Drinking some Rosenblum Petite Sirah Heritage Clones 2004….amazing inky black stuff, started drinking it with some lamburgers I had for dinner, and continuing while snacking on Marcona almonds. Alternating with some of Whole Foods 365 Italian sparkling water (better than San Pellegrino, I’d venture to say). Great low-carb evening.

suddo QOD?

Tonight I am drinking an Oreana Winery 2004 “?” Chardonnay. It’s a $10 Chard from a winery in Santa Barbara, CA. Awesome value and a perfect mid-week wine. Tony, you may want to add one of these to your next $10 and under tasting column. Oreana also makes a great “?” Red Table Wine.

So Gary, whay are you in Sunnyvale? For a day trip? That’s a tough travel assignment.

suddo QOD?

Tonight I am drinking an Oreana Winery 2004 “?” Chardonnay. It’s a $10 Chard from a winery in Santa Barbara, CA. Awesome value and a perfect mid-week wine. Tony, you may want to add one of these to your next $10 and under tasting column. Oreana also makes a great “?” Red Table Wine.

So Gary, whay are you in Sunnyvale? For a day trip? That’s a tough travel assignment.

One more thing…..

I love it when you do not like a wine and you smack your lips and then clank your teeth….could be part of the Vanernod system…..call a bad wine a “clanker”

I have a bottle of 2003 Nalle Zinfandel breathing upstairs..gotta go!

2004 Arista Russian River Valley Pinot Noir. I bought some at the winery this summer. Good stuff.

Last couple of bottles I had was a 2002 Roda & DJP Villa de Corullon ’03; both had massive fruit but the DJP was looking a bit green. Hope you check out some more spanish wines soon.

Also, in relation to the pinot episode the other day Gary (or anyone else withe experience) how do Calera Pinot’s stand up over time? In Australia currently it’s common to see Calera from the 97-00 vintages, would they be looking tired and past it yet?

So I realize I am a little slow…. but…
You are in Sunnyvale, CA home of Yahoo.
Interesting….
Please give us more details of why Yahoo later…

Big Billy, you nailed it with the Vayner-Glug(second sip and a swallow) as the ultimate approval, but what the hell do you call that “face rub”? Is that the Vayner-holyshitthisisthecrappiestjuicei’veevertasted ?

drinking Braut & Sistra from the Library tonight.

Making noise in Sunnyvale? Great for WLTV, but don’t forget us little guys when your rubbing elbows with the big wigs at Yahoo.

One more thing, when are you gonna have a live taping of WLTV so that all of us can get together and drink some wine? Episode 100?

Posting a little late, but have read through the comments… anybody notice the “extra spit” GV did on the Santa Rita? I think I’ve seen this from him in an earlier episode. It’s like what Urlacher is gonna say to any Jets receiver that comes across the middle, get that weak stuff outta here! I think the “extra spit” is the opposite of the Glug.

Hope the Yahoo meeting went well GV, we’ll all say we knew you when

QOD – No wine tonight, saving myself for a day in Napa on Thursday. I can confirm Marc T’s comment, not that I asked for a hook-up, but GV helped me narrow down a long list of wineries to a managable one day number. Thanks again GV and I’ll follow Brandon M’s lead and post some highlights!

SPREADSHEET UPDATE: A few people have mentioned the spreadsheet so I wanted to give an update.

Gary has put me in touch with Brian W. and John K. from the WL who are working on the best way to post this info….IT IS COMING SOON. THANKS to Gary, Brian and John.

Secondly, I have not been compiling info for every wine on each episode. Rather, I have been listing Gary’s “recommended” wines ONLY. Sometimes he likes one (chianti), sometimes he likes five (canadian icewines). Remember that I started compiling this for myself and was only interested in the “good” wines. So, when folks want to “compare” Gary’s ratings, they will find only higher ratings (89 and up) since they are all the ones that he recommended. Hence, most all of these have gotten the “VaynerNOD”, so no need to add a column for this. In fact, maybe I should re-name this the “The VaynerNOD’s Greatest Hits”.

Finally, the best part of the spreadsheet is the section detailing Gary’s tasting notes. I am a novice and I did this so that when I drink one of his recommended wines, I can see if I can smell and taste the same things. But this is the best part of WLTV hence, I’m slightly bummed that folks might want to use this as a means to give Gary SH*T about his ratings.

Also, rememeber that Gary changed his rating procedure about 10 episodes ago, when, per multiple comments, he agreed to no longer take price into consideration when rating.

I think the best way to use the ratings is within a specific episode…

Luv the 2 new VaynerTERMS: VaynerGLUG and VaynerCLANK (Bruce, I added on to your original “clank” suggestion from above–BTW, I know exactly what you’re referring to….I love when he VaynerCLANK’s

I also drank Arizona GREEN Tea tonight…but, the night before I had the “2001 Buoncristiani OPC (Ol Pa’s Cuvee) Claret” (from a special pre-sale offer Video which is also on the spreadsheet) ….GREAT juice.

FYI, I also compiled another spreadsheet detailing everyone’s answers to the QOD from Ep. 88 — What is your favorite restaurant? Pretty nice listing of restaurants in a bunch of different cities….a total of around 170 restaruants. If you want a copy, leave me your email address.

Are you guys going to publish the spreadsheets somewhere? Other than going to the Yoohoo factory, why Sunnyvale?
Last night finished up the bottle of Ravenswood 2000 Belloni Zindafandel

Chris…Kudos for compiling the spreadsheet–both on the episodes and the restaurants. That more than qualifies for a resounding victory in the 2006 WLTV “Yeoman’s Effort of the Year Award” category!

I’ll second that vote!! Great effort Chris, I look foward to checking them out.

Chris Stanisci,
Please email me that spreadsheet. Thank you for putting that together.
I travel some – so this will be very helpful.
email:
spauldingone@yahoo.com

Gary,
Hope you enjoy some great wine in CA and have a safe trip back. Thanks for unveiling some Chilean values for under 10, and the Yoohoo (Yahoo? Yayhoo?) taste test ending was good fun. To Chris Stanisci, big thanks for working with the folks from WL to disseminate the the WLTV notes mastersheet – really looking forward to it. Gary, you have said in the past to speak up when you don’t agree with something. I have to say, over the last few episodes there have been many interesting viewer questions and great ideas for the perfect episode based on your own request, but they continue to go unaddressed and I think it sells short a vital part of WLTV. Even today’s QOD was an afterthought, which brings fewer responses because not everyone has the time to read all the comments after watching the EP. Please consider devoting an episode to the questions and comments from the loyals and lurkers who support the concept. Keep up the great work of calling them as they strike you and painting the profiles with vivid descriptions, along with the “chuk” and “nod” that people rely on. Sincerely, CK

Hey Gary,
I hope you are including us girls that are watching when you say “hey dudes, I love you guys and WLTV is making noise boys”! Just kidding. But don’t forget we are out here too! As for what I drank last night………….I’m a little embarrassed to say I tried a Turning Leaf Riesling. Didn’t care for it, but what do you expect for $7. I picked it up on the way home and the store I stopped at had a very limited selection and none that you had recommended. But I can only go up from here right! LOL

Hey Gary!

Drank a Sineann Baby Poux 2001 Cab Sav…awesome! Next time you are in Cali, come down south and let’s party!

Cheers!

Chris Stan, I’d love a copy of the restaurant list. Great work! WS did a big article on San Francisoc restaurants this month, and included a section on wine bars (somewhat limited IMO). I think it would be great if Gary’s QOD today was “what is your favorite wine bar?”

I’ll start off. I’ve only been to a couple in the City, including First Crush (pretty good, but only CA wines), the Ferry Wine Merchant (OK, not as impressed as I wanted to be), and one on Powell near Union Square whose name escapes me (had an excellent Topel Syrah there). My favorite wine bar (because it’s the only one in Chico) is Monks (interesting and eclectic selection of wines). Enotria in Sacramento is also excellent.

I thought it would be interesting to see what Robert Parker has to say about his “Tasting Notes and Ratings.” It should be noted that RP typically tastes and rates wines in peer groups, so the scores should be looked at in a relative way rather than as an absolute. If, for instance, he scores Sauvignon Blancs no higher than 90, than we might look at that 90 as the equivalent of a 97-98 Cabernet Sauvignon. But as he states, the written commentary offers better information. If you like the characteristics that he describes in a specific wine and it is at a price point you would be willing to spend then why not buy it.

(The excerpt from eRobertParker.com follows below)

“There are specific standards of quality that full-time wine professionals recognize, and there are benchmark wines against which others can be judged. I know of no one with three or four different glasses of wine in front of him or her, regardless of how good or bad the wines might be, who cannot say, “I prefer this one to that one.” Scoring wines is simply taking a professional’s opinion and applying some sort of numerical system to it on a consistent basis. Scoring permits rapid communication of information to expert and novice alike.”

“Scores, however, do not reveal the important facts about a wine. The written commentary that accompanies the ratings is a better source of information regarding the wine’s style and personality, its relative quality vis-à-vis its peers, and its value and aging potential than any score could ever indicate.”

“Scores are important for the reader to gauge a professional critic’s overall qualitative placement of a wine vis-à-vis its peer group. However, it is also vital to consider the description of the wine’s style, personality, and potential. No scoring system is perfect, but a system that provides for flexibility in scores, if applied by the same taster without prejudice, can quantify different levels of wine quality and provide the reader with one professional’s judgment. However, there can never be any substitute for your own palate nor any better education than tasting the wine yourself.”

Chris, pls. add me to email lists. Tks. RJ

Thanks Julius for the RP quote! Informative and a great reminder. Cheers, C

RJ

I need your email address to send you the Restaurant spreadsheet…please post.

RJ (& any WLTVer),

Please post your email address in a comment on Episode #88 (that’s the one I’ll be checking as this is the episode where “your favorite restaurant” was the QOD).