qotd: great question, those are the wines I try to seek out more than any, really hard to find rare varietal wines. (usually it's easy to see why they are hard to find, but sometimes you really find something special.
So for me German grapes are up there and dornfelder is one, so is kerner, and schreube. Then pretty much anything native to Greece. Those would be the most well known I think that I haven't had.
Savagnin would be there, but I had that Sunday when I finally tasted my 1st vin jaune. And vin jaune is definitely an episode I would love to see you do. A tasting on charbono's would be another.

WOW - How did I not post on this episode?

Gary,
I just cracked this dornfelder open - it's all thanks to YOU that I've even heard of this grape! Anyway, I'm not in awe of the bottle, but I am in awe of the fact that you've got me into going to winentastings, talking to wine people, and chasing down odd varietals like this! So much so, that I rewatched this oldy-but-goody to drink along with you.

Cheers to that! And thanks for everything!

Megan
PS - Other varietals I have not yet tasted:
Nebbiolo, Amarone (OK, that's not a grape, I get it, but I've never had one, regardless) and...Oh, I'm sure there are lots.

Hi,
nice that you drink german wine. I not have clearly understand: You give 80 or 88 points?
greetings
Thomas

A lot of the grapes people are mentioning are Italian-prominent ones. -Gotta get the word out.

Yeah, your video looked as though it were shot in "HD" = "Hardly Detectable" for both video and sound.

Varietals I haven't tried? Hmmmm, I don't believe I've tried a Aglianico which a fellow wine geek says is wonderful.

Go Colts!

Hi Gary,

I grew up with Dornfelder here in Germany and that was one of the wines that my father is still drinking on a regular basis.

I am not a fan on this at all and I think you might be able to get better wines at around this price levels....

Come on Gary - give all German fans of your show a favour and go one show with German dry Riesling - go for the 2005 vintage, the best since the classic 2001 in my opinion, if you need some recomendation please let me know :-)

talk to your German importer and get the real good stuff from Germany on your desk and let all your fans know about it...

gotd
I never had a Zin in my live

best
Thorsten

I am sure with a bit of fine tuning, youll get that camera and mic working. The mic is picking up a lot more of your voice which is great, but the treble needs to be turned up so it sounds less soft/muffled. Maybe you should get a table-top mic so that it doesnt pick up the sounds of your clothing etc.

QOTD:
1. Albarino
2. Petite Sirah
3. Pinotage
4. Corvina

I have taste Dornfelder when in Germany and couldn't stand the residual sugar in the 2002 I had. Maybe give it another try. There are few grape varietals I haven't tried but they are mostly Niagra and Canadian grapes and a few grown in Virginia that have never seemed appealing. Scuppernong comes to mind. Will add the same comments about sight and sound. The collar mike may not work well with swish and spit and a metal bucket. The sound actually fuzzed when you held the bottle in front of you. The camera setup just needs work but the mike may not work at all for what you are doing. Good episode with so short a time frame though.

Gary...I think the video/audio quality issue has been sufficiently covered. Thanks for evening doing a show on the heels of returning from Paris. I appreciate the review of the Dornfelder. I am always looking to try wines from different regions. I'm very interested to try a German red.

QOTD: I might not know a lot, but I've tasted wines from a lot of places. I'm far from being embarrassed, though, to admit that there are a number of varietals that I've never had. Here are a few off the top of my head:

1) Barolo
2) Malbec
3) Barbaresco
4) Sauterne

this camera doesn't display the lively light aspects of the last camera....everything looks drab in this episode.
QOTD: well, i haven't had the one you mentioned...other than that until recently i had never had a muscadine, which is weird becuase they grow wild every here in the south...but i had one a few months back...can't say i like it all that much...a little smoky falvor to it...kind of like the cigar of grapes. i am sure there are a lot of varietals i haven't tasted, but i have also tasted a lot

Gary, Welcome back to the good old US of A! Also, congratulations on your "Vloggie" awards. Could Oscar be in your future?

QOD: For me, it would be a much shorter list to tell you what I HAVE had. But here are a few of the many I have yet to partake of:

Verdicchio, any Greek variety, Barbera, Freisa, Kratosija, Negroamaro, Ruché, Tarrango, Furmint....and the list goes on. Not only have I never had any wines from these grapes, I've never even HEARD of these grapes!

Oh, baby, baby it's a wine world

Gary,
Not sure why the picture would be so dark, unless the auto-iris (autoexposure on a still camera) was turned off, or the room was just too dark. The 3-CCD sensor camcorders do not work as well in lower light as the single CCD sensor units. As far as the mic goes, a lapel mic is always going to pick up nearby ambient sound (the spit bucket) louder than a mic at a distance. A 'shotgun' mic mounted on or near the camera might be a better solution. As long as you are not moving side to side while filming, that should give you more consistant sound levels.

Enough of the technical comments. I'm one of your 'lurkers', and I've been enjoying WLTV quite a bit. Can't give you a good answer for QOTD, as I'm not up on all the specific varietals at this point. Seems some are given different names in different countries, which adds to my confusion (not just syrah/shiraz...). Keep up the great work. You continue to teach us all.

Terrible video and audio.

Aside from the distortion in the mic, I do like the sound quality better than before. Using, what I assume is the camera mic, it sounds like you're in an empty room. The new mic has a fuller richer sound. I advise you to have someone turn the sound way down when you're drinking the wine though. The camera was not good. You may want to invest in a couple of lights.

Biggest grape I've never had -- or at least can't remember is Nebbiolo. I've got a few that I need to pop and check out...

Good luck with the new equipment.
QOD: Grenache, Gewrztraminer, Pinot Gris, Cabernet Franc and many others

PGH Pete - Don't worry. It's a good sign. Means the wine has not been filtered to death. Harmless...

I'm not a fan of the new mike. We can now hear too much. When tasting the wine you can hear the table rocking. BTW - What do you gargle with? Gravel? :)

Hi, Gary
We got used to certain standards of your show.

I expected some great French wines upon your return and what did I see?

I won’t say more.

QOTD:

I tried all 200 varieties of grapes already. Just kidding.

I have to admit that I’ve never tried nebiolo. Look forward to your recommendations.

Hi Gary,

this show sucked!
The intro had no enthusiasm, the sound quality was way below what I would call acceptable and the picture quality was bad too.
But these issues do not make me rubbish your show.
I'm pretty shure that you'll immediately get back to your extremely entertaining and and technically good performance that you've showed for more than a houndred episodes.
I BELEVE IN YOU!
I'M A FAN!

What really left me shocked was that you've tasted a Dornfelder and than recommended this kind of juice.

I live in Germany and within the last 8 years this "Rübe unter den Reben" (turnip among vines) has pullulated a lot of german vineyards, bottles and glasses.
To me, Dornfelder is a prime example for what you call "fake fruit" just by its characteristic.
The juces made out of these fruits look like wine (The reason why Dornfelder was reared was just to use it as a colour add-on to other wines) but mostly tend to have zero structure and depth.
To make it even worse, this liquid mostly has some residual shugar like the one you've had and to complete this worst case beverage some german wine producers leave some CO2 in it.

I only hope is that this show really starts an american run on Dornfelder so that I do not need to taste these kind of fluid here in Germany anymore.

best regards
;-)

Stephan

p.s.:
Go for Riesling if you want to drink german wine!!!

Sure, I had some dornfelder's. Obviously very big here with a good reputation however it makes sense to choose carefully because the popularity obviously means a lot of poorer quality wines are just in for the ride.

Maybe a desk mic is better if you want to improve the sound. A lapel mic has the disadvantage of us being able to hear you chewing the wine... and tends to rustle a bit. On the camera you can set the "white balance" so that it adjusts perfectly for the lighting conditions in your office (or maybe you forgot to turn your lights on?).

Do you know of the Wine Century Club http://www.winecentury.com ?
For anyone who has tasted over 100 wines, you can become a member. They also list a number of less well known grape varienties.

What did you get for the Vloggies?

GV, First things first. Good on your for trying some new technology. Obviously you did it on the hope of improving your show for all of us and I am sure for all the complaints that people tend to jump to we appreciate your efforts. You only learn by your mistakes as I am sure the Chinese will with their wines!

Q.O.D. I'd have to say that Zinfandel and Tempranillo are two varities I've heard a bit about but never gone out and had any. They are not real big varieties here in OZ. Could you recommend some good Australian Zinfandels and Tempranillo's I could try to get a hold off?

6000 e-mails? Ouch! You're probably still answering them and it's 4:30 a.m. E.S.T.

Q.O.D.: Embarrassed by some of varieties I haven't tried? No, more embarrassed by some I HAVE tried. Yes, I've drank White Zin before (If I was Ernest Hemingway, I'd have to hang myself now). Anyway, the most famous grape I have yet to taste is the Syrah not part of a blend.
Also, no Zweigelt, no Blaufrankisch, no Lemberger, no Gamay (Beaujolais), no Petite Verdot, no Mammolo, no Black Malvasia, no White Malvasia, no Ciliegiolo, no Cinsault, no Roussanne, no Melon de Bourgogne, no Bourboulenc, no Picpoul de Pinet, no Gruner Veltliner, no Torrontes, no Macabeo, no Verdelho, no Baga, no Touriga, no Rufete, no Periquita, no Tannat - wow, I got a lot of drinking to do. . . .

Gary,

Long time lurker here! I'm really hooked on your winelibrary epispodes! Great job and keep it up!

The variety I've never tasted? Sadly, that would be Nebbiolo. That's right, no Barolo, no Barbaresco! What should I try first to rectify this?

Welcome back Gary! Great job on the Vloggies.

I heard this somewhere once:

"If it ain't broke... don't fix it."

Love the show and hope you get the technology bugs worked out. I bet a good night's sleep will help. How was the frog juice?

Great to see you back. Was it the micro? or do you have a cold? Sounded to me like your throat was sore. Can you tell us what wines did you taste in your trip? What do you think of them?
QOD: Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Riesling. Actually I am starting to experiment with other grapes than Cab, Shiraz, Grenache and Tempranillo. I want to do a side by side tasting of wine by the same producer but diferent grapes, to really taste the diference in flavors. You should do the same and guide us in this process.

Pass on the new tech and definitely go without the Microphone!

QOD: I have no idea, I just drink as many different bottles as I can and to be honest - I don't even look at the grape varietals sometimes.

Gary- The episode was a pass, but I will try the Dornfelder because you are very good on the lower priced wines.

QOD- Nebbiolo probably because I only started buying wine two years ago. I have some barolo, but it's not quite ready to drink.

PGH Pete, the white crystals are usually tartrates. As for other sediment, it depends on if the wine was filtered or unfiltered. If i am wrong on this someone please correct me, but that is what I have read/heard...

Better luck next time on the new tech.

I haven't had a South African Pinotage not a cab franc.
My goal in the past two years has been to try as many varieties as I can.

Don't want to get stuck in a rut again.

Gary,
Welcome Back!
QOD: reds: pinotage and amarone (which is made out of corvino i think?).
whites: roussane/marsanne.

Hey Liz, I think Gary should take out a full 2 page color add in next weeks NYT featuring this and only this episode of WLTV.

Tasted a tremendous number of varieties over the years but very much want to try a Norton. Haven't tried some of the others mentioned by posters, but that's the one that really interests me.

what are all these complaints for? this ep is the definition on an 'instant classic' it was hi-lar-ious!

QOD - I need to increase my wine knowledge. I have never had or even heard of Dornfelder. I am definately humbled.

Are you going to show your vloggies' statue and use your acceptance speech as an intro?

It is true, a french guy really did come up to Gary during the tasting. I was there. It was monumental.

Congrats on the Vloggies! Sound quality was different It sounded like we were inside your stomach when you were tasting and spitting.

Seems like a lot of hate for the new tech, but I've got to say I enjoyed that you weren't yelling at me the whole time I watched.

Bring back WLTV. What was this, the low-budget French version? See you go to Paris and you come back changed.

I've never had Kadarka or Dornfelder.