Theise on Internet wine bulletin boards

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Oswaldo Costa

Oswaldo Costa
On the other hand, for most of us, no one is going to read our tasting notes, so we can write whatever we want. I say this notwithstanding the distressing phenomenon of Internet wine bulletin boards wherein people share their tasting notes with other lonely wine geeks. I'm sure this is fun for them, but I find it a little sad. I have a melancholy feeling that lots of people spend their weekends drinking wine in order to post their notes on Monday. "Look what I drink!" The cork is pulled, and suddenly there are all these hypothetical eyes upon you. Your life becomes a kind of performance. But don't mind me. I'm just a private, introverted guy, and my relationship with wine has always been intimate.

This, I agree with, but what about the weekdays?
 
I just finished the book, and appreciated the many moments of eloquent prose, frequently poignant, occasionally overwrought. My beef would be that it's mostly about grand issues, lofty and abstract, which I found unenlightening for those already on board, and very little about what I wanted to read, namely his takes on issues like how changing practices and perceptions of how dry to vinify each level of ripeness, filtering, sulfur and other means to prevent refermentation, to malo or not to malo, stuff like that. Perhaps he wanted to, but the editors thought it too geeky for the general public, but the subject is already too rarefied for anyone who isn't already enthusiastic enough to care about some nitty gritty.
 
"Look what I drink" isn't the only way for life to become a performance. Even his solitary drinking is a performance, for himself.

I know it's easy to criticize and make fun of people, but as a fairly social guy I always enjoyed the social nature of people sharing their drinking experiences. Even if they are 'showing off' at times, as long as it's in the spirit of enjoying wine, it seems fine by me.

Not sure what kind of impersonal anti-social human existence he is advocating.
 
originally posted by Cory Cartwright:
I would actually much rather hear winemakers themselves weigh in on that sort of thing than anyone else.
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True, but in the interest of concision, and since winemakers rarely write about this sort of thing, Theise is in a better position than just about anyone to summarize what he has gleaned from conversations with the winemakers he visits yearly.
 
Well, if he's right, then Parker's right, since he said almost the same thing. But...he...said...it...like...this...

Edit: you know what, never mind. The DCers have me convinced that I may not be reading this right.
 
His imagined self.

He has never struck me as a shrinking violet, but maybe it's all an act and he goes home and throws up from the anxiety.

hahahaha.
 
The man has great courage, to stand up to the politburo like that.

I know I couldn't do it.
 
originally posted by SFJoe:
His imagined self.

He has never struck me as a shrinking violet, but maybe it's all an act and he goes home and throws up from the anxiety.

hahahaha.
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It strikes me that he has viewed the phenomenon in the most cynical and jaded way possible. Does he have some axe to grind, I wonder? As for Rahsaan (and many of you, I suspect) wine is part of the larger social milieu for me. Wine, food, conversation and simple human contact all form a part of the experience. If I chose to post some record of that experience on a public Internet forum, so what?

Of course, it could just be that he gained his impressions from looking in on the wrong Internet boards fora.

Mark Lipton
 
originally posted by MLipton:
originally posted by SFJoe:
His imagined self.

He has never struck me as a shrinking violet, but maybe it's all an act and he goes home and throws up from the anxiety.

hahahaha.
Click to expand...

Of course, it could just be that he gained his impressions from looking in on the wrong Internet boards fora.
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Ding ding ding!
 
originally posted by Thor:

I'm just a private, introverted guy, and my relationship with wine has always been intimate.
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...is, pardon the language, just a big fucking lie. Really, Mr. ultra-loquacious catalog-penning importer, promoting your wines all over the country, talking them up at every opportunity, selling them to all who will take them, trumpeting the glories of your portfolio? No, I don't think so. Maybe your relationship with wine at home is intimate and introverted. But the other 98% of it is anything but.
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I believe he meant this as irony softening his remark. I mean, I'm sure he does think his deepest relationship with wine is intimate, but he knows he's not a private, introverted guy, or at least the implied author of his writing does. It's a fairly subtle tonal shift for which, alas, we don't have emoticons.
 
I've never met Theise, but haven't liked any writing by him that I've encountered, on boards or in catalogs. I don't like this bit either.
 
originally posted by Rahsaan:
"Look what I drink" isn't the only way for life to become a performance. Even his solitary drinking is a performance, for himself.

I know it's easy to criticize and make fun of people, but as a fairly social guy I always enjoyed the social nature of people sharing their drinking experiences. Even if they are 'showing off' at times, as long as it's in the spirit of enjoying wine, it seems fine by me.

Not sure what kind of impersonal anti-social human existence he is advocating.
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I was going to retreat to a cave in the Sierras with excellent ambient temperature, stable year round, just me and my wine cellar. But I couldn't get DSL or cable up there.
 
originally posted by Thor:
Hmmm. You could very well be right. I need to edit my post.
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yeah, especially since I made a point of telling Terry and Odessa that they have to drink with you and Theres now that T & O are up sort of your way.
 
originally posted by Ian Fitzsimmons:
I've never met Theise, but haven't liked any writing by him that I've encountered, on boards or in catalogs. I don't like this bit either.
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oh, get over it, crankypants! Terry is a hoot and fun to be around.
 
originally posted by Cory Cartwright:
I would actually much rather hear winemakers themselves weigh in on that sort of thing than anyone else.
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Thank You Cory! That needed to be said...I'm filing most of this discussion and the other thread under 'A little knowledge is a dangerous thing'

I particularly liked Eric's comments..
"there are tons of splendid terroir wines (burgundy and mosel come to mind) that are inoculated and tons of terrible carbonic fruit salad that express terroir as beautifully as Yellow Tail and that are native fermented...."

WAAY too much Internet postering and self-promotion going on. Let the vignerons make the wine....
 
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