California Zinfandel’s That Are Highly Rated

California Zinfandel’s That Are Highly Rated – Episode #208

April 4, 2007

Wines tasted in this episode:

Question of the day: “How do you manage your cellar”

Gary Vaynerchuk tackles four serious red Zinfandel’s today and is excited to share his thoughts, please share yours.

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

255 Responses

Pages: « 11 10 [9] 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 » Show All

April 5, 2007

Jim in Atlanta
I am a relatively new viewer and really enjoy your episodes and look forward to them. You bring a lot of energy and fun to wine tasting. I am recommending your site to other wine lovers in Atlanta. Keep up the good work!!
April 5, 2007

Les
Thanks for the Zin episode! I don’t have a cellar (translation – more than 1 case of wine at any given time) but it’s something I am working my way up to in terms of, confidence, money, and space. If I was managing my future holdings, I would use a journal with creamy thick pages and a great inky fountain pen that smudges if you don’t allow for drying time. My significant other would use Excel and laugh.
April 5, 2007

Vivaitalia
LURKER HERE! No one referred me, i found it on my own, but hey, why should that count against me? I absolutely love wltv, i’ve gone back and watched almost every episode! Keep up the great work and i’ll be leaving alot more comments.
April 5, 2007

Justin
What a find! I look forward to making my way through the archives of this show
April 5, 2007

wallace
keep up the show… it’s awsome. i was a huge zin fan, but over the years my taste turned… it’s good to see this episode so that i remember to check up on old favorite varietals, wineries, etc.
April 5, 2007

Jon B.
Qotd My celler is managed in my head of coarse,now if it grows like I’d like it too I’ll look into a different system but for now the noggin will do. By the way I love zins great episode.
April 5, 2007

carnyc
Thanks for the episode. As a relative newbie to wine, I didn’t really think of Zin as a “fun” wine, but given its tendency to be fruity and jammy and candylike, I completely agree it’s not something to be taken too seriously. Glad to have found the site!
April 5, 2007

Jay
I got a 42 bottle wine fridge.
1/2 full.
April 5, 2007

michael
Lurker alert!!
OK Gary…emerged from the depths I have. lol.

Unprecedented!! During the same year the SEC brings home the NC Trophy in f’ball and both men’s and women’s b’ball…not to mention a shot at baseball, golf and track titles too. But wait!! What’s this…a shout out to the Gators but NOT the Lady Vols?!!? Coach Summitt w/ 12 Title appearances, 7 NC’s (3 from legnedary Coach J. Wooden) and 900+ W’s!! Shame on you Gary.

Nice show…
Seghesio makes very good Zin. but their Sonoma (made WS Top 100 the last 3 yr.s) County is actually my fav. and at around 18 bones it just happens to be their least $$$ too.
Too the other extreme for Zin’s…
Turley, another fav. Zin maker of mine…fantastic, monster Zin’s but their Hayne Vnyd. and Ueberroth labels rise head-n-shoulders above the competition…just incredible juice.

QOTD-If you’re into intricate details; Cellarmaster software. Otherwise, Excel will suffice.
April 5, 2007

Cat Pee Smells Like Wine :-)
QOD – A simple spreadsheet with a score of 1-5 for how much I liked the wine. I don’t have the moula for a nice wine cellar, and can really only afford budget wine right now. Maybe someday…
April 5, 2007

mike volker
uncorked
April 5, 2007

TagWorld Brian
Gary, awesome timing on the Zin episode. I was just getting back into them this week. Opened a Rosenblum Cellars. It never lets me down.

QOTD: Until about a week ago, I was using http://www.manageyourcellar.com. For wine-o’s with beginner computer/Internet skills, it’s a good choice. Pretty robust, and I linked cellars there with my Dad. But last week, I realized I just want a lot more functionality. So I switched to cellartracker. Got my 80 bottles up on cellartracker now. User name there is brian1970.

I only wish cellartracker would add a prettier user interface, and update with some web 2.0 / social networking flair like TagWorld (shout out to my work). It’s too hard to find other users on cellartracker. Need some personal profile info, maybe a profile pic, etc…
April 5, 2007

Jon B
Thanks for covering Zins!

You gotta check out the Zins from Lodi. Talk about Skittles and fruit explosions…

The Petite Sirahs and Rhones from Lodi are also quite nice.

QOTD: A custom FileMaker Pro database. I got so geeky that at one time I was syncing my main database with my Palm Pilot using FileMaker Mobile. I felt odd at the tasting room bars taking notes into a PDA, so I stopped that one pretty quick.
April 5, 2007

Andre
I manage my cellar with an OminOutliner document. OmniOutliner is sort of like a spread sheet mashed up with an outliner, mashed up with beautiful colors and details. (Mac-only).
April 5, 2007

Karl O'Connor
I use a database program called HandBase on my Pocket PC (also available on Palm) that Synchs with my PC. I built the Wine Cellar Form several years ago and manage my cellar, currently ~700 bottles down from 1000, very easily. When I buy wine I cut and paste all relevant data including tasting notes from the Wine Library web site into the database on the PC. I use the Pocket PC to select wine or remove wine from the cellar and update the quantity at that time. I make tasting notes which is great for future buying decisions or discussions about the occasions when we previously drank a particular wine. With a few clicks (or taps) I can obtain many reports such as number of bottles and value. Works great for me.
April 5, 2007

poquelin
QOTD: I mentioned that I use FileMaker Pro on a Mac [Windows version also available], which is a database easily adaptable to your needs. You can create any fields you need. So for keeping track of my wines I have created the following fields:
Varietal (e.g. Brunello)
Name (e.g. Casanova di Neri)
Producer: Tenuta Nuova
Vintage: 2001
Price: What I paid
Source: Where I bought it
Date bought
Number of bottles I have
Ratings: 3 sub-fields: RP; WS; my own
My tasting Notes
April 5, 2007

Ryan V.
Love the show, good to hear you talking about Zin’s again.
April 5, 2007

Elliot Essman
Excel is up to the task, especially if you come to know the data sort features.
April 5, 2007

GregL
QOTD ;

Since I’ve only just recently gotten into wine and only have about a case of wine in my cellar,
I use index cards to write my 3 word tasting notes and give the wines a school grade. I think B+ is the highest mark so far.
BTW- My brother in law brought me back a Cowboys shot glass from a recent trip to Dallas, I will make sure to celebrate with it on Thanksgiving day !

G
April 5, 2007

SS Chris
GARY, *** SPREADSHEET QUESTION ****

You forgot to rank the 2004 Four Vines Dusi Ranch Zinfandel (your favorite from the Episode).

If possible, it’s probably best if you post your rating in the Comments section, so that it is officially “part of the record”. Otherwise, send me an email, and I’ll post a comment relaying what your rating is.
April 5, 2007

stewart l
QOD-I basically manage my cellar in my head. I have tags hanging from the wines as to their height of drinking.
April 5, 2007

Carlitos
QOTD. I use VinCellar from VinFolio.com even if I can’t afford their prices. It looks like it hasn’t been mentioned yet. It’s an online system as CellarTracker or the others. I found it throught the web and I really liked the interface and some of the reports it produces. I’m generally happy although it’s not so easy to manage remotelly. Sometimes I think a simple Excel spreadsheet would be easier to carry around in my PDA (BlackBerry). But after importing all the data is not easy to migrate out now. I’m generally satisfied.
April 5, 2007

Keith Miller
Gary V…Do me a favor sometime…You need to get that barcode off the bottom of the J-E-T-S Jets, Jets, Jets Spit Bucket…LOL…Or maybe your going to sell it at some point. Keep going man!!!
April 5, 2007

Emery
QOTD EXCEL Spreadsheet
April 5, 2007

Matty Matt
I love zins! Great episode. I really like the Seghesio wines and their non-vineyard Sonoma County is a good QPR.

QOTD – Been meaning to input cellar tracker but in my mind for now.