Chris Stan:
Thanks for the effort. Nice job by you and the WL IT people.

Victor Hobson jersey indeed! GV must have smelled, or tasted, that fumble recovery for a touchdown coming!

Dear Gary,
While I do not write or post my comments often, I felt necessary to do so now. While I do enjoy your past TV Wine Library episodes (most of them) I am inclied to disagree with your overwhelming review of the Corte.
I tasted this with my friend and his wife (they tasted the wine blank, no idea about the rating or the price tag). We all found the juice very simple, and not exciting to the pallet. For such a price tag, I would demand more from such wine.
How about the complexity or flavor that one would expect from a fine bottle of wine?Try Atalon or Keenan, or perhaps Luna. All are structured and well balanced for about half the price of Corte. I wonder how much the bottom line of the profit that Wine Library makes; effects your review of the wines featured in your episodes??
Your loyal customer,
Derek

Our worst wine was a bottle of Pinotage a few years ago. Smelled and tasted like Chloroseptic!

Sing it with me:
“Say you
say me
say it together
Gary V”

DEREK (Comment #127),

I am the viewer who has created the speadsheet and thus, I’ve watched mmost of the episodes. Hence, I feel relatively qualified with respect to having a pretty good grasp on Gary’s approach and philosopy at WLTV. I’m not sure how many episodes you’ve seen, because it’s VERY CLEARLY evident to me that Gary does not let the price dictate how he reviews the wine. In fact, I find this aversion to typically wine snobbery to be one of the most refreshing virtues of WLTV. Bill Dwight agrees when he writes in his BLOG entry, “but that doesn’t keep him (Gary) from giving an honest opinion about an expensive wine that he thinks fails to cut the mustard; or, on the flip side, singing the praises of a $7 steal.”

You can certainly have the right to disagree with Gary’s tasting notes on a specific wine, but to accuse him of ‘doctoring’ his reviews is outrageous and, factually, just plain wrong. Your accusation attacks the very integrity of the Man and this great service. I think you owe him an apology.

NOTE: Bill Dwight’s complete entry can be seen at: http://whdwight.blogspot.com/2006/08/tribute-to-passionate-craftsmanship.html

It’s just wine, let’s keep it simple… I love it!

Dear Chris S. (Coment# 127)
While I do not pretend to be a wine “expert” in the compacity that Gary V. is, I am a wine lover. And yes, Gary has been coming through for all of us with some incredible finds that are priced accordingly. However, if one pays upward of $40 for a bottle of wine, which carries such a superrior rating from our expert Gary, should not one expect good if not great things??? Or maybe I am wrong here?? Maybe the economy has gone so much south that now $40 buys you mediocracy?? Me and my friends tasted the wine BEFORE this episode was aired and we both agree…there are far superior wines for about half the price…Gary V. please, if you can, do a taste of Luna or Keenan.

DEREK, As stated in my initial comment,”You can certainly have the right to disagree with Garyâ??s tasting notes on a specific wine”. Which is what you are saying in you last comment #131….you disagree with his NOTE’s. So you don’t need to defend your different opinions as there is no argument. By the way, I believe WL will allow you to return unopened bottles if you don’t like the wine.

My point was regarding your statement, “I wonder how much the bottom line of the profit that Wine Library makes; effects your review of the wines featured in your episodes??”. The clear implication being that GARY dishonestly will rate wines higher based on price point and profit. Again, this is both inappropriate and facutally incorrect. Just watch the latest Episod #97…the whole episode is about the Quality Price Ratio (QPR). He has two inexpensive white burgandy’s and two more expensive ones. In both cases, he recommends the lower priced wines becuase of the QPR. Maybe you didn’t mean for it to come across that way, but it did.

Anyway, please respond to my point rather than justifying that you and your friends have different tastes than Gary.

gary, put down the damned phone and drive!!!

Dear Chris,
If you do remember, Gary V did an interview with Wall Street Journal. In that interview he was asked why he’s so succesful in the wine industry. His reply was “It’s just a matter of wanting it more”. What do you get from that statement?? What is more?? Is it the bottom line, or is it the true taste and quality of wine?? The reason why I find value in Gary’s video blog is that he brings to the viewer a true value in wine such as 20 Rows. If he can rate a $15 wine at 91 points (and I agree with that rating) I expect much more from the 96 point rating. Ohh..by the way, I see that Corte is all sold out. Wow, how about that???
Very rarely my friend and I dissagree with Gary’s opinion, that is why I felt inclined to respond to what I think is an erronious rating.

Derek, You continue to merge two seperate issues. One is whether or not you and your friends can disagree with Gary’s rating on any wine. I, Gary, and all WLTV viewers fully support your right to disagree with Gary’s rating and tasting notes on any wine’s reviewed AND to post those disagreemts with vigor. Nobody has any issue that you and your friend disagree with Gary’s opinion. If that were all you did, I wouldn’t have spent one more mili-second on your initial post(#127).

But, you took it one step further by accusing him of purposely overrating the Corte Riva soley to sell more bottles. This is the ONLY item that bothers me….so let’s stick with that. As per your most recent posting(#134), you’ve now made it crystal clear that you are sticking with this allegation — essentially calling Gary a liar. Where I come from, it’s a bold statement calling someone a liar and a fraud. Don’t you think that such an claim requires more evidence than you disagreed with Gary on one wine? I’m sure that Gary is offended by this….I know I am.

Moreover, after watching most of the episodes over the last 2 months, I would say that one of the recurring themes, if not the PRIMARY objective of Gary’s, is to find wines that offer a great QPR. This is the precise opposite of your assertion. I believe many viewers share this opinion and is why many of us continue to watch.

You asked me “What I get from that statement?” referring to Gary’s WSJ interview where he states, “It’s just a matter of wanting it more.” Well, I think he believes that working harder than anyone else to provide a superior product with unparralled service at very competetive prices in both his retail store and online busines is what he is referring to. Have you ever been to the store….it is truly a marvel.

I will give you one small personal anecdote that illustrates what I believe his “wanting it more” means. After the spreadsheet came out yesterday, there was some back and forth about adding all of the non-recommended wines to the list. For one, it would involve a ton of work in going to all 97 back episodes to enter the data. I went up to WL to discuss this w/Gary and his IT guys, Brian W. and John K. I told them that I would start to enter ALL of the wines for all of the new episodes, but that I couldn’t do it for the back episodes. I fully expected Gary to push that work off on Brian and John. Do you know he said, “well, I’ll end up entering alot of that myself….I just want to get it complete for all of the viewers.” I was stunned..how many owners of a sizeable company would say or do that…..this is what I believe Gary was talking about on WSJ interview.

Finally, we’ve gone back and fourth on this, but I have one final question for you. If you believe that Gary lies about ratings, why do you even watch WLTV?

Allright…I wasn’t going to jump in, but I simply must….

Derek…are you kidding me? Cmon…Do you REALLY think that Gary needs WLTV to sell more wine? Did you really take “Wanting it More?” to mean WLTV selling more profitable wine. I’m not Gary, so I cannot, with 100% certainty, say that there is not a profit motive, but has anything Gary has ever done made you think he doesn’t care about the wine customer / consumer before profit? If I bought $3,000 of wine…opened two bottles, thought they were crap, and sent them back…I am 100% sure that my money would be refunded…That is more than I can say for a handful of Napa wineries.

Derek, sometimes Gary will miss the boat on your palette, he has on mine, but he gets it right more than the Spectator guys.

Chris…Gary did say that price effects his ratings though (I’ll find it if you need me to). A $10 cab that has “potential” will recieve a higher rating than a $50 cab with “potential”

B

And Sam Zen…if you say it’s just wine one more time I’m coming up there to beat the living snot out of you! 🙂

Brandon M. Thanks for responding…I wish more would.

You are partially correct in that Gary USED to take price into consideration when rating the wines. Although, at that time, higher priced wines like the Corte Derek is referring to would be held to a higher standard, hence getting lower scores, not higher.

But that was the past. As you know, Gary changed his policy approximately 10-12 episodes ago, after a bunch of viewers suggested that price should no longer be taken into consideration when rating. Gary acquiesced announcing that he would do what people asked for and would no longer take price into account when rating. This was his policy at the time the Corte was tasted and rated.

thanks again, Chris

Ah…I missed that…good to know.

B

If Gary is still reading these exchanges, days after the review of the Corte, I think he may be rethinking the 96 rating. (maybe not) I think that (occasionally) challenging his ratings is our way of keeping him honest. I don’t believe he is dishonest or has any ulterior motives. I just think that for some people, Gary can say he likes a wine and it will trigger many viewers to order a case of it before it sells out. I have been watching the videos since the beginning and with the exception of Spanish wines, he has been ‘right on'(for my pallette) 95 percent of the time. But I disagree with parker on spanish wines also. They both find something in the overly spicey and bitterly tannic flavors that doesn’t appeal to me. I think Derek was implying that he felt he could trust Gary never to steer him wrong and it was the first time that he was completely disappointed. I know that Derek isn’t going to stop watching wltv, we’re all hooked on this ingenious, unparalelled service. I tried the Corte and found it to be basic. My collection of wine is 80 percent made up of wines recommended by Gary because I tried them and agreed with his opinions and then bought more.

Chris,
Go back to my coment number 134 and you’ll find the reason why I watch WLTV. Read it over and I am sure you’ll find your answer. Look, nobody is calling anybody a liar here, I am a buisness man myself (I run three buisnesses) and I also hold a Bachelor’s in Finance and Accounting. I understand about trying to make a profit and covering your overhead. I am not merging the two issues since I feel that the PRICE that I paid for THE WINE is too high!! And so is Gary’s rating of it. What I do believe however is that you are not understanding the point that I am trying to make here. What I would love to know is exacly how Gary picks the wines that he tastes on the WLTV? Is it random or does he have some other formula that we are not privy to??
As a loyal customer I do stop by the store now and again. And one more point, mass media, wheather internet, or TV is a selling tool. It’s used to get information across to the end user, which in this case is us. I do listen to Gary’s opinion, matter of fact I rely on it. This wine is just a miss…that’s all..and to clear up any confusion I am not calling Gary a liar, what I am trying to do is to find out his motives for selling and recommending the wines in the store. I hope that I have explained myself in detail here, and frankly I consider this matter closed. Happy wine drinking to all of you…I am sure that most of those that purchased Corte will be very satisfied with it, and most of the consumers will feel that the got a good value out of the price tag…
Derek

Derek its pretty random, Its like what pops in my head for a topic and then I go to the site or walk the floor and pick 4 wines, just to see what pops, its my little way of actually having a wine buying experience, it’s been pretty cool actually! I thank you for the business Derek and I know you are a good guy and I respect and UNDERSTAND where you are coming from, I hope through the episodes you will see that I am trying to the best of my ability to keep WLTV away from the commerce as much as I can help it.

Gary Vaynerchuk

Derek, Thanks for your response. And this WILL be my final posting. After this response, I consider this closed as well….promise!

Per your comment #140, you are now saying that, “What I would love to know is exactly how Gary picks the wines that he tastes on the WLTV”. This is a fair and legitimate question to ask…and does he only highlight wines w/ good margins?. I believe his answer would be “No” to that question.

I would have had no issue if that was your question in your initial comment (#127) , but it wasn’t. You asked me to “read over” your initial post and I did. You ask, and I quote, “I wonder how much the bottom line of the profit that Wine Library makes; effects your review of the wines featured in your episodes??” This is undeniably a completely different question implying that Gary’s rating on a wine is influenced by the profit margin.

Anyway, I accept your clarification on what you meant to ask in your first posting. Look forward to meeting sometime, Chris

Brandon M. FYI, It was on Ep. #86 where Gary announces that, per VIEWER request, he would no longer be taking price into consideration when scoring the wines.

BTW, this a historically relevant episode for another reason as well—it is the first time that Gary mentions the SPREADSHEET (and me) on the air. (at least historically relevant for me..LOL).

Chris…Isn’t it funny how this whole thing has taken hold.
I have never mentioned my “Own” spread sheet. It helps me be able to accuratly talk about the epsiodes and where things are, I just take little notes from each episode.

My first “mention” episode is #64 where Gary talks about the Vaynernod and Vaynerchucked graphic I built. He calls them hill-arious…I was in such a great mood that day. 🙂

http://www.gngnet.com/images/MySpace/vaynernod.gif
http://www.gngnet.com/images/MySpace/vaynerchucked.gif

Keep up the great work!

B

Andre California “Champagne”; absolutely foul. Poured down the drain with gusto!

Muy bueno el blog, sigan asi, saludos desde San Rafael, Mendoza, Argentina

yeah Dwight… that bobble head is rockin’

I love this episode I love the 80’s music 🙂 Awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I have never been that mad at a wine sorry 🙁

Yeah Pat Benatar! Bring on Some Micheal Jackson now….he is the King!!!!
QOTD – D’Arenberg – I am so tired of their over extraction…it drives me CRAZY!!!!!