Bringing the Thunder – Episode #240

May 22, 2007

Today Gary brings out some serious wines and shares some thunder with you.

Comments on this episode(184) Leave a comment ›

“I love this episode Gary!

“Bam! 40 bones! Gone!”

“So don’t p…” by John D.
“One of my favourite episodes to date, it’s just an enjoyable episode a…” by richardvinifera
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Wines tasted in this episode:

2004 Roger Sabon Le Secret Des Sabon Chateauneuf Du PapeChateauneuf du Pape Rouge
1999 Frescobaldi Castelgiocondo Riserva Ripe Al Convento Brunello Di MontalcinoBrunello di Montalcino
1995 Vega Sicilia UnicoRibera Del Duero
2003 Chat Leoville PoyferreSt Julien

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184 Responses

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May 23, 2007

mike m
Wow! Some great wines.Just curious,have you ever thought of rinsing your glass with water? or using a new glass each pour?To me you showed just a bit of arrogance today,or maybe it’s just my age showing.
May 23, 2007

Andrew G
QOTD: the tasting. Trying to taste flavors like “a smÃ¶rgÃ¥sbord of fruit with a second layer of tobacco smoke” is very hard for me. I taste wine and can get some fruit, but usually just end up thinking, I like that and I don’t know why. I guess tasting things like this will come with tasting better wine and experience.
May 23, 2007

Kathleen
Loved the episode, but I do like the times that a wine unexpectedly brings the thunder, at a great QPR.
I will open something special this weekend and share it with my boyfriend while I’m at Fort Benning! Maybe I’ll pick up something at Three Sisters Winery in Northern GA?
Memorial Day is all about recognizing exactly why we’re able to be so lucky.
Kathleen
May 23, 2007

Fishamble
QOTD: Scoring system for wine – is it true that you get 50 points straight off the mark just for *being* wine? Wish I got that kind of a head start just for *being* an engineering student doing exams in college.
May 23, 2007

jorge
Meant to say the 1994 Unico, not 2004.
May 23, 2007

jorge
Very nice episode, even with all the teasing by putting the glass in front of the camera to the point that I was reaching to the screen trying to smell it and sip from it, good camera work.
A bit down about the Unico, that has always been one of my fav, but I guess they can’t be perfect every year, I am still savoring the 2004.
This week I’ve been getting my shipments in from my visit to Napa/Sonoma last week, so you bet that I will be pouring some nice wines this weekend.
QOTD: What baffles me is the different taste profiles of the wine, I guess I don’t have a good nose or palette, I know what I like and don’t, some times I do pick up cherry, rasberry, some chocolate, but that is about the extend of it, I wish I could segregate more, and had a wider nose and taste memory library, but I am satisfied with what I have.
May 23, 2007

DustyBottles
Italian and French wines baffle me. I have no clue where anything is from. I’ve looked it up and read (read the france chapter of Wine for Dummies easily 5 times now and i’m still lost). Maybe it’s cause I haven’t trained my palate to taste the differences in regions in those countries or what, but when I pop open a bottle from one of those two places, I might as well be doing a blind tasting. Plus I never understand most of the words on the labels anyways.
May 23, 2007

wolfie
just thought of a 2nd answer to the qotd:

lesser known italian varietals. i read about them, want to try them, and then get into a store and can’t remember what’s what. you know, since there are about 5,000 of them…
May 23, 2007

Louisiana George
QOTD: Burgundy confuses me and, like others have commented above, the price point of their wines makes it hard to experiment to find out more.

A quick shoutout to you on a food/wine pairing I just had last night: fixed an apricot preserve flavored chicken, matched it with the Hermit Crab I had picked up from you a couple months back (based no the WLTV review) and the pairing was the bomb.

up to 6 cents, 4 more to go to dimehood.
May 23, 2007

tvpittner
strongarmed into some Cos this weekend… not much force needed though
May 23, 2007

wildebeest
HEY, weren’t you going to tell us how we could win that shirt??? …I’m a medium, but I’ll happily take a large as well.

QOTD: Honestly, despite the fact that I’ve spent a good portion of my life there, I think California is the most confusing place on the planet when it comes to wine. I’m so sick of the marketing hoopla that I’ve nearly come to avoid buying CA wines altogether, which is a shame.
May 23, 2007

TSchampaert
This was the weirdest show you ever did:. What about that little mean laughter after ‘ciLvilisation’? And what about the T-shirt, you forgot the T-shirt.
For this weekend we’ll have a 2004 CdP Blanc (don’t remember, was an RP 94), a Haute-CabriÃ¨re Pinot Noir 1999 and a Domaine Diznoko Tokay 5 Puttunyos 1995. Nice enough?
QOTD: most confusing, definitely the Loire Valley. Not because it’s difficult to understand the appelation structure or smth, but just because it’s difficult to link it with performance. You can have an extremely poor year, a unexciting climat and a normal winemaker making extremely good wine, while the other it’s just the opposite …
May 23, 2007

Panoca
Still happy on being on the top 5 (or 6) two days in a row!
Spectacular episode, Gary! And yes, i also want that shirt!
Every once in a while, this “expensive” episodes are a gift for drinkers like me, that can not even dream of affording one of those beauties.
Thanks for sharing that privilege!
May 23, 2007

KC DAN
Great ep gman You brought THE THUNDER today fo sure . Liked it when you did the double rinse BAM there goes forty more Bones . AWESOME !!! Qotd picking out the flavors on the nose Still trying to learn that . Once in awhile i’ll get something on the nose And i’m liked that was cool I finally got something .
May 23, 2007

cyrock1
WLTV motto for today: Gary Vaynerchuck, he tastes great wine because you can’t afford to.

Great show Gary! I really liked your little nod to Petit Verdot.

QOTD: Why you haven’t tasted the wine I’ve been recommending.
http://winelibrary.com/reviewwine.asp?item=23902

Now that we know what “thunder” is, why don’t you show us the “lightning”?

Ka-chow!
May 23, 2007

YoungDave
AAAAAAnd now to watch and comment on the show after work…

HEFTY price tags today, and I’m glad that we were able to see your opinion on them.

QPTD: I guess that beyond the Indian wines, and those that I see randomly from Thailand, Italian wines are the most confusing mainstream wines to me. I’ve been trying to seek out affordable reds other than Chianti and Barbaresco because I’ve tasted them, and super Tuscans are a bit out of my affordability range… AND, more importantly, I’ve been lookinig for decent other-than-pinot-grigio Italian whites lately, but the differences between labels of varietal names and geografical regions have got me a bit confused…
May 23, 2007

MRB
Oops! Forgot the QOTD: The remarkable difference between an old world Cahor’s Malbec and a New World Argentinian one. Why such a dramatic difference? New World’s are almost like drinking INK! Is it really just all about the grape’s environment?
May 23, 2007

MRB
Outstanding Episode! Thunda Thunda THUNDER-CATS! The only thing that would have made the episode better would have been a light playing of ACDC’s Thunderstruck in the background to begin the show.

Can you just send me the left-over wines with a wine saver in them? I’ll pay for the shipping!
May 23, 2007

manual
Excellent episode! Especially since i bought some of the ‘05 Ch. Leoville Poyferre.

did you spill a little juice on Eric’s shoes?

QOTD : figuring out which “new world” wines have the potential to become “old world” in style? or is it a lost cause?
May 23, 2007

Greg B.
BIG G, Did you bring it today? Like John Holmes on Prom Night. Wow, that’s all I can say. Now what do I do? I can’t keep buying 100-200 dollar wine every time you make me salivate. It’s just not right G.
QOTD. The Names are confusing. All the different languages and how they are pronounced.
Damn good one. Thanks!
May 23, 2007

t_moderne
Now that’s what I’m talkin’ about. Big wines.
A wine called Vega? Isn’t that a name of a car?
How can you name a wine after a car? That’s like calling it Red Truck.
Yeah – I know. just kidding.
QOTd – It’s not confusing so much as it is annoying – wineries that sell cabernet for astronomical prices – $80 to $100 for just a bottle of wine. I’m not talking about some rare exclusive wine – but some ordinary wines for huge prices.
May 23, 2007

acrobaticfish
QOTD: Italian wines; more esoteric. Then there’s Burgundy: gotta love it, but what a pain in the arse sometimes.
May 23, 2007

caleb
If theres a day to drink your spit bucket i would reccomend today
May 23, 2007

wm mole
Bam! Another hot show! That was fun. Thanks for the royal treatment in high season.
Qotd:Winemaking puzzle. Going back to the Bordeaux trip…Sansonnet, 100% new french oak, 16 months. Why does this not become an “oak monster” while some cal efforts go “monster” with far less contact time Are we getting oak powder or some other trick from the cal makers, or what?
May 23, 2007

Justin S
QOTD: Keeping track of grape varietals.

We need some behind the scenes footage!

Bringin the thunder as usual.