Happy 25th Birthday BWE!

[JimHow]

It was really good to see Peter (and Julia) this past weekend in Miami, Peter has not changed since I met him a quarter century ago. Peter was one of the very first BWEers in that first 24 hour hours after we created the site, after "Genesis," one of the first managers of BWE, along with Ben Nelson, J. Scott Cardone, and Dennis Bates. Earliest first year members who are still with us include Bill and Jan Johnson, Jean-Nicolas Maltais, Michael Palmieri, JC Northway, and others. And of course the group expanded exponentially from there, including Ed Baum, Howard Spector, Stuart Roberts, Tom Wheltle, David Glasser, Danny Tenaschuk, Chris Bublitz, Jay Winton, Tim McCracken, Harry Cantrell, Alex Rychlewski, Ian Amsted, Jacques Levy, Joel, JC, JF, BP, PM, RP, Noah, Jimmy, Rob and Sue Dayton, Racer Chris, Ognik, if I keep going I will leave out many names, you know who you are, Claudius, HBL, GBF, Gerry, Eric, and the Boston crew, etc., etc., I can't name you all, but my gratitude is from the bottom of my heart.... What an incredible run! Incredible gratitude to all BWEers, past and present, old and new, for your contributions to this site, the greatest wine website in the world. Wow. 25 years.

I will always remember John Dawson, Pappa Doc, in any special BWE occasion, I loved that man, he was as solid a person as I've ever met.

And so...

And as is our annual tradition, I am posting that very first exchange between myself and Ben “Whuzzup__” Nelson… 25 years ago….

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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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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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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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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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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

[Claudius2]

Yes indeed, happy 25th birthday.
it is a bit scary that it has been that long and how quickly the years have passed.

I think my first ever post was about the 2016 Sociando Mallet, which become the WOTY.
cheers
Mark

[JCNorthway]

Happy 25th Birthday BWE! I was just a kid when this started.

[stefan]

It is sobering to realize that I was already a card carrying AARP member at the beginning.

Happy Birthday, youngster BWE!

[JimHow]

I know, Stefan, I thought you were old then and now I’m 11 years older than you were then.

[Nicklasss]

Happy birthday BWE.

[ericp]

Happy Bday BWE!

Jim, +11 years, thats seriously funny lol

[michael]

Happy birthday BWE! Those 25 years have flown by. I still think of this group every time I raise a glass of Bordeaux and it's great to see the relationships formed. While I don't post much, I still very much enjoy hearing about the wines and adventures.

[JimHow]

Hey Michael Case, very great to hear from you. For newer BWEers, you will not know about Michael and his technical contributions to BWE -- he was actually an assistant manager for a time -- it is always heartening to see these posts out of nowhere from BWEers from the past.

Now, if we can only hear from Wyomissing and Esmonin.....

[Jay Winton]

25 years is an achievement!

[dstgolf]

Happy Birthday 25th BWE and thanks for the memories and friendships over these years.