Comments on: Chilean Values! – Episode #93

By: John J.

John J. — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 12:29:42 +0000

Saw in the comments Gary, you’re supposed to be in Sunnyvale Ca. Guess you brought your dad’s birds with you.
If you’re looking for requests for shows we’ve never seen, one on vin jaune, and one on a tasting of different charbono’s would be nice

By: PsychoI3oy

PsychoI3oy — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 15:51:43 +0000

I’m surprised nobody mentioned the smell on the Los Vascos Cab Sauv of ‘paper’. Such a popular wine being bad is not out of character for WLTV, but is it possible that it was corked?

By: thefanjestic

thefanjestic — Sat, 16 Feb 2008 04:02:13 +0000

Yoohoo? Are you kidding me? Anything less than 99 points is an insult for possibly one of the greatest inventions of all time!! Forget electricity, the phone or indoor plumbbing. Yoohoo tops them all!

Good episode – I need to try one of those Baca wines.

By: David Canada

David Canada — Wed, 18 Jul 2007 18:48:16 +0000

This will get me to try a $10 bottle again…thanks for the kick in the ass.’

By: Chris Stanisci

Chris Stanisci — Fri, 22 Sep 2006 03:59:34 +0000

RJ (& any WLTVer),

Please post your email address in a comment on Episode #88 (that’s the one I’ll be checking as this is the episode where “your favorite restaurant” was the QOD).

By: Chris Stanisci

Chris Stanisci — Fri, 22 Sep 2006 03:51:13 +0000

I need your email address to send you the Restaurant spreadsheet…please post.

By: Vinacull

Vinacull — Thu, 21 Sep 2006 13:30:30 +0000

Thanks Julius for the RP quote! Informative and a great reminder. Cheers, C

By: RJ

RJ — Wed, 20 Sep 2006 19:08:22 +0000

Chris, pls. add me to email lists. Tks. RJ

By: Julius

Julius — Wed, 20 Sep 2006 15:32:13 +0000

I thought it would be interesting to see what Robert Parker has to say about his “Tasting Notes and Ratings.” It should be noted that RP typically tastes and rates wines in peer groups, so the scores should be looked at in a relative way rather than as an absolute. If, for instance, he scores Sauvignon Blancs no higher than 90, than we might look at that 90 as the equivalent of a 97-98 Cabernet Sauvignon. But as he states, the written commentary offers better information. If you like the characteristics that he describes in a specific wine and it is at a price point you would be willing to spend then why not buy it.

(The excerpt from eRobertParker.com follows below)

“There are specific standards of quality that full-time wine professionals recognize, and there are benchmark wines against which others can be judged. I know of no one with three or four different glasses of wine in front of him or her, regardless of how good or bad the wines might be, who cannot say, “I prefer this one to that one.” Scoring wines is simply taking a professional’s opinion and applying some sort of numerical system to it on a consistent basis. Scoring permits rapid communication of information to expert and novice alike.”

“Scores, however, do not reveal the important facts about a wine. The written commentary that accompanies the ratings is a better source of information regarding the wine’s style and personality, its relative quality vis-Ã -vis its peers, and its value and aging potential than any score could ever indicate.”

“Scores are important for the reader to gauge a professional critic’s overall qualitative placement of a wine vis-Ã -vis its peer group. However, it is also vital to consider the description of the wine’s style, personality, and potential. No scoring system is perfect, but a system that provides for flexibility in scores, if applied by the same taster without prejudice, can quantify different levels of wine quality and provide the reader with one professional’s judgment. However, there can never be any substitute for your own palate nor any better education than tasting the wine yourself.”

By: Tony

Tony — Wed, 20 Sep 2006 15:04:24 +0000

Chris Stan, I’d love a copy of the restaurant list. Great work! WS did a big article on San Francisoc restaurants this month, and included a section on wine bars (somewhat limited IMO). I think it would be great if Gary’s QOD today was “what is your favorite wine bar?”

I’ll start off. I’ve only been to a couple in the City, including First Crush (pretty good, but only CA wines), the Ferry Wine Merchant (OK, not as impressed as I wanted to be), and one on Powell near Union Square whose name escapes me (had an excellent Topel Syrah there). My favorite wine bar (because it’s the only one in Chico) is Monks (interesting and eclectic selection of wines). Enotria in Sacramento is also excellent.