California Chardonnay and Questions.

California Chardonnay and Questions. – Episode #306

August 31, 2007

Gary resets after the whole Vayniac wine. We do some questions and taste some Chardonnay.

Having trouble viewing this video? Try the Quicktime version.

Comments on this episode(218) Leave a comment ›

“GV…I think that getting the reviews or pts from other reviewers besi…” by Adrian aka AnGkEr
“Another classic in my mind. I love the rants. I feel like a Gary ran…” by Dessert Wine Nerd
View all 218 ›

Wines tasted in this episode:

2005 Chappellet Chardonnay NapaNapa Chardonnay
2003 Vineyard 7 & 8 Vineyard 8 Chardonnay ReserveNapa Chardonnay

Links mentioned in todays episode.

218 Responses

Pages: « 9 8 7 [6] 5 4 3 2 1 » Show All

September 1, 2007

alberto
Sassodoro your so BOOOOOOOO00000000…ring.
This is not your diary.
September 1, 2007

Jay
QOTD: This new Wine Bar in San Diego. It is called Wine Steals. It has the best prices in San Diego. Plus the atomsphere is just awesome. I have been there three times in four days. They also have the 2005 Dover Canyon Cujo for only 18 bones (that is the same price on the website). The other place I was going to marked the price all the way up to $56. Place was a damn ripoff. Plus this place serves all kind of foods to go with your wine.
September 1, 2007

Sassodoro
As another suggestion for Nicole for a wine pairing, my wife and I like Viognier when the dish is getting curry-esque. Primitivo is a very interesting suggestion. I’ll have to try that.

Gary, I have to preface my additional comments by saying that I love your show, I love your missions (Changing the Wine World, bringing people together through wine), and I love you. You are a mensch. And I know you are looking for real feedback, not just praise. In that spirit, I have to say that I was a bit disturbed by the manner and vehemence of your answer to Jay O.’s question about wine in bottles with shoulders, although I don’t disagree with the substance of your answer.

There is no shortage of stupidity in the world, and some of it deserves to be confronted directly and vigorously. However, I think that Changing the Wine World — a world in which wine bullies intimidate people with all kinds of arcane knowledge and rituals and prescriptions for what you should like — should include giving people permission to ask “stupid” questions without fear of being ridiculed for it. In your defense, I note that you were careful not to call Jay O. stupid, or to call Jay O.’s friends stupid. Still, by saying “That’s the stupidest thing I have ever heard,” it might be hard for Jay O. or his friends to refrain from drawing the inference.

A more sympathetic (and informative) way to answer the question would be to try to understand where somebody could have gotten this strange idea. Perhaps because the taste of the wine is affected by the size and shape of the glass in which the wine is served (which also seems like a strange idea until you try it), people are overgeneralizing to the size and shape of the bottle. (And people do claim that the *size* of the bottle affects how the wine ages because of the air/wine ratio.) Another possibility is that Jay O.’s friends have picked up on the fact that, by history and tradition, certain wines are put in bottles of certain shapes (e.g., Bordeaux in bottles with shoulders, Burgundy in bottles without shoulder, Alsatian wines in long slender bottles, etc.), and to some extent producers from other areas have honored those traditions by putting wines of similar styles in bottles of those shapes. So there actually could be a statistical *correlation* between bottle shape and taste of the wine without the bottle shape actually *causing* the wine to taste any different. Perhaps Jay O.’s friends prefer wines of the style that tends to be put in bottles with shoulders, and they have confused correlation with causation (which is a very common mistake).

Regardless of the way that Jay O.’s friends arrived at this idea, the fact that they now *expect* wine from certain bottle shapes to taste better to them may itself have an actual effect. This could be like a Placebo effect, where the patient really does feel better after taking the doctor’s prescription, even though the unsuspecting patient is actually only taking a sugar pill. Expectations in themselves can have real effects. That being said, personally I don’t want to enjoy my wine solely because I expect to enjoy it (or because the Jets won). I want to enjoy my wine because it has certain sensory characteristics that other people can agree are really in the wine. But if our own palates (and our own pleasure) are all that matter, it isn’t really clear whether I should care about that. Perhaps this is a philosophical question that people have to answer for themselves.

In any case, I think there were better ways to handle Jay O.’s question, and it is only because I think so highly of you that I took the time and trouble to call you on it. You do an awesome job, and I want to thank you for it.
September 1, 2007

wlburk
Great episode, sorry the wines were not good.

QOTD: My favorite new discovery is probably….my talent in the kitchen!
September 1, 2007

Jill
guess we’re on the outs???
September 1, 2007

d547
oh my, we’re now being moderated. hmmmmm.
September 1, 2007

d547
6 bottles, we’re in. Sharing the love. Yeah, we’re a bit prickly, but we still heart you Gary!
September 1, 2007

Robin C.
QOTD: My favorite discovery is the Vayniac community wine effort. I’m very much looking forward to every step in the process.

Appreciate the bobbelhead nod, but Gary is much better looking than the bobblehead.
September 1, 2007

Robert S
great show…
September 1, 2007

Dusty
Let me know when the bobblehead goes on sale, and it’ll be on my desk for sure. QOTD: my fav discovery? caribbean jerk sauce. delicious. and also the idea that how i interact with my students is almost as important as what i am teaching them.
September 1, 2007

J-Pipes/PiperJS/any Pipes you please...
QOTD: This may be along the road to T.M.I., BUT..at least it’s a universal topic, and if I can’t be candid here, where can I be?: Honestly, my favorite new discovery is this herbal deoderant I got at Target. Way back when I used to use Tom’s of Maine, but then two years ago it started giving me a rash. So I had to switch back to normal brands. But I prefer natural products. So when I saw this brand last week while doing my household shop, I decided to give it a try. I know this is totally weird, but I have worn it to multiple sweat-inducing events, and I CANNOT stink. It’s amazing, and cheaper than all the other deoderants. It’s called Herbal Clear. And I found it just in time; it’s been in the hundred degrees here!!
September 1, 2007

DrDave
You only need to know what you know. Very yogic…I like. Sold on your site
September 1, 2007

Glazer
Glad to see your excited about the J-E-T-S, Jets, Jets, Jets 8-8 finish this year!
September 1, 2007

sky
whats moderation. awaiting moderation? is that what i should b doing in my life? i dont think so…more wine,gargorle..garson
September 1, 2007

sky
lurker no more. discovered wltv after the conan thing and went back and watched all 300 or so episodes-it took me three weeks- and i became current at the zero episode yesterday. Yeah!!! WLTV I have finally arriven…(inside joke) arrived……….wltv has reminded me not to leave behind the over oaked and the over hyped although i prefer old school old world………..more later
September 1, 2007

Augustus
For a huge, new world, Oak Monster style chard, but intergrated and well made, check out the Chard put together by Silver Stone in Paso Robles. The winemaker, Dan Kleck, has crafted the most delicious “new world” Chard I have come across. It’s all buttered caramel popcorn on the nose, with a touch of oak and citrus – and the finish is all sugar, butter, caramel etc.

QOTD: I have two new discoveries. First, I love the feature on iTunes that lets you print out the song list when you a make a mixed CD. There are lots of options, and when you print it out on to photo paper it looks very cool. I have also discovered Alsatian Pinot Blanc – very fun, with a terrific citrus component that just cuts and cuts. Trader Joe’s has one for eight bucks (in Los Angeles… I can’t speak for those of you in the provinces).
September 1, 2007

TR
Best Wine rating method:
The Three Stooges wine rating system
MOE: Moe-ness in a rating denotes the rough harsh qualities of tannin and acidity.
LARRY: Easygoing, simple inoffesive, soft, just trying not to grate.
CURLY: Wines of great character and distinction.
SHEMP: not an actively bad wine but is bland and clumsy-more lame than awful.
joe: doesn’t even deserve to be capitalised- a truly bad wine of this world- a real swill would be a joe besser.
-A wine can be assigned up to 3 Stooges.
-The more Stooges the greater the impression on the taster.
-A wine’s personality is expressed by the particular mix of Stooges.
September 1, 2007

TR
Interesting show. The bobble head didn’t look a thing like you the hair was all wrong and the face too angular. Perhaps it’s really just some tosser repackaged and your mates are just having a piss with you.
You’re are dead on about the shoulders comment, a few shows back you tasted a wine with the Rhone style sloping shoulders that you said tasted “just like a right bank Bordeaux” and the ones in the Bordeaux style bottles you said were all very New World. Although, I wonder if the question might have been refering to vintage wine that has had it’s fill reduced down the shoulders by evaporation from LT storage in low humidity.
I am opening a new restaurant and the comment about the red Thai coconut curry resolved my dilema between choosing to serve that or a green Thai sauce with my Mahi dish. So your show is altering the world around you, in case you were wondering.
Have a fine labour free weekend.
September 1, 2007

Peter E
QOTD: New discovery, shoulders don’t matter.

Alright just kidding, I’d say that my newest discovery is that I may want to try to write a book some day. Never thought I would, I’ve had a poem publish, which I have no idea how I pulled that one off. But I think I may start with a couple of short stories and work my way up to a book.
September 1, 2007

Mudd
I’m with Mott, Springsteen is soooo overrated. His 1970’s stuff is passable, but Born In The U.S.A. is offensive. I like the guys from his band though.

QOTD: I’ve really only been going at wine for like 4 or 5 months, so I’d have to say wine and the whole Gary V. Experience. Before that, CIGARS! Cigars helped me stop the pack and a half a day habit. And, I don’t care what people say, a good cigar and the right wine is a great combination.
September 1, 2007

Matt the Lurker
QOTD – belly buttons
September 1, 2007

LeAnne
Great show & great answers.
September 1, 2007

portland guy
Not your best. Answer to the ’shoulders’ was aweful. OK review of the chards. BUT – You continue to talk to the camera guy — why? Because he prefers Diamond over the Boss? Because he is a living bottle head doll, nodding his head in agreement to everything you say? Because he loves when you rant? Or that your bottle head doll reminds him of his mother?
September 1, 2007

Aaron C
I’m know others have asked but I’ll throw it out there anyway. What about people who want to order the Vayniac Cabernet but don’t have shipping to their state? Are we just out of luck or are we going to have to use this as an excuse to make it out to SF?

QotD: Wines. I’ve been enjoying really delving into good coffee, tea, beer and whiskey for quite some time now. I had tried some wine in the past and had decided I didn’t (and wouldn’t) like it. Over that last six months or so I’ve been trying to get my hands on as many types of wine as I can and I’ve been loving it. Now that I’ve found WLTV it’s only getting better!
September 1, 2007

onemore
Shoulders: Oh man… Once upon a time I was browsing the wine section of a large grocery store when I saw bottles of Silverado chardonnay. I had never tried Silverado anything before, and the wine was on sale, so I picked up a bottle. Then I heard a woman next to me (a fellow shopper, not a store employee) say, “Oh, have you had that before?” I said “Nope” and she said “Ah, I seeeeeee… You should try that wine instead [pointing at some bottle of cabernet sauvignon].” I asked if she had tried the cab before and she said: “No—but it’s got shoulders, so it MUST be better than that wine [pointing at the Silverado].” And I thought, “Shoulders? The hell? Does she mean legs? What the—oh wait, SHOULDERS, on the BOTTLE!” And I laughed and laughed.

On a separate occasion, someone told me he won’t buy or drink any wine that comes in a narrow bottle. “The wider the bottle, the better the wine,” he claimed. I asked if that meant I’d find nothing but jugs o’ wine in his kitchen, and I think he took offense to that. I guess a glass jug doesn’t qualify as a bottle, I dunno. So I asked him for examples of wide bottles, and he named some pinot noirs and said “I don’t drink anything that comes in a bottle skinnier than those.” I told him he was missing out on a LOT of wine. He disagreed, citing some non-pinots that he sometimes finds in “those big double-sized bottles, I’ll drink those.”

People have bizarre wine selection methods, I tell ya.

QOTD: Beets. For years and years I stayed away from beets. They were on my Yucky Foods list, right up there with okra and liver. Turns out I had just never tasted well-prepared beets: earlier this year, a friend cooked me a beet dish that rocked. That led me to research beets and the various ways to use them. And now I like ‘em.

Also: That Alamos Malbec from a recent episode, and malbec in general. I recently visited a Whole Foods and found one bottle of Alamos left. (Heh, there must be many WLTV watchers here in Chicago!) I took it home and tried it. At first it was a little off—it tasted kind of bitter and a little too sweet—but it improved greatly as I let the bottle sit open for a good long while. Now I’m exploring malbecs. See what you did? It’s all your fault.

One more thing and then I’ll shut up: A wineloving acquaintance of mine likes to pick on me because I rarely capitalize the names of grapes. Were he to read this comment, he’d get all bent outta shape because oh my gosh, it’s Capital M Malbec and Capital CS Cabernet Sauvignon, and don’t even think about shortening it the “cab” or “Cab” or “cab-sauv”—oh, the sacrilege! I like to remind him that there are better things to worry about, even when it comes to wine, than the case of a grape’s name. I suspect he wouldn’t try the best bottle of chardonnay in the universe if lowercased “chardonnay” was printed on the label. Wine selection methods, man… crazy.