Are we supposed to answer to all the questions and constantly have to justify ourselves?

Well, apparently we do as I had to spend my lunch time answering questions…
Below an astonishing message I received Friday Morning. I want to point out that this message was sent at 8:56 am from a professional address to one of my colleague negociant and is about a personal subject:

“Allow me to contact you again.
Maybe you didn’t like the bottles of “LOPEZ CALVO” which I gave you some time ago?
Jean-Luc Thunevin didn’t like them at all.
In my opinion, he is prisoner of his stereotyped taste Parker likes so much, and I understand as it brings plenty of business.

I am convinced that we are going to go back to a great diversity of flavors and that our wines, which contain no chemical residue, have a great future (which is already the case). We can read more and more articles in the press on chemical residue in wine, including fine wines and I believe that this is only the beginning.

Please, accept my greatest salutations and I am sending a copy at the same time to Mister THUNEVIN for (because?) he is an honest man a bit atypical, even if he doesn’t like my wine.”

I don’t understand why write to my colleague – who didn’t ask anything – that I didn’t like the wine you sent me. When you ask a question, the answer can be either positive OR negative, or it would not make sense to ask a question.

My taste is not meant to be stereotyped in any particular way (this statement is out of place when one knows my history) and pleases Parker so much (what does he have to do with this?). Regarding the point about business, you are contacting again a colleague negociant as well as my company to sell us wine, but of course, this isn’t business!

You are right regarding the evolution of taste and flavors and I will be sure to contact you when I need advice. You actually wanted to do an internship in my vineyards to learn. I must not have understood correctly, you probably wanted to teach me.

Chemical residue are in fact a real problem concerning all wines and probably even the ones you like and that I like, sell or produce.

I appreciate that you consider me to be an honest man (how do you know?) and atypical (I don’t understand this statement as you write above that my taste is stereotyped, and pleases Parker so much).

If I publish this comment on my blog is to say that some times, even without ever asking, I am simply polite and answer nicely someone who hailed me in an airport because he recognized me.

Conclusion: When a journalist or a customer doesn’t like my wines or one of my friend’s wines, I rarely accuse him of having the Duqueroix taste, and rarely talk about his (or her) honesty and I spend time making sure that this opinion, if different from mine is justified (or not). And if this happens to me regularly, I would feel obliged to draw some conclusion, but maybe I simply respect to much one’s taste?