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

April 4, 2007

CW
she’s so high
April 4, 2007

TommyBoBo of WI
#1???? Yee Ha!
April 4, 2007

TommyBoBo of WI
ok, I’ll take 2. Now to watch
April 4, 2007

cgf
Top 10. haven’t had a zin episode in awhile. NICE.
April 4, 2007

Miclael M.
Welcome back G.V.!
April 4, 2007

waibeans
oooo top ?!
April 4, 2007

TimInFL
YEah…I hate people that do this…But here I am!
April 4, 2007

cub rudy
3 or 4. I’m excited
April 4, 2007

organicguy
In early….my wife loves zins so it looks like the card takes a hit!!!
April 4, 2007

CW
QOTD: Cellar Tracker.
April 4, 2007

TheDumbPhase
Just in time for a big steak dinner- Zins!
April 4, 2007

TommyBoBo of WI
shopper discount liquors
April 4, 2007

TommyBoBo of WI
Shoppers discount liquors forgot the s
April 4, 2007

Corrado
QOTD: CellarTracker all the way!
April 4, 2007

waibeans
congrats TommyBobo
April 4, 2007

TommyBoBo of WI
More schwag!!! put it in with my wrist band (s) I’ve got three little BB players that sweat alot!
April 4, 2007

Dan
QOTD

Cellar Tracker.

Is there anything else?

Dan (in Houston. And in the Software Biz. Love that Eric Levine!)
April 4, 2007

TommyBoBo of WI
QOTD EXCEL Spreadsheet
April 4, 2007

Hinrgman
QOTD my own MS Access Database
April 4, 2007

Eric S.
QOD: Cellartracker. Simply awesome! Gary, you should put your personal cellar on CT so we can all oogle at your awesome collection!
April 4, 2007

Badger Ann
QOTD: Cellar Tracker. Thanks for the Zinfandel episode!
April 4, 2007

grape_ape
QOD: Cellar Tracker. just put all my inventory in recently, and it’s great!
April 4, 2007

waibeans
QOD/ i’m all over cellartracker like everyone else. I think corkd is great for sharing tasting notes though.

Thx GV.. can’t wait for tomorrow!!!!!!!!!!!!
April 4, 2007

RandyB
Zintalating!

QOTD: Excel worksheet set up by bin (row x column).

Ciao
April 4, 2007

cgf
Great episode Gary. You were on with your tasting notes:
-banana
-rainbow up the nose
good stuff.

QOTD: Winespectator personal list for some things, and then everything in an excel spread sheet. I only record wines i have drank, and not wines i am storing, because i don’t have enough to necessitate tracking software.

Love the talk on the forums about a cellar tracker for WLTV. I think it is a good idea that would benefit both consumer and retailer.
April 4, 2007

Mrs. TheDumbPhase
My husband is DumbPhase. He’s making me do this. I like your show too, but not like him. We met at that dinner at Basilicos a few months ago.
April 4, 2007

Miclael M.
QOTD: Manage? not to well I buy more wine then I drink , so Houston we have a problem !
As for the bag , Gary you can keep it my balls came with their own. (oh boy to much wine)
Thanks anyway………….WoW
April 4, 2007

stevo
Just signed up for cellar tracker today. Seemed fitting after receiving my first WL shipment this morning.
April 4, 2007

TheDumbPhase
Ha! My wife has unLurked. Nice shirt BTW. How come you didn’t mention your utter failure in the NCAA pool?
QOTD- CellarTracker and my ever failing noggin’
April 4, 2007

Neil
QOTD: The old noggin. Sometimes I forget what exactly I have and feel like a happy squirrel finding a long forgotten peanut. I have pondered an excel spreadsheet but haven’t gotten there yet.
April 4, 2007

TimInFL
Great Episode…I Love LODI Zins the best.

QOTD – Wine Enthusiast Guide for Pocket PC by Landware…Yes My Dell Axim is still ticking away.

Lets Go Mets!
April 4, 2007

aktormedic
There is nothing better for cellar management than cellar tracker…

Still don’t like 90% of Zins though…but aged Ridge Zins are nice
April 4, 2007

Michael Goldfine
Shoppers discount liquor. Enjoy the show.

Cheers,
Michael
April 4, 2007

KAHUNA
Stop crying about the dopey lurkers you sissy boy- OOHH my feelings are hurt- oohh I look at the stats- please comment – Mommy didnt tell me how wonderful I am today- and my wife didnt do my Barrell of laundry either- I am gonna go play with my unicorns and rainbow Strawberry shortcake dolls atleast they love me and if they dont my smurfs and mommies cookies will make me feel good- Lurkers I love you love me back! Sissy boy! oh yeah nice prediction on the Knicks making the playoffs.

See you Thursday pal! and dont try to sucker punch me!

QOTD – Part cellartracker, Part brain, part luck!

How many rockpile vinyeards are there and how many acres- it seems like a whole lot of wines say rockpile on them
April 4, 2007

Brandon M
I used to use an Excel spread sheet until I found Cellar Tracker.

Now there is nothing better.
April 4, 2007

Michael Browning
Excellent show on Zins, my wife can’t wait to try them!
April 4, 2007

lifestooshort
LOL, nice rant Kahuna. Because you, me, and a little friend called Mr. Espresso, we’re changing the online wine obsession world, aren’t we?
April 4, 2007

jack
like everyone else, cellartracker

i also keep a personal excel sheet
April 4, 2007

Gman
I am a lurker.

QOTD: Cellar Tracker
April 4, 2007

mikeyrad
QOTD: Cellar Tracker (I even sent them some bones.)
April 4, 2007

mikeyrad
KAHUNA, you’re cracking me up.
April 4, 2007

Ben N.
Hey Gary,
I u’s Wine Cellar System for Mac, it works.
April 4, 2007

panoca
QOTD: Before i used to keep everything in a book. Now i use CT.
April 4, 2007

Michael Browning
Oops! forgot about the QOTD: You can’t manage what you don’t have, it dosen’t last long down there.(Dam Friends!) And again excellent show!!
April 4, 2007

organicguy
Believe it or not I use the noggin…technology scares the hell out of me but I admit it makes many chores easier. Because I visit the racks daily for selections and most bottles have tags it’s fairly easy for me to remember what is available. Average inventory about 500 bottles…and yes I do envy those who use Cellar Tracker…
April 4, 2007

Joe Po
Gary,
I am a very happyfied Seghesio Zin drinker!
QOTD: I have the list under “My Documents” but
I think I should look into this Cellar Tracker.
Love Zins. Thanks for the episode.
April 4, 2007

SoCal
G,
Banana?
Did you say Banana?
We don’t need no Freaking Banana!

QOTD: It has been said…here and on the WLTV Forum…..Cellar Tracker is the best!
April 4, 2007

brooklyni
QOTD Cellartracker. I also keep a spreadsheet on my computer. Just in case!
April 4, 2007

lifestooshort
QOTD: Online Google spreadsheet, but need to consider CT because things are getting out of hand trying to track everything this way. That and I’m not quite nerdy enough for our casual wine drinking friends…
April 4, 2007

CHEF
Shoppers discount liquor.
April 4, 2007

SP
Excel, thinking about putting into Access then on the web. Cellar Tracker looks neat, but I think there can be a lot of enhancements to it, some were recently talked about in the forum, and still other ideas out there, especially for a brick and mortar store with a large client base / following.
April 4, 2007

John Blue Label
Gary,
Nice episode. Zin is a fun wine, and you looked like you had fun.
QOTD: I am looking for the best way to manage my inventory. Cellartracker is popular. Ben N, where do you get wine cellar for mac, I am a mac guy too. Also, is cellar tracker a website or a program? And, does it do Mac (the superior OS).
JW
April 4, 2007

Caren
Gary, If you really want to bring out the lurkersand push up the #’s….give a freebie to the LAST comment, not the first
April 4, 2007

grape_ape
Kahuna, re: the Rockpile Vineyard – I don’t know the answer, but there are a lot of other situations like this, take the Gary’s, Rosella’s, Pisoni pinot noir vineyards, for example. There are a bunch of producers making wines from their grapes. Morisoli, Monte Rosso are some other examples.
April 4, 2007

Dr. J. L. Sifuentes
SHOPPER’S DISCOUNT LIQUOR. I know I’m not the 1st to mention it, but I was busy “saving lives” at the hospital. Nice episode Gary. Take care.
April 4, 2007

Alos Diallo
I use to use cellar tracker but was not too happy with it so I built my own database and have in on an sql server with a coldfusion web interface. It allows me to access what I have anywhere and customize it to my own needs better then cellar tracker can. Great episode as usual.
April 4, 2007

poquelin
QOTD. FileMaker Pro
April 4, 2007

Dmjperc
QOTD…. Photographic memory!!!
April 4, 2007

Caren
ah, Zins my first love….it’s what brougt me into the wine world…
Great episode!
April 4, 2007

Dave-from-Katonah
KAHUNA you’re too funny!

QOTD – Cellar Tracker is the best – another tip from WLTV!
April 4, 2007

Jonathon M Chicago
QOTD: Tried Cellar tracker- too much fluff
I use labels hanging on the bottles in my cellar. It’s more fun to gloat over my collection in the cool 55 degree cellar than staring into a computer screen!
April 4, 2007

amgryger
Lurker coming out of hiding.

QOTD. My cellar is tiny but I use Excel to keep track of it and also tasting notes for wines I’ve tried.
April 4, 2007

laposte
QOTD:
I use Cellar The Ultimate Wine Companion. I have it on my laptop for inventorying new wine and back it up to my desktop and flash drive.
laposte
April 4, 2007

mike m
QOTD, A friend wrote a cellar program so I’m spoiled.Have a PC right outside the cellar.Glad to see Four Vines getting some props.Try the Heretic Petite sirah,incredible!!
April 4, 2007

Lars
No lurkin’ from Lars…

QOTD: Excel spreadsheet with 3 sheets. (current – past – wishlist) It syncs up with my Treo, so I always have my list with me. Geek alert.
April 4, 2007

Douglas
I use Cellar Tracker too! But I am way behind imputing bottles. Did I miss it or did you forget to score the Two Vines?

Douglas aka demilove
April 4, 2007

BobW
Cellar tracker
April 4, 2007

Bryan
Just visited Dry Creek this weekend and I loved Seghesio. They truly are delicious and wonderful. If you love this wine, check out Acorn, Bella, Deux Amis and Wilson (much more structured wine.. 2004 was awesome)
April 4, 2007

Kwan
organization – a big, fat excel spreadsheet does the trick for me. I tried cork’d and I still visit it from time to time to make notes about bottles after I’d had them, but lately I don’t even do that.
April 4, 2007

Jahlove
I am 100% satisfied with Cellar Tracker. Can’t imagine life without it.
April 4, 2007

Wildebeest
HA, 69! …aww.
April 4, 2007

Michelle C
O.k Gary, Here it comes! This is the first time I have submitted a comment on Wine Library. We found you website when looking for a bottle of 40 year Tawny Port which we purchased, but have not cracked! I have been watching nearly everyday for about the last 100 episodes. Some of us here in the Midwest do work for a living and we’re in a different time zone. The first thing I do when I get home from work around 5:45 is watch Wine Library. Sometimes with a glass of my favorite, sometimes not. Anyway, I never have the opportunity to be the first to comment. So how about a free bag for someone that watches every day and has finally added a comment. If not, I’ll still continue to refer my friends and family. There are many of us out here that appreciate what you do but never say it! I’ve learned so much. Keep up the good work.
April 4, 2007

kingfunk
I’m a lurker, I go old school with a pencil and ledger. Its about time I start using the mac
April 4, 2007

SpaceJay
What does your fantasy baseball look like? Did they run out of OF’s?
April 4, 2007

NY Pete
It’s all upstairs… the mind is a terrible thing to waste.
April 4, 2007

Greg
Thanks for the hot tips on the Zin. I’m really green with them. I just picked up my first bottle. Oh, and I use my head for my small 40 bottle cellar. Don’t need one much bigger the Wine tends not to stay very long. : )
April 4, 2007

Neal
Data-whore,

I’m one of many “lurkers” watching your blog. Love the format, and I’m learning from it. Keep it up, man.
April 4, 2007

Michael Goldberg
Shoppers Discount Liquors!

Awe man. I am like 50 comments too late… But it’s the thought that counts.

BTW, when you got up and whispered to one side of the camera, it is a really freaky effect when you are wearing headphones.

QofD: I organize my inventory by a simple system: Is the bottle empty? If yes, throw it out. If no, drink it. Simple System.
April 4, 2007

TheAcrobaticFish
QOTD:

Excel, oh dear excel. I waste far too much time flipping my pivottable and summarizing my inventory by permutations of varietal, sytle, region, vintange, etc. that probably don’t make any sense.

CellarTracker too, but for all its features, don’t you guys find the thing kludgy?
April 4, 2007

mas
I’d be interested in anyone’s notes on the ‘03 C.G. de Aire Shenandoah Zin – picked that up at WL last week. Sorry to hear about the Terraces, picked that up too – your review though has convinced me to give that some bottle age – maybe things will turn around.

QOTD: Excel and wrote my own Access DB – used to use Parker’s cellar s/w but was tired of paying for it – it was nice though, had all of his prior reviews and review updates in it.
April 4, 2007

mbannon
Great episode, thanks Gary. I love Zins, gotta get back into them.

QOD – I was a CellarTracker geek before it was cool to be a CellarTracker geek. Now I’m just another geek in the CT crowd.
April 4, 2007

Harley Stan
WOW very energetic episode today.
QOTD- I don’t really manage my small collection. There reds are in the racks and cupboards and the whites are in the fridge. The ones I want to keep for awhile are on the left, the ones to drink any time are on the right. At my current rate of consumption to purchase I will need to start managing my collection by the end of the year.
April 4, 2007

TimF
Oh man do I love Zin. I need to just buy Zin from now on. Your description brought me back to a delicious bottle of Ridge Ponzo I had on Friday. It was crazy delicious.

QOTD: I don’t have enough wine for it to matter — YET. We’re still living in our first house, when we move it will be time to build a cellar.
April 4, 2007

TimF
Oh yeah, and not all Zins are party all the time. A 10 year Ridge Geyserville is a thing of beauty…
April 4, 2007

Doc Dan
QOTD: Cellar tracker!
April 4, 2007

TimF
HEY! I take exception to your comment about Zins always being party all the time wines. A 10 year old Ridge Geyserville is a thing of rare beauty.
April 4, 2007

Leonard
Hey Gary,

Excellent espisode as usual….enjoyed your comments, your tastings notes and just saying it as it is….I guess I would be considered one of your lurkers, I haven’t responded or made any comments since the beginning when I said what a great concept this was and why no one else thought of doing this…..

As for the QOTD – cellar management: I do it the old way, write into a book, followed by tagging it before placing the wine into my cellar…1590 bottles or so…I guess you would consider me old world, I’m envious of those who use cellartracker…who knows, maybe someday….

And again, excellent show…
April 4, 2007

moletown
Lurking out west brother! Great show. mud, pee, socks, pickles! how fun! Miss your show when you’re out partying. Nice “Red” Zinfandel show. How about a Primitivo episode? My favorite Zin was St Francis old vines zinfndel, field blend w/alicante bouschet and petite sirah co-fermented.
Wine cellar:Excel(shrinking fast)LYB
April 4, 2007

chogan
QOTD: I use cellartracker. I have a Vinotemp 600E and CT is great to record bin location info. I have stickers in my cellar – each column is a letter and each row is a number. It goes A-K for the columns and 0-17 for the rows. It’s 2 deep so a particular bottle would be at something like C-05(front) or G-08(rear).
April 4, 2007

db
Gary

Gotta love the zin episodes!!!!
April 4, 2007

thkorent
QOTD: I have an excel spreadsheet, but I wouldn’t really need it and that’s why I never use it, because I always know in advance what I’m gonna pop anyways. But I “only” have a double digit bottle count, so no real need for keeping track of inventory yet…
April 4, 2007

Fingerlaker
grats tommy on the Shoppers discount liquors
love the Ricolaaaaaa
April 4, 2007

drwMD
Did I miss the score on the Dusi Ranch? How is ChrisSS supposed to maintain his wonderful spreadsheet without that GV scoreâ„¢?

QOTD: Graph Paper and a corkboard. Way old school.

I agree with TheDumbPhase…nice shirt.
April 4, 2007

Matt B DC
Shoppers discount – -
wait. Damn!!

Great episode . . . I don’t know how you keep your tasting notes so fresh.

QOTD: I use my belly
April 4, 2007

insaneirish
QoTD: Cellar Tracker. It’s meh. I’ll use it until I develop my own better solution.
April 4, 2007

philmyglass
Gary,

Nice episode.

If anyone wants to see something completely different, check out the very proper GV in episode #2, versus the loose and comfortable GV whispering in our ears today. Nice transformation.

QOTD: Excel Spreadsheet, but I only have about 50 bottles. Is Cellartracker free? Subscription? What are the benefits? Thanks
April 4, 2007

Acousticdoc
QOTD: Funny you should ask. I just imported all my wines into Cellar Tracker today.
April 4, 2007

Dave Canada
Ass kickin episode….your the highlight of my day (outside of my wife and son)
QOTD – I use http://www.wineisgood.com It is really good, tracks consumption, drink dates, notes, #s, etc. Check it out….it FREE!!!!!
Gary, why don’t you email about my challenge at Bball? Why do you fear me? That is my question of the day. Why does Gary Vaynerchuk…guru of wine and poser of bball fear a lowly Canuck? Answer that!
April 4, 2007

leatherpalate
Yo! Cubs are up 2-0 life is good.

Cellar Tracker.

Great Episode.
April 4, 2007

upstater
My cellar is in my kitchen…Not much to manage yet. I have a question/comment. Went to a tasting over the past weekend. I tried a white wine and had an acidic explosion of ruby red grapefruit in my mouth. And I said to the wine person, “wow…that’s interesting…that is some serious ruby red grapefruit!!!” So, this guy says…”No…its peach…try it again.” I didn’t buy from that guy, the main thing that keeps “non wine consumers” away from wine…is that guy! So, show idea, since you probally don’t have any…! If I were to have a non wine drinker taste 5 wines that were going to blow their mind and think about wine as more than a drink…what would they be? It would be cool to see what the reaction would be for people after your recommendations. AND…I am not lurking any more…where’s superfly? Bring em’.
April 4, 2007

E-Rock
QOD= Wish mine was big enough to require management.
April 4, 2007

GeneV
Great evening ahead. It starts with Gary, and now Netflix has delivered Borat.

I use Excel to manage my cellar. I don’t like anything that I can’t use without the internet.
April 4, 2007

TWofPasadena
Zins ROCK-I especially like the ones from Paso. Hey, why don’t you do an episode on Paso Robles? They’re making some terrific wines there (I’ll be there in May for the wine festival).

Btw, you’re obviously a charter member of the Lionel Richie fan club. Way to many Lionel references lately. Update the IPod buddy.
April 4, 2007

ecola
Classic Vaynerchuk – Herbal candy? Riccola? P to third power all in a row(polished, profound, pure) Blueberries and pepper hookin’ up at the 10th grade dance, Riding a bull in a china shop throwing dodgeballs, the classic ” old world leave the room”, and to top it off a sweet Lionel Richie reference. Awsome episode. QOTD: Cork’d
April 4, 2007

gordoyflaca
Cellartracker.
April 4, 2007

DOE
I’m a lurker who is feeling bad for Gary because he doesn’t get enough comments. I manage my wine rack by writing a note on the bottle when I buy it so I won’t forget what it was and why I bought it and then I put the reds on the bottom and the whites toward the top and drink them and then do that all again.

I enjoy Wine TV and tell all my wine loving friends about it. They love it now too. But I don’t feel like having any more “stuff” right now so I didn’t call them and tell them to write.
April 4, 2007

Bill O
I have a cellar with a few hundred bottles and I give it the once over about a third of the time when I get a bottle. It’s in my head.

It’s good to see an episode with big boy Zins!!

PS- Rockpile is an AVA.

Come to the ZAP tasting to taste all the big boys and much more.

A 15 year ZAP member and voulnteer!
April 4, 2007

GottaGoDrink
QOTD- I have my own little invention going. Not efficient, but kinda fun and gives me something to do in my spare time. Separate lists for purchases and storage. Tasting notes are all in my head. Poor to average memory for everything else, great memory for wine.

Gary- Thanks for the Zin show. The ‘02 Seghesio Cortina or Old Vine was the first Zin we tried…big family favorite and I still have a few bottles from that vintage.
April 4, 2007

Dom
Shoppers Discount Liquors

Nice, nice episode of a very nice, though “cubby-hole-type” varietal. In other words, Zinfandel has it’s place in Peyton’s household though he likes it.

No “heat” on the Four Vines? Need to place my order now.

Glad you gave kudos to Eddie Robinson. Amazing, truly amazing from LA!

Banana? Really . . . gotta have it.

QOTD: I utilize two sites, one developed by a fellow foodie/wine friend. http://www.cellar-masters.com/cgi-bin/WebObjects/CellarMastersApp and http://www.cellartracker.com

Sin Zin!
April 4, 2007

Lenn
Hey Gary…you comment whore.

Love the zins man…love em. Let’s do a petit sirah show sometime!
April 4, 2007

Wendy Elam
yummy, zinfandel! good show, as usual, gary! QOTD:i think the term “manage” overstates my process by just a bit! i did break down and buy a (12 bottle capacity!) refridgerator/cooler unit and, of course there’s always my hall coat closet! i record each of my purchases on a florescent/day glo colored, spiral-bound, 3 x 5 card flip chart kinda thing; when i crack open a bottle i make sure to record the date i opened it and my first (and second)impressions of nose and taste on the bottle’s handy little card. the system seems to work so far.
April 4, 2007

Jennifer
SHOPPERS DISCOUNT LIQUORS!
dang!
Just leaving ya data, sweetheart.
April 4, 2007

Capt M
No doubt, one of my favorite episodes, just because Zin is, and I dislike to admit, maybe my favorite varietal. Gary, you didn’t score the Four Vines Dusi Ranch; I wish you had. I’d buy any of the four wines presented in a heart beat. QOTD: Up until very, very recently, I was keeping a log on a Excel spreadsheet, but for lack of time, I’ve stopped doing it. For one, it helps me keep track of what I like, or what I have enjoyed the most recently, and also what wines to stay away from. For two, tells me how much wine I’m drinking in a year, and how many different wines I’ve tried.

On a separate note, Gary, I took advantage of the Bordeaux coupon offered today via e-mail. I went for a half-case of the Chateau Valrose Cuvee. THANKS SO MUCH! Really, thanks so very much.
April 4, 2007

EricB
Hey! A Zinfandel episode! Thank you, Gary.
Gotta say, never had cactus juice.
QOTD – I use a Word doc, but thinking about putting everything on CT.
My classic Zin pairing… Anything BBQ.
April 4, 2007

Capt M
I forgot to say.. space for winekeeping is the big thing, perhaps for most serious wine lovers. It’s becoming a problem for me. That is.. not enough space for wine keeping and collecting. I have one of those Samsung 29-bottle fridges. It is very nice, specially the thermostat feature. 29 bottles is obviously nothing. I keep some bottles in my kitchen refrigetator, for lack of any other cool place to keep bottles. Other than that, I have no other cool place in my apartment to keep wine. There’s a wine club in Panama, called Vino Club, and supposedly, for the $100 yearly fee, they also provide their members some wine cellar space. I’m not a member, but I suppose I should be. Wine storage room is a big thing.
April 4, 2007

Jennifer
YES you were missed. I got so excited about having a second chance at winning something free, though, that I spaced out for part of the episode. Must e-mail friends to comment.
April 4, 2007

Drewine
CellarTracker
April 4, 2007

njbabs
Well, you brought me out Gary.
QOTD: I use Cellar Tracker.
Thanks for expanding my palate and my wine knowledge. You’ve started a passion for wine in a younger drinker – I’m indebted to you! Well, actually I think I’ve spent enough at Winelibrary.com that we’re even…

Oh but I kid. Really, thanks!
April 4, 2007

Matthew L
Good episode Gary. Zinfandel is one of my favorite varietals. Hadn’t tried it with rabbit. That’s a culinary leap for me, but I’m open to trying it.

QOTD: I use corkd.com to manage my wine. Probably no surprise that my screenname there is MatthewL.

Cheers!
April 4, 2007

KAHUNA
CaptM,
Zin is a favorite in our house- It is my wifes absolute favorite so we drink alot of it-
April 4, 2007

wildebeest
QOTD: I just have a document on my computer that contains info on all the wines that spark my interest. If I manage to acquire anything on the list, I note how many bottles are in my possession right alongside the rest of the info (in its own column, actually). I keep track of tasting notes, images (of the labels), prices, scores, and approximately when I ought to plan on drinking them. In fact, that leads me to a question (or a request, rather) for YOU, Chuk-man: would you be so kind as to tell us when we ought to pop the bottles you review??? I don’t mind tasting something in its youth when I’ve got multiple bottles to experiment with, but sometimes I feel as if I’ve stolen the life away from an innocent child. And if I only have a bottle or two, abortions of that sort can be a real tragedy. That’s right, Gary, for the low, LOW, price of a few extra words per episode, you can do your part to help STOP THE MURDER OF EMBRYONIC WINES!!!

btw, if you’re wondering about my other comment on this page (#70), it’s just a sophomoric 69 joke. I’m a little bit loopy today –> haven’t slept much.
April 4, 2007

Matthew L
What do you use to track your cellar Gary?
April 4, 2007

Alaska1
Gary, no score on the Four Vines? I was just talking about them (four vines) with some friends yesterday and we were going to try and find some. So tomorrow could you up date us with a score? Please. Ohhh and THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THE ZIN SHOW, WE ALL LOVE THEM. If you want to do more we will not complain.
April 4, 2007

Bobinnati
Nice topic. Zinfandel is just about my favorite, so I was happy to see a show devoted to it. QOTD – Hah! If only I could afford to have enough wine that it required something special to manage it! Maybe someday. For now, I have a small enough inventory that I just keep it in my head.
April 4, 2007

waterandwine
yes, definitely, we like your winecasts here. Def one of the best. Keep up the good work and i hope to make it over to the Library one of these days whilst in Joisey. What is your take on Long Island wines/wineries? Going on a wine tasting, limo-bus riding birthday party in May for a second time but probably won’t make it through to too many wineries. (Just 14 of us but enough to cause a ruckus.)
April 4, 2007

Paul M
QOTD: Excel spreadsheet for tasting notes and with only 100 or so wines on hand it is pretty easy to just look at them to see what I have.
April 4, 2007

Riezin
Zin is fun stuff, good choice. I think i am the only guy around who doesnt love Seghesio zins. They’ve never turned me on but everyone else seems to dig em. I have a cellar tracker acct but never actually got into it. Been thinking about another try lately. Mostly just keep in my head and refresh with frequent visits to take something out.
April 4, 2007

Pat Mc
I use the SS Chris spreadsheet with another spreadsheet tab for my wines. It’s a beautiful thing. Also agree with the plea to suggest how long to cellar some of these. Right now I’ve got “not yet definitely” “not yet I think” and “guess I’ll drink it now.”
April 4, 2007

thescrewcap
My cellar is like 5 bottles so I keep that up in my domepiece.

Loved the Zin episode, I’ve been exploring Zin lately so it’s nice to see.
April 4, 2007

JustinL
Gary –

Maybe there aren’t a ton of lurkers, just a lot of people like me who only comment occasionally.

Re: the Seghesio, sounds like it was co-fermented with Viogner.

QOTD: I “only” have about 10 cases, so I keep track of it in my head.
April 4, 2007

Art Rose
Badly actually, in my noggin as you say. But i have a lot of stuff in cases, not full cases often, and mixed cases as i consolidate, so i tend to drink what i can see, or what is in front. And then, periodically, when i go looking for something special that i know is buried somewhere, i tend to fortuitously find a gem or two i’ve forgotten….and also, unfortunately, wines i should have long since drunk. On the other hand, as they are largely “old world” wines the passage of time does not necessarily diminish the pleasure.
April 4, 2007

dadobs
I agree with Riezin’s comment #122. I’ve been trying Seghesio zins for years given all the press they’ve garnered. Still, the love connection hasn’t happened, though I gotta admit that they seem to improve with bottle age compared to other zins. Had a 2000 Seghesio old vines a few weeks ago and thought that it was at least 2-4 points better than when it came out; maybe that’s the secret….
April 4, 2007

David K
I too would like to know GV’s Four Vines score.

How can you do a highly rated zin episode without a single Ridge in the lot?

I manage my celler with my noggin. Any wine worth drinking is worth remebering. And, I have 500+ bottles to remember.
April 4, 2007

cpd
QOTD: Excel
April 4, 2007

H-Why
QOTD: I’ve been using Cork’d – http://www.corkd.com. Just simple enough for me to keep track of things without much effort at all.
April 4, 2007

Brookhouser
GARY-

Great Episode….funny you mentioned the question….I am keeping track in my head right now….and I can probably rattle off bottles and quantities…but it is getting hard with upwards of 200+ in th ecellar now….I will be puting together a spreadsheet here soon…I think:)
April 4, 2007

Jerry the 2THDR
QOTD : I go out of my way not to manage the collection. I make a half assed attempt to put like vintages together to avoid letting something age too long,BUT the real kick is to get down on the floor and find a really great wine that you forgot you had or one you got before you found out how highly rated it became, or one you can’t ever remember buying and you take it to a restaurant and your favorite waiter opens it for you and takes a taste and its just great and he thinks you really know your wines and you humbly accept his praise and you wonder who in the hell put that in your celler. You know what I mean. Jerry the 2THDR
April 5, 2007

t_moderne
I am a lurker and a relative newbie. T_moderne referred me to the site and told me to comment. Let’s give a shout out to T_modene. Now send me the bag!
April 5, 2007

glenn
QotD: noggin. for 700+ bottles.
April 5, 2007

matt3866
No more lurking for me Gary. Great episode.
April 5, 2007

MBG
QOTD:

http://www.intelliscanner.com/products/wine/index.html

my personal cellar is:

http://www.intelliscanner.net/mbg/wine/
April 5, 2007

Matt the Lurker
I have my cellar organized by 3 different methods, each laid out on the x, y and z axis. Top to bottom is by region. Side to side separates the wine makers. And front to back is sorted by aging potential. The ageworthy wines go in the back so you have access to the drinkable stuff in the front. Of course, when I explain this system to the ladies they are all very impressed and they ask me “how is it that you have become so wise?” and “I wish I had a big strong man with such keen organizational skills!!” If any of them were here now I would have them post a response as well, but oddly they are not.

Maybe I’ll just sign up for cellartracker.
April 5, 2007

Capt M
Regards KAHUNA. I’m driving in the morning, with my kids, to our home in the highlands of Chiriqui. About a 6-hour drive. Will try the Gravity Hills Tumbling Tractor (Zin) this weekend. Will let you know how that goes. Regards and Happy Easter to you and your wife.
April 5, 2007

Jason R.
Lars – You are scaring me. This is the same set up for me. Excel spreadsheet with 3 tabs. Current, Drank, Wish List. This way I keep notes, and also track of pricing around the country on certain items.

I did enter all of my Bordeaux into cellar tracker and then quit. There was just too much info and from above “FLUFF”. I will occasionally check it out for notes on some wines – More to see how they are progressing and weather I should pop or wait. More often than not, I continue to wait.

Oh by the way – I was a lurker about 208 ep’s ago and Jason R. sent me. Shoppers Discount Liquor, Free Swag

****Free Shipping tomorrow on all LARGE FORMAT!!!! Do I hear a second???
April 5, 2007

Atreyu
Hey Gary!
I am not a big fan of Zins.
I manage my veeeery small cellar just by listing the wines on Word. You know what is funny? I keep my cellar in my office on campus! I have lots of room in the closets and the temperature is cool all year round! Of course, I shouldn’t say it to my collegues!
April 5, 2007

Jack2112
What an insane day, way too late to be posting, but is it ever REALLY too late? Besides, I had to check fantasy baseball.

Good episode GV, I enjoyed the comments, and you get an A+ for the Lionel Ritchie comment, fantastic.

QOTD: Alas…I am in the process of building my own cellar. And I only have about 20 bottles, so no reason for keeping track. I’m very much hoping that will change over time! But darnit, I just keep drinking them.

I thought you’d wear one of your NEW Tshirts today!!!

Jack2112
April 5, 2007

YoungDave
ZINS, SON!! Thanks for another solid EP after a dishartening (but well deserved) day off.

P.S.- I called the Old World disclaimer as soon as ou spit the Seghesio! By far the mosto classic warning to the Old World “Peeps” yet.

QOTD: Well, Dave’s current “cellar” is really just the remnants of the last two “buy 6, get 20% off” purchases at my fine neighborhood Wine Emporium in Boston: One Chenin Blanc from S. Africa, an Argentinian Malbec, a Burgundy Pinot, a Valpolicalla Classico Superiore, a Big House Red, and one each Alsacian Reisling and Gewertz. So to actually answer the question: I use the good ol’ noggin…or just look at the 7 total bottles in my apartment. (Oh, how I long for the day that I own a more permanent residence where I can accumulate more wine!)
April 5, 2007

Andrew G
Gary-

Jesus thank you for the shoutout for the Florida Gators! Why did you pick the Buckeyes to win the title??? Clearly Florida was the better team! You are the best, though, for keeping it real. Go Gators, we are the champions! University Ave. was rocking on Monday night!
April 5, 2007

Veronica
Nice review! Love your site! Neil from http://neildrinkswine.blogspot.com turned me on to you. Carol Shelton’s wines are very nice, indeed. Have you tried D-Cubed Zinfandel? Great stuff!

I manage my wine cellar (100 bottles) mainly by keeping it in my head and admiring it every so often. I also keep all my wine receipts.

cheers!
Veronica
April 5, 2007

KenP
I love Zins. Guilt free. Retire the exotic vocabulary. Reflection takes a holiday. If done well Zins give this one, at least, a hint, an amourous nod to more beloved Rhones. Delightful in a tight spot. The varietal deserves space in one’s cellar. I have relatives in Montana who love it over ice. AAARRRGH! Though not exactly an emerging demographic, (the state flower is the satellite dish), but, hey, they’re drinking.
April 5, 2007

John Coyne
Gary, it’s funny you mentioned banana on the nose of the Seghesio Zin. In the early to mid 90’s, after a period of unemployment, I was drinking value priced wines from my local supermarket. A large number of those wines were various red wines from the Gallo winery in Sonoma. Regardless of the label, they had a definite nose and taste of banana. I had never encountered this before(I have been drinking wine since the early 60’s). It was consistant for a few years, in fact, in some of the Gallo winery more value priced wines, it was quite prevelant. I always wondered what was the reason for the banana notes.
QOTD. When my cellar gets low, I manage to buy replacement wines to fill it up. Simple.
April 5, 2007

Thomas
Here is a lurker from Germany – love your show. QOTD: I also use cellar tracker – great website. Please do more Rieslings – the greatest white wine grape, especially in spring/summer. And 2005 vintage was awesome not only in Bordeaux…
April 5, 2007

Trish da' Dish
I use Cellar Tracker–I love it! I have less than $500 of wine on hand, but it is so cool because you can generate reports, and usu. you only have to enter part of a name and your vintage year, and it populates all of the other info. fields for you. Sweet!
April 5, 2007

Ferrigno
I think Gary scored the Four Vines Dusi Ranch 92 points in his mind. What’s your guess?
April 5, 2007

geespot
Hey GV, lurker here, coming to you via Cork’d. I suppose that answers the QOTD, yeah.

Love the show, think you’re on to something huge here. What’s the Four Vines score, btw? Okay. Enough for my first post. Too many archived episodes to get to… Oh, same name as on Cork’d, obvious perhaps.
April 5, 2007

hugh
QOD-

I use Excel, which for me works well, and i keep the file on two computers in case one crashes, cuz i’m too lazy to back up my files!! I have about 400 bottles….
April 5, 2007

Corrado
Did anyone try Shoppers’ Discount Liquor or Shopper’s Discount Liquor (depending on whether “shopper” is plural possessive or singular possessive)? I see lots of poor grammar (and we all know that grammar matters!)
April 5, 2007

Dom
The personel wine curator
April 5, 2007

Fishamble
QOTD: Cellar tracker sounds interesting, but my most pressing cellar management problem is TEMPERATURE. Red wine sitting next to the kitchen radiator means that fast turnover is a priority, and the sinking feeling of realising a good bottle has been there 6 months+ is an effective ‘drink-me’ alarm. A bit late in the comments day, but I’d be interested in hearing where people locate their cellars for optimum long-term storage.
April 5, 2007

Alaska1
Ferrigno I think your right!
April 5, 2007

Mike I
Cellar tracker – great for inventory, but it’s also a community – let’s you find out how your wine is drinking right now, if you need to decant, all that stuff. Plus, you can automatically generate a restaurant style wine list, a cool geek feature.
April 5, 2007

Rob M
Here is a post shout out to the data tracker GV. Not my first post, but I am a lurker more often than not.

As for management of my cellar, all in my head. I try to keep under 100 bottles on hand, so it is not that hard to keep track of. I’ll check out cellar tracker for some of my older bottles.
April 5, 2007

Paul
It sounds terrible, but I manage mine in my head, which is highly unreliable. And while my cellar is not that large, around 500 bottles, it means that I find all sorts of surprises (which I bring to WL meets).
April 5, 2007

NathanN
QOTD: I keep track of my inventory in my head. I keep the receipts & stuff them in a corner for reference, but it is a mess so I don’t thumb through them that often. Sometimes I write on the bottle were I got it, the $, and when to drink this takes a while so it doesnâ€™t always happen.

Cool Show!
April 5, 2007

e.fremont
Great episode. We like Ridge Zin and it is fun! QOTD Cellartracker Thanks
April 5, 2007

Lawrence Leichtman
Cellar Tracker is my go to. I’m up to 440 bottles so anything less won’t do it and Cellar Tracker lets me keep good notes as well. Enjoyed the review of several Zinds I would like to try. Do you age your Zinds at all? so many people buy them for immediate consumption but they are ageworthy for an intermediate time say 5-7 years. I have some Ridge’s and a few Turley’s that have significantly improved over time. Paul the comment above me. How can you possibly manage 500 bottles in your head. When I did that the surprises I found were usually unpleasant.
April 5, 2007

Orion Slayer
Thanks for the trip through part of Zinfandelland. I have been wanting to try the Four Vines for a while, and now I’m interested in the Carol Shelton. (Gary, how does the Dry Creek Vinyard Zinfandel compare to old world style?)

QOTD: Cellar tracker and my memory (faulty as it is.)

(Does it count if I referred myself?)
April 5, 2007

Ejhafer
Great Show!

QOTD: I use excel, keep press clipings in word and have memorized the list.
April 5, 2007

Ultimate Lurker
My very first post…just cause GV asked for it. I’ve been watching for acouple of months and have started to learn a lot from the show.
Wish I could order from my state! Thanks for the hard work…
April 5, 2007

Jeremy
QOTD: Excel Spreadsheet baby!
April 5, 2007

BillH
Good ep! Always wondered who drinks that big-box-ubiquitous Seghesio Cortina Zinfandel. Somehow the label just told me it would be a MOAFB (mother of a fruit bombs).

I use Cellartracker
April 5, 2007

BillH
Good ep! Always wondered who drinks that big-box-ubiquitous Seghesio Cortina Zinfandel. Somehow the label just told me it would be a MOAFB (mother of all fruit bombs).
I use Cellartracker
April 5, 2007

Iron Man
Gary ratted me out, thanks Gary.

But Lou, I think you’re right, he didn’t rate the Dusi outloud, but I’m thinking 90+ points. Gary no likey red Zin.
April 5, 2007

Jen
“Ri-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-co-la-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a!!!”
I am on a total Zin-kick so thanks for this episode.
(Plus, I loved the Smurfs, up until the point when they started to have new Smurf characters – like the baby ones, then I felt like they “jumped the shark” a little….and I still love pancakes and blueberries.)
April 5, 2007

Fiorentina!
Hey Gary-
Fun episode….I’ve definitely run into those Fruit Roller Coaster Zin.s as well….aka 2004 Napa Cellars (more candy like), 2004 Alapay, 2004 Four Vines “Biker” Zin (one of those simple, easy, fun parachute rides that shoot you up and let you down slowly), and of course the 2005 Victor Hugo (This is just a Nuclear Fruit Explosion with some skittles ‘in the HeeZee’). I’m just curious, have you ever tried the 2004 Louis M. Martini Gnarly Vine Zin? If so, besides it being over priced, what did you think? In addition to this, What is your Fav. CA Zin?
QotD – We have a small inventory between 2,000 and 3,000 bottles, so we manually inventory every month. From there we put it into a system which keeps track of which bottles are sold….pretty simple, but it’s a mom and pop shop.
April 5, 2007

Bobby
Gary,

They are all whining that you didn’t score the Four Vines. Well if you have been watching the show from the first episode like some of us you would be able to tell by Garys facial expressions and other quirks that we have grown to love that he is going to score the wine 91plus pts. Count on it!
April 5, 2007

Kim T
Jenn Willis referred your site to me- very cool! I think next time I’m at the liquor store I’ll pass on my usual Merlot and give a red zin a try!
April 5, 2007

Ken
Gary, Iâ€™m sorry to hear that you did not care for the 2004 Terraces Zin. I have greatly enjoyed other vintages of Zin from the Terraces but I havenâ€™t had the 2004 yet and I believe that if it is built like other Zins from The Terraces it is too early to drink it. One thing that I have found about these wines is that they are almost like a Claret and they tend to age well as opposed to other Zins that Iâ€™ve had in the past. The other contrasting feature of these Zins is that they are nicely balanced and not too â€œover-the-topâ€ as you will often find with Zin. Additionally, I have found that they are better with a little bit of air/decanting. Also, try The Terraces Cab sometime and I think you will be wowed. The owner of The Terraces, Timm Crull, is a super nice guy and will spend several hours with guests visiting his winery (appointment only). The next time you are in Napa, make an appointment for a tour. It is one of the best winery tours Iâ€™ve taken.

QOTD: I really donâ€™t manage my cellar but I know that I should. I keep track of what I have on an Excel spreadsheet and I have notes on wines Iâ€™ve consumed in a Word file.
April 5, 2007

Justin S
Nothing like cali zin for me.
April 5, 2007

greg258
First Time writing here for me. Love the videos.

QOD: I use the VinCellar at VinFolio to track my cellar of a few hundred bottles. It’s quick, easy to use and update, features awsome reports, and has some great links. Best of all it is free even though I have never purchased from VinFolio due to inability to have wine shipped to New Jersey.

Keep up the great work Gary.
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.
April 5, 2007

Emery
QOTD EXCEL Spreadsheet
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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

mike volker
uncorked
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

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

Jay
I got a 42 bottle wine fridge.
1/2 full.
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

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

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

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

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

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 6, 2007

chito
I use winepricex.com to keep track of my inventory. I have close to 800 botttles. Enjoyed the Zin episode. Keep up the great work. Over 200 replies. I remember when 50 was a lot. Not a long time ago,huh Gary? Just the beginning, just the beginning!!!
April 6, 2007

Susan
Gary-
Another great ep!!
You get several points for
“happified”!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Super word of the day!!!!!!!
QOD:
I don’t have enough wine to
organize it yet…………….
April 6, 2007

the big cheez
a lurker uncovered…again.

Great episode. Love those zins…”as the rainbow of flavors come crashing down…and up our nose”!
Just brilliant.
Shoppers Discount Lickers…

QOTD: 200+ in the noggin.
April 6, 2007

Joe Trdinich
Great episode. We visited Seghesio in October and tasted the Cortina, which we really liked. Better Zins though on that trip from Wilson Winery in Dry Creek Valley. Glad for the tasting of the Four VInes–just added two bottles to fill out a case.
I use Excel and labels to track my 450 bottle cellar. Take copious notes to keep for future reference.
April 6, 2007

wayno da wino
Gary, You’ll have us Vayniak’s jumpin-off-da-cliff
like lemmings if ya stop da Show. Great to see da
Zins, one a me favorites, outta da closet.

QOTD: Use “named” wine cases layed on their sides
and pencil & notebook-paper to list da wines in each
“named” wine case. Kinda primitive, but it works
for me.
April 6, 2007

Slick Nick
Gary,
Nice episode!

QOTD: xls spreadsheet… download sales receipt from WL as starting point, then add wine description, and my own rating. Have about 200 bottles in cellar. Don’t keep exact count of inventory.
April 6, 2007

aaronT
2 lurkers here, commenting at your request. We use excel, but are usually too lazy to keep it updated. So once every couple months we have to “catch it up.” Which sux.

Enjoy your shows though, keep it up. Someday we’ll order some wine from you (once you do your next free shipping promo, it’s a killer shipping to Cali!) How ironic that most of the wines we’d order from you way over there get produced way over here.
April 7, 2007

Skol
I use cellartracker to track my wine.
April 7, 2007

Wino
Nice episode. I really enjoy the Four VInes Chardonnay and would love to get my hands on their Syrahs because they are supposed to be out of this world.

QOTD- I don’t really have enough wine to have to “manage” it. I maybe have 100 bottles and maybe only 40 of them are really keepers that I want to lay down for a long time. Everything else is fair game for drinking.
April 7, 2007

SacramentoCharlie
Very good episode. Zin is always an fun roll of the dice.

QOTD: none yet, but am getting the point where it might be a good idea. Good question to put out there for us not tracking yet to see what the options are.

p.s. Gary has front page pub on http://www.localwineevents.com…..nice frame/pic they chose
April 7, 2007

Chris
Wine Rack – 10 Shelves, 12 bottles per shelf. Located in the cellar, outer wall, closed room, temp stays 65-70 all the time. Wines arranged by taste and cost. Older and more expensive (improve with age) at bottom. Every day wines on top shelves, easier to see. If a bottle on the top shelves is a winner, I’ll move the rest to a lower shelf, as they are keepers.

Right on Gary on knowing what you like. I look forward to coming home after work and finding in the rack, exactly the wine to match my mood. On weekends, I’ll select based on the meal. For the dinner invites, I go deep into the lower racks.

Love your approach on wine. If you enjoy it, it is good. Finding the good ones is a fun adventure.
April 7, 2007

Jeff
I’ve been drinking lots of zin’s lately. This was fun to watch. Nice one Gary.
April 7, 2007

The Smartest Girl in San Francisco
NICE episode! Love the eyebrows — like little catepillars dancing around. And the close up was very exciting — really! Other pleasing elements: the double deuces sign with the little snippy moves, and the color of your shirt.

Tried the Seghesio at the tasting room in Healdsburg the other day – tasty, juicy, fruity, but for some reason it didn’t blow me away. The old world is calling me these days.

QOTD: A little black book, my brain, my husband’s brain.

TSGISF

P.S. No apostrophe after Zinfandel in the title.
April 7, 2007

Sean
Well now… this begs the question: Are we gonna see you at ZAP in 2008?
April 7, 2007

Daniel
QOD: Cellar Tracker, the best!
April 8, 2007

Aamer
Two documents on Google docs:

1. Spreadsheet with my cellar inventory. My cellar is only 20 or so bottles at this point so this is working fine.
2. Doc for “Wines Tried” and my tasting notes and recommendations to myself.
April 8, 2007

Vinacull
Excellent EP Gary. Perhaps I’m one of the people supporting your stats on increased Zin slurpage, because I took a rather long hiatus but have been coming back to them lately. QOTD: I’m with the Kahuna. A mix of Cellar Tracker, brain, and luck.
April 8, 2007

Dale Cruse
I’m surprised more people haven’t mentioned Cork’d. Definitely my favorite wine management.
April 8, 2007

GlassRunnethEmpty
QOTD: For years I simply kept track of my cellar using a custom made list in SplashShopper on my Palm /OS powered phone (Treo). Recently I signed up at CellarTracker and am in the process of mirroring my list of wines there.

Good show. I love zin.
April 8, 2007

Brian
I manage my cellar with Personal Wine Curator 2.0. I highly recommend it – inexpensive, easy, and has plenty of extras. I like that I can paste the labels from labels.winelibrary.com into the program. Support has been great from the company also.
April 9, 2007

JimVarney01
QOTD: Too much community info to pass up.

Nice Zin ep Gary!
April 9, 2007

Skip
I use a program called Cellar! The Ultimate Wine Companion…. Pretty good software but a little quirky with Vista. I like the fact that it will guide you through which bottles of wine should be drank first and which ones you should hold onto.
April 9, 2007

Ken B.
Gary,

Good show, I have been out of town, so just catching up. I don’t have much experience with Zin’s so I’ll look forward to trying them.

Ken
April 10, 2007

Jim
Excel Spreadsheet with worksheets for inventory, wines I’ve had, and cheese!!
April 10, 2007

kenneth (eltejano)
QOTD: Cellartracker.com – you can’t beat it.
April 10, 2007

JayZee
Yo Gary! Nice Zin episode. QOTD: I see a lot of folks use Cellar Tracker. I have seen that all over the forums. Sorry. I don’t get it. I mean its fine and all, but I really don’t buy wine to have others ogle my stock and I certainly don’t care what’s in other people’s cellars. I mean, what I am, a lemming? NOT! I use a piece of PC-based software called Personal Wine Curator. It is perfect for my ~900 bottle cellar. I can print inventory labels. I can do whatever I need to do with it. And it is only ~$40 to buy. Plus my collection is on my PC and not out there for everyone else to see, thank you very much.
April 11, 2007

TSchampaert
QOTD: Cellar Tracker, not to have people drool over my inventory (nothing to drool over btw), but just because it’s easy to use (smtimes a bit superfluous), quick, efficient and above all free. What am I gonna do? Pay for some software to support my crappy brains? NOT! I’d better have some fine bottles of wine for that price.
April 11, 2007

RoadDog
not exactly a lurker, but more like an occasional viewer for the Van Der Chuck WoW entertainment factor, and to appease the Elvis in every entertainer….. QOTD;-) answer is excel
April 11, 2007

kenneth (eltejano)
JayZee:
sometimes I “need” to update my cellar info from work when I get a new shipment in, or print from work on the nice color printers, or when using my laptop when traveling, or by checking it using my cellphone (there’s a simplified phone page) when I’m at a store to see how much I paid from something before. . . it’s quite handy

plus- you can set your cellar to private so no one else sees your information

the advantage is that if you’re entering a new purchase, most of the time it’s already in the system so you don’t have to spend a lot of time typing, you can just edit an existing db record
April 12, 2007

Jerry
Delurking…Thanks for reviewing some Zins, I think I like the new world.

Relurking…
April 16, 2007

exNorCallurker
QOD: Nothin’! If I gottem, I drink em. After that I rarely have more in the rack so what good are tasting notes? I never see that bottle in that vintage again…Gone….poof…In the wind.
April 17, 2007

cruster
I use corkd.com for managing my wine cellar. It’s nice, simple, but powerful though. And all you need to do when you want to show the structure of your wine cellar to some of your friends is simply to post a link.
April 19, 2007

Shotgun
I love Zins. Just got back from trip to California and Healdsburg in particular. We had some rocking Sonoma Zins. I am partial to the Dry Creek Valley zinfandels.

I use Cellar! I tried several, all have quirks and none are perfect, but Cellar! does a good job once you are familiar with it.
April 20, 2007

Nico
QOTD: I’m a CORK’D fan! corkd.com/people/nasv!!!
April 24, 2007

Jeff
I use http://www.cellartracker.com/ and it is awesome. Still lovin’ the show.
April 25, 2007

Tana
Hola Gary,
Ilove wine library tv, I have asked our wine club members IN CABO (BAJASUR)MX. to log on.
I use to dust off the wine bottels in my Dads Store in SF, Alta Plaza Market.Just like you at Shoppers Discount Liqour Store !
Are you still comming to S.F.?
Tana Craighead
Cabo Wine Club
April 27, 2007

Johan Alexandersson
You’re great! I’ve been watching your shows for a month or so.
I’m truly inspired by the way you present the wines. Not that I would present them in the same way, but it inspired me as a winetaster to really think about what my personal way is.
Keep going, I’m telling all my sommelier friends to get as quick as possible to this website.
Johan, Stockholm – Sweden
June 20, 2007

wallace
QOTD; cellartracker.
late post, i know. just revisiteing some old episodes. WLTV ROCKS!!!
September 21, 2007

Nate
QOTD: I use a home-made access database to track my cellar, tasting notes & wishlist. Probably not the greatest, but it serves its purpose.
September 22, 2007

vivaitalia
Cellar? Haha, are you freaking kidding me? On a good night I open the bottle I just bought an hour ago on my way home from work. And if I had a cellar I wouldn’t use cellar tracker, there are some pretentious A-holes on there. I’m starting to get into Zin and Syrah and whatnot from California after years of shunning them. My sweet tooth is taking over! Awesome job, keep it up!
October 2, 2007

Pastafari Pirate
Shopper’s Discout Liquors! Woohoo!

Ummmmmmmmmmmmm…… was I too late?
February 24, 2008

thefanjestic
So this is the episode with the Bull in the China Shop quote!
March 2, 2008

Brian Johnson
GV,
Great episode. Wife just mentioned last week her favorite wine is Zinfidel. She had never told that to me before and I had never bought any since. Will have to treat her to a couple of bottles.

QOTD: Used the Personal Wine Curator and find it very time consuming to enter bottles in the inventory and I only have about 60. With so many people talking about Cellar Tracker, I’m going to have to check it out.
March 20, 2008

LadyHouse
Seghesio is hands down my favorite Zinfandel. I recently attended the Zin Festival in SF and tried to find contenders with no avail. Close seconds are Green & Red, St. Francis, Sones Cellars. I am usually partial to the Alexander Valley, Dry Creek Valley and/or Old Vine Zins–what can I say, I like big, I like fruity, but not too sweet Zins. Is it me, but were the Zins in 2004 much better?!!!

By the way, Gary, this McManis Petite Sirah is off the hook for the price point! Go SXSW!
April 24, 2008

Chris
GV. props for dropping some mad wine knowledge! As a relative wine neophyte, you have done much to bring me along and at least help me to have more fun with my wine adventures. Keep it coming!
C
March 21, 2009

Ernon
The quality of the info is what keeps me on this site, thanks!
May 1, 2009

Lauren
GV, I just watched this episode for the first time, guess I’m a little behind the power curve … however, I am shocked SHOCKED at your question of the day. During the entire time I was watching this particular exact precise episode I swear that the inventory gears in my head were cranking & I was wondering how YOU maintain your inventory. My business is designing custom databases, and I was imagining all of the schwag-o-licious ways a custom wine database (WLTV in particular, of course) could come together for maximum cha-ching factor! What are the chances that, over the course of the same identical video, you and I would independently contemplate inventory-tracking. Fascinating. In any event, amazing QOTD, fab episode as always, dynamite crowd, it’s 2am and I should be sleeping but instead I’m enjoying WLTV archives. Sweet! Now, if you ever get around to it, here is my QOTD: when you open a mediocre (i.e., just a hair shy of serviceable) bottle at home to drink by yourself, do you keep it around for a few days to finish it?
June 8, 2009

Phredd
QOTD: Small cellar means my pea brain can still keep track of my inventory. I would love to have the space and funding to grow beyond my own memory, though. Besides, my wife doesn’t like this tracking method. She knows my kids’ T-shirt and underwear sizes, but she doesn’t like having to ask me about what wine we have on hand.
September 9, 2009

ulu ulu ulu ulu
noggin
November 8, 2009

John J.
qotd noggin

Gary, can we get a vin jaune episode?

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

Wines tasted in this episode:

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