If Bloggers Want to be taken Seriously, they should get serious.

Here is a post from January 3, 2010.

2003 Bonair Cabernet Sauvignon

marward 86/100

"Pretty harsh / alcohol on the nose. Overall, it was kind of blah, definitely not as good as we'd expected or remember. Note: after opening the bottle, we read on the label that this wine is meant to age 7 years. I'd be interested if anyone has done this with the Bonair wines."

Okay, Marward never gives anything over 92 and does go below 80, so 86 is pretty good. I could give a rip on the number.

If bloggers want to be taken seriously about wine evaluations, they need to get some facts first

The first fact that is missing is what is the wine? In 2003, Bonair Winery made five cabernet Sauvignons. 1) the Morrison Vineyard, Yakima Valley. 2)the Yakima Valley (no vineyard), 3)Washington State (1.5 liter bottles.) 4)Chateau Puryear Reserve Washington State, and 5)Columbia Valley. So, we don't know which wine it is that Marward is speaking. Wow, that really helps a lot.

Lesson one for Bloggers: State all information on the bottle, including the vintage date (if any), a vineyard designation (if any) and the appellation, be it Rattlesnake Hills, Yakima Valley, Columbia Valley, or Washington State. Not all wineries make just one wine per varietal.

Marward says the wine is alcoholic. Does Marward know that 2003 was the warmest year in the history of grape growing in Eastern Washington? This is probably an accurate assessment.

Lesson two for Bloggers: Know the history of the wines. 2003 was a great year for real "Yakima Valley Cabs" (the ones from Prosser Flats) because they had enough heat to burn out the vegetal flavors. Red Mountain and Rattlesnake Hills were very warm and high in alcohol.

Does anyone age Bonair Wines for seven years? Yes, I have a few customers who do, and I do at the winery. I drink a lot of Bonair Cabs that are over 12 years old.

Lesson three for Bloggers: Ask the winery questions. We all have emails and most answer promptly - unless you are asking for free wine, then MailWasher takes care of you.

Cork'd website makes you list wines by price using $. Nowhere could I find the significance of the $. The wine in question is $$ out of $$$$. What in the hell does that mean?

Lesson four for Bloggers: State the price you paid for the wine or at least make it easy to figure out what your cute little $ means. It would be nice to know if you are rating our barrel select wines or our tank-fermented, oak-chipped wines.

Lesson five for Bloggers: Be current. I'm not even sure the winery has any of the 2003 in question (since we don't really know what wine we are talking about.) If you gave it a 100, no one could buy it, so thanks for the history, but who cares what you are drinking from your private cellar. If you want to talk about old wine, find a site that does that.

Lesson six for Bloggers: Post your profile. Frankly, if I don't know who you are, what you like, what is your experience with wine, and where you are coming from, it is totally meaningless.