George Taber Talks Wine and Drinks Some Too!

George Taber Talks Wine and Drinks Some Too! – Episode #591

December 5, 2008

George Taber stops by the Thunder Show and talks wine and other things.

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Comments on this episode(184) Leave a comment ›

“This is one of my favorite episodes. Im half way through “Judgment of …” by Pangaea
“What a fantsastic guest to have on the show. It must have been an ama…” by Dessert Wine Nerd
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Wines tasted in this episode:

2005 Chalone Chalone Vineyard ChardonnayOther California Chardonnay
2004 Freemark Abbey Cabernet SauvignonNapa Cabernet

Links mentioned in today’s episode.

184 Responses

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December 6, 2008

Phil G
That was great…

QOTD – My favorite is the cork. I like collecting things, and those little corks fall into that category. On the other hand, I don’t really have a preference when thinking what is the better closure. I do not like synthetic cork, though….
December 6, 2008

Lance Bradstreet
Great guest! The story he reported on in Time isn’t something I knew too much about so it was great to learn more about that.

QOTD -

My wife and I usually try to find wines in the $10 – $15 price point and we don’t see many bottles that don’t have corks. I wonder if we are secretly seeking out the corks and avoiding the screw tops and others without knowing it. Long answer short there is something almost romantic about a corked wine.
December 6, 2008

california cab lover
Great show! Very informative and entertaining.
Love the romance of the cork and the sound when the bottle is uncorked. Hate screwcaps, looks cheap. Save those for beer.
December 6, 2008

Sonnenuhr
Terrific show – enjoyed “Judgement” greatly. Wonderful to have George on the show.

QOTD – I screwcaps for everday wines; cork for wines that need to spend some time in the cellar. I actually find very few corked bottles these days
December 6, 2008

rimarfish
Excellent episode!! What a great guest!
QODT: i like them both. Crisp young white wines=screw caps….for cellaring big red wines=cork (although i’m waiting to see how some reds with screw tops are going to react after 5 or 6 years…in that case, if it works well, i’ll go with the metallic…i’ll sacrifice the romance of cork for a good preserved wine)
December 6, 2008

Withnail
QOTD: I like ‘em all.
Wow – that was a FANTASTIC episode! Top 10 all-time, easy.
8-10 years ago, Chateau Montelena had heavy paper stock reprints of the 1976 TIME article that they handed out at the winery. It was George (uncredited) and a nice read. Mine is framed and hung in the den for a few years – now in storage somewhere – I should dig it out.
Here’s a contemporary TIME cover – about 6+ months before the Paris tasting – with a New Jersey angle to boot:
http://frames.barewalls.com/frames/bw/52/52105,52302/8/10/closeup/j8cov00722021c.jpg
December 6, 2008

Ray Barnes
George Taber was an excellent and very engaging guest. I wish the episode could have stretched another 15 minutes or more with some French wine in the tasting as well. I read Judgment of Paris, and loved it.

Bottle Shock is being released on DVD on February 3, 2009.

I enjoy the blind tasting shows and the guest appearances the best of all. This was a treat.

QOTD – cork. Call me old fashioned.
December 6, 2008

Rob Camacho
Awesome show Gary! I have been watching you for the past month and I will continue to follow…
December 6, 2008

apj_bobswineguy
George Taber, Charles Smith, Jorge Ordonez, that knitting girl – why the h*ll do you do blind tastings. These shows are so much more interesting. You get a little history, a little tasting and a lot of fun interaction. Blind tastings. Just waiting for the bag to be pulled.
George was a great guest.
December 6, 2008

catherine.
my first thought when the episode started was ‘who are the gers and why are they dead?’ HAHA!

great guest! very interesting and he didn’t seem like he was selling me something.

QOTD: i guess cork? wine bottle+cork=classic.
December 6, 2008

Clemclone
Corks, Corks, Corks!!!
I hate screw caps. I have over 300 bottles in my cooler and I can’t remember the last “Corked” bottle I’ve opened. Screw caps are made of aluminum and are coated on the inside so the content of the bottle can’t come in contact with the metal. The longer the wine sits in contact with the coating, the better the chance a pinhole leak will let the wine contact the aluminum and taint it.
If corked wine taste like cardboard, metal tainted wine tastes like…….. Blahhhggg!!!
December 6, 2008

Herb
The panicked look on Gary’s face when George called it a “Giants” spit-bucket was hilarious. I was waiting for Mott to bust up laughing.
December 6, 2008

Bobby Bo
Happy Repeal Day!!! You should have done a Repeal day secret pack so we all could be reminded that wine used to be illegal and be thankful that its not.
Great show. You are an awesome interviewer, its always a lot of fun to watch the guest stuff. I am eagerly awaiting Georges new book on wine travel. Maybe next Christmas.

QOTD: I like the natural cork, but dont mind the screw cap. The rubber cork is the worst. I know someone in the fake cork biz, and he talks about how they have chemicals that can sap all the flavor out of the wine. Its like the reverse of a bad natural cork. I try and steer clear of those.
December 6, 2008

Robert Howells
I don’t give a fiddler’s fart about the closure as long as the wine kicks ass.
December 6, 2008

Marshall
QOTD:Screwcap all the way!
December 6, 2008

Griz4life
Hoss, another great show. I think George liked to talk about as much as you do? Also, I wasn’t going to get the Christmas secret pack because I got the Thanksgiving, but alas, I bought it. Again, because of stupid shipping laws, I won’t be able to indulge until after the New Year.

QOTD: Love the screwtops. I’m searching out a bottle with the zork to see what all the hubbub is about, but I did like the episode with the zork.
December 5, 2008

jeff
Great guest Gary. Looking forward to that bungy jumping link! Saw the morning show – nice work; too bad you didn’t get to finish all the wines. Man that host had a crappy pallate; “tastes like grapes,” WTF!!
December 5, 2008

WineWoman
QOTD: I like the whole process of removing the cork, but screw tops are so much easier and probably safer to cellar. I despise the plastic fake cork, they ruin your lever screwpulls.

I love George. I used to listen to him on NJ’s radio station 101.5. He was known to sign off by shouting and holding out the word five in 101.F-I-I-I-VE!

Leaving for San Francisco tomorrow. Unfortunately, won’t be able to attend the Fort Mason tasting. Have a great time. I’ll be in Sonoma and Napa tasting wine all week. Can’t wait.
December 5, 2008

J Crazy
Love the closures. I think wine is much better with them than without.

I’ve really changed over the past couple few years and find it really interesting to try different wines with different closures.
Glass is always an interesting one.
December 5, 2008

ScottEJ
Wow…George is exactly like Gary…only more seasoned. Seriously, it was like an older clone; in a good way.

QOTD: I’m a cork guy. If not cork: glass. Sorry, but the twist cap just looks cheap. I can’t get around the difference in sexiness.
December 5, 2008

Kellen
LOVED this episode! (even though when I initially saw that is was california again, I was not excited)–I still love the cork…though in the last little bit I’ve opened up a little more to the screw cap….
December 5, 2008

Richard Ritter
Great show. It was like talking to Ben Franklin about the signing of the Declaration of Independence. He was there…history was made! COOL.

QOTD: My question is this, what’s wrong with cork? It’s historic, an integral and traditional part of opening a bottle of wine, mysterious, somewhat erotic, sexy, gives you something to haremlessly throw at Mott (metal could hurt or damge the lens), makes a great sound as it exits the bottle, makes a cheap bottle of wine seem that much more important, impresses the ladies, a great piece of memorabelia after drinking the wine, collectable, gives you something else to sniffy sniff, etc, etc, etc. Opening wine is a ceremonial act and popping the cork is a huge part of it. VIVA LA CORK!

JETS: 38 – 9ers: 9 (RICHARD RITTER IS AN ARTIST)
December 5, 2008

Gary B
QOTD: I have to go with cork on this one

Great show Gary you rocked!
December 5, 2008

urbwes
QOTD: screw caps. Every time I open a cork I worry about corkage.

GV, every time you have a guest you get better and better at the art of collaboration. I think you finally have it mastered.
December 5, 2008

David T
Fascinating guest! I’m going to get both of his books.

QOTD: Screw caps. Especially trying to save half a bottle of left overs- none of that trying to get the quark back in, or using a substitute quark (although I have one from F. Albricht at http://www.thecorker.com that works quite well). And I can’t stand synthetic quarks. A screw cap works 100x better and can’t cost any more than the synthetic piece.