Your comments...round 2

Just so you know, I love them!  Really, I do.  I so appreciate it when people leave comments on the blog, and I love to discover that I have a new, or maybe old reader, that has just found something worthwhile to say on the blog.

I know how it is.  If you are a blogger, then you are also a blog reader.  I have my favorites, that I read regularly, and every once-in-awhile I want to weigh in.   Often though, I start the comment, then doubt creeps in.  Is this comment really relevant?  Am I like some of the other commentors, just trying to draw attention to myself and my own blog?  Well, no, I only comment when I have something valid to contribute, or feel some sort of connection with a particular post.  But I always wonder - belittling myself and raising the comment receiving blogger up onto a pedestal that they may or may not deserve - will they think that my words and opinions are worthwhile???

OOPS!  Wait I hadn't finished this!!   This first part was accidentally published last night, when Matt was installing a new fancy Cisco router and was doing me a favor by clicking the save button!!  Little did he know that it went directly onto the web.  I didn't realize it was published until this morning when I received the comment notification email for the comment from Ryan!  Oops!  At least it seemed somewhat coherent, though unfinished!  (For those of you who didn't see the first post, sorry for the long explanation!)

Anyway where I was planning on going with this post was to highlight some of the people who comment most often on my blog, I figured if they were willing, we could all get to know them a bit better... so here are those who chose to respond to my request for information:

Steve Lanum: I met Steve  back in 2001 or 2002 when we lived in Paris.  He's a San Francisco resident who we met through the Kermit Lynch store.  Unfortunately, he tells me he's not tech savvy enough to send me a photo!  Steve spends a fair amount of time in Paris, checking out the latest "natural" wines and hopefully he'll make it down here for a visit someday...

John G: Better known as Mr. Quaffability, I think the first time John left a comment was when the 2005 arrived in the Bay Area,  but I'm not sure.  Since then we've emailed back and forth several times and he even came for a visit last summer with his family.  When he's not busy blogging, or combing the shelves of Trader Joe's for great wine deals, John is a web developer in Santa Rosa, CA.

Tim Stephens: Tim, along with several other people, went to an amazing amount of trouble to get a hold of some of our 2005.  Tim is a "home" winemaker, as he describes himself, making about 20 cases of wine per year.  But he knows a heck of a lot more than I do about wine chemistry.  Sometimes when I read his comments I think that he should have been the one to come over here and buy vineyards, not me!!  We have lots of back and forth chats over email, I'm sure some day we'll have the opportunity to meet in person.  Check out his blog here : Château Bon Chien

Iris: Iris has a winery not very far from here, about an hour as the crow flies, yet we have never had the chance to meet.  She also has a wonderful blog, and is much more courageous than I am, in that she maintains her blog in French and in German - her native tongue.  As she said in her reply to my questions, she often is doing the same things as we are, at the same time, celebrating rain or lamenting the lack there of.  She often looks upon things with humor and good will, even when the boars came and devasted a large part of one of her vineyards.  I like to think of our winery as small, but Iris is even more artisanal than we are, she even bottles her wine barrel by barrel with a small unit that fills 4 bottles at a time, then proceeds to cork each bottle with a manual corking device.  Pretty amazing.  If you read French or German take the time to visit her at her  Blog de Lisson.

Greg Hirson: Greg first got in touch with me when he discovered our 2005 on a wine list in Portland, he even sent us a picture.   Since then he regularly pipes in on various posts, always with a generous enthusiasm that makes me smile.  Greg is at UC Davis getting a graduate degree in Viticulture & Enology.  He's even making his own wine this year at a custom crush facility with some friends.  Greg is also quite a passionate cook, he chronicles his explorations of various cookbooks and cooking techniques here: Greg's Food

There are many others, that either wish to remain anonymous, or didn't have time to reply to my email, I know how it is, so I hope that they continue to comment, as I do so enjoy getting all of your feedback and kind thoughts!  Thank you all!

Comments

[ryan]

I know the feeling well! I've been a long time reader of your blog! Also I recommend it a lot. So I might as well comment. Keep up the great work and I hope you try to make it to the wine bloggers conference this coming August, if the harvest does not start to early. http://www.catavino.net/2008/01/17/european-wine-blogger-conference-2008/

[MrTaz]

Amy,
I totally understand your dilemma. I often go through the same process of starting to comment, then backing out. For what it's worth, I've probably posted more comments on your blog than any others (except my son's and my dad's!). Maybe, if I had my own blog or web site to promote, I'd be commenting more widely.

BTW, my earlier posts were under another name. If you want to guess who, email me.

[Iris]

As you know already, I'm among your regulary readers. As a fellow-winemaker, it's a great pleasure for me, to be able to follow what is going on "on the other side of the fence". Sometimes, it inspires a comment, as often we are buisy with the same work. Sometimes, I try to "confort" you, when you are talking about deceptions (like the refusé à l'agrément story).

My comments are probably never very important, but as I'm a blogger myself, I know, how much I like it, when I have a comment on an article, I spend my time to write - some feed-back, which encourages me, to go on writing, wandering around with my camera in my trouser pocket, to share the pleasure, I take in my daily work.

So if ever you feel like commenting: go ahead, you're welcome:-)!

[Tim Stephens]

I too have started comments only to not be able to find the words to express my thoughts or feelings on a subject. Therefore, all too often, I abandon them. But comments create dialogs (for lack of a better word) that might never otherwise take place between people with only one degree of separation between them. That's an incredibly powerful community building tool. I try to keep my comments relevant and, hopefully, sometimes they add something to the conversation. But it's also nice to let the bloggers you love know you're not just a blog-stat but that you are actually interested, listening and care. So thanks, Amy, we all very much do care! You throw a lovely on-line party! :-)

[Iris]

Comment on version 2: (the first one was, as you will have noticed, to the trunked first one:-)).

What a nice idea, to present your "fidèle" community of readers, perhaps it will encourage others, to participate.

You could tell Steve to send you a photo in a envelope - you could always scan it for your blog (old fashioned ways of transferring information still exist - we tend to forget that).

Nice to discover some of your other readers, I will go through Tims blog one evening - I already discovered his passe partout label, which allows to ad just the current year of the vintage - good idea for small bottlings! I too meet often wine lovers, who know more about oenologies than I have ever learned, always an occasion to enlarge my knowledge...