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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March 9, 2007

dadobs
What a great, great episode. Kudos for hanging yourself out there, GV. Double-blind is way cool.

QOTD: Bought the 2004 Marquis-Philips 9 shiraz for $14 even though it was a $30-35 bottle with big Parker points (because of the falling out between Sparky and Philips). Wished I had bought four cases instead of just eight bottles. Terrific wine (if you ignore the fake fruit oak monster issue). Parker gave the 2005 96-98 pts and it’s impossible to find the “9″ for under $30 anywhere.

p.s. Nalle’s going through a dumb phase. They’ll be back, though I’m not sure of the ‘04 zin.
March 9, 2007

wannaBconnoiseur
Very impressive Gary!!!! 3 out of 4 WOW!! Great show, a lot of fun, please do more of these.
March 9, 2007

GottaGoDrink
Gary- Great show and good job. Very entertaining and a nice change of pace.

QOTD- In early 2004, I got the 2001 Artazuri Garnacha for $8. Later, after the Parker 92 score took hold and the bottles became scarce, it was as high as $30.
March 9, 2007

TheDumbPhase
Nice job Gary. Quit while you’re ahead! You’ll never be able to duplicate your success much like the ‘69 Jets!
QOTD- I’m always a bargain hunter, a recent find was 1999 Chappellet PHEV Cab for $50. This is normally $90+ and a great vintage to boot. Bought all 8 bottles.
March 9, 2007

NY Pete
QOD… A rival store is offering the 2004 Oreno Sette Ponti for 50 a pop and the 2004 Brancaia Il Blu for 49 a pop… I think they want may business back, what do you think?
March 9, 2007

brooklyni
great episode. we’ll have to do this again. i loved it. you are human! well, i would have done a lot worse!
March 9, 2007

Alos Diallo
The biggest discrepancy, is a 1997 Mouton Rothschild that I paid 171.11 from a distributor but have latter seen for ~124 and change, there are others but then again who’s counting.
March 9, 2007

Unaware
When people say “top ten” what are they referring to?
March 9, 2007

Lars
Not that this would save my beloved Nalle from the butcher block, but I believe that the wines were not decanted or even open for more than 10 minutes before the tasting.
March 9, 2007

FTboomer
Great job Gary, loved the store tour.
March 9, 2007

RickyRicky
Awesome awesome episode! I just started on my wine ventures, and I usually get my wine from wine.woot.com, so not a whole lot of discrepancy in my wine purchases, yet..

That brings me to my question actually. I think I’m going to have a standing collection of 30-50 wine bottles at any point in time… What’s a good Wine Cellar I could purchase to hold that much wine that won’t break after a year of use?

Ricky
March 9, 2007

TagWorld Brian
Wine – not. I bought a 2003 Riussec (750 ml) at Costco for $43.99. You paid $140 for a 2001? I know ‘01 was a great vintage in Sauternes, but does 2003 suck comparatively? It seemed to get good scores. Wonder why such a price difference.
March 9, 2007

RobinRedBest in Boise, ID
I cheered when you nailed the Petit Verdot and agree that blind tastings are the most educational.

QOTD: Estancia 2005 Pinot Grigio from $9 to $24…./btl A great wine that goes from soup to nuts or from Snails to Chocolate and holds up well with all inbetween. Tropical fruits and Pears – good fruit/acid balance and a clean lingering palate-coating refresher. Glad we purchased a case locally at the $9/btl plus case discount after paying $18 at a restaurant. We tried to order the Trimbach Alsatian Pinot $35/btl listed on the wine list, but they were ‘out of it’.
March 9, 2007

Rob B.
Another great episode.
You nailed the petit verdot.
March 9, 2007

Jeffrey
qotd:

St. Michelle Eroica, you sell it for $17, Cheapest i’ve seen it elsewhere is $20, most places are $22-25.
March 9, 2007

ChardonBob
QOD – Santa Margherita Pinot Grigio – In Italy it is 5 Euro and relegated to the lower shelf, here it varies from $20 to $30 and rates top shelf. Why?
March 9, 2007

Acousticdoc
Way to go Gary! You do know your $h1+! That episode was awesome. I can’t wait for more blind tastings.
March 9, 2007

mikeyrad
Wow, I’m totally impressed, especially that Petite Verdot!
March 9, 2007

mczinger
QOTD: biggest upward swing – bought ‘04 Coche-Dury Puligny Montrachet for $180, sells for between $300 and $350. biggest downward swing – bought ‘99 Maume Mazis Chambertin for $145, sells elsewhere between $70 and $80 … ouch.
March 9, 2007

wine - not
2001 Chateau Rieussec – bought 2/07 paid $140 – everywhere else $200+ and climbing…
March 9, 2007

waibeans
Great Job GV! wow that was fun to watch.. I definitely agree that something like this should be live tho. You need the live interaction to discuss your tasting notes and why you decided on the final verdicts?

Like:

1)how you could pull out the Petite Verdot characteristics.
2)what made you think #2 was southern hemi.
March 9, 2007

Jonathon M Chicago
QOTD- 1999 Silver Oak; paid $89 seen it for as much as $125.00
March 9, 2007

SS Chris
Wow!! Very impressive Mr. VaynerCHUK. KUDOS!!!

Next time I run into the wine sales guy who was badmounthing you….one of his issues was that you knew nothing about tasting wine…..I’ll point him to this video.

I you almost did say Zinfandel…and then another thought popped in you head and you went on another tangent.
March 9, 2007

lou from downunder
Gary, It’s Saturday morning and I’m bewilded by the size of the store, which begs the question. How long does the average customer spend in the store? and Do they know what they are looking for?

More bling tasting !!!
March 9, 2007

Lars
You’re a dead man, Wine Guy!!!

In about an hour, Fed Ex Ground is dropping off a case and a half of WL juice. 3 of the bottles are Nalle (the e is silent) Zin! Oh, well. I’m still looking forward to trying the 2004. Doug and Lee Nalle’s notes mention that this one should sit down for awhile. They sell it for 30 bones, you guys have it at 21ish. It ain’t 7, but it’s still a discount. Thanks again for the free shipping.

QOTD: I’ve got about 8 bottles of Nalle Zin in my “cellar.” Average price is 26 bones. Now the Wine Guy is tellin’ me that I should treat it like a $3 cooking wine.

Don’t worry, Wine Guy, I still like ya. But, don’t think for a minute that your Jets don’t suck!

Go Mighty Vikes!
Lars