me).
I also would not have ever taken the time to investigate good Rose’. I would’ve just thought, “That stuff is sugar water, crappy White Zin” instead of seeing so many great notes and feedback on truly excellent Rose that is complex, enjoyable and not just expensive Boone’s farm. The feedback here has opened my eyes and hurt my wallet.
When I started lurking on WB (Many months before joining), I had no idea how allocations worked so I learned all that here, and have also tried some wines from members that were able to help me out with sharing their allocations which has been wonderful since I was behind the 8 ball due to my ignorance of how they operate.