WOW! Congrats to the Jets!
I’m in for some of the matured French stuff for right now, but it changes daily!
Sorry, gotta do some nerdin’: I think Zin was introduced to the US by a Hungarian guy named Haraszthy (ring a bell?). The family went on to produce famous Eclipse Champagne.
All the best!
Ralph

If they’re not that great and cost about the same as champagne, then here’s a suggestion: JUST BUY CHAMPAGNE!!!! Grower champagne blows away pretty much ANY Cava, Prosecco, domestic sparkler, etc…of course, you do what you want, but if ya just wanna throw yer money away I have a place you can send it! 😉 Cheers, bloke!

Hi Gary! Keep doing blind tastings!!

QOTD: leaning old world.

P.S. I saw that the jets barely made it against the lions!

Had another bottle of 2005 Chateau Larrivaux Haut-Medoc this weekend mmmmmmmmmmm goooooood! Absolutely wonderful.

QOTD: I think my palate is more open to diversity now than it has ever been. I love ‘geeky’ wines that offer something beyond the ordinary. For every day drinking, the only thing I can’t take are the fruit and oak bombs. Hate to feel like I’m drinking syrup!

Newbie lurker coming out now

Ohhhhhh yes!

🙂 and sorry!

GIMMMMMEEEEEEEEEEE THHHHHHHEEEEEEE THHHHUUUUNNNNNDDDDAAAAARRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!! :OP

Whateva Green and White. 😛

That one field goal! Ugh. That’s like the 3rd loss because of a blasted lost field goal.

Thanks for the review…I know a number of people that will probably flip for the Bogle at that price point.

QOTD: all over the place…
there will definitely be riesling at the T-Day table…as well as some home made stuff. The nouveaux Marquette is a cherry bomb.

Excellent episode, really enjoyed the blind tasting.

QOTD – I like the style of refreshing, light, high acid, crisp, white wines as my primary favorite New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc, Muscadet from the Loire Valley, Vino Verdi from Portugal, Reisling from Alsace region, unoaked Chardonnay from the Chablis region, etc, etc,etc.

Monday ….

after a BIG Jets win …

where’s the thunder?

Hey Gar…always fun to see you get nervous!

QOTD: My palate is like a kid growing up. Picky at first and then eventually picking up aquired tastes. Growing up in the desert I’ve always liked cold drinks. I went from whites, to reds, to sparkling wine and back, and then forward, and then back again. Because I’m constantly pairing food with wine, I’ve learned to love and appreciate every glass and admire how each wine has its role to play with food…

QOTD: Sometimes it is hard to say where my Palate is going. I rarely like fruit bombs I like whites reds and everything in between. I stand stand something that is too sweet (especially when you can tell its an added sweetness). Right now i’m still all about balance in taste and texture.

late again, w/ laptop annoyances, & busy weekend… but, I likethe way you handled it! I’m still, way beyond the Zin years, and even American wines in general, have to be limited, cause of the huge push of fruit and alc. to the front. I too , would expect Outpost (and Martini Gnarly) to scream out of the line up, but I had one, not long ago, and I had a similar feeling on it. (For my palate). TONS of people, I KNOW, respond to this style in a big way (!!), and I don’t just turn my nose up at Mountain, or Pedigree vineyard/estate fruit.
QotD – My palate always liked acid, and tart. ‘s great for food. makes things I didn’t like at a younger age, such as capers, even MORE delicious (w/ tarty wines). The fruit quotient was enjoyed, and over long term, downplayed, as wines got ridiculous in the last 10 years (and longer). Before that, – 20 years ago, wines w/ such fruit intensity – High end Zin, Silver Oak) were more special, a bit more uncommon, and easier to glorify. Big & high end Aussies were next, and again, in a league of appreciation well beyond the wines in the regular supermarket realm and p.p. Last, were the huge outpourings of the most modern Spanish wines, and even as I love Ordonez, et al, or Priorat, Bierzo, etc., the amount of big wines I personally want to take home for myself, is kind of tapped out.
I like to taste wines of any nation and geographic region, and not factory/industrialized brands, if can be avoided. I am a freak for Grower- Producer Champagnes. I can enjoy many other bubbles, even well made charmat/ tank fermented stuff of quality. As an industry -type, I’ve led trends, and don’t follow them, hence I’m very tired of mediocre Malbecs (having discovered Cahors, and in fact, all the main varietals’ history/geographies many years ago), would prefer even a Methode Traditionelle Franciacorta, or even a sparkling Lambrusco to Prosecco, for my own purposes. But, ouside of the home, am well adjusted enough that that is no problem. I could esily enjoy several Bordeaux of varying qualities, every week, and not get bored. To attempt to do so in Burgundy would be too expensive, AND too rich in hedonistic decadently intoxicating fumes. I can like Chards in most of it’s broad ranges, but easily can do without (sic) the over ripe, fruitified ( w/ varying degrees of unmentioned blending), and Love S. B., Cali, and otherwise, to it’s numerous glories. I have a Scotch at home when mom wants, and having worked in fine Rests., C.C.s, and liquor retail for years, know good singles I like, and know good blends. And most of all, as a pretty long time, solid, bicycle subculture type (was a courrier, 95-96), and having repped a really strong Belgian ale book for years, am a huge beer lover. There. that’s prob. too much. sorry.

My favorite wines are lighter bodied and old world reds, and acidic whites. Also enjoy sparkling wines and dessert wines. But all are good if well made. After all, it makes you feel good and helps you enjoy food and friends. What’s to not like?

Hi Gary; Great show…. When can you do blind tasting comparing carmenere against Zin.- Thanks..

Great question for me at this moment. I just attended a wine tasting featuring a lot of big california cabs. These were wines that I would have been in love with about 4 years ago. Massive fruit, big Ink, tannin, etc. I still enjoy these wines, but after tasting through them I found myself asking a simple question: Where is the acid??? I remember you mentioning once that after a while we wine drinkers can become acid fiends. I finally understood in a major way exactly what you meant! Those over the top wines were just TOO MUCH.
I’d say the state of my palate is still very experimental. I’m the wine store clerks worst nightmare…”What do you mean you don’t carry a dry Furmint?” The grape I’ve been after lately though is Bonarda. I’ve had two exceptional Bonarda’s recently that have me on the hunt for more!
Great show Gary!

I agree with you on bogle, I recently had the Bogle Phantom and it was great quality for $20.
Qotd: Right now I tend to like the red blends. especially from california meritage style, but i also like rhone and bordeaux right now too. i am also floating back to light white wines, but i still require good bit of acidity to help it have some back bone.

I’m looking for intrigue. M2 in Lodi has an old vine zin from the Soucie vineyard that has a hard to place taste in the middle of it. Some say mushroom. Reminds me vaguely of strawberry compote. Anyway, I went tasting in Napa a few weeks ago and was grossly disappointed. Cabernets tasted overly extracted and uniform. We were in the Yountville area. Maybe the northern part of the valley would have been more to my liking. I also loved loved loved the Old Ghost Klinker Brick 2008 zin from Lodi. It finishes with chocolate cherry, not pepper, but don’t hold that against it.

Well around 97 I was working on some lucrative films and we went shopping for wine mostly in Sonoma. Rafaneli was big on the list, also Lymric Lane and a lot of Petit Sarah and Cab and Gevertz from Field Stone. Now 13 years later the big Zins are still very delicious but we don’t drink them with food. We have come to appreciate the wines that go well with food a lot more. Everete Ridge had a Zin called Workhorse that is Much more food friendly. That still works well. Times are a lot tighter so $30 a bottle (at the case price) is a lot less attractive, but also good food wines are very attractive. We went to Portugal in 06 and that opened a whole new vein with the Vino Verde and the generally low alcohol food friendly wines.

So now our palates are kind of scitzo with California BIG wines as sipping and sit around and have wine as a meal kind of wines, but much lighter “firmer” wines with food.

The big plus of course is, as you mentioned, the big$$$ seem to be more connected with the BIG wines and we drink a lot less of those.

I live in Zin country. The oldest zin vineyard in American is here. It is also hot so the over ripe zin is common. I love Gary and I have the book crush it. Great Book. I really think there is a more honest way to taste wines. I call it Technical wine tasting, but really it gets down to there are really four main elements to wine and if you over describe the any one element then you really aren’t doing your job. The elements are aroma (fruit esters), acid, sweetness, and tannin or other (wild yeast) flavors. Gary keeps using the word Big. Gary you are better than that. Big is meaningless. I think you mean very ripe (you explained some in this video) which really means high alc., sweet, and low acid. Please just describe what we can tast like sweetness alc. and acid. and forget the flower ambiguous language. I would love to call your radio show get you to admit that I am right. I know underneath you agree with me.

I’m learning to decipher between vague flavor descriptions: smoky, fruity, spicy, earthy, vegetable-y, marshmallowy.

Zinfandel, all sub 90 points (sorry Gary can’t reverse the call without instant replay) big surprise! In my opinion this grape is very overrated, and if didn’t come from California (world’s 7th largest economy, and economically powerful), it would be an afterthought.