How Calling Barefoot Chardonnay a Gewürztraminer Got Me 100,000 Views (and 5 Paid Subscribers)

Why showing your thought process matters more than being right

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I’ve been a long-time lurker on Reddit’s r/wine, with some activity on posts on which people ask for wine or career recommendations. Yesterday, I decided to do an AMA on the same subreddit for the first time in my life, thinking “will this be interesting to anyone really?”

Instead, it exploded.
100,000+ views.
Hundreds and hundreds of comments, some roasting the hell out of me, but the majority of them initiating some great conversations.
And 30 people hit “subscribe” on my Substack. Five of them deciding to pay.

All I did was admit - in public - that I mistook Barefoot Chardonnay for Central Otago Gewürztraminer in a blind tasting.

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Why it worked

Reddit is a totally different animal compared to other social media platforms like Instagram or LinkedIN. You don’t “build a brand” there. You get challenged and debates get heated, because people’s usernames are not as important. If you show up with honesty and actual expertise, people listen and I find that beautiful.

I believe my post worked because it was:

• Vulnerable - People love a good “I fucked up” story.

• Specific - This wasn’t vague imposter syndrome. It was “how in the world did you confuse the two, we need answers.”

• Useful - I explained how it happened and what could help other students to avoid the same mistake in their exams.

• Conversational - No lecturing and no sales pitch. Just the good ol’ back-and-forth with wine geeks.

Turns out: showing critical thinking > showing off your knowledge.

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For other wine educators or writers:

This whole thing reminded me of something simple but powerful: people respond to the real you.

If you're trying to grow your own platform:

• Teach in public

• Share your mistakes

• Answer real questions, not made up ones (and never give vague answers)

• Stop performing expertise - demonstrate it through clarity and humility

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This experience gave me an enormous drive to keep posting more wine content, blind tasting breakdowns, and study strategies here - and maybe a few more tasting disasters along the way.

If you’re new: welcome and thank you for following.
If you’ve made a worse blind tasting call than me…do tell.

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As always, thanks for reading - stay thirsty, stay curious. If you would like to further support me, you can follow me on Instagram or LinkedIN or tell your friends about this newsletter.

Aleksandar