The Community Has Spoken, 3 Wines From Your Picks

The Community Has Spoken, 3 Wines From Your Picks – Episode #278

July 20, 2007

GARY VAYNERCHUK RETURNS with a couple bumps and cuts but not beaten yet!

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Comments on this episode(233) Leave a comment ›

“I absolutely loved the new domain. Very funny. Part of what makes th…” by Phredd
“Nice..that’s what I like about WLTV….no second takes…..WYSIWYG…….” by Adrian aka AnGkEr
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Wines tasted in this episode:

2003 Poliziano Vino Nobile Di Montepulciano AsinoneVino Nobile di Montepulciano
2004 Conn Valley Reserve Cabernet SauvignonNapa Cabernet
2005 Baumard Coteaux Du Layon Clos Ste. CatherineCoteaux du Layon

Links mentioned in todays episode.

233 Responses

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July 21, 2007

wolfie
wow, i didn’t even realize until today that there was actually a regular episode there! so much for my qotd dig!
July 21, 2007

Pastore
LMAO!! The scavenger hunt was awesome! Thanks for keeping it light-hearted in the face of so much cynicism. WLTV has been an extremely fun part of my life since I found it, and it will continue to be so. Thanks for the wristbands, too!
July 21, 2007

Nico
Dude, super awesome and entertaining episode; QOTD???? I LOVE THIS COMMUNITY

And garyissorry.com????? I haven’t watched the video there yet, but just it’s existence and the image is hilarious already!

Cheers! Have a awesome weekend!
-Nico
July 21, 2007

Won
Gary, you got me into cheese now!!
Thank you for such an awesome show!
July 21, 2007

BW
Wow G QPR V !

Totally enjoyed the treasure hunt & looking forward to getting the wrist band (Thank you!)
I just don’t do the whole online social networking thing – that’s just me. Really glad to hear your
OK with that & really glad that you are doing it because that’s what you like to do & want to do.
Where you get the energy to do this, I will never know – maybe it’s all the wine. Maybe I need
to drink more ??? At the very least, it sounds like a worthy experiment.

Also, great to see the love return to the comments today! A big reason I avoid all the online
interaction is that it is generally so negative. Everyone tearing each other down, hiding behind
their computer screens. WLTV is always so positive – we need more positive things in our lives.
I have to say, yesterday just bummed me out with all the negativity. Glad we got that behind us!

Keep up the great work.
July 21, 2007

SteveW
Here lets make it easy for people: (these are too funny to miss)
http://www.garyissorry.com/
http://www.waitgaryismad.com/
http://www.garycanwinenerditalldayifyouwant.com/ (A CLASSIC)
http://www.hasgaryjumpedtheshark.com/
http://www.whydoesgarysendmetosomanyplaces.com/
Hey Gary you didn’t answer the question?
“which wine goes really RAD with cupcakes?”
July 21, 2007

Jaroni
The scavenger hunt was really frigging funny. I was laughing the whole time. Gary where do you get all this energy. After I left my first comment here, I was surprised to find a response in my email. Thanks for all that you do. All the free wine knowledge, etc. It is clear that you truly love people, as you say. You don’t have to do any of this. Your enthusiasm is infectious.
July 21, 2007

Mike Farrell
Great Show Gary.
July 21, 2007

Jared B
Dear Gary,

After the episode on Thursday I must admit that I was somewhat disappointed. While I do enjoy some online social networking and interactions, I generally avoid creating accounts on sites such as Facebook and didn’t want to in order to get the bonus material. That said, it’s your show, you can do what you want, etc. etc. etc. and I wasn’t about to stop watching WLTV because of it.

It’s Saturday morning and I just finished the “scavenger hunt”. Heck, I haven’t even watched Friday’s real episode yet, and even though I really should be packing for a trip that I’m leaving on in less than an hour I felt very, very moved by your assortment of videos and felt that you deserved a comment. (Not that I owed you a comment, but that you deserved one. It’s a big difference in my book.) I’ve run through several different kinds of comments in my head: being generally supportive of you, empathizing with your situation, helping to justify why you should be able to do whatever you want, and so forth.

As I’m sitting here writing, though, I think the best comment I can give you is something else entirely. I’ve been a math teacher for a few years and it’s a relatively thankless job at times. What I find most rewarding about it are those moments every now and then when I can see that I’m actually having an effect on a student, that I’m reaching someone and making some kind of impact on his/her life. Maybe it’s something big, maybe it’s something small, and maybe it’s something that doesn’t have anything to do with math. However, knowing that I’m having some effect on someone in some fashion for some amount of time… Not to be too full of myself, but those are times when I feel like a hero. It maybe only lasts a second or two, but for that second or two I’m on top of the world and no one can touch me.

So here’s my comment to you, Gary: the top five ways that you and WLTV have affected me. I hope that in reading this I can be the person who makes you feel like a hero for one or two seconds today.

#5: Your podcast is a way of inviting you into my part of the world for 20 minutes a day. There are times when I’m all by myself and I feel like I need a bit of company, and I’m glad to have someone as dynamic, entertaining, and fun-loving as yourself to be with me when I need a bit of a human touch.

#4: I’ve gotten my mother a birthday present that she’s absolutely going to love. I just made my first online wine order ever this week (through WL, of course) and bought four different Italian wines for my mother to enjoy with friends. She loves entertaining and sometimes feels that she doesn’t have anything “good” to serve them, and now she will.

#3: You’ve taught me more about wine in my first month of WLTV than I ever thought possible. I’d always viewed wine as being something you need to study, something you have to “be in the know” about, and something that’s completely opaque to anyone who’s not a “wine person”. You opened a door of understanding that I didn’t know existed for someone like me.

#2: I’ve laughed at more of your episodes than I can count. (Well, being a math teacher I probably count, but it’s still up there. ) I absolutely adore the show where you throw dimes into the glass to “see if good old American currency, though down against the Euro, can make this wine taste any better.” You can be incredibly hilarious when you want to be and laughter is a highly valuable gift in many ways. If I watched your show for the laughs alone it would be worth it, and even many of your scavenger hunt episodes brought me to tears (in a good laughing-so-hard-I-can’t-help-it way, of course!).

…and last but definitely not least…

#1: In general, in my day to day life, I don’t go around worrying about whether or not I’m macho enough, if I’m a “manly man”, or anything like that. I am who I am, I do what I do, and I’m getting better all the time. Go me.

That said, I have felt completely emasculated walking into the wine section of Safeway, or just going through the doors of BevMo, and I don’t even want to think about walking into an upscale wine shop. I don’t drink alcohol and because of that there’s something unknown and scary about wine. I don’t get wine, I don’t understand wine, and I feel completely incompetent and useless when in the presence of it.

The number of times I’ve wanted to get a friend or family member a bottle of wine, gone to a store that sells wine, and felt completely and utterly paralyzed just staring at the monolithic walls of bottles… It’s downright embarrassing. I hear dozens of voices in my head telling me to give up, that I had no business buying wine, and that I was inevitably going to buy something crappy that everyone would hate. Only one voice said “C’mon, Jared, get it together! They’re just bottles of glorified grape juice that have been rotting in barrels for a couple of years. Are you going to let yourself be paralyzed by rotten grape juice?”

Apparently the answer to that was “yes”, because I did.

I remember the first time I walked into a wine section after I started watching your podcast. Armed with a list of three wines that you rated 91 or higher on WLTV, I strode confidently into my local BevMo with the intention of buying them as gifts. I was going to win the wine game this time! I walked up each aisle over and over, and after four laps I decided to ask for help. An employee ran the wines through their inventory and told me that they didn’t have any of them in stock.

Do you remember being on your first roller coaster as a kid? You climb into the seat, your parent pulls down the safety bar, you listen to some announcer telling you not to stand up because you might get decapitated, and then the first ascent begins. You can hear the clank-clank-clank of the machinery hoisting you up higher and higher and it sounds angry and menacing. You can see the ups and downs (and upside-downs) that looked like fun when you were waiting in line, though now the track seems to have transformed itself into a dark and sinister mass of tentacles. Your stomach does cartwheels, pirouettes, and an entire ballet of nausea as the horizon of the first downhill approaches. You silently curse your parent for pulling down that safety bar because otherwise you could jump out onto that narrow safety scaffolding and save yourself from what must surely be a horrifying death.

Being told that none of the wines I’d written down, none of *my wines* were in stock brought me right back to that exact same feeling. The haunting voices came back. I was again the helpless gazelle surrounded by cabernet lions and chardonnay leopards. The door of the store looked very, very inviting, my safe haven on the Savanna of Vino. But then something else came through all of the noise… “Are you going to let yourself be paralyzed by rotten grape juice?”

Huh. That’s a very good question. And you know what, self? I think I have an answer for you:

“Not today.”

I told myself that I’d scour the shelves one last time and just buy something, anything, for my friends. In the end I felt I did rather well: I found one wine which was from the same producer as one of the ones I’d written down, another which won some local awards, and another one which just seemed expensive enough that it had to be good. (Yeah, I know, if I’d really learned anything from your show I wouldn’t judge based on price.) Walking out the doors and breathing in the fresh air I’d felt completely spent. I can’t remember the last time buying anything was as draining. I didn’t care at all about the hit to my wallet; all I wanted was to stay upright long enough to get home safely.

Maybe it’s a bit cliche because of all of the Mastercard ads, but knowing that I can now walk into a store, buy wines that I might be completely clueless about, and come out unscathed… It’s priceless.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart, Mr. Vaynerchuk, for helping me to be a little more of a man than I had been before.
July 21, 2007

Cabdrinker
And you call this a job? I never have that much fun at work!

Gary, we all know you have a great sense of humor (hence you being a JETS fan) and are quite inventive, but this scavenger hunt you put us on was over the top brilliant. I was laughing my ass off. Great job to you and the crew.
July 21, 2007

NathanN
Sweet Show! Gota Love Fridays.

Thanks for trying the Conn Valley
July 21, 2007

Benji
AWESOME GV. Thanks for the wristband!
July 21, 2007

Julie
Ingenious “dot com” treasure hunt and heartfelt passionate pleadings! Glad to see you are not compromising your dreams and ideals because it inspires others to stay true to theirs. I especially appreciate the fact that you encourage everyone to trust their palates and not a critic’s wine score. That is the one thing about the current wine community that is bothersome. The influence of a critic on the wine markets brings to mind sheep following a herder instead of blazing their own trails.

Keep making waves, blazing trails, pushing buttons, becasue change is good!
July 21, 2007

eatapc
Sir Gary, you are the King of the Internet. We are not worthy. (Cue the Alice Cooper clip from Wayne’s World.)

Great to see you bounce back with an awesome episode.
July 21, 2007

Austin
This is my 10th episode and they keep getting better! You’ve really inspired me to a) drink wine at all b) taste the hell out of it and c) talk about wine with others.

BTW, your production values are great. Sounds great, looks great, keep kicking butt!
July 21, 2007

Metal Dave
DamB! That was freaking hilarious! I would actually love to see “wine nerd” visit the show from time to time. I nearly lost it when I saw the “has gary jumped the shark” printed on the screen! I had the volume up a bit loud and a customer walked in while you were giving the number – funny looks!

Dude, your show is fantastic. I’ve been sending more and more customers to watch it. Even though 99% of what you taste isn’t available in Ireland, I send them because of the way you do it and the fun you help bring to wine. I’ve been trying to explain to my customers that wine isn’t snobbish, and I think that watching some wacky American dude play with WWF figures is the perfect way for them to understand.

Every day when I get to work, I look forward to watching your show. It rains a lot here and watching your show is always a good way to get me excited and keep the energy up for all of our customers.

Keep bringing the thunder, man!

And you won’t have jumped the shark until I see a syndicated commercial on Irish TV with a cheesy narration saying, “tonight at 8 on a very special Wine Library TV.”

BTW: I’d love to hear your take on guys like Michel Rolland and the whole Mondovino thing.
July 21, 2007

Ben N.
Great shows, and thank for the wristband!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
July 21, 2007

Smith MBA
Great stuff. I signed up for Facebook for the bonus episode and ended up getting another bonus, seeing what my old high school buddies are up to. Gary, thanks for making it so easy to build a community. I hope the business is reaping the rewards of the purple cow.

I have an apology to make to Gary. I am not a sneezer. I don’t spread the word about wine to others. When I go out, I drink scotch, bourbon, and beer. I am not shouting about wine from the rooftops. I am a quasi lurker because I am not in the community.

I will try to do better.
July 21, 2007

PSU711
THAT WAS AWESOME!!!!!

I guess I am one of the 20somethings that shouldnt be drinking wine!!!!
HAHAHAHAHAH THANKS GARY FOR EVERYTHING! Was great…keep up the great work…you are changing the wine world, Im just lucky to have found the site…

I am curious though…what wine does go with cupcakes??? was that the QOTD?
joking…but serious what wine goes with cupcakes? Im thinking a riesling…
July 21, 2007

FredinNYC
I guess Gnerd doesn’t know how to put a knot in his tie
July 21, 2007

Sassodoro
Wow!
July 21, 2007

John Witherspoon
Hey Gary
1st – Great Friday on the couch, although I watched it at 7am on Saturday with my wife, my morning coffee, in my pre gym, blog reading ritual. haha Both of those reds sound phenomenal, DEFINITELY not in my everyday drinker price, but a special weekend wine. ALso the late harvest Chenin, sounds rocking. We are planning a desert wine and port party, because we hate to open a bottle of desert wine for just us, it is so hard to get through even the 375ml bottles for 2 people after dinner and a already 1 bottle of wine. That said 30+ bigidee bones for a 750ml bottle of what sounds to be a damn good desert wine sounds good to me, it will definitely make the list at our party. (whenever we plan it that is)

2nd – I would like to say as a loyal Vayniac for about 140 episodes now, how ridiculous I think it is that people are criticizing you about your show. IT IS FREE!! They don’t have to watch if they don’t want to, they don’t have to do the social network stuff if they don’t want to, but it IS GREAT, I mean GREAT that you are reaching out to those communities, younger wine drinkers. I personally am not a huge fan of the myspace/facebook sites, although I have been on corkd for a while because it revolves around wine. I did in fact sign up to see the bonus footage, because I wanted to, and took the 30 seconds to sign up for facebook. I even told my friends who are on facebook to friend me up and then check out the bonus footage after I told them again to start watching you even though they are not fanatical about wine like me, because I told them that is the best part, you don’t have to be. It is just plain funny and entertaining, if you love wine, that is just a bonus.
Also, I loved the treasure hunt web search you did. How did you keep a straight face for “snooty Gary”?

Gary, my wife (the infamous lurker) and I would like to say, PLEASE DON’T CHANGE A THING ABOUT YOUR SHOW. We both look forward to watching it after our work day and the occasional Saturday morning.

Keep ROCKIN’ THE HIZZEE FO SHIZZEE

J DUB

PS, I am sending this to your email also cuz I want you to feel my love twice!
July 21, 2007

Metal Dave
Just like Ryan D, I was at Poliziano in Montepulciano for the 04 harvest and picked up some of the 2000. I haven’t had any yet, but I didn taste it at the winery. Fabulous. Great to see that you liked it too!!
July 21, 2007

wineaddict
Great Great show.. But not in my price range, and probably other Vayniacs too.
Apparently the people on your staff really don’t know what were all looking for in value. I’m a little disappointed about that.

Though the wines sound like they would be great to drink!

MB
July 21, 2007

Photojoe
Brilliant!
I went on the scavenger hunt and laughed my butt off!!!
I love what your doing with the wine world and I tell everyone about this show, because it is exactly what we need to make this a healthy and exciting adventure into wine.
I know it’s gotta be hard on you sometimes, but man you make it soooo much fun!
Thank you Thank You Thank You for everything you do.
Remember, for every pissed off reply you get, there are 1000’s of people happy with what you are doing.
Thanks Gary,
Joe