First time I have heard of any of these wines . . . looking forward to the episode!

Good job as always Gary.

Top 5 – love to see the Etude in the tasting……

Gary, maybe the Little Penguin spoiled you for other wines. The best bottle of wine I ever gave to someone was a Rosenblum Carla’s Vinyard Zinfandel. She enjoyed the wine along with the fact that it included her name (Carla). The best bottle I have received was a 1998 Port from Stuart Winery in Temecula, CA that my son bought for me.

Great episode, I guess this proves your statement that how a wine tates is dependent on a number of factors. I have given as a gift a bottle of MUMM champange, however the gifts that I usually receive are either Scotch or Burbon.
Waiting for you to taste either a Kistler or Kongsgaard Chard.
taste some wines from deep in the Lanugedoc region.

I feel bad that none of the wines tickled your fancy today. Don’t know what to make of the draft thing in the end (sorry, not a Football fan — don’t hate me!). I wanted to know who’s hand stealthily brough in the water while you were tasting Lateral, and why? There didn’t seem to be any reason for it.

Anyway, best wine I ever gave as a gift was probably ’02 LaValentina Montepulciano d’Abruzzo. Not an expensive wine (most expensive wine I ever gave away was ’01 Opus One — but I wouldn’t call that the best wine). Usually when I want to give a special wine, I invite people over and give them a great meal to go with it. That way I get to enjoy the special wine too, and I know they are getting the wine at its best (properly decanted or allowed to breathe for a bit).

Best wine I ever received as a gift was 1997 Riesling, don’t remember which one it was, but it was dynamite.

You had me in _tears_ with that last montage. That was unreal!

I agree with your assessment of the Etude ’04. The ’03 was great, velvety and complex. The ’04 didn’t measure up. Maybe it was the weather…

best bottle ever given – 1963 vintage Dow Port /1970 Vintage Dow Port (a two bottle gift to a huge port lover)

best bottle received – champagne – Krug dont remember the year, but it was DELICIOUS as I am in the veynercamp re champagne – it’s a spectacular and under appreciated wine ( I still think most people have just consumed too much crap -)

Top 10

I forgot to answer the QOD. Best wine I ever received as a gift is the 1998 Dom P I mentioned in the champagne blog. At least, I hope it will be the best because I haven’t opened it yet………

The best bottle that I ever gave as a gift is probably a bottle of 2003 Bordeaux that I gave to my boss with instructions to put it away for many years. I had bought a case of Chateau Cap de Faugeres futures from WL and then gave a bottle as a gift. I personally have not even tried any of it yet but from everything I have read, it should be a pretty special wine.

Gary,
Not to rub it in, but you left first round selection out of Iowa Offensive Tackle Mike Haight. He was awesome I think he played as much as Tony Manderich did for the Packers. My Giants have had some real winners too; George Adams, Derek Brown, some wide receiver Thomas from Indiana who was so bad I can’t remember his first name, and most recently Ron Dayne aka “Thunder”.
ED

Gary, thanks for mentioning me relative to Mike and the Mad Dog. HYSTERICAL Jets montage…nice work.

Where do you come in on baseball…I’m assuming Yankees based on pictures behind. That’s dissappointing — I would have taken you for a Met fan (which I am). Could be another Subway Series.

SUGGESTION — I (and I think many) would LOVE to hear YOUR answers to the QOD….on the next episode of course. For example, what is your favorite winery? What do think of the format tweak?

Hey Gary,

That Jets’ clip was a blast….who needed Marino or Sapp anyway?…..
You were definitely “off” today…. on the Kathryn Kennedy, you mentioned “good complexity”, then 30 seconds later called it “one-dimensional”…HUH????

Best wine I gave as a gift- Lynch Bages 95 and 96 (together)….best received Opus One 1996- from a patient of mine.

Can I suggest you taste the 2003 Clio? (even off camera)- the 2002 is great, but definitely new-world-and LOADED; I am very curious about the 2003 given the RP review.

Hugh

Hey Gary,

That Jets’ clip was a blast….who needed Marino or Sapp anyway?…..
You were definitely “off” today…. on the Kathryn Kennedy, you mentioned “good complexity”, then 30 seconds later called it “one-dimensional”…HUH????

Best wine I gave as a gift- Lynch Bages 95 and 96 (together)….best received Opus One 1996- from a patient of mine.

Can I suggest you taste the 2003 Clio? (even off camera)- the 2002 is great, but definitely new-world-and LOADED; I am very curious about the 2003 given the RP review.

Hugh

ooopppssss…..forgot to mention. What was with the blurry close-up of every bottle??? you could not make out anything of the label.

ooopppssss…..forgot to mention. What was with the blurry close-up of every bottle??? you could not make out anything of the label.

Gary – next time choose the wine I wanted you to drink (2000 Chateau Pavie – 100 points and a Frankenstein monster of a wine). If you went with me – it would have been a different episode.

The best bottle of wine I ever got for a present is either the 2000 Mouton Rothschild or the 1996 Petrus – you tell me which is better (I am cellaring both and won’t open for a while).

The best bottle I have gifted is either a 1995 Ornellaia or 1997 Pride Merlot (you choose which was better)

Joe

Best bottle of wine I received was an Opus One 1996 from one of my patients. Best bottle of wine I have given was an E.guigal Chateneaue de Pape 1999[?] which was the number one bottle of wine in the spectator of the top 100.

Best bottle given – Back in 1985 – My brother and I (I was 11 and he was 16) scraped up money from mowing lawns that summer and bought a bottle of 1982 Chateau Mouton Rothschild for our father for X-Mas (Of Course had to have Mom buy – Was $49.99 – WHAT WAS I THINKING? $50 BUCKS THAT WAS A TON OF MONEY BACK THEN- OH YEAH – I JUST LOOKED THE CHEAPEST I FIND IT FOR NOW IS $725+) WE ARE “SCHEDULED” TO DRINK AS A FAMILIY ON X-MAS 2007 WHEN IT IS 25 YEARS OLD. I CAN’T WAIT!!!

Best Bottle Received – I WOULD SAY A 1974 CHRISTIAN BROTHERS CABERNET SAUV. FOR MY WEDDING – Not that the red colored “CAT PISS” inside is probably any good any longer – I doubt if I will even ever open it. It will just grace my cellar as a momento..

GO CHIEFS!!!

Jason R:

Who’s your Daddy? Way to pay homage man. You and your Bro are the greatest!

Jason R:

Who’s your Daddy? Way to pay homage man. You and your Bro are the greatest!

Forgot to mention – I agree with Joe #18 – I think that if you would have popped the 2003 Ch. D’alesme Becker….. hum, hum, hum – not that this would have hung with the 2000 Pavie??

Maybe taste the 03 Becker against a 2002 Justin – Battle across the Pond # I

I forgot the QTD.

given: 1999 Masi Amarone
recieved: 1998 Tommasi Amarone

That episode was definitly not one of my favorites.
Do you watch what you eat before you taste? or…What do you do to clear your palette before tasting. I’m just wondering if some strong curry or garlic is lingering around. Or maybe it’s the expectations of Sean Ryan that has you down. Hey, at least Jolley is gone!

Best wine ever been given: 1975 Chateau Latour (From Uncle for Graduating College)
Best wine ever given as a gift: 2002 Caymus Special Selection (To my Dad for Christmas)

B

QUESTION FOR THE BLOG:

I have a gravatar, but I thought it was supposed to be recognized off of my email address. Is there anything special that anyone is doing to show their gravatar (Embedding a picture)?

Just curious….B