Gary: I recently started receiving your Feedblitz tasting videos and I wanted to say I enjoy them. Pretty informative and certainly entertaining. LOL I found the current Chardonnay “Battle” one particularly good because you described in relatively straightforward terms the differences you perceived. When comparing wines from various regions of the world, I would suggest that you qualify your rankings in some way that reiterates the fact that wine is, fundamentally, a matter of personal taste. My wife and I drink a great deal of Chard and although I prefer the lightly-oaked French style she on the other hand really likes those buttery oak bombs from California. I’m sure she would have cringed at your comment about the Beringer PR being a “distant fourth” since it is consistent with the style she prefers and would be, consequently, the one I’d most likely buy. . Nevertheless – good job.

I’m really enjoying these videos! I totally agree with the theme about exploration … and you’re making it much easier by giving some good recommendations. I’m not a big white wine drinker but I appreciate hearing your thoughts so that I can keep some good (and different) white wines on hand.

Keep it up!

Hi Gary,

I enjoy your Library TV segments. I have read many of the reviews and there seems to be lots written about the spit bucket and you spitting. Couple questions come to mind? Do you taste so many wines during a typical day of filming that you could not actually drink the tastes you take for these clips so you did not have to spit? And, when you do actually drink wine, do you do all the swishing and noise making? Is this something I should do to fully taste a wine and all of it’s flavors? I think you should do a segment just on how you go about tasting wines and why?

Dear Gary: This is not in reference to the above excellent v-blog; this is about an idea for a potential v-blog in the future, dependant on your current planning and available time:

Idea—Do an individual v-blog, or better yet, a series of (5) 1 week v-blogs, across the preferred suppliers of screw-off caps in white wines & in red wines. Down the road this topic can be elevated once it becomes established as an industry precedent and in a comparison of the ‘best screw-cap wines vs. best cork top wines.’

I assume of course that bottles retailing under $1.99 will not be part of any consideration-set.

Gary – Congrats on yet another great vlog. Very informative…here are a few ideas that would spice it up a bit.
1. Record the vlogs in your brand new wine cellar. The background is more conducive and it showcases your new room.
2. Have an attractive female (i.e. Vanna White type girl) to get the bottles from the vaults and pour it for you…and maybe a second female holding the spit bucket.
3. Sit on a couch. Light up a cigarette, or do something to look more relaxed. You look like you are selling insurance at times.
4. A conversation with a sidekick would make the flow more natural and less pitchy.

We love watching these damn things. Keep it up!

Some more thoughts on Peters suggestion re screw caps. Give some info re bottle aging with a screw cap vs fake cork vs cork.
Also some info on decanting. You mentioned that some of the bottles have been open for 3 hours before tasting. With so little wine actually in contact with the air, how can this help? Does this mean that the wines we drink in a resturant are not at their best because they have not been open long enough?
Suggestion: How about making some of those great European type Liquers available.

Gary..I know you’ve been given a hard time on some pronunciations in the past, but I think this is the episode that I realized I could not only learn about wine, but a lot of pronunciations as well.
“Puligny Montrachet”..I definitly screwed that up before WLTV came along.

B

I’ve tried some butterballs coming out of cali. I’ve had some steely unoaked Burgundy wines as well. There is certainly a lot of variation in between the two styles. I can’t say I’m a big fan of the heavily oaked style. (Chalk Hill comes to mind). I wasnâ??t even impressed by Leeuwinâ??s Margaret River Art Series Chardonnay, and those scores are hard to beat. A friend swears that the ’95 Beringer was to die for. I did like the Paul Hobbs Russian River Valley 2002 Chardonnay. I guess I haven’t really fallen in love with any particular Chardonnay yet, but hey…thereâ??s a lot of bottles out there to try.

Gary,

Started watching the WLTV after the CNBC report. Awesome. You are the Jim Cramer of Wine Tasting. Very informative and obviously I have strated wathcing the back episodes when I should be studying for Finals.

My local wine guy always pushes me toward whatever he has bought a ton of. It has made me very cynical. However, I believe you have much more at stake than my local D.C. winemonger so your opinions are a little more weighty.

I do not fault you for your JETS fanaticisim, but you are so close to pulling for a real team — th G- Men.

Peace

I don’t know about the “attractive female to get you a bottle and hold the spit bucket” comment, but I found this vblog to be very informative. I’ve always poo-pooed Cali Chards because of the butter – even though I know there must be a few good ones out there. Thanks for pointing me in a direction, I’ll try some out.

As I’m just catching up on old episodes, maybe I haven’t gotten to this yet, but I would love to see an episode on German Rieslings. In particular expaining the difference between kabinett, spatlese, auslese…etc. And then why Rieslings from everywhere else taste so different. My favorite all time is the Dr. F. Weins-Prum 2002 Kabinett. I’ve saved that bottle for three years now.

Thanks again for the hard work, and giving me a necessary distraction from my finals.

I am actually going to try something very different tonight I am cooking a poached Sea Bass and to go with it the recipe calls for Vino Verde, which is nice because this will be the first time I will have tried this Portuguese wine!

I’m downloading the episode as we speak.
I’m a huge fan of Matrot, and for value, his bourgogne Blanc 2005 is super. I have also recently enjoyed the Meursault 2001 with some haddock in a yoghurt marinade, and it really shone in that pairing. Looking forward to see what you think if this producer!

Drink all kinds of wine. Got it.

$.22

I’m a bit down on the big buttery wines right now. Which is kind of wild being that I like butter so much. It is just that sometimes the Big Whites seem like the girls who decide that an “augmentation” is the way to go. Lately, I just want to meet a nice white with an honest personality. After saying all of that, I have never tried any of these wines so I really don’t know what I’m talking about. I will keep my eyes open for them.

Man, this just makes me want to drink more wine. I love it.

It seems like a right of passage in one’s wine-tasting journey to at some point graduate from over-oaked California Chardonnays to some French White Burgundies that many describe as more complex.

WLTV? And so it begins – the prices get listed, but still no rankings, oh how the times, they are a changing….

Gary, you didn’t rinse the cup out after you tasted the first two!

Popcorn would’ve been mentioned here if this was a more recent episode.

get fa’shnikin, Gary!

Trust your own palate

word eleven “These”

awesome show.

Never had a white Burgandy that I know of and need to try one. Never heard of the winner before though and will see if their newer vintages still bring the thunder.

Good review job!

I haven't been a huge fan of over the top buttery-oaked chards, but it might happen some day…. Palates change you know….

Thanks for putting French and California whites together. I love exploring all kinds of white varietals, particularly Rhone blends. Complexity is the key to great white wine.

Man Pesagno was a surprise! it was like you really didn’t want it to win but it did. Thats awesome. I HATE Cali chard and i see this episode as if it were me doing the tasting and a Cali chard took top honors. Great show