How To Get Your Wine Palate Trained.

How To Get Your Wine Palate Trained. – Episode #148

December 15, 2006

Wines tasted in this episode:

1999 Louis Roederer Cristal

Today Gary tastes a wide variety of “THINGS” to show you how important many of the flavors are to training your palate to find them in wine. Have a good weekend.

Hello newcomers ( and there are a lot of you) This is a long video and it builds up but to see what EVERYONE is talking about you can see the last 2 minutes here CLICK HERE

491 Responses

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August 26, 2007

Tanner
working under Paul Grieco here in ny. was sent this video from a friend. hooked. thanks for your contributions and knowledge!
August 23, 2007

jcbphd
OMG, Gary, you are such a trooper for trying all of those things! You had me rolling on the floor with laughter. BTW, on the clove numbing your tongue, haven’t you ever heard of using clove oil as an analgesic for cavities if you can’t get to the dentist?
August 22, 2007

Peter E
Hello to all,

I’m just starting my wine adventure, so hello to all. I have taken the time to advance my palate when it comes to cigars, cheeses, and beers. So I’m wondering what of that information do you think will transfer over well to the wine world, and what should I really focus on to advance. What kind of wines are a good starting place for me and my fiance. I personally enjoy hearty and hoopy beers, but my fiance enjoys lighter crisper flavors. I would like to find wines we can both start with and build out palates.

Thanks,
Peter E
August 20, 2007

Ookla
This episode absolutely rocks! I’m catching up (starting watching about 15 days ago) and I’m new to wine, so, when you mentioned this episode in a newer one, I had to go back and find this…. Fantastic – watching you cram the entire bunch of asparagus was the highlight on this, but I’m also slowly getting all the stuff together to re-create…

This is exactly what I need to start mentally processing the smells and tastes that I’m getting as I drink wine – I’ve been very concerned that I simply don’t have a good sense of smell or taste, but doing this on a small scale for a couple of wines has proven that I just didn’t have the reference ‘library’ built up in my head…

Thanks for doing all of these shows and for making things a lot easier for a newbie to not feel intimidated and for showing me that the wine snobs that I have, on occasion, been to dinner with really are the terrible bores that I thought they were.

Thanks. Ookla
August 14, 2007

Brad M
So awesome, Gary! I’ve been lurking now for a couple of days and I couldn’t help but jump in with my first comment after this amazing episode! I know how you feel about lurkers! I just happened upon one of your vids on youtube while looking for tasting videos and I couldn’t be more happy to admit that I’m a winelibrary junky!

First of all. Kudos to you for your fearless, raw approach. I approach many things the same way, whether it’s my music, my photography or my appreciation for wine and its many familiar smells and tastes.

The white pepper got me rollin’! And, of course, dirt and then Cristal! Hilarious! I love hearing the cameraman laughing at you. I have a pretty high tolerance for hot stuff so eating raw jalepeÃ±os (sans seeds) is one of my favorite things. Apparently my father used to do this so maybe it’s a Spanish thing, not sure.

Anyway, you’ve gotten me back into wine in a big way and so far I’ve already bought two bottles this week. The currant and cassiss flavors are the ones I really need to seek out. I’ve surely smelled and tasted them a lot in wines but never by themselves. You give me inspiration!

Just forwarded this to two dear friends and even sent them cork’d invites as well. I think I’m gonna start a little tasting group with my friends and start watching episodes while tasting. Many of them work in restaurants in NYC and are expected to know lots about wine. Many of them do not know much about wine and so your presence, I think, will be of great benefit to them.

One of the things I thought could be added to the tasting list would be sea water and/or sea salt. I have some French sea salt that I use from Isle de RÃ©. Without having to actually drink salt water, you can get a lot of the briney, sea character from the salt instead. Love the inclusion of Goji berries. I got turned on to these by a friend from No Cal. I am munching on some as I type! Interesting little berry. Besides the normal white, green and black teas that abound, I also drink a fair amount of matÃ© from South America. In crushed-leaf form it’s still quite dusty and it gives a great combination of earthy, dirt flavors and strong tea, tree, bark and bush flavors alongside.

Thanks again for all your hard work!
I’m only about half-way through the archives but I will continue to watch them intently.
August 14, 2007

Dan McHugh
Gary,

Great episode. I look forward to trying this sometime soon. I would have loved to have seen the aftermath of your office after you were done. I also really enjoyed the Conan episode. Tivo did me right catching that for me while I was out of town. Would it be possible to get the shopping list for this episode? That would be great. Thanks again – keep up the great work
August 11, 2007

blobic
THIS is absolutely INSANE!!! But you motivated me to try a couple of things to train MY wine palete, probably not dirt though )
August 10, 2007

Sam I
I’ve worked my self up to maybe episode 130 and from 200 on but of course that means I missed this episode. You sent this out after the Conan episode and I’m glad you did… awesome episode. You should post the shopping list

PS I tried not to laugh at the white pepper in the eye thing but I couldn’t hold it almost funnier than the jalepeno and dirt.
August 7, 2007

Gary Trains Conan’s Palate « Lonely Man of Cake
[...] blog, you’ve definitely watched my all time favorite episode of Wine Library TV, where host Gary Vaynerchuk teaches ordinary folks like you and me to have the precise palates of professional w…. Well, Gary, together with his dedicated fans (the VaynerNation) are doing something right, as last [...]
August 6, 2007

Kick | Punch | Chop » Changing the Wine World
[...] of episodes to watch. After you’ve seen him review some wines, I recommend the oft referenced Episode #148 where Gary talks about training your palate. Good [...]
July 25, 2007

Phil McGarr
Gary, taking one for Team Wine! That was incredible. Although I was a little worried Gary might have an allergic reaction to the cloves, it made for classic WLTV. No BS, Gary always go straight to the nuts and bolts and wine. Speaking of that, where was the graphite that we all chewed on in elementary school! I built my palate in the third grade. Pencil shavings, graphite, tadpoles, dirt and blackberry jam on hotdogs.
July 25, 2007

the drew
You dropped some massive tonnage in true vino veritas style. Absolutely epic.
July 24, 2007

Aaron Cohn
Hi Gary!

You rock. Some really important seed flavors I think are totally unique and you should try if you haven’t:

1) cumin seeds–both raw and toasted. The flavor is extremely smoky, deep, bitter, like a rich vegetable soup.
2) caraway seeds–familiar from seeded rye bread, of course. To me it tastes like an old cedar chest.
3) fennel seeds–very much like licorice/anise, of course, but less cloying, more herbal.
4) fenugreek seeds–smell like maple syrup and taste like really hot, hot beach sand.

I’d love to know if you found these useful for your wine palate. Cheers!

Aaron
July 17, 2007

Donald Pipkin
The cinnamon stick and white pepper bits were classic.
July 3, 2007

Lucas
You said to comment on back episodes if you are a newcomer and you would still see them and reply! So here goes: can you post a list of the flavors in the episode, and highlight which ones are really important? This way I won’t have to go back and look at your ugly mug make faces every time I want to have a little flavor party… j/k… I really enjoyed it and will probably be coming back to the site to watch Wine Library TV again!!
July 3, 2007

Daniel O
OMG! That was the most insane episode I’ve seen!
June 26, 2007

Green Acres » Blog Archive » Giving mad props when due
[...] How to train your palate (Episode 148) [...]
June 22, 2007

Josh the Goat
I’ve started watching Wine Library late last week, and I’ve watched probably 30 or 40 episodes since then. With that in mind, I think this episode really helped me to take the biggest step towards understanding tastes in wine. I’ll definitely just pick up some of these things and really give them a shot.

I enjoy the other episodes, but they’re way too specific for me right now. I need to get back to the beginning episodes that explain the basic differences in the varieties of wines. I’m going to check through the website and see if there’s anything else out there like this.

Great site, definitely makes the work day fly by.
June 22, 2007

Sara
Love the show! Other things to try: ginger, sand, lychee, plum… Thanks for the great ideas and entertainment!
June 19, 2007

Busyness and Craziness « Lonely Man of Cake
[...] wondered how it is that wine critics are able to sniff out and taste all of those esoteric flavors, this episode will show you how to train your [...]
June 12, 2007

cruster
Didn’t you miss the gooseberries? I’m able to find them in some new zealand sauvignon blancs.
June 9, 2007

Theo
Terrific — I have to say I laughed especially hard when you dusted your eye with white pepper, but I admired your perseverance.
Other things you might be interested in: coriander seeds w/ their bright flavors (or cilantro — the leaves); pine nuts; lightly cooked spinach; flowers (peony, rose, tulip, daisy, lilac, etc.); leather(s); molasses; different types of cinnamon (I think you actually bit Cassia which is considerably tougher and less flavorful); different types of vanilla beans (Mexico vs. Madagascar, etc.); other floral products such as saffron;
crisp sweet peas; ginger; grapefruit (also try putting one under the broiler for a bit; can do this with bananas as well); Dairy — milk & cream vs. devonshire cream, ice cream…
Also, roasted and/or prepared foods (roasted nuts, seeds, vegetables, meats… I was disappointed that you bought “bacon bits”). Whole peppercorns, when slowly cooked in a moist, neutral medium (such as untreated spinach or eggs) will really deliver different tastes then you may expect. …of course, truffles.

By the way, arrowroot is a starch used as a baking or thickening agent, often to replace flower; it is meant to have an indistinct taste. I cringed to see you eat it raw. But on that note, why didn’t you bring up baked goods? Breads, warm biscuits…
All that said, wonderful show.
June 8, 2007

Hosedragger226
GV,

Man are you crazy! You had me laughing though. I think it is worth wild to try different things to expand your pallet; I think you may have totally obliterated yours!

Oh by the way…you forgot to try gas, as in propane from the BBQ grill and manure. Maybe net time.

Thanks again,

Keep up the GREAT work
June 7, 2007

wm mole
Hilarious again! Tried a Concannon 2004 assemblage white wine SB and it was loaded w/lychee nose and flavors. Ever catch that flavor profile?
June 5, 2007

Fco.
Watching some of these past episodes…this had me rolling.