Secret 4 Pack Tasting – Episode #421

March 4, 2008

Today Gary Vaynerchuk tastes through the secret 4 pack. Taste along with Gary and compare your tasting and sniffy sniff notes.

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Comments on this episode(332) Leave a comment ›

“QOTD: Haven’t tried dry or sweet Tokaji, Episode was excellent even wi…” by richardvinifera
“yet another wine my local wine and spirits does not carry Chateau Dere…” by Sean Dawes
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Wines tasted in this episode:

2006 Le-tendance RoseRose of Bordeaux
2006 Chateau Dereszla Dry TokajiHungarian Furmint
2003 Mas De La Barben La DanseuseLanguedoc-Roussillon
2004 Menguante Garnacha SeleccionOther Spanish Red Wine

Links mentioned in todays episode.

332 Responses

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March 5, 2008

winegrower
Great show Gary, lots of good educational tidbits, which is what I like about your show. I have never heard of Furmint, but now I will have to seek it out. You have piqued my interest with your tasting descriptions. I have had several Tokaji dessert wines, but most of them I havenâ€™t enjoyed. Sweet wines are generally not my thing, but I do like ruby ports on cold evenings. Orange and Blanc Muscat wines can be fun as well during the summer or with spicy foods like Thai. I always thought all Tokaji wines were Pinot Gris based wines, but then maybe I am confusing this with the Tokay that comes from Alsace which is Pinot Gris.

Sorry I missed out on the Secret 4 pack that you offered before this show, but I donâ€™t have opportunity to watch as often as I would like. Maybe next time you do this I will catch it and take advantage of the offering. I did recently receive a case of all Tannat based wines from Madiran, Bosque, Uruguay and California that I ordered from you at the beginning of Feb. I am currently enjoying these wines that I am new to and may save some bottles for a wine tasting party with friends in the next month or so. I have hosted tasting parties like this in the past with a big emphasis on education, comparing the same grape wines coming from different terroirs. Some of these wines that I ordered you ran out of or didnâ€™t have enough bottles of. In the meantime you received another Madiran wine (Chateau Bouscasse by Alain Brumont ), which I really wanted to try so I was glad for the delay. Also, the timing worked out great for avoiding freezing weather with ground shipping (only took 2 Â½ days of actually travel time from the FedEx shipping center in Jersey to my place of business) so all of these wines arrived in perfect condition. You have a great shipping department with excellent communication via email on the status of the order and updates on sourcing out of stock wines. Thanks for the great buying experience. I look forward to buying from Wine Library again in the future for those items that I cannot find locally or for the great prices that you sell wines at. It is nice to see that you can often obtain out of stock or hard to find wines in a relatively short period of time.

Keep up the great service at Wine Library and the great shows you are producing. You are making a difference in the wine world and I keep telling my friends and other wine lovers I meet about your show. You are doing a fantastic job and it is not going unappreciated by true wine aficionados.
March 5, 2008

Glen... winecrazy.com
Thanks for Pandora….. Been listening all day.

Can’t beat it..!!!
March 5, 2008

Sayle
GV- LOVED THE SHOW TODAY mainly because I was out of town for 2 days on a shoot and was going through Vayniac withdrawals…THEN, as I came back last night to NYC on the NJ Turnpike, lo and behold, I look up and there, on an ENORMOUS billboard is YOU…awesome. Nothing like changing the wine world while people are driving.
I did have a great wine this weekend…2003 Joel Gott Cabernet.
And the Thunder Rolls….
March 5, 2008

laurie in VT
QOTD1: No, never even heard of Hungarian furmint. I will be looking for it.
QOTD2: Yes, very much. I really enjoyed the follow-up on the Michael Weir- another one to look for. Even though I didn’t get this taste-along pack (town meeting and voting somehow call more for an after dinner shot than a tasting…), I was pleased to find that I had bought the Menguante in the free shipping sale, and will be springing a tasting on some unsuspecting friends, hopefully this weekend using the segment from this episode.
I will send a wristband picture as soon as I can get a Mott T-shirt to wear in the picture. So there!
March 5, 2008

Donna Marie
QOTD I: Never had the Furmint grape that I know of, especially in a dry Hungarian white.

II: Loved the show..Tremendous amount of fun and interest on all wines. Will do the taste-along on the weekend. Might even purchase the Canadian Mike Weir wine.
March 5, 2008

Tom
Gary,
Great show (for the 421st time……) — love the pink. Bonny Doon Vineyard’s Vin Gris is outstanding at around 10 bills or less, perhaps the first great american pink wine. Also like Whispering Angel — and Unti does a pretty nice pink wine as well.

As a sport’s maniac, I ask that you please recognize and comment on Favre’s retirement…..it was a historic day.
March 5, 2008

SaraMHCRU
great show – loved it. i have the 4 pack sitting here but I think we’re going to go bottle by bottle and watch the individual segments over several days… now I’m even more excited about it! Can’t wait to try the furmint, especially.
March 5, 2008

Andy
Great ep G,, a nice selection of wines.
Never had a dry Tokaji, sounds interesting is you are a Reisling fan
March 5, 2008

Sharon
I liked the thoughts about scoring wines quickly. It’s a damned if you do, damned if you don’t sitch.
QOTD1: No, but I’m sure I will some time to be in the ‘Wine Century Club’.
QOTD2: Good show.
March 5, 2008

Sassodoro
QOTD1. I have a couple bottles of Oremus “MandolÃ¡s” dry furmint in my cellar, but I haven’t gotten around to tasting them yet, so no, I haven’t yet had a dry furmint.

QOTD2. Yes. Your tasting of a dry furmint gives me some idea of what to expect with my Oremus and what food to pair it with. I also especially liked the experiment of tasting the wine from yesterday after breathing in bottle and in decanter. Good show, as always!
March 5, 2008

paul
I have had a number of furmints and have the Dereszla in the cellar.

QOTD: The show was okay. Since I usually watch these a day or two after they’re posted, the 4-pack thing doesn’t intrigue me. But the wines were interesting.
March 5, 2008

Bal H.
QOTD

1 I have had a Furmint – believe it was Royal Tokaji 2005 – had with a crab dish – very good!

2. This was an awesome show. Looks to me like the best of the Secret Packs so far. The wines, your sincerity, even the Weir retaste. I’ll be tasting these this weekend via long distance with CO. friends I sent a Secret Pack to. Can’t wait.

Thanks Gary
March 5, 2008

Ryan D
QotD #1: Nope, but it is really high on my list.

QotD #2: I did, even though I didn’t get the pack. Am sorry I didn’t because there were some deals in there.

Wristband picture sent.
March 5, 2008

Antony
Yes! I liked.
March 5, 2008

Klassh
First Question: Neh..Second Question: This was a great show, I like it when you try a wine from the previous show and re-evaluate it. And it was a bonus for the Canadian Vayniacs. ( Cavaynians? Cavayniacs? )
March 5, 2008

Irina
Yes, I did and it was great to see your heart open. Molodec!
March 5, 2008

Lynne
QOD: Yes, but then, I always enjoy the shows. I was too late to pick up the 4pk, though. Ya snooze, you lose. Intriguing. How long does a furmint ferment?
March 5, 2008

YoungDave
QOTD 1: Tokaji, yes. Dry Tokaji furmint, no. Gotta get on that.

QOTD 2: I was SO pumped to watch today’s show… and I didn’t even get the secret pack. I tried, but it was sold out by the time I watched the show after work on the West Coast that night. Next time. Thanks, Big G.

CAN’T WAIT FOR THOSE SHOUT-OUTS!!
March 5, 2008

Michael Y
Great show as always
March 5, 2008

Bob Sikorski
Good show,brought a lot of different and interesting wines to my attention.
March 5, 2008

AlanH
Great show Gary–fun and informative, even though I didn’t order the surprise pack. Maybe next time.
March 5, 2008

Justin L Ove
Awesome show Gary. I didn’t get to taste along, but I’m going to seek out a tokaji for sure.
I find myself enjoying wine the second day quite often. It really softens up. Like spaghetti sauce. Always better the day after it’s made.
I liked your rant today. Very on point. I was attached to the wine scores for a while, but I think I’d be cool with just knowing whether or not you’d reccomend a wine. I don’t really care if it’s a 89 or 91. The bummer these days is that they put scores up in the store next to the wines. This makes it all to easy to go only for wines that score 90+. I’m probably missing out on a lot of great wines that are scoring between 85-89 points.
March 5, 2008

medo
GRRREEEAAAAT show Gary! Even if I didn’t get the secret pack over here in Germany.. I will seek out a Furmint for sure! Sounds great!

QOTD1: No.. unfortunately.
QOTD2: Oh yes!
March 5, 2008

Big D
Didn’t order the surprise pack cause I didn’t think I could arrange the time to do the tasting justice, I was right. But….I loved the show!

QOTD 1: Never even heard of furmint before.
QOTD 2: see above!
March 5, 2008

xtrmtk
QOTD – Loved today’s show. Gotta get me one of those dry Tokajis.

Thank you so much for the comments about giving farmers and winemakers their due. This past fall I spent some time working the crush at a local winery and I was blown away by the love, passion, and hard work that go into making good wine. I’ll be so depressed if the 2007 Abeja Syrah doesn’t get decent ratings! And I only worked there for a week, I can’t imagine what it would be like to put your entire life into something that gets so much public scrutiny.

I so agree with you about wine tasting different at different times and places. Dozens of times a year I’ll taste a wine at the winery, then again at home and they seem like totally different animals. It’s so frustrating. How can I learn to be more objective and consistent about this?