The Thanksgiving Wine Episode – Episode #356

November 22, 2007

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Today Gary unveils the Turkey 4 pack and walks you through the tasting, make sure to gather all your friends and family and enjoy the THUNDER SHOW!

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Comments on this episode(151) Post a comment ›

  • “Happy Thanksgiving a year plus late! QOTD: No wine shipping to WA st…” by Dessert Wine Nerd
  • “But please, come to visit our cellar ; you will see that there is no d…” by Nicolas Marie
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Wines tasted in this episode:

2006 Premiado TorrontesArgentine Torrontes play review at cork'd
2005 Cantina Dolianova Monica Di Sardegna ArenadaMonica di Cagliari

play review at cork'd
2004 Dubakella Pinot NoirOther California Pinot Noir play review at cork'd
2004 Chateau Cambon La PelouseOther Red Bordeaux

play review at cork'd

Links mentioned in todays episode.

  • Dessert Wine Nerd
    Happy Thanksgiving a year plus late! QOTD: No wine shipping to WA state!!!! *cries*
  • But please, come to visit our cellar ; you will see that there is no dry sausages and even less rats ,

    See you,
    Nicolas Marie.
    P.S. : pix of our cellar on : www.cambon-la-pelouse.com
  • Thanx Gary for this interesting & energetic review of the Château Cambon la Pelouse 2004,
    Best Regards,
    Nicolas Marie.
    Marketing Manager's Château Cambon la Pelouse.
  • angus
    Your Jets best opportunity is to stick with as many Ducks as possible! Clemens, another in our legacy of qbs! GO DUCKS!...and Jets. Angus
  • Kristen
    Ok so we finally did the tasting and it was great. I think you've got some new Vayniacs as well! You were spot on about the pinesol smell in the Torrentes. Though after the bottle had been opened for awhile I went back to it and on the nose I got one of those gummy Japanese candies that come in a little tub. I really liked that one. We were all surprised with the pinot- 14.5%! And for the Haut Medoc we had a little test. We kept half in the bottle to decant and used a Vinturi wine aerator to "decant" the other half. It was really interesting- the bottle half was definitely more tannic at the midpalette than the other Vinturi one.
  • QOTD: Hubby, Mom, Daughter and my Brother and his GF watched with me. Everyone enjoyed the show. Everyone had a few laughs :). My brother is a new fan. My hubby thinks your nuts. My Mom thinks I'M nuts for watching. We talked about decanting and other stuff I've learned from watching. Thanks for being with us on Thanksgiving Day Gary.
  • Really enjoyed the bordeaux, liked the Monica di Cagliari, will open the Torrontes tonight. I hate to be a party pooper, but the Pinot sucked beyond belief! First, the cork shattered which made me think "uh oh". Then it smelled like it had already been open for days. And then we tasted it and after one sip, both of us said "ewwwwwwwwwwwww". So, we let it sit a few hours and tried again...ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwww again!!! The rest found its way down the drain. Bummer.
  • yowens
    Everyone loved the pinot
  • SoCal
    Sorry No thanksgiving 4 pack. :(
  • PS the dubakella and Cambon were brilliant the next day
  • One out of my three thanks guests joined me for the viewing and totally enjoyed it. The coolest thing that happened today, and maybe you won't find it so cool but since I have only been "studing" wine for 11 months it is cool to me...ok it is this - the wine glasses got confused and I picked up one gave it a sniffy _ _ _ _ _ and knew it was pinot noir, without really paying attention to what I was doing! it was just a perfect moment, right there on thanksgivings!
  • scc
    My gf, mom, and grandma sat with me (and a plate of assorted cheeses) to watch the episode while we tasted along before the rest of our family showed up for dinner. My mom was proud to declare she tasted red currant (although, she has never eaten currant of any sort) and my grandma looked at us all slightly askew as we laughed along as you talked about grabbing your pee-pee in the outfield (to her credit, it was 2:30PM and she hadn't eaten all day, so it might have been the wine talkin').
    ANYWAY... it was great fun, and so was sharing the wines at dinner and enjoying the leftovers since. I hope you do more "packs" in the future.
    (ps, after the tasting we tried the Ski Queen cheese, which i couldn't pass up when i found it in the store... it was interesting...)
  • Mr. Ambassador
    Thanks for another great show. I've viewed this episode several times (once on Thanksgiving and once after).

    As we live in Washington State and share Thanksgiving with friends and family here we couldn't receive shipping on the four-pack, though I'll be the first in line if you're ever able to ship to us again...

    After listening to your tasting notes concerning the Torrontes and checking out some of the user posts it sounds as though this variety is a winner; I'll be looking to try some when I spot it here.

    We assembled our own wines for Thanksgiving including:

    McKinley Springs - Horse Heaven Hills Rose (some interesting vegetal notes I think you'd appreciate)
    Dr. Loosen Riesling (one of the last bottles I had from a past Wine Library order)
    Domaine La Garrigue
    Rosenblum "Chateau LaPaws" Cote Du Bone Roan

    Sorry about the Jets. It's funny that the one thing we kept mentioning during the game was how upset it was going to make GV.
  • BrianS
    Drunkin birds again
  • late-start
    I wished I could have drank along with everyone else. Gary: I think you should do more of these prepackaged mystery boxes and then review them on a future episode.
  • I missed this excellent four-pack, but my own wines went over well.

    Out of 16 people, however, one drank the white, the other 15 went for the reds.

    I will adjust next year, but that leaves two unopened excellent whites for me.
  • Lb in KS
    Looking for some confirmation..... Did I see LARS in an insurance company commericial this weekend...I believe during the KU/MU game.
  • Cliff A
    QOTD: Gary the 4 pack was a big hit at my sister's house in North Carolina. Gathered were Mom, sister Patti, sister Susan, brother-in-law Marty and nephew Jim (1st LT,USA). We tasted prior to watching you taste. Pretty much, we were all in the ball park with you. Jim really liked the Torrontes and sipped on it all the way up to dinner. Marty was partial to the Monica and my two sisters and Mom liked the Pinot best. I thought they were all interesting, but finish the Bordeaux. WOW as that guy evolved!! I had decanted the Pinot and Bordeaux 3 1/2 hours prior to tasting and that proved to be the right thing. So thanks for helping to create Thanksgiving memories with the 4 pack.

    Oh, with the dinner I added a bottle of the 2005 Coume del Mas Collioure Schistes - DOUBLE WOW. This one is great and paired well with the T-Day dinner.
  • Susan
    Susan-Glad to see that I am not the only one who wants a Christmas 4 pack!!! :)
  • Kodi
    I am a long time lurker that finally has to come out after having a great time with the 4 pack. It was a lot of fun to share most of the day with you but my wife and I only made it through three of the four and found them all pretty interesting. The kids also enjoyed watching and wanted to know why you had a wristband just like mine!!!

    We started at lunch (the first round of Turkey) moments before we started watching the show. The Torrentes nose was puzzling us until you nailed it with the lemon floor cleaner - this was a pretty interesting wine and paired well with our spicey deep fried turkey. After a nap we got ready for the pre dinner drink of the Monica with you. This was proabably our favorite but was better the next day. The Pinot did not bring a lot of thunder because I could not get past the alcohol on the nose and we had not let it breath very long (an hour). But after taking your advice we pumped it and reopened it the next day to let it breath for 6 hours on Black Friday and it was much, much nicer.

    With the Bordeaux we cheated and watched the video first to see that we needed to let it decant for a while so we will have to put some thought into when to try it.

    The one problem with the pack is that too many of the wines were not ready to drink... and we were... And as much fun as we had with it (and we really did)and all that we learned (thank you) the one suggestion for future packs would be to put just one ringer in there that you know most folks will like and is pretty ready to drink. Then I would feel a lot better about buying future packs for friends/relatives (that might not be so adventurous) to try out.

    But thanks again for joining us for a great day!

    BTW we had a 2005 Yorba Barbera (http://yorbawines.com/wines.html) that a friend gave us the other night and it was pretty awesome!! If you are doing a Barbera show it is a must!
  • jim
    late post but I loved the show. How about an XMas 4 pack I would be in for that.
  • MtnCharlie
    Happy (late) Thanksgiving.

    QOTD: While we did not have the 4-pack, we did have a wonderful meal (my family, my wife's parents and her grand mother) and a fantastic Sancerre.
  • JeffC
    G-man, sorry about your Jets. If the Jets victory celebration offer was to be a good as the Thanksgiving 4-pak, I feel robbed also. My wife and I tried the 4-pak with all of our meals this past holiday weekend and thoroughly enjoyed them all. Thanksgiving dinner, we tried the Chateau Cambon and loved it. The Torrontes we tasted the following day with left-overs and thought it paired very well, another winner. The Pinot we had with beef stroganoff (sp), and loved how it paired with the rich flavors of the dish. I used a little to deglaze the pan so it was included in the dish also. Intial impression was it tasted more like a Zin than a Pinot. Very delicous wine. The last but not least, Cantina Dolianova Monica , we enjoyed with a simple pizza and salad. We enjoyed all of your selections. My favorite of the Chateau Cambon, my wifes was the Torrentes. Many thanks. I liked the comments left by someone else, how about a xmas sampler? Keep up the great work, love what you are doing.
  • mattyO
    didn't get the 4-pack but i watched on t-day and was wishing i had! sounded fantastic! by the way, in a recent episode i watched, GV made a point that, to him, the best wines in America were coming out of the state of washington...true fact. i had an excellent riesling from washington and plan to try more from that great state. thanks for doing the show gary, we love ya!
  • Rico
    QOTD: cant' say anything about the 4pack it was sold out really quick and could not get one for me :(
  • Adam
    Loved this episode. I didn't get the 4-pack but I did get some siblings to sit around and watch with me. They all are now Vayniacs.

    If there is a Christmas 4-pack or a thanksgiving day 4-pack next year, we're in.
  • Big Nick
    Just wanted to say Happy Thanksgiving late. Enjoyed the episode, but could not get the 4 pack. Those darn shipping laws. So we did our own 4 pack here:

    2004 Wente Vineyards Chardonnay Nth Degree
    2005 Rosenblum Cellars Zinfandel Appellation Series North Coast
    2006 St. Julian Winery Riesling
    2004 Jackson-Triggs Vidal Icewine Proprietors' Reserve

    Most of the family drinks white wine, and I a still getting my legs for red, but I decanted that Zin for 8 hours and it was as smooth as they come. I dranks the whole bottle since nobody else wanted to taste. Great show and family is the real reason we get together. Thanks.
  • Mandy
    We're stoked about our four-pack, though we couldn't convince our friends to drink with us for t-day. The bf and I tried the torrontes--like pine needles and lemon zest-infused white grape juice. Delicious! Can't wait to try the next ones. Thanks for a fun and educational experience!
  • Andrew Kellner
    In honor of TG, my brother-in-law brought out a '78 Lafite Rothschild, leather/fuit, very mature. did the 4-pack on sat nite with a good friend, to introduce him to the vayner-nation -- we took out a strawberry pop-tart to make sure we caught the "sniffy-sniff" with the Pinot. Loved the Premiado, the lemon zest freshness is so easy to drink; the arenada/monica was not my favorite, but I'm glad I tried it, the Piont was a big hit with the non-tasters in the crowd who liked the atypical US Pinot backbone; and my favorite was the bordeaux, especially after I took out the leftover stuffing and tasted it again. I agree 100% the food shaped the tanins and made it different. So much fun. Thanks Gary. Family -- big picture, that's all you need to know...only downside...the jets, not only did they fail again, they cheated us out of the success bonus from GV! LOL
  • drew
    I have been watching your shows for about a week now and I can't get enough of it!
    I truly enjoy your honesty and enthusiasm. I know that I will be a life long fan. Though I must admit that I am a native Floridian and a die hard DOLPHINS FAN. I guess this is proof positive that wine is the ultimate friendship maker!
  • Christopher J
    Great episode. More packs and shows need to be done like this for sure. It is a lot of fun when you have all of the wines to taste along with. Need to do the Christmas 4 pack for sure!!!

    I haven't opened the Pino yet, the monica was not my favorite, but loved the other two so far.
  • pforty
    Late post, but my wife and did the 4-pack tasting on Friday. We had a blast. And we loved the wines. We actually tried the wines with homemade nachos!!! Made us laugh but we did notice a difference in the tannins!! And again loved each and every wine. Thanks. We may in fact have a tasting of the four wines with friends while we watch the archived version of this episode soooooo much of WLTV needs to be shared.
  • gerald
    the comment about the glove and not wanting to leave the game was soooo funny....thats why I love watching you.....you say whatever comes to your mind..thanks gary...
  • YoungDave
    SORRY SO LATE!
    QOTD: Well I missed the boat on the four-pack because it sold out so fast, BUT my Thanksgiving was great; shared with family and friends. BUT there is a great story that capped off the night:
    > after the feast and card-playing and whatnot, my room mate and I went to my cousin's house to help him move his couch out of the apartment onto the street to make room for the new couch that was to arrive on Friday. After trying and trying, we couldn't find a way to fit it out the door, so we eventually just pushed it over the second story balcony of his apartment onto his driveway, and hauled it a block in front of an apartment construction site. Hopefully we didn't wake too many neighbors when we went the couch sailing through the air to the driveway below!
  • QOTD: I have to say THANK YOU for doing this it was so much fun. I made my fiance watch with me and taste each of the wines. He never drinks wine so it was fun to get his reaction to the smells and tastes. He also wanted to say he ate several pickles with his thanksgiving meal :)

    I really hope you do more of these because it was really awesome.

    Rhonda
  • MTM
    GV,

    Thanks for doing this show. I hooked the computer up to the TV and had six people (wife, stepmom, dad and friends) join in. We would pause the show before you gave your impressions of the bouquet and palate and we would share with each other what we thought. It was so much fun! Please do another one of these again soon!

    Thanks again,
    Mike
  • five-0 to wine-o
    Gary,

    You pick the wine, let the football guys pick the results....Dallas cleans the Jets clock!
  • Dick
    Gary, lovesd the wine pack...am an ABC fan
  • Tom T.
    This marks one year of episodes. Thanks dude.
    Happy t-day.
  • One of my fav shows.

    QOTD: Sitting here on Black Friday with the wifey-poo with my 4-pack comparing note with the G-Man. We were very close in our scores and sniffy-sniffs though I had #1 and #2 reversed. My scores: 85/86, 88, 90 (the pinot was the best) and then 87.

    May you Gary and your family have a most wonderful Thanksgiving.

    Cheers!

    P.S. Of the 13 people who I slaved over a grille and hot oven for two days, only one may have cared or watched the show last night so I gave your show justice with people who care and put you center stage tonight. Let's do this again soon.
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