92 Responses

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1. December 30, 2006

   Mark Block

   To Joe, who is positive that his Leoville Las Cases and Latours will “age gracefully and positively for 25 – 50 years in cork,” I say: Maybe not. Yes, the cork will let in some air, but it will also let in the smells of the cellar. If you have an expensive, custom cellar to hold the wine at the right temperature, then the wine has a good chance to age well, but I’ve tried many older wines that smell musty and taste oxidized.

   One anecdote. I organized a tasting with six couples about 10 years ago, the organizing principle being: bring a great, ready-to-drink bottle of red wine. I brought a Margaux, someone else brought a Latour. All the wines were between 20 and 30 years old. Of the six wines, all were over the hill — some undrinkable. Four of the six came from basement cellars and two of the six had been purchased at high-end wine stores a few weeks earlier.

   Since that experience, I’ve been very cautious about holding wines too long. As I’ve gotten older (I’m 55), my taste buds have become less sensitive to tannins, so I don’t mind young wines — as long as they’ve had time to breathe in the glass (or opened bottle). And anyway, I can’t count on being around all that long even if I had a fancy cellar.

   All this reminds me that I have an ‘85 Lafite in my basement, and that tomorrow would be a perfect time to pop that cork when friends are over.

2. December 30, 2006

   Skol

   Going to spend some quiet time with friends:

   Drinking:
   Drappier NV Blanc de Blanc “Signature”
   Eric Rodez Blanc de Noir Grand Cru Brut NV

3. December 30, 2006

   Ricardo Ganc

   Hey Gary,
   Thanks for all the tips and tricks.
   Have a fantastic year….

   I’ll be in Rio de Janeiro at the beach and drinking a Paul Roger-Winston Churchill 1995

   Seeya next year

4. December 30, 2006

   iphilgoood

   Hi

   New listener here. First comment ever. First of all, congrats for this great educational AND entertaining machine that is WLTV. Keep up the good work.

   I watched a couple of old episodes and really liked the blind tasting one. How about a part II to that?

   QOTD : Probably a Minervois РLe R̩gal du Loup 2004. I also have a generic 2000 Burgundy (Croix St-Louis) that begs to be opened.

5. December 30, 2006

   Jason G.

   My wife and I are driving up the coast to Santa Barbara and staying at a b&b over New Years. The plan is to wine taste New Years Eve day and on January 2nd, and have some nice ad hoc dinners in our room with some of our purchases. New Years Day will see most of the wineries closed, so we’re hiking in the mountains to work of all our holiday glut.

6. December 30, 2006

   Large Format Fever

   G to the V… As luck may have it, I have to work. Yup thats right. Hopefully the Krug will be flowin’ My wife and I are popin a ‘89 D’Armailhac New Years Day to celebrate. Cant wait. Holla’ Back, CB

   P.S. Thanks for the shout out!

7. December 30, 2006

   eugene

   I will look for that cheese.

   Me like Spanish cheeses.

   QOTD
   At the diner, I feel like drinking something like California cab.

   Haven’t decided which one yet.
   Champagne at midnight.

8. December 30, 2006

   Joe Po

   Gary, Nice two-color shirt. Is it Michelle or Michel? I think the corkscrew industry is behind the agitation to keep cork. You know, another Big Business conspiracy! Thanks for enlightening and entertaining us. A very happy New year to you and your family. I’ll be at dinner with friends and then to a house party with me bringing Duval Leroy Brut.

9. December 30, 2006

   Bill Ross

   Think I’ll hang up the car keys and drink some wine. Actually, a group on another forum I was participating in (before advent of WLTV Forum) decided at the last minute to do an impromptu online tasting, for the sake of “togetherness”. Wasn’t time for many guidelines and zeroing in on a single wine we could all drink together, so it sounds like we will either pop a Barolo or a good Chianti CCR, or both. I plan to try the Virna Barolo Cannubi Boschis 2000 (I know, you panned it on Episode #116, a couple of days after it was an e-mail special). I had already ordered three. (BTW, I’m always glad when you tell us what you really think about the wine you are tasting, whether it’s good for sales or not). For the Chianti, either Castello della Paneretta ‘01 Torre a Destra CCR or Felsina ‘95 Berardenga ‘Rancia’ CCR. Happy NY and Happy NYJ.

10. December 30, 2006

    Dan C.

    Happy New Year to Gary and all the Vayniacs!

    QOD- Root beer or ginger ale for the kids and 2001 Justin Isosceles for me and the wife.

    PS- Those plastic/rubber/fake cork corks are the worst. Nearly impossible to remove and completely impossible to re-cork. I much prefer screw caps.

11. December 30, 2006

    Vinacull

    End of year is a great time to extend a major THANK YOU for all you do in bringing passion and fun along with a little bit of you to the wine world. This was a nice little episode. I agree with the former comment it would be great to see a mini-vert on same wines different vintages same producer (e.g., Knight’s Valley 01, 02, 03). Or perhaps easier to arrange would be different wines from same vintage same producer. QOTD: Not at all sure what we’re doing New Year’s Eve. I never drink on New Year’s day because I’ll be forty feet up in the air taking down Christmas decorations. I was going to open my last 90 Dominus for NYE but then got worried it might be corked so I opened it Christmas night. The cork was fully saturated but the wine turned out to be fine. Better than OK, it evolved fabulously in the decanter and in the glass over the course of about six hours. Absolutely beautiful mix of cherry, herbs, tomato, tobacco, and later on, fresh bell pepper. It reminded me that not only do we tend to be impatient about how soon we drink wines, but many many times we drink them way too FAST, robbing ourselves of the potential to experience different stages of what you call “the moving target”. Best to you and your family for the new year Gary, CK

12. December 30, 2006

    Miguelo DiMarco

    New Years: crashing parties in S.F. drinking whatever the hosted bars are serving; will prime the night with Paringa Sparkling Shiraz and Le Grotte Sparkling Lambrusco (something charming about red and bubbly and the girly girls love it).

    I can’t get past the Beringer association with their White Zinfandel; will probably never purchase anything by them — that’s their fault, not mine: there’s no government regulation that says you gotta make White Zin if you have a winery. . .

13. December 30, 2006

    Suzanne

    We will be playing our annual NYE poker tournament with the fam. When you live in Florida, the house becomes a “Holiday Inn” this time of year. I am about ready to kick them all out, so my husband and I can enjoy our nice bottle of Gosset without having to share!!

14. December 30, 2006

    Sakas

    Hey Gary,

    I’m with you about enjoying cheese as much or more than wine! I don’t think i’ll be able to find it; but i’m going to be on the lookout for that Leonora!

    Have a great new year!

    ~Chris

15. December 30, 2006

    Trish Da' Dish!

    I already know where I’m going to be on NYD…for I just arrived in Memphis, Tennessee, and have started celebrating it! I’m only 1 block from the Civil Rights Museum and the Lorraine Hotel, where MLK was killed, and I’m only 3 blocks from Beale Street! Will be celebrating the new year with my boyfriend Jason who flew in from Guam to bring in the New Year with me(he’s the love of my life) and a couple of his friends. We have all committed ourselves to a veritable food and drink orgy/mission for the entire New Year’s Day weekend by going to all of the top eating joints we can stand. We are NOT going to worry ourselves about weight gain, lack of exercise, possible premature death, or any of the mundane stuff we normally sweat ourselves about. One of my boyfriend’s free-spending and very rich college friends (who loves champagne, and calls it “cham pag knee”) has put himself in charge of the bubblies and he has promised that we will have either Dom or Cristal for New Year’s Eve (among many other spirits)…tomorrow we’re all looking forward to a barbequed shrimp skillet dinner for 6 at the Rendezvous (best rib joint in the WHOLE WIDE WORLD). We just came back from Memphis’ top place for buying wine (it’s called Busters–hi Tiffany!). I normally like Zin with my BBQ, but the folks at Busters said that even with BBQ’d shrimp, a red could be a bit overwhelming, and so they suggested a Sauvignon Blanc instead. So that’s what I ended up getting for us to take to the Rendezvous with us tomorrow (yes, Gary, it does has a screw-cap opening . I am sooooo psyched about all the good food and drink I’ve already had here in Memphis so far, and about what lies ahead. This is the absolute, most idealized, most perfect way for me to celebrate a new year, for I do love good food and drink so very much!

16. December 30, 2006

    Tim

    I am heading to Daniel’s Broiler in Bellevue, WA and a party afterwards at the Hyatt Regency. We will be drinking two bottles of 1997 Clos Du Val Robert Porter Cabernet Sauvignon.

17. December 30, 2006

    Mike C

    Another great episode Gary, loved the cheese…goat cheese has to be my favorite. QOTD: ummm probably trying to sleep in the hours between 10-midnight when the baby is asleep. Then wake up around midnight to help the wifey change a diaper and then rest while mom takes care of the rest…phew being a dad is tough….not as tough as you are on the cork industry though! Hey…have you seen those new glass corks? What do you think?

18. December 30, 2006

    HomerJ

    Agree with TimF, Michelle Roland would be a treat.

    Also, the question after about the fruit disappearing after the tasting. It happened to me once when I was tasting some of the heavier and more intense wines at the end and it actually minimized some of the taste from the first wine when I went back. Now, the first wine that I had was mellow and didn’t “punch me in the face” when I first tassted it. I would go with Gary’s explaination first, but if that isn’t right, perhaps it is because the later wines?

19. December 29, 2006

    Rafa from Mexico

    Happy new year to all of you here at Wine Library TV. I am going to Scottsdale, AZ with my family for the new year, one of my favorites places on earth. Gary I wish you also a great 2007 and that all of your wine and football wishes come true. The only thing that I don’t understand is how are going the jets beat the Cowboys on the Super Bowl. Sorry you are going to have to wait another year.

20. December 29, 2006

    Eric Opheim

    Gonna have some friends over and do a tasting. Haven’t nailed it down yet, but probably a variety of German reisling, Canadian Icewine, and maybe a port or tawny. See ya next year!

21. December 29, 2006

    MaryS

    QOD: Since the little ones came along we just hang out at home. Probably some filet mignons along with my favorite BWZ! Then a decent bottle of the bubbly at midnight. Hope to stop in to the WL tomorrow to pick one out. Will you be there for advice Gary???

22. December 29, 2006

    Genghis

    QotD: Drinking at my friend’s apartment here in Chicago– what we’ll be drinking will have nothing to do with wine, though we may want to spit it. Jager just lacks the appeal once you’ve started paying attention to wine, I’m tellin’ ya.

    If you do play the Bears in the playoffs, you’ll need to post a mailing address. There’s a Schick Quatro with your name on it, here in the Chi.

23. December 29, 2006

    PJ

    Been on hiatus. My Fins let me down against the Jets on Christmas day but I’ll recover. Good episode. I really want to find some good American Cabernet’s so this helped. Cabs are my favorite without a doubt but I am partial to American grown (that ole red, white and blue thing) but they seem to be hard to find. A South African or Australian good cab seems much more accessible than the same made in the States.

24. December 29, 2006

    E

    Not a big fan of the Шампанское, I am guessing.

    QOD: hopefully upstairs with the neighbors (ain’t those 12/31 birthdays convenient?), so instead of having to drive home I can run downstairs for anything I might need (Moncuit, extra Gruet and Cava if there’s a crowd, and probably something from the ‘cellar’) … now if I could only remember which box my saber’s in …

25. December 29, 2006

    Dave-from-Katonah

    Gary-
    Thanks for the shout – looking fwd to seeing those Eastern European wines on WLTV…
    QOTD – New Years’s beverages: 1996 Chateau laTour Pomerol and 1996 Lenoble Blanc de Blanc Grand Cru.
    Sending off the year with wines from the last decade…too bad there won’t be a screw cap!
    Wishing you a happy and healthy New Year to you and to all the Vaynerchuks and to all the Vayniacs,
    Dave-from-Katonah

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