I have about a dozen geese that make a mess of my yard daily. Consequently, I love foie gras, and have had step in and take the first step in the manufacturing process over the years. I loved BF’s post.

There was a zin phase in my past, like every other grape. I’ve enjoyed Frank Family, Martinelli, and LVC DeMayo. I guess I’m another vote for La Storia as my favorite to date – but I’m planning a Sonoma drive for some East Coasters in November and have gotten a bunch of great suggestions from this list that I need to tie into this list

I’ve had the 2003 Ravenswood Lodi Zin a few months back and it was really quite good. Definitely a great value.

But my favorite Zin is another Ravenswood that my brother-in-law served recently and it was perfect…

Ravenswood 1998 Dickerson Zinfandel
http://corkd.com/wine/view/30853-Ravenswood_1998_Dickerson_Zinfandel

QOTD: About 10-12 Zins. 2 “Primitivo’s” , the “first Zin’s”. Best Zin recently are Ridge Zin’s. I liked the York Creek, my wife preferred Geyserville. These are both great wines. The Geyserville is more rounded but robust, the York is like sipping a fine cigar!

Good episode. Hey Gary, the huge portions of Fois Gras were funny. It might be best to lay off the food episodes for a while, since you took in about 300% extra fat. Pure hedonism…I love it!

For all the people on here who posted AGAINST Gary’s Fois Gras choice: I mentioned the following.

1) Ever been to a Chicken farm? Do you eat chicken?

2) Ever eat Veal?

3) Ever been to a sluaghterhouse? Pork or Beef?

4) Dairy Farm?

The philosophical and political arguments against Fois Gras breakdown at the start of any intake of animal products. Any of you complainers, BETTER BE VEGANS, otherwise you’ve been disqualified!

Great episode I enjoy red zins alot. QOTD I’ve had quite a few red zins however I’ve always stayed in entry to mid level red zins. Right now I have a few I need to get to in the cellar. I’ve had the Danceing bull which I agree with your assesment. And I’ve enjoyed the Ravenswood as well very good I’ve also had a few Cline’s that are tasty but to say I have an all time favorite ,not yet still searching. Thanks GV and WLTV crew.

yea love red zins. had quite a few actually! But don’t like Fois Gras (had it before, and didn’t like it). One of the favorite Zinz I had was a few years ago. Ravenswood, but it was from Russian River? R.R seems like a good area for zins because the better ones aI have had seem to come from that region in Cali!

Fois gras is great stuff. Unfortunately, you have to stuff a goose to get it.
Favorite zin? Any Ridge, but particularly Geyserville. Had a ’97 last week. Still fresh, but less jammy. Yes, some zins do age. The Geyserville becomes like a Gevrey-Chambertin after several years. I also really liked a few ’94 Turleys I had. They will generally not last as long as the Ridges, though.

Gary, speaking of Turley, and last show was Sea Smoke, how about a discussion about allocated wines. I had to jump through hoops to get some of the Sea Smoke from a huge store in Houston. And it seems every wine store has a back room or other place that highly collectibles are squirrled away for certain customers. I think even the distributors get in on some secondary market action. Doesn’t give much support for the three-tier system in Texas. Online purchases are up, it seems. Whadda ya think?

I have had a few zins. I would have to say I enjoy the Fife zin the most.

NO FOIE GRAS GARY!!!!! LEAVE THE GEESE ALONE!!!!
http://www.nofoiegras.org/

Cool … Darcey and I like Zins,though we haven’t had many, perhaps only three so far:
Rocky Creek 2004, suggested by you, and we really liked it, especially for the money ($8.99 … will you ever get more in?).

Four Vines Dusi Ranch 2004 – also recommended by you – this was GREAT! Again, you’re sold out though!

THEN, on our own, we tried a Cline Zin, about $23 locally: AWFUL, PUKE, ECKKY, SWEET as all get out, HORRIBLE swill!

Only one left in my cellar, another recommended by GARY V:
Haywood Rocky Terrace 2004! We’ll open her soon!

QOTD: Ridge Geyserville. Gary, I can’t believe you roached them. But there are many people posting here about Ridge so I’ll also mention another favorite. For all the big zinners out there who want to try a different style of winemaking than Ridge I recommend the Nickel and Nickel zins which I also admire quite a bit.

Nice self control with the liverwurst!

QOTD: Favorite zin was a 1995 Ridge Geyserville out of the hundreds I have had.

I never liked Zin, but Sin Zin was a bit fun, mostly due to the label 😉

great episode! I’m just getting into zin and am actually drinking the Lodi Ravenswood right now. I agree it’s quite impressive. Anyone who likes these wines should try some primitivo from Puglia in southern Italy. You’ll find similar flavor profile for a much lower price.

Love zins, especially when I lived in Texas, great with bbq! I don’t know if I have a favorite, but I’ve enjoyed many zins, maybe 50-60, mostly california zins and a lot from Paso Robles.

I have had many zins (can’t remember how many). I remember wonderful zins from Ridge and Martinelli that I tasted and purchased at their wineries.

I love living in the Bay Area and being able to go tasting at so many wineries. To date, the one Zinfandel that has struck me (and I could kill myself for not buying some) was a $36 Artezin by Hess Collection. Otherwise, I love the 2003 Ridge Geyserville, though it is a blended wine (with Carignane). Another winner (for the money) is the 2003 Heitz Zinfandel for $14-18.

I have tasted dozens of Zinfandels at the wineries, but I have probably uncorked only about 18 distinct wines.

– Mark from San Jose

turley dogtown zin is my fav. period. i do like rubicon estate pennino zin. good stuff.

My fave affordable Zin is 7 Deadly Zins. Hard to beat for $13.

But if price is no object, go for any of the Robert Biale Zinfandels. Great wines.

on the foie, cant beat it. one of my favorite things to eat, I just ate a rib eye, with a 1996 dickerson vineyard ravenswood. Awsome. Had enough tannin to cut the fat of steak. Almost tasted like a cab.

Favorite Zin, at least lately, Ridge 2005 40th Anniversary Lytton Springs.

How many? Too many to count. My favorite grape because Cabs and Pinots are too over priced. You can get amazing wines in the $15 to $35 price range.

This was only the second time you did a wine that I had in my basement/cellar so I had to open it. Itâ??s the first â??05 of any wine Iâ??ve opened. Iâ??m trying this 8 months after you. I last had a zin in the mid â??80s. I donâ??t think I liked it. It had a weird taste. Two decades later I again think zin taste weird. Thanks to you I can now identify the taste as black pepper. I get it. I like cracked black pepper on food. Itâ??s funny that giving it a name can turn a flaw into a feature. Even so I still didnâ??t like the wine. But thanks to you Iâ??ve added a flavor to my wine tasting repertoire. Iâ??m now up to two flavors I can identify: oak and black pepper. Slowly I progress. Thanks Gary.

I’m wordless, Gary.
I’ve been enjoying your show immensely for a few weeks now and suddenly I see this.

FOIE GRAS IS EVIL AND SO ARE THOSE WHO EAT IT.

I won’t be watching WLTV anymore.
You’re nothing but a loser, Vaynerchuk.
Find out how it’s made and if you can still eat it then you’re a hopeless coward,
otherwise send me an email and I’ll rejoin the “vayner-nation”!
Let’s see if you have the intelligence to do the right thing.

We pair the Ravenswood “Lodi” Zin with duck breast — either grilled (in good weather…) or braised in cast iron. Either way, we find it to be an excellent match-up. Maybe — as in your WLTV #292 comments with the foie gras (goose fat) — it’s the duck fat that makes it work. (Prefer the Lodi to both the Sonoma and the Napa, which run a buck more.)

This was my FIRST WLTV EVER!!!!!!!

Thanks for the laughs and wine knowledge. Here’s to Episode #500 and 500 more in the future!