Blind Tasting – Episode #197

March 9, 2007

Wines tasted in this episode:

Question of the day: “What’s the biggest discrepancy you’ve seen in a bottle of wine?”

Here it is the blind tasting episode. Can Gary Vaynerchuk be fooled?

Having trouble seeing this video? Click here for the Quicktime version

170 Responses

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November 3, 2009

John J.
cool episode Gary

would love to see 1 on vin jaunes
June 5, 2008

Seattle Zin Guy
I bought a few bottles of Turley Juvenile Zinfandel for $17 a bottle and I’ve seen it sold online for $45 a bottle. Sure, that’s only a $27 difference, but that’s almost 3 times what I paid for it.
March 8, 2008

thefanjestic
Qotd: Yesterday I bought a case a Garretson Craic Syrah for $125 on closeout – it normally sells for $30 a bottle in Kansas City and Texas.
February 24, 2008

Brian Johnson
QOTD: Bought a 2000 Torbreck Descendant from Barossa Valley for $56.99. Saw it on a couple of websites for $125-131.

Great episode. Loved seeing the inside of your store at the beginning. Lot bigger than I imagined.
February 13, 2008

Rob P
Gary,

Please do another blind tasting like this in 2008. It was a lot of fun to watch. One of my biggest price discrepancy’s was not in wine. I noticed that a (typically) $100 sonicare toothbrush was listed at $0 on bloomindales website a few years ago…so I tried to order it thinking that the price would eventually be displayed. It let me order it at $0 and they had free shipping! I should have ordered 10 of them.
July 16, 2007

surf.sf
Loved the blind tasting. Can’t wait for another one! Something I paid too much for… forgot to cancel an extra hotel room I booked when I wine tasting in Santa Barbara a couple weekends ago, so I paid an extra couple hundred bucks for a sad old motel room!
May 4, 2007

vivaitalia
Oh man, I paid $79.99 for the Antinori Piam Delle Vigne Brunello ‘96 at one of my favorite wine shops and the next weekend found it at this tiny place and got one for $29.99 no joke! At the 80 dollar price I thought it was crap and a rip off, but at $30 it was pretty decent. There still are alot of brunellos that are much better in quality and QPR (if there is such a thing in Italian red wine anymore). I really loved the blind tasting, it’s something you should do alot more often. Very impressive the way you were able to pick those defining characteristics in the wines. Keep up the great work!
April 9, 2007

Veronica
Past QOTD. Saxum 2003 Broken Stones. Got it for $45. Saw it in another shop for $125 the same day.
March 22, 2007

Jeremy
QOTD 2003 Peju Provience Cabernet Sauvignon. Paid $22.50 Seen it around 48+
March 21, 2007

TSchampaert
Fun ep this one. Repeat!
QOTD: Biggest difference, … hm. Last I saw a 2004 Haut-Brion for â‚¬ 169 while anywhere else it is around 260! Almost 100/bottle. Kiling. So my fingers itched, I nearly bought some. But then yeah, maybe I’d better wait till I can afford them really.
March 20, 2007

Fiorentina!
Probably the BIGGEST price difference was on the 2000 Louis Roederer Cristal. I saw it at this small little wine store in Rancho Santa Margarita, CA for $275 and have seen it everywhere else for around $350 and even $400 at a wine store in the Gaslamp District in San Diego. A difference of $75 to $125 is a HUGE difference.
March 14, 2007

Louisiana George
saw 1993 Mondavi Reserve Cab at Albertson’s for about $20 a bottle, on release and cleaned them out. Was going for about $60 in wine shops at the time.

Still have a couple of bottles in the cellar.

Louisiana George
March 13, 2007

Riezin
Nice job, I rate your performance 89 points. I think MurphyGoode delivers some solid QPR with their wines and have traditionally been a big Nalle fan. I have several of their wines at the moment in the wine fridge i suspect. Have you heard from them yet regarding your review?

QOTD – When i was 1st seriously getting into things I bought a ‘98 Bahans Haut-Brion and right afterwards saw it significantly cheaper somewhere else – maybe 20% less. Not knowing better, I think i tried to ‘return it’ or somehow get a discount. I did get some break, but they were confused and i suspect annoyed. Just drank it recently, was still going strong.
March 13, 2007

Rick W.
I purchased 6 cases of Vine Cliff 2001 Merlot for $14.00 a bottle. It was my sons Bar Mitzvah and I thought that would be a good Red Wine to serve. I bought it from a local wine store I won’t mention. I did some research when I got home and the cheapest I found it anywhere else was $29.00 with most of the pricing in the high $30’s range. Right place @ the right time. The distributor was closing it out since he lost that vineyard!
March 13, 2007

Lawrence Leichtman
Fun episode. Really enjoyed your nailing the Petit Verdot. Don’t think I would have. Your tasting or the Chilean wine that tasted like Syrah and wasn’t is a fault of the winery not your palate.
March 13, 2007

Jay
Paid $75 for a big bottle of Crown Royal at a large well respected wine store. An hour later walked into a shwag corner liquor store to see what they sold it for.. $50.
Wanted to set the first place on fire.
Also, have seen the Justin Isosceles for around $75 in a ton of store, then every once in a while it’s sitting on the shelf for $42 somewhere.
March 13, 2007

Matt the Lurker
Mmmm, blind tasting… reminds me of the girl I used to date in college who always wanted to play around with bandanas. She was fun. Ah, quel morceau de queue! As they say… not me though, I don’t speak French.

Everyone seems to be very impressed with your pick of the Petit Verdot. However, I’m wondering how you thought the Purple Angel was 88 pts and a pass but could tell it was a $40+ bottle? I thought that was something you could only tell by seeing labels (or price tags). It’d be great if you share what you identify as “quality” or costly even when you don’t think the wine is very good. A pretty interesting distinction. Good work!
March 13, 2007

eatapc
Nice episode. (You should do more episodes blind!) Constructive suggestions:

1. You don’t have to tape the selection and opening of the bottles. We trust you, and it’s boring.

2. Do it double blind. You mentioned that this was as double-blind as you could make it, but that’s not true. Chris behind the camera knew which wine was which, so that automatically ruins the methodology. He could have subconsciously and unintentionally given off cues and clues. It’s a well-known fact that when someone in the room with the test subject knows which is which (pill, wine, whatever), the results WILL BE affected.

But still … way to go! Good show. — Mark B
March 13, 2007

zerokreap(kw)
you guys had the dom p. 1995 rose for $115.00 at one point…my first order with WL was a 96 dom p., someone wrote me and said you guys were out, so i said send me the rose instead. well, you guys ended up finding the bottle i ordered and like 2 weeks later the 95 rose was up over $200.00. I wish I had ordered it. Also, the 96 dom p. that i bought for $115.00 is now a lot more expensive….i wish i had not drank it so soon, but champagne is awesome.
March 12, 2007

Wendy Elam
i know i’m a little late to be commenting on this blind tasting show qotd, but here goes…greatest discrepancy — and something that gives me a “i’m the (queen) of the world” rush everytime i think about it…bought at trader joe’s in southern california chateau potelle cabernet sauvignon 2002 for $20 bucks! sells on the chateau’s website for $60. i ran back to get more but, alas, they had no more; i must have appealed to my wine guy’s sense of compassion because he sold me a bottle out of his private stash. i rule.
March 12, 2007

bradyt
Only 172 days left till, the one year anniversary of Chad Pennington being named the Jetâ€™s QBâ€¦ come on….
March 12, 2007

E
I know it’s hellaciously late, but Gary nailing (more or less) the PV leads to the following corollary QOD: have you ever HAD a varietal Petit Verdot? Can’t be too many floating around … I’ve only ever had one, and from Colorado at that.
March 12, 2007

Erik
Thanks again for another informative episode!

This is the first time I’ve posted a comment and just want to express how educational all of the WLTV segments have been.

Last year I started “Wine Tasting Wednesdays” at the restaurant in which I work and they’ve been a big hit. All interested employees (and there are quite a few) assemble for a themed-dinner and wine-tasting a half-hour after the dining room closes. We haven’t tried a blind tasting yet and it sounds like a great idea for an upcoming theme!

Located in Washington state we’ve experienced some phenomenal regional wines. I had to run right out and sign-up for the Dusted Valley Vineyards “stained tooth society” membership list to ensure that I’ll receive all of the vineyard specific and reserve Syrah selections. I’m attempting to sample all of the new releases from the Walla Walla region, though it seems new wineries are appearing here every month.

Perhaps you could have an episode featuring bargain “second-labels”. I know I’ve been impressed with Nelm’s Road (Woodward Canyon) and Hurricane Ridge (Andrake Cellars). The Hurricane Ridge Cabernet Franc is something else!

QOD – On a tour of the Columbia Winery earlier this year I made it a point to inspect the “sale-table” displayed at the back of the tasting room. There I found the last large 1.5L bottle of “35th Anniversary” Otis Vineyard 1997 Cabernet Sauvignon (Yakima Valley). Bottle was already on sale for $49.00 with an added 25% off which was a special-incentive given to our restaurant tour-group. I’ve always enjoyed David Lake’s vineyard specifics and this bottle simply can’t be found anymore (perhaps available only at the winery to begin with); that was one of my better finds!

Thanks for the inspiring tasting. Keep up the great work.
March 12, 2007

Alco Holland
#144 yes!!!!

Qotd: Not counting obvious pricing errors or cost discounts,I purchased a ‘92 Silver Oak Napa for $35 and sold that very wine at retail a year later for $100.
March 12, 2007

Jim CT
Totally my bad. Found the QT option and a Full-Screen menu. Must be the BB Pool I’m running – too much stress already.