Does The Color of a Wine Have a Huge Impact on Quality or Age?

Does The Color of a Wine Have a Huge Impact on Quality or Age? – Episode #290

August 9, 2007

A fantastic website I often visit did an interesting article on the color of wine that has gotten a lot of attention on the web so I am here to address it!

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Comments on this episode(182) Leave a comment ›

“Great episode. I love it when you say, “This smells like a 3-year-old…” by Phredd
“One heck of an educationa on colors….but brownish tint means the win…” by Adrian aka AnGkEr
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Wines tasted in this episode:

2005 Domaine Barat Chablis FourneauxChablis
2004 Cascina Morassino Langhe NebbioloNebbiolo d’Alba
2005 Clayhouse Syrah Paso RoblesOther California Syrah/Shiraz
1981 Lopez De Heredia Bosconia Gran ReservaRioja
1996 Clarendon Hills SyrahAustralian Shiraz/Syrah

Links mentioned in todays episode.

182 Responses

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August 9, 2007

John J.
Cute intro! He should get together with the kid from Will Ferrel’s Landlord video.

QOTD: Dark Blue all the way. And burnt orange. Going to take a trip up to Santa Barbara this weekend. We’ll see how color plays into my tastings (since I’ll be lookin’ for it). Great show!
August 9, 2007

Cam
QOTD: Purple.
August 9, 2007

AnthonyS
Great intro Josh (and parents). Thanks for another quality ep GV. Over on the forums, someone had mentioned a collector with a vertical of D’yquem that spanned decades. I had seen this as well, and the evolution of color was amazing. I understand exactly what you were saying though.

QOTD: New York Giants Blue or New York Mets Blue
August 9, 2007

BruceP
I guess I’d say the only way color might make a difference is if you’re just comparing vintages of the same wine. Otherwise it’s comparing apples and oranges. Pretty meaningless.

QOTD: orange
August 9, 2007

chitown_wino
QOTD- Midnight blue and Orange, GO BEARS!

As if on cue, I recieved my Iron Horse wine club shipment today. Amoung the five bottles, an unoaked Chardonnay.

We’ll see..
August 9, 2007

Micha
Thanks for that daily needed dose of WLTV Gary. And a really lovely Intro. I think the “colour thing” is overrated. Colour sure gives some good information and is part of the analysis, but it’s just the less important part for me..
QOTD: No, won’t decide on one only
August 9, 2007

Jameus
Today’s show was great! I really like the educational aspects you bring to the table. Even the smaller tidbits of info you offer about particular varietals and statements of comparison really help alot. I was given (for x-mass) some 05 mollydooker’s namely 2boxers, a carnival of love and an enchanted path. I’ve got them in my cellar and don’t plan on opening them for awhile. I was thinking I’d cellar the CoL and EP for about 7yrs or more. My palate does lean more towards a cote du rhone style of red and I’m hoping these will evolve into something similar to the last one you tried today… but who knows they could be horrid by then! It gave me some hope that these might just evolve like the Clarendon did. Guess we’ll see

QOTD: I really like deep purple. Like the colour you get from black lights.
August 9, 2007

AlisonD
QOTD: Light Blue
August 9, 2007

Kevin Ko-val-chik
I always love it when poop makes an appearance in an episode. But, who feeds jalapenos to a baby?!
August 9, 2007

GeneV
Glad you did this ep. I am firmly in the camp of “color is overrated” as a wine evaluator. I get annoyed at ratings cards which give it an equal allocation of points with the nose or palate.
August 9, 2007

Martin
Is it color or colour?
You already asked that question a long time ago. I answered lapis blue then, now I’ll say Campari red.
August 9, 2007

wolfie
this episode made me pause half way through and crack a nebbiolo d’alba :rock:

qotd: blue, but i’m color blind so i’m just picking that because it seems most of my clothes are blue
August 9, 2007

GottaGoDrink
QOTD- It’s green, but should be blue or red.

Nice show Gary, way to do it!
August 9, 2007

Lb in KS
Very hard not to smile at the intro!! awesome.
coupla good back to back episodes…nice.
qotd…green as well….matches my eyes, that’s what my wifey say’s.
August 9, 2007

Neil
QOTD: “Red, no, green, no, purple, ahhhhhhhhhhhhh,” (the man from scene 24 reference). If we’re talking sports, it’s gotta be Red and Gold (Go Niners!)
August 9, 2007

Dave Canada
My kid was going crazy “I’n on TV” Thanks Gary!
I hear you about the Clarendon Hills. I hav had a few bottles from them that have melowed out nicely. Now, is this a characteristic of the producer or country in general. I would tend to lean towards Clarendon HIlls being one of the producers that can pull this off….thoughts?
QOTD – Gotta be olive, love that colour.
August 9, 2007

KenP
Taken together with yesterday’s Naked Chard ep. the two best back-to-back shows ever on WLTV. I was riveted by both. Great work, GV.

QOTD: Florentine Red aka ox blood.
August 9, 2007

Shadowbird
QOTD: My favorite color…navy blue.
August 9, 2007

wlburk
Gary,

I personally think that the place that color comes into play with wine, in context of the “Color Index” is if you are comparing one bottle of wine aged over the years…that IMHO is about all that this could be applied to…

QOTD: BLue-Green
August 9, 2007

John Witherspoon
Good show Gary, way to kick it with all the colors. I would have to disagree with you though, I think..I’ll go 90+ percent of the time you can determine a wines age (not to an exact vintage mind you) by its color. I would agree with you that judging its quality can not be done on color alone. Cool show though, thanks for the edumacation!

Also, after being in Langhe recently and having awesome NEbbiolo with Gnocchi in fact, I second the recommendation.

QOTD: Mine – orange, The Mrs.(aka infamous Lurker) blue/green

J DUB
August 9, 2007

Aheadwithwings
Lance Legree HAHAHAHAHAHAHA you owned a jersey for him? Would Love to see that didnt even know they made Legree jerseys did you custom order it.

QOTD:BLUE BABY BIG BLUE NEW YORK GIANTS!!
August 9, 2007

Darius A Monsef IV
Hey Gary, Thanks for the update on using color as a guide… we’ve updated our post to point people here for a closer look at the truth behind using color as a guide for age and quality.
August 9, 2007

D-Spad
I’m pretty sure my favorite color is Yellow…but I’m not positive. I’m agreeable with a grand variety of colors to be honest. I take kindly to a deep navy, rich crimson and yes, Gary, even a regal, forest green like that of your Jets. *high-five*
August 9, 2007

campinglisa
Very interesting Gary! I learned a lot…this was a topic of one of our wine tasting groups!

QOTD: GREEN and BLUE

GREAT EDUCATION TODAY!
August 9, 2007

Color + Design Blog / Wine Color Guide for Quality and Age by COLOURlovers
[...] **Update** I saw Gary Vaynerchuk on Late Night with Conan O’Brien last week so I think it is really fun to see him bust up our color guide in his latest episode on Wine Library’s “Does The Color of a Wine Have a Huge Impact on Quality or Age?” [...]