Happy Thirteenth Birthday to BWE!

[JimHow]

As of Tuesday morning eastern time in the U.S., it has been THIRTEEN years since the creation of Bordeaux Wine Enthusiasts!

What a ride!

My humble thanks to ALL participants, past and present, for producing by the far the best wine website on the internet.

Looking forward to the next thirteen years, and beyond!

Here is that primordial discussion begun at 11:02 a.m., Saturday, February 26, 2000.

I was a little sleepy still from an old school 1975 Leoville Las Cases from the night before.

Only 49 minutes after Genesis, we are joined by Ben "Whuzzup__" Nelson, then of Indianapolis.

And the rest is history! What a remarkable 13 years: happiness, sadness, births, world celebration, world tragedy.

Through it all, the friendships of BWE have endured!

A truly wonderful, life changing experience.

Congratulations, BWE!

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Recommend Delete Message 1 of 1 in Discussion

From: JimHow (Original Message) Sent: 2/26/2000 11:02 AM
I have created this community on 2/26/00 in the hope that I can get at least 10-20 Bordeaux enthusiasts to keep a lively discussion going on a weekly basis. I was very frustrated when Wine Spectator changed the format of their bulletin boards. We had a good community of Bordeaux "experts" under the old Wine Spectator system who came on board regularly and offered a lot of information on tasting notes, where to find deals, etc. For some reason, the editors at WS changed to a much less user-friendly system and they have arrogantly ignored our requests to go back to the old format. If we can get some of the old participants to visit here, and work out any kinks along the way to improve this site, I am convinced we can generate some of the old enthusiasm. Time will tell....




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Recommend Delete Message 2 of 1 in Discussion

From: Whuzzup_ Sent: 2/26/2000 11:51 AM
Hey JimHow. I am in full support. I have tried some interesting wines lately. When I have a little time this weekend I will post some notes. Thanks for taking the initiative. Ben


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Recommend Delete Message 3 of 1 in Discussion

From: JimHow Sent: 2/26/2000 11:57 AM
Great to see you here, Ben. I'm really game to give this a try. I'll be posting some tasting notes as well this weekend. Any help or suggestions would be appreciated greatly. Thanks, Jim.


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Recommend Delete Message 4 of 1 in Discussion

From: Whuzzup_ Sent: 2/26/2000 7:28 PM
Got a question for ya: I like to share TNs with you guys on non- Bordeaux wines from time to time. I figure we all have similar palates so that if I run into something I like I should share... is it ok to break out of the Bordeaux topic from time to time?


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Recommend Delete Message 5 of 1 in Discussion

From: JimHow Sent: 2/26/2000 11:40 PM
Of course you can write about anything, Ben, I always look forward to your comments. At this point, as we're just getting started, I'm looking for as much discussion as possible....I've got some essays in my word processor that I'm trying to figure out how to get to this site. I've got a lot of ideas on how we can improve this site, I just want to get to know it better. But by all means, give us your notes on California or anything else.... Thanks, Jim.JimHow

[DavidG]

Happy Anniversary to BWE!

[JCNorthway]

Related to the birth of BWE, does anyone happen to have a copy of the thread from WS where JScott says, "Last one out turn off the lights?" That would be a fabulous collector's item to have in the BWE archives. For those of you who were not around in the beginning, apologies. It's a part of the move of people away from the old WS boards over to BWE.

Happy 13th anniversary to us!

[stefan]

Happy 13th, BWE and BWEers everywhere.

[Michael Malinoski]

Missed the first 5 years, but have enjoyed being here the past 8. Many thanks to Jim and all of those who make for a friendly community!

Michael

[AlohaArtakaHoundsong]

"Word processor" Was it really 2000?

[Bacchus]

Happy Birthday BWE, and congratulations Jim on a job well-done. I only joined a couple of years ago and am very glad I did. It's a great place to discuss Bdx. In fact, I don't think there's any other board specifically dedicated to the discussion of Bdx (there are, or course, some dedicated blogs, but not old school discussion boards like this one). Moreover, this thread has cleared up a few things for me. For some reason I was under the impression that BWE got its start in the wake of some issues on the Parker board. I now know it was issues with the Wine Spectator that gave birth to this board. What's funny is that I used to check out the Wine Spectator site back at about the time this board got its start. But at that time I was more interested in CA and Aussie wines than Bdx. Haven't been on that site in years.

Maybe we should all open up something from the 2000 vintage to celebrate.

[dan-the-man]

Happy anny, and many more!

[Jeff Leve]

13 years! WOW! That is quite an accomplishment! Congratulations...

[Gerry M.]

My thanks go out to Michael and Andy for introducing me to BWE! It's been a fun and rewarding experience here and time well spent. Looking forward to being around for years to come and hope to someday make one of the much celebrated conventions!

[robertgoulet]

Congrats all around...hope to meet some of u one day

[Tom In DC]

Was the word processor a Wang?

Congrats to all, and thanks again, Jim!

[Nicklasss]

Congratulations to you all, to make that wine community so living, respectful, passionate and fun, for the last 13 years.

BWE went threw all kind of things, but I'm impressed that a lonely man, from Maine, started that community and all the good people I've met, all the good wines shared, and all the good things to come in the future.

Long Life to BWE.

Nic

[Blanquito]

I joined BWE in 2003, after looking for notes on the heralded 2000 vintage.

Like family, we have fun together, we fight together, we stick together.

Long live BWE and the BD!