Gary,

Great episode.

You’ve mentioned restaurant wine lists more than once in your shows. I’m curious, what your take on them is…do you think its worth spending an extra 40/50 bucks on a bottle of wine when you got out? How do you personally tackle this issue?

Gary,

Another great episode. There is an interesting article in today’s (August 10th) Marketplace section of the Wall Street Journal about counterfeit wine labels. I thought you might be interested.

Gary,
Lately I’ve been buying a lot of CDP’s (Cuvee du Vatican, ’03 Domaine Pegau) & am glad you included one. Hopefully you can dedicate an episode to what is really an unheralded variety.
I look forward to my Jacob Franklin!

Salute

Gary,
I literally laughed out loud when you said to tasted the “tar bubbles”. And that was a perfect description for me, as I did the occasional tar bubble tasting as a child too!!
Thanks for the chuckle….

Gary,
Great episode, and particularly enjoyable to see you pick some of your favorites. As you were reviewing the Clos Apalta, I felt that you might have been close to giving it the “Vayner-NOD”, which raises the following question: Can you explain more about the factors or aspects you are considering as you come to the decision point for each wine? For example, is it an overall VALUE judgement (i.e., what you experience/learn/get per price tag). Answering this question may be of great help to WLTV viewers who have not tried a given wine you are tasting and are weighing your verbal description of the color/nose/body/taste along with the point score followed by the “G-Nod” versus “G-CHUK”. Asking this another way, what is the difference between a wine you score around 89 and recommend to customers, versus another wine that gets the same score but is a pass? This is by no means a criticism, just a request for more information to understand your preferences and internal criteria. Thanks, CK

Gary, right on about Elyse! Anybody who goes to Napa and does get to Elyse missed something special. Not big, not fancy, just great wine!

Another great episode. Thanks for reviewing Elyse wines. They are little known and some of the best producers in Napa. Went there last month and have to agree with the other poster. Never have I had so much wine poured in a tasting room and one was better than the other. Bought a mixed case including two Jacob Frnaklin wines the Hoffman Ranch and the Petit Syrah. Did not know you carried them.

Gary, I enjoy amarones also. Are there any that are cheaper in price that are worthwhile, or possibly ripasso’s. Also, Last night for our anniversary, we drank a 1986 Silver Oak Napa which was still tasting great, as was a 1981 Ridge Zin from San Luis Obispo county!

Gary – I emailed Wine Library a while back asking why you didn’t have a wish list on your web site. I was told that you might sell out of that wine before someone gets around to ordering from their wish list. Understand. So today after watching WLTV I went to the 2001 Jacob Franklin H L Cab page and tried to make a photo copy to add to my own Wine Library file folder Wish List. It would only print the top and left side headings but not the wine info. Then I tried Control – A to highlight the whole page and tried printing again – same thing. Do you do something to your web pages to keep people from printing? It’s like you are trying to keep me from putting together a case of wine every couple months.

Thanks. I enjoy your WLTV shows.

“Whatâ??s your opinion on Riedel and othersâ?? â??shape for every grapeâ?? If we drink a wide variety of wines and donâ??t want to invest in, or have the space for a dozen different glasses, what shapes are the best multi-taskers? Lastly, are the high-end crystal really worth the money?”

My two cents says that a great all around glass would be a pino noir glass, the thinner the glass the better. I got a few great sets at a good price from target, $39 for set of 4 are crystal,they are riedel (though I am sure they just use the name) My opinion is expensive glass where is only worth the $ if you have plenty of extra to blow on things like that.

http://www.target.com/gp/detail.html/sr=1-1/qid=1155235697/ref=sr_1_1/602-2821397-5499866?%5Fencoding=UTF8&asin=B000B5N1NM

Gary,

Great episode again.

You make an interesting point in regard to the ’95s. I looked at my tasting notes for many of my ’95 Cal Cabs (Beringer PR, Bryant, Cardinale, Clark Claudon, Dalla Valle, Dominus, Dunn, Harlan, Insignia, Montelena, Mondavi Reserve, Seavey, Spottswoode, Togni, Viader). In many case these wines are drinking as well or better than they did a few years ago … they seem to be getting better. I cannot say that for my other vintages from the 90s.

But now my questions …

Do you think the quality of the top California cabs have gotten better in the last 15 years? I have tasted several top cabs (Montelena, Phelps, Mondavi Reserve, etc) from the top vintages of the 70s. Most of them are at or past their prime whereas we now great Bordeaux wines from top vintages will drink well for decades. In other words, in your opinion, will my 95 and 01 Harlan, Bryant, Dalla Valle, Togni, Dunn, Insigna, etc be drinking well in 30 years?

Gary:

Can you explain the process you use to taste wine? I’ve been taught you should let the wine hit each side of the mouth, then exhail out the nose as the wine is swallowed. This really changes the flavor. Your tasting makes a little more noise.

PS – Do you use your technique in the Resaurants, when they bring it to the table! I would love to see that.

Another Good Show!!!

Ups, I drank a beer while watching the show.
Is this allowed? 🙂

I too like Rick McQ in comment #38 would like to know what your tasting process is and how it compares to what the standard process is…if there is one.

Hi Gary,

I love what you are doing with WLTV. Keep up the good work.

Also, I would love for you to do episodes on more obscure Italian varietals (cannanou, teroldego, negroamoro, etc.) I know you sell a bunch of them at WL but I would love to have your opinion on some of them before I try them since I (and most folks) have never tried them.

Gary, what happened to the good ole days when you had 3 to 5 comments to the episodes? Todays list of comments truely reflects your impact on the wine world. Enlightening the masses on the benefits of wine will certainly expand your universe in ways that you cannot imagine. Keep up the great work. By the way, where would I go to learn the proper pronunciation of various wines?

Gary –
Great episode (another).
Hey one Q – what determines what pix you hang on the wall behind for each episode?
Luke

Didn’t know the poetry was in your veins! Go for Wallace Stevens, wrote some great poems about wine (and of course with a lot of wine in his veins … white Zin? No kidding).
Good to know you are an Amarone addict. But where was the QOTD here?
So I am going for my QOTD to you here (if you ever come by reading this): is it true that wines shipped to Europe from Australia/NZ/USA or vice versa taste different from those that do not go overseas? My future father in law told me that this is one of the reasons why he mainly buys Bordeaux and Burgundy, because they aren’t transported overseas over here. I think you should know whether that’s true or not, because you have the chance to try wines in Spain/FRance/do I know where when buying in and afterwards you can taste them again when you’re home. So are they shaken up or not by the travel overseas? And if they are, is some cellaring enough? Or, if there are wines that do not survive transport overseas, just tell me which ones I should maybe avoid.

When are you getting Jacob Franklin again

And hey you should have gotten on that show on MTV who wants to be a white rapper

I have had the 2003 and the 2004 Clos apalta and gotta tell you that I think there is way too much hype around these wines…..

Don’t quit your day job. You’re too white to be rapping.

Great ep. GV – good to see some wines that are go-to juice for you!

Gangster Gary?….what if that was your real calling and you missed it? Nah!