92 Responses

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1. August 23, 2006

   joe

   Lawrence: good points (including football points). Lawrence, what od you make of Spectator’s bashing of BV and Montelena TCA-ladden and moldy cellars. Real and deserved or political?

   Gary – Never mind that the Jets are not the best team in football – - they may not even be the best team in NJ (Prediction: Giants and Rutgers finish higher in their divisions than the Jets)

2. August 23, 2006

   Lawrence Leichtman

   I wouldn’t even cook with the Falesco it was so bad. Threw out both of the other bottles I had and I don’t like to throw out wine. That’s why it’s Wine Expectator. Gary definitely 91 points today despite the outfit. No team will be 16-0 this year.
   I got into wine from a wine tasting group made up of neigbors and a friend from work. Still do a wine group 27 years later but new people now.

   Question for you. How did Wine Spectator which is just an advertising rag get to be so influential. They are almost routinely of the mark and seem to rate wines based on who advertises with them or who is slipping a few K in their coffers.

3. August 23, 2006

   Dan C.

   Gary- I forgot to rate your episode 76. You get a 91. I liked the different price points. I have tried the first 3 wines and agree with you on each. Maybe our tastes are similar??

4. August 23, 2006

   JDM

   Gary, Great review of the Renard. I was very excited to see it on the queue for today. I am a big fan of the Renard Unti Syrah, which gets a 90 RP. I always wondered if the 1 point better Tres Ninos was worth an extra 20 clams, but based on your rating of 94 I think I’ll have to give it a go. I have had great success buying based on your ratings and recommendations.

   A note on the Falesco… I totally agree. I bought some of this based on the 90pt rating and was very disappointed. Luckily it was only 7 bucks.

   Like I said, I have had great success buying based on your ratings and recommendations, so I would have to give you a 94. Keep up the good work

5. August 23, 2006

   joe

   Gary – awesome episode – a “96″ point classic (to be watched again and again over time). Really nice work. It was real, relaxed, you spent lots of time with the subject, Really taught something valuable – - and I love the “real” descriptors that we all can get (skitles, Dairy). Sometimes I can’t differentiate Parker’s and Spectators reviews apart because of they don’t get to the heart of the wine, like you do.

   I agree 100% with the Falesco review. I bought a case of the stuff (at WL) with its first 90 point review in the 1990s. I was so dissapointed in it – I used half the case to cook with.

   Which brings me to a question I have debated with friends for life. Does Parker and Spectator adjust scores for price?? Is a 91 point (i.e. Vitanno, Marquis Phillips) $10 wine equal in quality to 91 point $50 wine (i.e., a Calon Segur, or Renard). I personally would love for 90 points = “Excellent” regardless of price. That would let me determine which wines to seek depending on my budget. Do you have a feel for ratings adjustments….or an opinion on the proper way to rate a wine (based on price or independent of price)

   After my Vitanno and later Marquis-Phillips experience, I stopped buying wines rated 90 points under $20. Didn’t want to bother with them anymore.

   So Thank you for finding me a real QUALITY wine at a bargin – the Hecula. I don’t trust Parker on ratings of $10 wines – but based on your review I will seek out the Hecula. Thank you for that service.

   I got into wine by visiting Napa during the 1978 harvest. Napa was different then. Not yet Touristy. Vinterns spoke to us – taught us, and we tasted those magical 1978 ripe Grapes while harvesting. That vintage and experience got me hooked.

6. August 23, 2006

   Dan C.

   Gary- After a concert in 2004, one of our friends ordered the 2001 Artazuri with dinner and my wife loved it. A month later, the same friend dropped by and gave us 6 bottles. About a week later, a different friend gave us a bottle of 1993 Opus One as a thank you. Anyway, I bought a home cellar and have been hooked ever since.

   Great episode. The 2002 Hecula was the second case of wine I ever bought in the summer of 2004. It was a great buy.

   Dan

7. August 23, 2006

   SeanM

   Are you thinking Vanilla Milkshake when you say it smells milky? You said you know it’s something to do with the oak.

   Better episode, less rushed, remembered the questions, I even have an answer for the QOD. 91

   Mel Gibson in the movie “What Women Want” has a case of merlot fetched by one of the gals in the movie, so I went and got a bottle of under $10 Chilean merlot which turned out pretty good. Been stuck ever since. The science showing that red wine was good for you helped me along to trying wine as well, but isn’t as entertaining a story.

8. August 23, 2006

   Tony S.

   Hey other Tony,

   Finally, someone else who agrees that California wine (or new world in general) is not an old world wine and can appreciate BOTH styles!

   See you later,
   Tony

   and go Bears!

9. August 23, 2006

   Michael P

   Gary,
   There’s one thing I’ve been wanting to tell you. I feel that this race to post first concept is silly. It seems to me that the first 4-5 posters probably skip the episode just to post first & who knows if they even go back to watch it. If you were to look at this thread alone only 1 out of the first 5 went back to post something relevant to the episode. I just think it really waters down WLTV & loses focus on its real purpose.

   Ok enough of my rants. The reason I got into wine was because of my father-in-law. Before my wife & got married he was a hard nut to crack if you will. I needed an “in” with him & at the time we only had one thing in common & that was sports; baseball in particular. Since he was a former MLB player there were only so many arguments or strategies I could win & I was never going to be able to bs him. So that left me with wine. I knew he really liked it so I began to read every publication known to man & taste many different cabs (his fav). I found out what his favorite bottle was & learned it inside & out. I’m happy to report that it worked!!! The only problem now is that its become an obsession with me. A very expensive one. So much so that I just had to have my own cellar. One which we built together & I told him that he could only gain access to it by providing a minimum of 3 cases. And he did!!! We have really bonded.
   Thanks Gary for allowing me to share this story. Not too many people know it.
   Cheers!

10. August 23, 2006

    Darlene O.

    Firstly, I’d rate this episode a strong 96. And I totally agree with you about the Vitiano!!!

    Secondly, my father is right off the boat from Yugoslavia and his father had his own cellar, even made Slivovitsa. Wine was always talked about, even though it was not served to us kids growing up. I think what got me into wine seriously was being introduced, in the middle of the Carribbean, to a 1976 Chateau Margaux. Holy cow!!!! The rest is history.

11. August 23, 2006

    MikeMe

    My wife got me into wine about 5yrs ago (I was weak after a bad micro-brew) and never looked back. Living in WA I am surrounded by great wineries and CA is just a 2hr flight away – “when in Rome”.

    Gary if I rated you on passion we would have to move to the richter scale – show gets 94.

12. August 22, 2006

    TimF

    Episode is rated 91. The biggest wine influence I had was a college class I took. They had a full semester wine appreciation class at Purdue — where I got my undergrad degree. It was a fully legit class with 300 students. We had an hour lecture, then about an hour tasting (serving 300 students was tough!), then we usually watched a video the last hour. Get this, my prof’s name was Professor Vine. I’m not making it up. You can find the textbook we used (he wrote it) online if you look hard enough. I guess he was the wine buyer for United Airlines for quite some time and really knew his wine…

    http://www.agriculture.purdue.edu/connections/spring2005/wb02_04.htm

13. August 22, 2006

    Bob Berke

    I lived near the Napa/Sonoma area so it was a natural thing to get into wine, sort of an evolutionary process, besides my grandfather made wine, when he wasn’t drilling on peoples teeth.

    Rating 92-93 and for those who are so uptight and don’t appreciate Gary’s approach and levity with wine, go shop at Berry Brothers and Rudd in London, they are right your alley!

14. August 22, 2006

    ChrisR

    Awesome episode. 92-94pts. And thanks for covering South African wines yesterday. I’m almost as obsessed with them as much I am with WLTV, which has become the highlight of my night after a long day at work.

15. August 22, 2006

    ray n

    I definitely learned to appreciate wines from my father. Growing up in an Italian family, there was always wine on the table. It always found it interesting that my father loves wines, but still can’t really drink any other alcoholic beverages. Now, I continue my love for wine being involved in the restaurant business with my friends.
    I am a Jet fan too, but I would be happy with 9-7 this year.

16. August 22, 2006

    Mike F.

    Thanks Gary! E mail is on the way. The pink shirt should do wonders to dispel my image as an uber geek.

17. August 22, 2006

    MarcT

    Nice job MikeF…You paid attention to the question.
    Gary another great episode…14 pts…(94 to the magazine junkies).
    Wine turned me on to wine…I have always been a foodie and naturally ordered wines while eating. By the grace of a few great wine stewards I have become an oenophile to the core!
    I like how you are wearing Mike Vick’s number 7 practice jersey today GO FALCONS!!!

18. August 22, 2006

    ML

    Great episode GV. I like the Skittles and Twizzler reference. I give you a 94. Maybe you can attempt to do the next wine tasting while wearing a Jets helmet?

19. August 22, 2006

    garyv

    MIKE F WINS !!!!! MIKE EMAIL ME!!!!!

20. August 22, 2006

    PeteB

    Mike F. gets it – 6/9/1997 the date the http://www.winelibrary.com domain was registered.

    GV – I’ll go a 90 on this one!

    How I got into wine: my wife and I got into it together – we started going to byob’s and visiting our local liquor store before our dinner and it has grown from there – now we have our little collection and visit the wine library to stock our goodies. As a matter of fact I’ll probably be stopping in tomorrow or this week for a little re-stocking.

    P.S. – GV are you still on schedule to do that Champagne testing. Looking forward to some new bubbly!

21. August 22, 2006

    Doug Smith

    Gary,

    Just finished episode 76 (I stumbled across WLTV while surfing a new Google video feature…) I am hooked. Love what you are doing. I believe you are on to something real and will be a MAJOR influence in the future. I look forward to watching you accomplish this while enjoying the education (entertainment) you provide along the way.

    Ratings… I would give you a solid 94.

22. August 22, 2006

    Grant

    … huh? do you really usually decant wine nine hours before drinking?

23. August 22, 2006

    Rebecca

    Today’s episode was definately a 92+….not only for the education but also because you were definately pumped up today.
    My interest in wine started when my parents took me to California when I was a teenager and we visited vinyards. Although we drank wine at the dinner table in my family, it was nothing compaired to my experience in California. I sort-of from there became self-educated by simply reading, buying and drinking. My education and passion then flourised when I attended Culinary Institute of America. My instructors for Wine Studies, Michael Weiss and Steve Kolpan, really made me understand appelations, regions, countries, wine laws, varietals, terroir, old world wines, new world wines, food and wine pairing, etc.
    To answer LMA comment #34, my family just had wine with Sunday dinner (rarely on weeknights as dinner was usually 1-2-3 then and sometimes we weren’t even all together), it was part of the meal so we really weren’t exposed to it in an irresponsible manner if you will…and, that goes back to as early as I can remember.
    My question for you Gary — we all appreciate your passion for the Jets – and I sincerely wish that your team sees a perfect season this year – the more pumped you are, the better our WLTV will get but, I have the same question that somebody else asked recently – do you like baseball and if so what team? I’m wondering if you’ll ever put a NY Yankees hat, photo, lunchbox (I did like that Jets lunchbox) something on your set one day just for us Yankees fans…a 5-game sweep against Boston this past weekend is something worth a little recognition, don’t you think? I thought it was HUGE!!

24. August 22, 2006

    Tony

    Tony S…

    I agree completely. California wine is wonderful for what it is. It’s not Bordeaux and that’s great. I love Bordeaux and I love California cabs. But they’re not the same thing and I don’t want them to be the same thing.

25. August 22, 2006

    Russ J

    91 points for the base episode, plus a bonus 2 points for the “Jersey” attitude when calling out your critics, so 93 today.
    My wine habit has been mostly self motivated. I gradually went from buying the Chardonnay with the highest alchohol content to bring on dates, to where I am now: buying the red zinfandel with the highest alchohol content to bring home to my wife….
    Matty Van: Muddy Waters has a partial answer to your query, “Champagne and reefer”.

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