89 Point Wines, ENOUGH ALREADY!

89 Point Wines, ENOUGH ALREADY! – Episode #320

September 25, 2007

Gary Vaynerchuk explores the 89 point phenomenon. Some fun wines today!

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Comments on this episode(151) Leave a comment ›

“Fun episode, interesting topid.

QOTD: Most deadlines are fundamenta…” by Phredd
“republican or democrat…. can’t we just be american? Legalize it!…” by Chris Lotz
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Wines tasted in this episode:

2005 Chehalem Riesling ReserveOregon Riesling
2006 Te Kairanga Pinot NoirNew Zealand Pinot Noir
2005 Minchin Le Clos DelormeOther Loire Red Wine
2003 Miguel Torres Syrah ReservaChilean Shiraz
2003 Chateau SaintaymeSt Emilion
2004 Turkey Flat GrenacheAustralian Grenache

Links mentioned in todays episode.

151 Responses

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September 26, 2007

jopappa
Great Show! I love the fact that the nose of a wine is so important to you. I fully agree the nose in a huge influence on my enjoyment of a wine. Loved the ellen part two clip. QOTD…. Preseason college football rankings. What a croc!
September 26, 2007

jopappa
Great show! I love the fact that the nose of wine is extremly important to your enjoyment of the wine. I fully agree. Really enjoyed the producer eating the dirt on ellen. QOTD…Pre-season college football ranking. what a croc!
September 26, 2007

Benny Morosco
There is certainly validity to a score of 90 does more harm than good. I definately would want to see if it is a consistant with more than a single critic! I have had my share of 95 point wines and some of them were out of this world but some were so bad I had to keep checking the label to make sure I poured the right one!! The world of 89’s in my eyes is very under rated and 1 point in some cases can make a diffrence, we have learned that from Gary! But I will never not try a wine because a critic said it was 89. I love to explore his or her 89 could be my 98….haha
One off the cuff thing I would like to say is that THANK YOU GARY for bringing the Wine world to a Blue Collar language we can all understand!!
September 26, 2007

wannaBconnoisseur
Great show Gary!! I’m guilty of passing on my share of 89pt wines. I agree with you on the ratings, sometimes I feel they are right on and other times I don’t, for example you gave the 2001 Santa Rita Casa Real, Cab from Maipo a PAZZZZ, I had it this past weekend and thought it was AWESOME. That being said, I do think that ratings can be a good reference when choosing from such a huge selection of wines, so long as they are not taken too seriously.
September 26, 2007

Nathan L
QOTD: Baseball milestones. The minute a borderline hall of famer get 3000 hits or 500 HR’s they become a lock. 2994 hits NO…3004 YES, I call BS.
September 26, 2007

Aaron
QOTD: The Mendoza Line

With the baseball season winding down I find this to be very fitting. The difference of somone batting .199 vs. someone batting .201 is, as you would put it Gary, ludicrous. There really is no way to sugarcoat a season like this and call it anything but a failure. I don’t care how great your defense is Nick Punto, your season has was pathetic.
September 26, 2007

sharon
Very funny! Loved the Ellen piece… She’s your perfect foil. Thanks again for all the down-to-earth wine education (though I for one miss the “sniffy sniff”). QotD: all the isms from race to sex but especially age. Even in wine. Some of the best wines I had in Italy were the very young table wines…
Maybe not so complicated as the higher end ones but very real.
September 26, 2007

Tony S.
Hey Gary…nice show as usual. I think one main problem with wine is $$$$$. I think that aside from buying a super rare, old item such as a 1945 Mouton, or something on that level, that wine should never, ever, ever be so expensive. It’s ridiculous. I had a 95 Petrus at a tasting once, and sure, that was a kick butt bottle of wine, but even if I win the lottery and had millions of dollars at my disposal to spend on wine, I think I wouldn’t purchase any of those high dollar wines. No wine will ever be worth $1,000.00. Never. Screaming Eagle?? C’mon…I’m sure it’s probally alright, but $1,500.00?!?!? It will NEVER taste like that, nothing will.

Keep every bottle under $100.00. Even that’s too much for me, but it’s more realistic. OK man, take it easy, see you later,
T

GO BEARS!!
September 26, 2007

Arthur
GrapeStuff:

I think that gary would agree that nobody should need to calibrate one’s preferences (as opposed to palate which is the set of skills necessary to detect a wine’s characteristics) to a wine critic’s. That leads us to the fact that the major wine publications’ scores reflect preference rather than an absolute reflection of what the wine has to offer. The whole US wine world has already calibrated their prefences to a certain lawyer’s and thus, many argue, we see sameness in wine tese days.

I encourage people to look at my system of rating wine: http://www.redwinebuzz.com/wrs.htm
September 26, 2007

wayno da wino
YOOOO BROO !!!
Thank You for another faaantaaastic episode!!
You’re absolutely right about 89 point wines.
I drink alot of 86-89 point rated wines that I
think are BETTER that 90-93 point rated wines.
Ratings are VERY SUBJECTIVE.
September 26, 2007

GrapeStuff
Great idea for an ep. There is certainly validity to the argument than a score of 90 from a major critic does more harm than good. But to try this experiment myself, I am going to go out and buy a few 89 point wines to see how they score on my own palate.

Like many oenophiles, points are only useful to me once I have calibrated my palate to a critics and can then make decisions based on what I know of how my palate compares to his/her palate for a specific varietal/region/winery/etc.

Thanks for the info on the 2003 Bordeaux vintage – sounds like I may like that vintage!
September 26, 2007

daverdude
Great Job G
Its about time somebody dug into the evergoing points, rating, Soap opera *

Its so true as the Santa Digna or is that ( Santa Pinga ) proved one mans trash (67 points GV) is another mans treasure (ws 89)

I personally dont buy on points, I buy on taste !

Ive had roaring success on picking wines others love and agree with
My system is very simple

Pazz ( Give it to the Dog)
Glass (share with Freinds )
Stash ( Find a locked Room)

Thats really what it all boils down Too

I think This episode just proved That
As educational an episode you’ve done
A+++++

The line drawn here is: What did you feel Like “AFTER” Drinking the Wine ?
Is what determines The “Value” Of the Wine !
September 26, 2007

pforty
Can’t wait to try Le Clos Delorme!

QOTD: Hmmm…I think I draw a line at being a kooky helicopter parent. I thought I was bad until I took my daughter to Kindergarten a few weeks ago. WOW! Was I wrong. Please, please don’t be a helicopter parent. Bad news.
September 26, 2007

Susan
Gary- Thanks for your commitment to try sooo many wines in one ep!!!! 6 is a redonculous number!!!
September 26, 2007

Andy
Whow G a lot of wine today,,,, Great insight thanks —

QOTD— line in the sand…. How about all those expensive cult wines , EX Sassicaia and Cali Cabs you know the ones … The boys all talk about them and prices go out of here……
September 26, 2007

Raffi
Line in the sign? Why folk still won’t look up problems in google before they call me…actually that keeps me in business…ignore what I said.
September 26, 2007

Brant
GV – Stop with the points bashing. For those of us on a limited budget points and the tasting notes are shorthand for where we should be placing our dollars. We all can’t taste unlimited amounts of wine to figure out what we like or dislike. And don’t underestimate your own viewership in terms of placing the requisite value vis a vis ratings and tasting notes. I already know my palate doesn’t match yours in many areas but that doesn’t mean I don’t value your ratings when it comes to the wine you taste. Congratulations on your continued success and keep up the good work.

Line in the sand: Hollywood action movies. Overhyped, over rated, and way overpriced. Why pay for a theatre ticked when there’s no script, the action is all but the same, and heck if they are mildly decent you can always rent the dvd.
September 26, 2007

Capt M
Just watched Ellen. It was hilarious and of course a great exposure for WLTV and our favorite wine critic. But the rehearsal was the real deal, hahaha… AND.. Conan is Conan!!
September 26, 2007

Tom T.
I think you should keep points ratings. It further qualifies the overall “impressions”. For example you and others might say different wines are great but there is 89 point great and 95 point great. That is a huge difference to me. QOTD – going 55mph in the left lane.
September 26, 2007

geoffrey
Gary,
first, no misunderstanding : I LIKE YOUR SHOW! But, at the risk of beeing maybe a little tiresome, let me stress again my point, which I made a few months ago : you might uphold this crazy dividing line 89/90 by not accepting that, in the 100 points rating, a 65 note is good start for a reasonably interesting wine (in the french note system, that means 13/20, or ‘Assez Bien’, — and a lot of students would be pretty pleased to get it on their exams…)
Why not, for a good start, blast away this 89/90 anthill, and start again with numbers solidly grounded on what they really mean ?
Continue, mon vieux, c’est super
September 26, 2007

ktw
link to vaniac cab survey says it is closed…is this true?
September 26, 2007

Kristen
Way to go tasting 6 wines today. Exciting show! Love the Diesel and Peach t-shirt, pretty awesome! Also, congrats on getting Kara Hogan an employee of the month award at Ellen’s show.

Next show you should try to do? The Colbert Report! It’s in NYC, the staff and Colbert are great, and Colbert himself will go along with it and try to top you, which would make for an interesting show!

QOTD: Hmmm…I can’t really think of a line in the sand like the 89 pointers.
September 26, 2007

JerseyGirl turned CNY vayniac
Man Gary, I know EXACTLY what you mean about that JerseyTurnpike-smoke-LincolnTunnel-exhaust smell you’re talkin about! Whenever I go home to see my family I KNOW when I’ve hit Jersey – the air is gross, but it’s also home. When you grow up in Jersey you KNOW what that smell is!

Like I’ve said before, I dont pay attention to points. If someone says a wine is terrible like that one you tried today I’ll avoid it. But, otherwise, I’ll try anything I have the opportunity to try. I have my own scale and a wine notebook that I keep with my notes on each wine I try, and THOSE are the only scores that matter to me. There are people who’s oppinions I appreciate (like Gary’s or my friends and family) but when I get to the store, I’m buying what I want to try and what I know I like, end of story.
September 26, 2007

Capt M
A six-bottle show, yeah! Seems to me that you were a little too hard on the Chehalem Riesling Reserve. Too low a score, seems to me. The Minchin Le Clos went in my wish list. The Chateau Saintayme also went in my letter to Santa. QOTD: My mind is blanc at this moment. Great show, thanks!
September 26, 2007

Greg R.
QOTD: That you “HAVE” to cook pork to 180* internal…

What a load of crap! Trichinosis is gone…cook your pork to 140-145* and see how much better, tastier and juicier it can be…has the same mouth feel as a fillet mignon…for a lot less$$!