Love the show. Get off your phone. It’s not quirky. It’s annoying.

no no…no one come to Washington and taste these wines they suck….

Welll not really,,,but if you all come up and drink(and buy) them all I will no longer have the ability to go to one of my “Secret Genius” spots…

Seriously though….I have know of this Winery for ages…and have NEVER been disappointed by any of their wines…

QOTD: It was a German dessert wine that we nicknamed”The Cruise Wine” because we drank it on the way to our Bermuda cruise in 2002. It was a coral-red color, don’t know the grape-varietal–definitely not a riesling or white grape. Not cloyingly sweet, more on the semi-dry side. I continued to order it for cruise reunion parties, but haven’t purchased any in a long time.

I have never seen a wine aged on its lees(sp) so long. but I am a newby for sure. Thus the reason for my QOTD answer.

QOTD: I havent had it yet.

Jason

Having literally been Mike Moore’s neighbor for my entire life, I can safely say that he is an interesting man who makes interesting wines. Not for everybody, but he does have quite a few “believers!”

Fascinating that you got ahold of a few of “Crazy Mike” Moore’s wines! He does things very old world, old school. Yes, the winery is a mess and is less sanitary than the toilet in “Animal House”, and yes Mike hasn’t taken a shower in 3 weeks and is more than a bit eccentric, but he has probably forgotten more about making wine than most of us will ever know. The last time we were there, we bought a few bottles from him that were filled directly from the barrel while we waited. And both of those bottles turned into vinegar before we drank them… I will never buy another bottle of Blackwood Canyon wine, but it is a trippy place to visit! Nothing like having the winemaker slice off pieces of extraordinarily funky cheese with a dirty, rusty knife and deliver it to your palm with his filthy hands for you to experience with his ancient juice… Mike Moore is a love him – or – hate him guy, much like his wines. As for me, I would rather drive down Sunset Road to visit Hightower Cellars, Fidelitas, Hedges, or Kiona. But I must say – visiting Blackwood Cellars and meeting Mike Moore is still fresh in my mind while I have forgotten about hundreds of other winery visits!

Good episode. I so much enjoy trying new wines (to me)

QOTD – A cherry wine from Colorado, Balesteri Winery, sort of like a cherry pie in a glass.

Also tried mead while there, most interesting.

Good thing the alcohol killed all the bugs in it. If you had ever actually visited the winery, you would not drink that stuff.

Two most unusual wines…

2007 Diemersfontein Pinotage
1/15/2008 rated 80 points: Strange brew. My first Pinotage was a gift from a co-worker returning from S.Africa. This wine had very dark color and nose of dirt, funk and espresso. The flavors got more strange, almost not able to be described. Strange. Not wine the way I understand it to be. I will try another pinotage, maybe one that comes recommended by someone other than the airport checkout clerk! AMM (369 views)

1989 Marquis de Laguiche (Joseph Drouhin) Chassagne-Montrachet
Not as good as I remembered. Taste was showing little signs of ageing, then after 45 mins. it really started to open up. Interesting apple juice, apple cider flavor. Overall this wine is very good and impressive. AMM (206 views)

Great show GV. Way to nerd it up for the hardcore geeks.
I’ve had my share of red rieslings (yuck), banyuls (yum), blueberry (eh, no) and the like. Not sure which stands out as the most unusual, although i’m really looking forward to trying the red chard (pinot skins and chard juice) and pinot port my friends are making this harvest. People were giving away grapes, so its a great year to experiment with something new. I bet there will be some spectacular new wines from the 09 harvest from all around california.

Awesome show – I’d love to try that stuff!

QOTD: Probably a 1990 Moldovan Cab from Cricova. 18 years in barrel. Totally dead, but an awesome experience (that I didn’t pay for, I might add).

Hey Gary

thanks a very cool, very interesting show!

QOTD: Probably the weirdest wine I’ve ever drunk would be a Château Chalon from the Jury, a similiar ultra barrell aged whie byt hte sound of it.

Cheers
Andrew

QOTD: Gewurztraminer is hard for me to describe to those who have not tried it.

We still talk about visiting Blackwood Canyon years later! Mike Moore is INSANE! His winery is about 100 deg. in the summer (yes with no cooling of the barrels). We were there for about 4 hours and tasted 25+ wines…! We remember Mike scampering up barrels to get samples using an old rubber hose, yuk! But, after a few hours, who cares anymore! The day we visited Mike was bare foot and had his shirt buttoned up one hole off! He drank along with us and proceeded to get ripped and spiraled out of control getting into politics and other TABOO subjects….One of the most unique experiences we’ve ever had!!!!!

Nice show, good to see you enjoying an unusual wine.

QOTD- A friend gave me a 1990 (or so) Albarino that I drank in 2007. Very interesting to drink an aged white wine when almost all white I drink is within a year or two of the calendar year.

QOTD: 2007 En Santé Alfalfa wine. Sauterne-esque, believe it or not, from select lot organic alfalfa.

QOTD: Dry Oloroso Sherry…interesting, but wasn’t a big fan.

Great episode. I like seeing some older wines on the show every once in a while.

QOTD: There was a wine from Oliver Winery in Bloomington IN produced in the early 90’s called Trio. This wine was literally made by mixing 3 different grapes together that were left at the end of the harvest. It turned out to be their best wine which they haven’t been able to reproduce. It was unbelievable and it is definitely missed.

I had the opportunity to visit Red Mountain and we made a “special” trip to Blackwood Canyon.
This place is a “must see” for anyone wine geek. Any of the way out there comments are not overstated or embellished. Mike Moore is equal parts genius, lunatic and binge drinking frat boy. Driving up to the winery is a cross between the set for Road Warrior and Sanford & Son. The grounds are strewn with 100’s of barrels that are full of wine and apparently aging until they are fit to drink.
When you walk into the door of the winery it appears that the contents of 1000 junk drawers have been ransacked and their contents taken for decor. Mike’s persona can be described as some kind of cosmic link to Bill Murray’s (Carl Spackler) character in Caddy Shack.
If you view your visit as theater and accept the fact that you may be here for 3-4 hours I can guarantee that you will not forget this visit. The only thing that made our 3 hour tour even more surreal is that Mike linked up the Gary V. review of these wines and showed us them on his laptop……INCREDIBLE!

The fine folks from Kiona are here! Awesome. Just a shout out to all of the Vayniacs out there… get on-line…. find Kiona… and get some of their lemburger (killer pizza and burger juice – sort of a junior zinfandel) and try some of their 2003 Estate Reserve cabernet sauvignon! Real Red Mountain fruit, estate grown (and they sell fruit to LOTS of the top wineries in the state), and for $30 bones, it is a great deal.

90/100

line of the day – ‘If you’re a hard core nerd you want to go find this stuff’

Interesting for the unusual wines featured and GV’s positive reaction to them. Nice