Opus One yes Opus 1, Insignia, Mondavi and Caymus Taste Off. Do I Need To Say More? – Episode #122

November 6, 2006

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Wines tasted in this episode:

Today it’s the war of the wine titans! Watch today as Gary tastes these four world renowned wines. See if these heavyweight wines measure up to the palette of Gary Vay-ner-chuk. Also a new QOD.Opus 1, Joseph Phelps Insignia and Caymus Special Select what a NAPA valley tour of a life time, or is it?

105 Responses

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  1. September 24, 2009

    John J.

    Interesting episode Gary, love seeing love real pricey wines get beat by the more affordable ones. Price definitely isn’t everything.
    Would also love to see you do an episode on vin jaune’s, or if you tackled a charbono tasting episode.

  2. November 28, 2007

    VinOrecul

    Big prices. Rhone has saved my palate from bankruptcy many a night.

    Walla Walla N Rhone…with a little bit of Williamette valley. Now there is romance!

    BECAUSE US! WITH A LITTLE BIT OF YOU! WE’RE CHANGING THE WINE WORLD. WHETHER YOU TASTE IT OR NOT!!

    GARY, are you watching?????????

  3. November 19, 2007

    Max

    When I tasted these wines for work the Mondavi and Caymus came out with that impressive complexity and balance. Where Opus and Insignia seemed like they were being crushed by their Names.

  4. November 11, 2007

    John

    How about blind tasting and not knowing what Parker or the Spectator have to say? Funny how you slurp/slurp, fail to cleanse your palate, and sometimes swallow. I’m not impressed

  5. October 21, 2007

    ben

    are you sure Gary?,that sometimes maybe your nose does not get it,and you might be irracional in judgment hey sometimes got to check twice

  6. October 20, 2007

    Craig

    Gary

    A correction for Pats. Saying Puriri Hills comes from Australia is like saying Opus One is from Canada.

    Puriri Hills is the genius of New Zealand.

    Also if any cab sauv is present it is only in very small quantities. It is Merlot Carmenere predominant. The Estate version is the third tier wine behind their Reserve and Pope.

  7. October 2, 2007

    pats

    Gary, a few other great cabernet’s are Puriri Hills Estate 2005 which is made in Australia. Another one is the 2002 Chateau Pontet Canet Paulliac, Chateau Haut-Bages Liberal, and one from Spain which is Torres Mas La Plona 2001.

  8. September 2, 2007

    chenin

    Gary,
    Good to see how you bring legends back to earth.
    Similar things could be said about a lot of first-growth
    Bordeaux, too.

  9. August 27, 2007

    Ookla

    Opus One was the wine that made me realize that I’m missing something in not understanding wine. I’ve always enjoyed wine, but it seemed like I really didn’t understand what ‘good’ wine was or how to go about picking it. I think the problem was that I never really had wine that was really, really good…

    Then I was out on a business dinner with a partner and he was pissed at his boss – so he bought a $300 bottle of wine on his expense account. It was either an ‘82 or an ‘88 Opus One (can’t remember) which we had with dinner at Bareli’s in Secaucus. As I was tasting the wine someone asked me what I thought and the first thing I said was ‘kool aid’.

    Everyone laughed at me, but that was the only thing I could think of – it wasn’t sweet, but it was the first wine that I had ever had that was so enjoyable, it brought back memories of hot summer days when I was a kid and the perfect thing to drink was kool aid…. That wine was the perfect thing to drink that evening and I realized that, although I wasn’t going to be popping a 20-year old bottle of wine on a regular basis, I needed to understand a little more about something I had been missing out on for far too long…

    Sorry to go off on you here, but just felt I needed to say all of that apparently. It’s too bad the Opus One failed to impress on this vintage, but you mentioned a soft spot for the Insignia – I’ve got one for Opus One.

  10. August 24, 2007

    Denise

    I can see why it is his favorite. Some good wines. Even though he did not like the Opus One, I have had a 1994 Opus One that was awesome (enjoyed it in 2000). And of course he loved the other Robert Mondavi, his stuff is also awesome.

  11. August 24, 2007

    angryphoton

    so this is Gary’s favorite episode. cool.

    AP

  12. July 26, 2007

    Zoltan

    Hi Gary,
    I’m your fan from Hungary! I’m sadly noticed that you are here in my country, now that I am not there! We are leaving to Tuscany early in the morning. We (few wine enthusiasts) would be honored to welcome you on an experience if you are still in Hungary after the fifth of Aug.
    Please let us know!!!
    yours,
    Zoltan and Andrea
    Vayniacs

  13. July 2, 2007

    Phil

    Great episode its good a heavyweight battle now and then. I’d love to see one with some of the seconds growths vs some of the first growths. I have bought Overture from Opus for the past few years and have always been fairly impressed especially at the reduced price point.

  14. June 15, 2007

    Kelly

    Um, you just SPIT OUT and then POURED OUT Opus 1.

    Swallow it, you wine snob.

  15. June 9, 2007

    The Other Robert

    This supports my view – when you are paying for the big names in wine, you don’t always get what you pay for!

  16. June 1, 2007

    rob robbie

    I totally agree with the calls made regarding Opus One and Joseph Phelps. My wife and I recently visited those two wineries and were very bummed. At Opus One it was a $25 tasting for one wine that that did not meet up to our expectations. It is a shame that they think that since there are big names backing this production that they can expect the public to drop $160.

  17. May 16, 2007

    Steve Ivy

    Gary, I’ve been meaning to ask (N3WB alert!) what is “structure”?

  18. April 23, 2007

    Drink of the Week 2.0 » Blog Archive » Sponsor Spotlight - Wine Library TV

    [...] Gary’s passion and deep knowledge of the topic makes each show informational and fun to watch. In over 200 episodes, Vaynerchuck has tasted everything from Trader Joe’s 2 Buck Chuck to Opus One and answered viewer questions on a myriad on topics. If you enjoy wine, Wine Library TV is a must watch for all the latest from Gary Vaynerchuk. [...]

  19. March 10, 2007

    Alos Diallo

    Gary :-) Sorry about that I hit submit by mistake :-(

  20. March 10, 2007

    Alos Diallo

    This was a great one I had seen Caymus at my local store at 79 dollars and wanted to know if it was worth it now I know it is :-) . Thanks Gar

  21. February 6, 2007

    KaySyrah

    Gary–How do you square the vegetal nose (by your description, broccoli, asparagus) on the Caymus with your final rating? Don’t you think those flaws tend to come out more with time in the bottle? Would be a bummer to lay that down for 10 years at that price and end up with veggie stew.

  22. February 6, 2007

    gl

    i had a bottle of caymus 2004 cabernet this past weekend. not the “special select,” just the regular vintage. nonetheless, my impression was virtually identical to your assessment of the special select 2004 cab. i thought it was a fantastic wine, probably the best i’ve ever tried. 3-4 hours decanting. i am glad that my assessment matches gary’s, i now have a good benchmark to gauge how well these reviews synch with my palete.

  23. December 23, 2006

    Craig G

    Great job with the Caymus 04 scoring. You said Parker came in low at 91-93. You said it was a 95 pointer. I just got the Parker update today. Parker just re scored the Caymus 04 at 96! Damn, you are right on the money with this one! Also went to Caymus last fall for a tasting. Pretty great vineyard that almost nobody can seem to find. It took me about 45 minutes to find it driving with a map. Anyway, I am a huge Caymus fan and was psyched to see you predict the high score before Parker. Go Jets!!!

  24. December 14, 2006

    Michael

    I started watching the wine library TV out of curiousity. I am a regular on wineloverspage.com and saw your “ad”. I really, really enjoy watching these videos. Gary is a very lively character, WITHOUT BEING ANNOYING! I like the way the comparisons are organized and look forward to your future videos. Unfortunately, my wine cellar is full…there are many wines I love to buy from your show, but I have to pace myself (for now!) GREAT JOB, KEEP IT UP!

    Going back to today’s episode..I am glad Gary is not intimitated by the reputation of these wine, and grades them honestly. Many times I have been at a wine tasting, with famous and not-so-famous wines for comparison. Sometimes I felt the famous wines were a let-down as well.

  25. December 14, 2006

    Napa Valley Spas

    Really interesting episode!

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