victory!!!

WOW that maybe a record, less then a minute.

That was ridiculously fast.

Ridiculously fast is right.

5th…not too bad

that’s right!!! i am fast on the comment…im an an internet kid….so, i see i didn’t make it to the shout outs once again…perhaps my impressive display of speed will vault me into position and warrant more attention. question of the day: you know what confuses me: how does one cultivate ‘quality’ tannin? i mean, you get those bottles that have a tannic quality that is not cool…then you get those ones where the tannin is exactly why you love it!

okay, my personal question: why do you never want to answer my bordeaux questions? 🙂 look back at my comments from the previous two episodes…

good job gary!

that’s right!!! i am fast on the comment…im an an internet kid….so, i see i didn’t make it to the shout outs once again…perhaps my impressive display of speed will vault me into position and warrant more attention. question of the day: you know what confuses me: how does one cultivate ‘quality’ tannin? i mean, you get those bottles that have a tannic quality that is not cool…then you get those ones where the tannin is exactly why you love it!

okay, my personal question: why do you never want to answer my bordeaux questions? 🙂 look back at my comments from the previous two episodes…

good job gary!

To follow on Rick McQ’s question, I have heard of wines being called “Parkerized”. How do you interpret that term? Do you believe it to be true (regardless the diversity issue)?

Oh, I almost forgot – GREAT SHOW! I’ve had a few Swiss wines which my wife brought back with her from business travels. I’m looking forward to trying the one you tasted today.

Gary, wonderful again. My buddies and I could not pin the picture that you had put up from the 65-66 episodes. Can you give me a hand and settle our debate?
Keep it up though. Nice episode.
Are you a member of the “Century Club”?
http://www.delongwine.com/century.html
I’m working hard on getting my card!
The most confusing thing about wine to me is how so many people can bend to a movie’s opinion (Mondo Vino…Sideways). The power of suggestion is amazing. Come on folks…Merlot is good and you are still drinking wines that come from “globalization” vineyards. I loved the movies but still form my own opinion. Yes, even sometimes the same as our beloved Gary but sometimes not.
Nice lunch box.

Gary,

So-so episode. Kinda marginal, really. ;-). Naw, great as usual. Nice to see you getting into answering questions more. It’s great fun to watch you taste wine, but we all have our questions and it’s nice when you shout out to us individually.

I suppose wine isn’t near as confusing to me as it was a few years ago. I’ve really really gotten into wine in the past few years and I’ve taught myself a lot. I’m no master sommelier, but I can fight my way out of a paper bag.

My question is about wine tasting. There are blind tasting competitions where you’re supposed to identify the grape, the region, the vintage, etc. But when I taste syrah, for example, every producer makes a different style syrah. Some are fruity and jammy, some are lean and peppery. I can’t imagine being able to say, ah, this is a shiraz from the Barossa Valley, probably an 02 or 03.

Is that really possible? How can any one person know so many wines as to be able to get to that level of detail? The best I can do is say, “Yep, that’s definitely a red wine.”

Thanks, and keep it up!!

Gary-
great episode. I prefer these episodes where you turn the consumer on to something new or off the beaten path (i.e. chinon/vacqueryas) as opposed to the “today gary tastes four wines from california” episodes. Also, I like when you do region or varietal themes. Why not a 2003 CDP episode? Or a high-end Chilean meritage episode? (Instead of mixing and matching).
For me the most confusing part of wine is red burgundy. I feel like I need to learn french, get a masters in geography, and memorize superior vintages in order to be able to be confident purchasing these really expensive wines that often dissapoint. Instead I just skip that aisle and stick to CA or OR for pinot, which usually delivers top quality for the price.
You have bashed Burgundy in the past. Do you think this region is worth the time and the effort (not to mention money) and that I am being close-minded?
thanks for a great service. I enjoy every time i come to your store.

Gary – Terrific episode. I really appreciate that you include a good amount of wine education in each episode. That helps since I am fairly new to buying wine.
The most confusing thing is…
Hands down it is the whole price thing. Some wines even on sale cost more than I spend on an entire set of tires for my car. Some cost less than I spend on a nice meal. If you could clear this up that would be great. Is it really worth it to take out a major loan for one bottle of wine?

Great episode. I’m still thrilled exploring new Spanish wines based on your “visit to Spain” episode.

What confuses me…….storing opened bottles of red. To refrigerate or not to refrigerate, that is the question. Also, does eliminating oxygen from the bottle before storage have significant impact on storage? My solution is simple……no leftovers in my home!!!!!!

Yes, please start a restauraunt with a Wine Library priced list. I’ll be there, even if the food is so-so. Would be better if the food was great, though.
Confusing…I guess its that there are just so many friggin wines out there. Who’s palate do you trust if you don’t want to spend first? (Gary, most of your recs. have been good. Even more useful is when you bomb a wine I considered buying.) I go to some of the friday evening tastings in the area, but they usually are doin tastings on the things they want to sell to you.

EEEEEEEXXXXCCCELLLLEEENT SHOW

What I find the most confusing about wine is the different variatels in wine abroad. Sometimes WS doesn’t even tell you what grape is in the bottle. Your Barolo and Brunello episode was so educational (as was today), that’s the stuff that keeps WLTV so great…so…how do you know what grapes are in which bottles? Is there a great reference somewhere?

B

Great episode as usual Gary. I sat my wife down to watch a few of your episodes the other day and she also loves them and has become a fan.
I know you said you said you were getting a lot of “heat” related questions but I have one related to shipping I want to ask. You have a lot of wines on your show that I would be interested in ordering to try. However I live in Tampa, Fl where for half the year it hits a high of 90f plus daily. I would ship express instead of ground but I am still concerned about the amount of heat they will be subject to sitting on a truck all day baking in the hot Fl sun. To make matters worse I am at the end of the run on UPS and FedEx deliveries meaning nothing get’s to my house till 5-6PM. How safe would it be to order at this time of the year and how well do you pack your wines for shipping to HOT climates.

Gary,

You want a hundred comments; ok here’s number 16. Forget about NYC restaurants, go to NJ BYO’s – there’s plenty of them and many are great.

Gary,

Great episode.

I don’t understand how you can taste more than 30 wines in a day and have accurate assessments. I understand that you are spitting them out so I don’t mean because you are too inebriated to judge.

It just gets difficult to do something repetitive without being influenced by the previous wines, comments from others, and other distractions. How do you do it?

Billy G

I have two confusing area’s in wine. Firstly, Burgundy wine labels, took me a lo-o-o-ong time to understand what I was buying, because at one time there was little information to American consumers on how to understand the label.
Secondly confusing are some of the ratings scored by The Wine Speculator. I tend to discount their ratings of California wines, specifically the reds.

Gary, I have a comment on restaurant wine mark-ups. A number of restaurants are now using a mark-up of 300%. Quite excessive. They justify this because of labor costs, storage costs, stemware breakage, constantly printing new pages of the wine list to reflect current vintage, etc., etc., etc.
I’ve been in the restaurant business, off and on, for over thirty years, and this issue has never been resolved, and I don’t think it ever will.

zerokreap — What I understand about tannins is that in the wine bottle, over time, they link together getting longer and longer. This also means there are fewer since they join up. When these longer tannins hit your tastebuds (especially on the back of your tongue) they are much more pleasant and have less of a bitter quality than shorter more plentiful tannins. It takes time to develop these. So a wine built to age needs a fair amount of fruit and acid. The wine needs to be balanced and have enough fruit to last during this aging process. So this is what I understand, somebody feel free to shoot holes in my presentation…

Hi Gary,

The most confusing thing about wine for me is knowing some of the differences in vintages across all wine types. I mean, I know that 2001 was a great year for CA cabs and 2005 Bordeaux is supposed to be a great year and 2003 Port was spectacular but I find it hard to keep track of the “non-great” years when buying wines on my own, especially when ordering wines in a restaurant.

That being said, here is my question that I am hoping you can answer. In many instances I have ordered wine from a restaurant wine list and the vintage of the wine brought out is not the vintage that was listed in the wine list (ex. 2003 CA Cab brought out when the menu listed a 2002).

What do you do in this case? Many times I will not know if the vintage is as good, better or worse than the one I ordered (especially with Italian varietals). Do you accept the replacement vintage or send it back and select something else? If you know that the replacement vintage is not as good as the one ordered, do you ask for a monetary reduction? Sorry for all the questions but you are the man with the answers………

Hey Gary…its the Stallion. I have a real question for you that I would love for you to answer..

It seems as though the rating system is pretty similar between wine spectator and Robert Parker. Steve Tanzer’s reviews are always 4-7 points lower then both Parker’s and Sucklings. Does he do this to set himself apart from the rest, or what. Also, other than you OF COURSE, which of the above three usually have the most accurate ratings, in your opinion.

Thanks Gary

Hi GV,

At first glance i thought the lunch box was a tissue box cover…cosidering what the upcoming season is looking like, you may need some Kleenex!!

And what’s with the changing picture on the wall??

I have 2 answers for your ? o’ the day….malolactics, malolactics, malolactics….i know it has to do with the fermentation process, but what exactly does it mean (now i know i could easily look this up but that’s too easy)…and if malolactics dont occur “in barrel” as often stated, then what??

One other confusing thing for me has always been Burgundy-who’s good, whose not, who’s overpriced (almost all), and who’s a good value (not many i fear)

Let me know if your looking for investors for that restaurant…

Hugh

Gary V,

Great show! Thanks for educating the wine drinkers to new wines and viticultural areas. This is what makes what we do so special!

Hey Gary,

Great show again today!

What happens with all the bottles you taste?

Are you feeding them to the birds (hence the high activity level) or are you simply just getting plastered every night?

Enlighten us – oh wise one ….

Cheers,

Henrik Brandt – Copenhagen, Denmark