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

[John_Telford]

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

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.

This goes back to the trust equation. And I get more gibberish, market speak, and hype fill from the raters (most of whom I don’t trust).

[Markus_S]

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

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.

This goes back to the trust equation. And I get more gibberish, market speak, and hype fill from the raters (most of whom I don’t trust).

Sometimes a good retailer and seller can be the best and most honest source for wine knowledge, but only if they know your tastes & openness.

[John_Telford]

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.

This goes back to the trust equation. And I get more gibberish, market speak, and hype fill from the raters (most of whom I don’t trust).
[/quote

Sometimes a good retailer and seller can be the best and most honest source for wine knowledge, but only if they know your tastes & openness.

Thanks, I think we got off track. Just trying to understand why wine makers don’t post tasting notes on their wines as they develop with commentary. I think this would be very helpful and appreciated. Especially because most of us buy off of mailing list from winemakers we think highly of or or interested in.

[Marcus_Goodfellow]

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.

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 would guess that the vast majority of Willamette Valley wineries have some amount of bottles in library. Some more and some less, but I have at least 5 bottles left of nearly everything. I keep only a case or two of a few cuvees, but most it’s 5-50 cases.

[Mel_Knox]

Speaking of Oregon I remember Dave Lett telling me he was amazed other wineries did not keep older vintages of pinot gris around.
I feel safe in saying that if you went to Eyrie at three in the morning Dave’s ghost would find you an older bottle of a Pinot from the Eighties.
Dave also gave me my favorite what to drink with suggestion. He said to pour the wine over my girlfriend’s body and lick it off.

Au Bon Climat has 5000 cases of older wine in their library. I asked Jim if he needed help in emptying some of the bottles and he said he did not have enough.

Methinks many winemaker notes would be too technical and critical for public release. It is always easy to think of how one could have done better.

[John_Telford]

Speaking of Oregon I remember Dave Lett telling me he was amazed other wineries did not keep older vintages of pinot gris around.
I feel safe in saying that if you went to Eyrie at three in the morning Dave’s ghost would find you an older bottle of a Pinot from the Eighties.
Dave also gave me my favorite what to drink with suggestion. He said to pour the wine over my girlfriend’s body and lick it off.

Au Bon Climat has 5000 cases of older wine in their library. I asked Jim if he needed help in emptying some of the bottles and he said he did not have enough.

Methinks many winemaker notes would be too technical and critical for public release. It is always easy to think of how one could have done better.

I think you above comment, “would be too technical and critical for public release. It is always easy to think of how one could have done better.”, is probaby correct. But as a long term patron/customer it sure would be “fun” to get these insights. Maybe I have just gotten tired of the “marketing spin” and would just like to get more insights over time from the artisans.

[John_Telford]

Speaking of Oregon I remember Dave Lett telling me he was amazed other wineries did not keep older vintages of pinot gris around.
I feel safe in saying that if you went to Eyrie at three in the morning Dave’s ghost would find you an older bottle of a Pinot from the Eighties.
Dave also gave me my favorite what to drink with suggestion. He said to pour the wine over my girlfriend’s body and lick it off.

Au Bon Climat has 5000 cases of older wine in their library. I asked Jim if he needed help in emptying some of the bottles and he said he did not have enough.

Methinks many winemaker notes would be too technical and critical for public release. It is always easy to think of how one could have done better.

The lick off the girlfriend quote is priceless btw!

I think your above comment, “would be too technical and critical for public release. It is always easy to think of how one could have done better.”, is probaby correct. But as a long term patron/customer it sure would be “fun” to get these insights. Maybe I have just gotten tired of the “marketing spin” and would just like to get more insights over time from the artisans.

[Brian_Tuite]

Most of the wineries I purchase from are small and don’t have library wines to sell so putting together library notes is kinda moot. For me, following the wine after purchase and making up my own mind based on my palate is part of the fun of buying/collecting/enjoying wine. YMMV.

[Uli_K]

I just looked up the tech sheet for the 2010 Virage red blend I’m about to open, and saw that Emily Richer is updating tasting notes even for her library vintages. I do appreciate the guidance, especially for single bottles that I can’t follow over time.

[Mel_Knox]

Another favorite winemaker quote comes from John Williams of Frog’s Leap, who said to me something like ‘I told my staff they can criticize our wine before it is bottled and after it is sold, but in between those times it is the greatest example of that variety every made’

[John_Telford]

I just looked up the tech sheet for the 2010 Virage red blend I’m about to open, and saw that Emily Richer is updating tasting notes even for her library vintages. I do appreciate the guidance, especially for single bottles that I can’t follow over time.

This is great. I will go look. But i still want more…for example “in this vintage/vineyard I changed/or experimented with X, that is what now is resulting in Y”