California vs Washington State Syrah Showdown

California vs Washington State Syrah Showdown – Episode #461

May 8, 2008

Today in a head to head confrontation Gary Vaynerchuk pits 2 Syrahs against each other, one from Washington State and the other from California.

Having trouble viewing this video? Try the Quicktime version.

Comments on this episode(164) Leave a comment ›

“You Made Some Good Points There. I Did a Search on the Topic and Found…” by Knipe
“Looking for a Washington Syrah on Google brought me to this episode.
…” by mrzitro
View all 164 ›

Wines tasted in this episode:

2005 Rhapsody3 Syrah
2005 Gramercy Cellars Walla Walla Valley Syrah

164 Responses

Pages: « 7 6 5 4 [3] 2 1 » Show All

May 8, 2008

damien
all the 30 dollar bottles of wine i have been purchasing are from eric kent and they are in my wine fridge for later dates, hoping they won’t be disappointing!
May 8, 2008

TonyStro
pardon SS Chris, puhleez!

QOTD – Penley’s Estate Reserve Cab (02 or 03 I think), coming from Australia I was shocked at how thin it was.
May 8, 2008

Rick D
Love the head to heads. Why do you only use a single glass when doing your tastings?

QOTD: I agree with Palmer the 2005 Hartford Court Pinot Noir Landâ€™s Edge Vineyards. Highly scored by both WS and WE, left me wanting more. A 30 bone wine needs to bring something special, like the thunder.
May 8, 2008

SoCal
QOTD: Soooo many from Cali it is hard to pick just one……
May 8, 2008

thisIslandEarth
Gary,

Good show but I really want to mention how you “killed it” on the Big Idea.
Nice job. Might I recommend that for your next book you write not just about wines but about how a Russian kid made the “American Dream”, your ideas about success, family and friends. THAT is the real story.
God bless.
May 8, 2008

jason
i like these shows more. no bull shit, down and dirty…. syrah, 05, same price, 2 different places…. whatchya got. syrah, like pinot can be a good unit of measure. it is all over the world, what are you making?

QOTD: that is a rough one. it might be from last year for new years. it was a 04, bruno claire, vosnee… 40 euros. it did not happen. 04 was tough for reds, but he is making good wine. it just fell short, too lean for me…. like really lean. sharp red crunchy fruit. oh well. will give his wines another chance
May 8, 2008

Palmer
QOTD: 2005 Hartford Court Pinot Noir Land’s Edge Vineyards. it was on WE’s top 100 of the year list and I thought it was a total dud.
May 8, 2008

glenn
dude – Lag-ni-pay??? that word, Lagniappe, is Cajun and means “a little something extra, something for free” and is pronounced LAN-YAP.

love you anyway but basically dislike Vic Bourassa’s wines. they are all kind of meh for me.

you did a solid job on The Big Idea. nice work there.
May 8, 2008

aronowm2
QOTD: 2005 Susana Balbo Malbec based on your recco.
May 8, 2008

Taylor
Decent Show, on the the up note loved you on the Big Idea last night, made some great points!
QOTD I havent too disappointed with any of my 30 dollar wine dont know if it was because i wanted them to taste good cause i spent that much money on them or if they were actually that good.
May 8, 2008

LuvsChandon
Quote of the day

â€People are always talking about what youâ€™re doing nowâ€¦ To me, itâ€™s not what youâ€™re doing now, itâ€™s about where youâ€™re going.â€
- Gary Vaynerchuk
May 8, 2008

Craig Owen
It was the 2002 Andrew Murray Syrah Roasted Slope Vineyard. Like prune-infused lighter fluid. Although the fact that they delivered it via UPS in August, making 3 midday weekday visits to my residence before sticking it in the hot UPS warehouse probably didn’t help the condition of the wine.

I popped the ‘01 version of the same wine just last fall and it was outstanding.
May 8, 2008

bh
hey gary, good show. made me think – how would these wines perform in different contexts? i mean you’re putting them head to head, which is interesting in and of itself, because maybe one’s fruitier and one’s more old world. but what if you were eating hamburgers on the porch…. which would be better then? or if you were eating a big steak with mushrooms?

the answer to that isn’t really important. i guess what i’m getting at is that i’d like to see you discuss the importance of context and how that affects the impression a wine makes. all of this on my mind, as i thought asimov had a decent article on the subject in the nyt this week.

anyways thanks again for the show. biggest $30 let down? probably the mr. riggs shiraz viognier. welcome to one-dimension city.
May 8, 2008

ev
QOD-had to have been a 90 pt Wine Spectator scored California wine.
May 8, 2008

Robert Howells
Laughing Magpie which is 30 bones in Canada. I have had wines half that price that brought the thunder.
May 8, 2008

amgryger
QOTD: I had an ‘00 Cornas (don’t remember the producer), that I picked up off the clearance rack at a PA Wine and Spirits for around $30. It was just really thin and boring, but it hasn’t made me give up on Cornas either.
May 8, 2008

LuvsChandon
Great job on the Big Idea, caught it this morning after recording it. Very inspiring words ! But who cares what’s hot in Hollywood???

30$ ??? I’ve bought a couple special bottles from Napa for more than that and they were worth every penny. Otherwise $20 is my regular limit.
May 8, 2008

BobbyTiger
Too many good $10 to $20 wines out there for me to even consider tossing 30 bones. Sorry…………………I just can’t do it.
May 8, 2008

John Farrin
QOTD: I probably just had it although it was a penny away from $40.00 rather than $30.00. It was a hughly hyped 1993 Beaulieu, George de Latour. I really looked forward to drinking this wine because the best wine that I have had was also a 15 yr old California cabernet. Very ordinary. Drinkable, but absolutely no thunder.

Check your email.
May 8, 2008

Sharon
Hmmm at a Pinot Noir tasting, did not like em all, and some were up there at $60-$80. The thing is, I don’t like Pinot Noir all that much. I like f-ing Merlot (seriously).
May 8, 2008

JimL
Mott’s right, definetly go with 2 big ass glasses next time.

Oh, and by the way, you wouldn’t happen to have a video of that “The big idea” show for us unlucky few that doesn’t live in the US and can’t watch it on cnbc.com (apparently blocking all non US IP addresses or some crap like that) ?
May 8, 2008

David Masi
Hvae had the Gramercey and would agree on your assesment. QOTD-Guiliams Cab Sav. one dimensionally flat!
May 8, 2008

Andy & Edie
Another great battle Gary! It would have been interesting to have a 3 way battle and include France. French Syrah’s are usually our favorites – especially value Cotes Du Rhones.
May 8, 2008

chenrys
Interesting to watch…not wines we would try.

QOTD: $30 wine…ha, ha, ha.
May 8, 2008

BargePlus
As an AArper on a CDC budget, $30 is usually too rich for my blood.

Something to consider: Unless it really doesn’t make sense (say a Romanee-Conti tasting), always have an $8, $10, $12 or $15 wine as one of the group so you can honestly say: Would I recommend one of these or 2 or 3 of these?