Chianti Wine - Episode #179

February 8, 2007

episode179

Wines tasted in this episode:

Today Gary Vaynerchuk tackles four chainti’s and gives his thoughts on these wines from Tuscany. Sit back and enjoy and Lurkers please come out!

115 Responses

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  1. about a month ago

    Grif

    It weirds me out when all the bottles make a sudden shift to the right. You must be inadvertently doing something with the table cloth.

  2. about 8 months ago

    Jt

    Gary great episode. Love the Chianti. QOTD: I’m still mad i didn’t buy more 82 & 96 Lafite most of all, also Clone 5 when i had the chance, and that i haven’t tried the Casa Emma yet. Cheers ~~~

  3. about 14 months ago

    Anthony

    Gary great to see you taste some other Chiantis - I was one of the complainers about your choices the first time around. There are a lot of amazing wines being made here and the overall quality of the region is getting better all the time.
    I also just watched a bunch of other episodes - your Italian pronunciation is getting better, but you have to put the final “a” on Sangiovese - “San-geo-vays” sounds horrible!

  4. about 14 months ago

    J Crazy

    WHY AM I MAD?!?! Cuz I only learned about Wine Library TV about six months ago and have to watch it for about 19 hours a day to catch up from 1. Oh yeah, Chianti is good too. Very Italian.

  5. about 14 months ago

    Corrado

    Episode would have been better w/ a basket Chianti thrown in there. :)

  6. about 15 months ago

    ThomasS

    Super ep. this time. Glad you shouted it out loud that it’s the wine discourse that prevents them from getting rates according to their true value. Everybody is screaming for Supertuscs, Bruns or Bolghs, but forgets that there is also smth else out there. With Chianti it’s not even that bad: think of Morellino di Scansano and Carmignano, also Sangiovese (even more than Chianti) and they can be so darn elegant and refined.
    Yet, I’m pretty upset about the idea that Sangiovese-old-style-Chianti can’t be good. You know, in fact the Sang. has only a very tiny amount of anthocyanin pigments, so it’s natural that the colour isn’t baffling, also that vanilla tinge … not really a match to Sang. I think it often overwhelms the subtle sour cherry, violets, liquorice (the traditional wooden sticks) and anisy liquorice (the sweets). Chianti originally was raised in ‘botte’, huge, upright installed wooden barrels, that were used for ages. They don’t give a vanillary scent to the wine, only add elagitannins. ‘Botte’ are made of Slavonian oak or often chestnut. That’s makes for a very big difference. So, watch it Garry, I am not saying that vanilla in Chianti is wrong or smth stupid like that (when a wine is good its good, that’s all - I don’t sip the glass with my brains, but with my mouth), but this dark colour, vanilla, hefty body and all, it’s just smth that’s a bit ‘into’ wine discourse today. That’s all, it’s Parker/WS-style. Nothing wrong with that, but, to me, it’s not to be taken as a measure to rule all others. And of course, this has nothing to do with the ridiculous discussion about whether international grapes like Cab. Sauv., Merl., Shir., Chard., should be planted in Tuscany or not. If they grow ok there and deliver excellent wines, why not? When they come to threaten diversity, this is another thing though … (lazy marketing, lazy consumption, conservatism in criticism?).
    That’s why I’m going berserk for a bottle of Ugo Bing, Riecine or Montevertine: they have very OW stuff, but they can also deliver great modernized wines. I prefer the OW’s of course, but I’ll never bash the others. So, another reason not confuse tradition with a reactionary stance (hate that, really HATE that, …). That’s why I think Casa Emma is great, however sometimes overdone and to much of a market slut. That’s why I positively hate Banfi (that’s not Brunello folks, but flabby, overextracted, sugary grape juice, yuk).
    C ya.

  7. about 15 months ago

    jeremiah

    got to find some of that casa emma?..though isn’t the vanilla one of those new world things that new oak treatment gives to all sorts of wine and that in the end makes the wine can’t undifferentiable from anything else? sort of mixed feelings about this gary

  8. about 15 months ago

    dabo

    Great episode Gary. Hope I can get my hands on some Casa Emma in the Chicago area.

    Johnmaki and Metal Dave — Interesting take on the ratings… I like it.

    QOTD - I’m disappointed that I waited too long (perhaps 3 years too long) to start looking for a new job. It’s time for a change!

  9. about 15 months ago

    D. Rubes

    GV, you have to do an episode on how to properly open a bottle. There are too many people out there who have no idea how to uncork good wines. Thanks man…you’re great! Keep it up!

    DR

  10. about 15 months ago

    Brandon M

    Bryan…some have put a lot of work in themselves. Keep that in mind before judging!

  11. about 15 months ago

    Bryan in SC

    Great episode Gary.

    QOTD - getting sucked into the foolish arguments about people feeling “cheated” by WLTV. I’ve never felt that way and feel I wasted my time on those blogs that went deep into the evening last week!

    Keep up the good work GAry!
    Bryan

  12. about 15 months ago

    Metal Dave

    Johnmaki - I agree 100% Decanter, a British wine magazine which I feel is superior to Spectator, uses a 20 point scale. Anything over about 16 is good. Plus, it takes away that 90 pt threshold. You know what I mean, if a wine gets 89 no one buys it, but if it gets 90, everyone wants it. That’s very dumb in my mind. I would even go so far as to say not to have points at all, but just a scale that ranges: terrible, really bad, bad, fair, average, good, really good, great, and (nearly) perfect. Wine is (or should be) a work of art like a painting or peice of music. You can’t grade a painting or piece fo music as though it were a math test. It is wrong to do so with wine. It would also do to have separate scales for “real” wines as mass-produced factory wines. Many branded wines taste ok, but there’s nothing “real” or “true” about them. they jhave nothing to do with each other. Just like you wouldn’t judge fast-food joints and Michelin stared restaurants in the same way — or even in the same publication!

  13. about 15 months ago

    johnmaki

    What do those 3 letters on the bottle neck closure mean? is AAA really the best region (center of center) with the rest decreasing as you get further out?

    and by the way? with most wines rating from 84 - 94 and you almost never hear of a wine less than 80 say, why aren’t we using a 10 or 20 point scale?

    I love your show. I think I’ve seen them all!

  14. about 15 months ago

    Dan McHugh

    Gary,

    Great episode. Just listening to you go on and on about the Casa Emma - I knew it was something special.

    I had an idea for an episode…

    What about picking three nice wines in the 90 - 92 point range, opening two bottles of each, tasting both, and noting the differences and similarities between the two bottles? I think that would be an interesting episode.

  15. about 15 months ago

    Denise

    What happened to the Friday “Couch Chat,” man?!!?!?

  16. about 15 months ago

    Joel

    QOTD:

    Not being able to rise above social expectations and do what I feel is right.

  17. about 15 months ago

    Brookhouser

    Great Episode Gary…..

    QOTD: Mad about not taking advantage of free shipping when available:)

  18. about 15 months ago

    PeteC

    Thanks for the Chianti episode…one of my favorite varietals. Went down to the store today to pick up an internet order and asked Eric to order 4 bottles of the Casa Emma if he could get it. Took a walk over to the Italian isle to look for the Villa Cafaggio, and although that was cleaned out, there sat four bottles of the Casa Emma! Made my weekend, for sure.

    Hey Gary, how about coming on the Piedmont trip next fall and doing a week’s worth of Wine Library T.V. on the wines of that region. Could be very interesting.

    P.S. What’s with the birds in the background?

  19. about 15 months ago

    The Raging Platypus

    After drinking too much of the Ruffina and Bellini chianti’s of the world, it is refreshing to have you give us a episode on the good stuff out there! Now I’m REAL excited giving the better chianti’s a shot. Thanks Gary!

    QOTD: Finally finding something I’m really passionate about (wine), and not having the guys to figure out how to make a career out of it. =P

  20. about 15 months ago

    Elliot Essman

    Chianti represents a huge universe of wines and an immense range of qualities. I think the key is to be ready to enjoy them without preconceptions (or wishing they were something else).

    I think the first chianti I had was the very first wine I drank. This was a long time ago; it was one of those straw-covered bottles.

    I was young, I drank too much too quickly, and let’s just say that the experience did not go very well.

    Many decades later, I tried some by-the-glass chiantis in restaurants. They weren’t memorable, but at least they moved my perceptions to change. This allowed me to become more open to all wines.

  21. about 15 months ago

    John

    Chianti and its sangiovese brethren, such as Morellino di Scansano, are QPR superstars. I love them. My wife and I had a 11 euro bottle of Villa Sesta (not far from where Felsina is) at a Michelin one-star restaurant “Trenta” (talk about QPR!) that was one of the most delicious wines that we had on our trip to Italy.

    QOD– not going to Italy until I was 47 years old.

  22. about 15 months ago

    gogoz

    good job gary!

  23. about 15 months ago

    SteviefreakinD

    Great episode Gary. I love Chianti Classico and I can’t wait to try the Classico Riserva. QOD: where do I start?

  24. about 15 months ago

    Randy B

    Gary,

    From when nonna mixed chianti with water and added a teaspon of sugar for the kids at Christmas dinner to world class wines. Viva Italia!

    I’m mad at myself for neglecting Italian wines for so long. Lately I have been on a Brunello, Barola and Amorone kick. Next month it will probably be Australian Shiraz or California Cabernet. Isn’t this stuff fun???

    Ciao

  25. about 15 months ago

    Corrado

    Regarding the numbers on the board, I haven’t seen any recent guesses, but my best guess is, depending on how you interpret it, it could be 8/29 or 8/30; 8/30 could be the the start of the 2007-2008 NFL season.

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