I don’t know if I ever had a goal. My interest in wine got very intense very fast. I guess my goal was to know more about it than my big brother!

Ports were one of the first wines I started to enjoy (they reminded me of communion wine, so they were familiar and easier to drink…in spite of the high alcohol content). I loved this episode!! I have a friend that bought a case of vintage port in the birth year of each of his children. He plans to drink a bottle to mark the most special occasions of each child’s life (college graduation, weddings, births of grandkids, etc.). You’re very sentimental about family, Gary. Do you have any family/wine traditions you’re willing to share?

Gary

Having made some apple cider with bread yeast and apple juice, I turn my attention to making homemade wine from concord frozen grape juice. Talk about PUCKERY!
Synonym for Astringent. Describes a highly tannic and very dry wine.

Here is another sparkling wine for you to taste:

Bevmo says,”Beringer Sparkling White Zinfandel, California
87 POINTS WILFRED WONG. (Tasted: August 12, 2004, Concord, CA USA) Bright pink color, large beads (could be the size of basketballs, well, maybe not), very fruity; fresh, pleasant, fun, soda pop-like, a hint of raspberries, light to medium bodied; sweet, pretty good acidity, good balance; pleasing candied raspberry flavors, medium depth; medium finish, a tad cloying in the aftertaste, nonetheless this is pretty good stuff. (Best Served: Very Soon)”

Gary whats up with that Mork from Ork ending? nanu nanu to you brother. 11 years ago my friends/co workers and I had a wine tasting, which ment taste the first wine then drink as much as you can. 11 years later we have a extremely respectable wine tasting as we all have evolved. This year we had 200 people(mayors,assembly men,state senators etc.)We taste and compare our thoughts. Now we all have cellars and pretty good collections. My wife asks what happened to the beer drinking flannel shirt guy i first met? Answer-he is at the super tasting on Tues. evening. Dont hate the playa hate the game. Just kidding….I just felt like saying that after all the gang signs Gary threw up.

Gary – I loved how you grabbed that cheese and took a big old bit out of it! That’s what you SHOULD do!
I can’t afford OLD port, I wasn’t putting up bottles in my cellar when I was 11 so I don’t HAVE any old port, and I don’t want to wait till I’m 75 to DRINK old port….
Thus, I will drink young port with the criminals. That’s just the way it has to be. And it’s pretty good anyway (ignorance is bliss…).
As for the QOD – I started buying wine LONG before I started drinking it. My husband was a wine lover and I loved seeking out great labels (I liked shopping for the unique and eye-catching labels)! I bought them and he drank them – for many years. Finally, about 8 years ago, I started drinking with him. It’s DEFINITELY increased the fun! And (Mrs. Brandon M.) – I think Gary’s right, for sure. You’ll be passing Mr. M up in no time (girls rule).

QOD – I’ll be honest here, my goal was to get a buzz at parties. My stomach couldn’t handle too much beer. I had no appreciation for wine until a friend of mine sent me on a wild goose chase to find 1994 California Chardonnays. He had a list from the Wine Spectator and we found 7 89+ pointers that were under $20. Drinking those wines changed my view of wine from just a buzz to an experience of different flavors and textures… with a buzz. And now you’re teaching me what those favors and textures mean.
Thanks again Gary.

Terroirists? Sounds like a Wino Extremist.

Goals, I had a goal when I started drinking wine, (sip), goals were fun to think about (sip) goals, spelled with a G right? (sip) what were we talking about?

Nice way to chomp into the cheese, Gary! Great way to teach manners and etiquette to kids!

Tahnks for the port episode! I know I begged for that about 80 episodes ago. Stunning to see you rate them all so high. Good to see!

Years ago (we’re talking 1985 vintage), I really got interested in wine. Being from California, I was primarily interested in California cabs and merlots. Unfortunately, I was a college student with a college student’s budget. But there was a wine shop near where I worked and I used to go in and salivate over the great Napa cabs they had. Anyway, a few years ago, I rekindled my love for wine after not drinking any for nearly two decades. My goal was to learn as much as I could and taste as much as I could.

You’ve done a lot to help both of those, Gary. To the point, where now I’m writing a local wine column!

I’ve always tried to “keep it real” and not be a wine snob. But last night my wife (Jhan) and I went out to dinner. I ALWAYS take a bottle with me when we go out, but not last night. I was appalled to see the prices the restaurant was charging for a “me too” wine list including Larksmead, Tapestry, George de Latour, Opus One, Insignia, Silver Oak, etc., etc. Everything was at least 100% markup. I was pretty pissed, and let the wine buyer know it. I felt really bad, like an insufferable wine snob. But come on, $120 for 2002 Georges de Latour? $225 for 2003 Opus One? That’s unexcusable. For one thing, the wine list was uninspired – a whos’ who list of every cult Napa cab, and the prices were twice what you’d pay retail. When I asked the buyer how many bottles of Opus One they sell a year, she said “about one”!

Restaurants have to do better. We have ONE restaurant in town that does it right. They have a great wine list and sell bottles for retail plus $8 corkage. That’s the way all restaurants should do it. None of this making a $50-100 profit on a single bottle of wine.

What’s your take on this? I felt really bad taking them to task on this. But the food deserved a really great – and affordable – wine list. What do you say – if anything – when you encounter such an overpriced wine list like this?

I like the wine and food pairings, and would love to see more episodes where you taste food with the wine and talk about the interaction!

Oh, BTW, Brandon and Paul. I’ve got a case of the San Felipe cab. It’s become my default “I can’t decide what I want tonight but it should be solid and not too expensive” wine. For the price, Gary’s right – it’s a real deal.

Brandon,

Yeah, Jhan is pretty cool, but the fact is that we kind of turned each other back on to wine. Me to her because she couldn’t afford it on her own, and me because I had stopped drinking completely for about ten years and just hadn’t gotten back into wine.

So she loves the wine as much as I do, though I buy a heck of a lot more than she does. We have a 100 bottle wine fridge in the kitchen that has a tempurature alarm that goes off every afternoon (she HATES that), plus about 80 bottles in the living room and another 50 our so in a back room. She doesn’t know about the wine in the garage. It’s hard to hide the stuff from her, but I know she appreciates it because we open a bottle almost every night!

Just downloaded #102 to I-Tunes. I will watch on the plane to Seattle (boarding in 15 minutes). I am looking forward to this one — I have lots of interest in seeing Gary’s description on these ports!

Gary,

Nice episode on Port! How long can you save Port for after opening? Is it any different than a normal bottle of wine?

Tony…That’s why I’m thinking about buying a 300+ bottle VintoTech. Our 54 bottle fridge is full of the “aging” stuff, and the cabinet of about 50 more bottles is almost out of room.

Wine Drinking = Healthy Life
Wine Drinking + Wife = Healthy Marriage

BTW…what’s the one restaurant in town that does it right? I’m always looking for new places to enjoy!

B

oooops…the above was me, not Denyce.
That’s what happens when I use her computer!

B

Brandon M. and Paul,

I, like Tony, went to WL and bought the ’00 San Felipe Cab(Ep 45) after reading your comments. DedeStan and I first shared a bottle of the ’04 Clos Mimi Petite Rousse Syrah(Ep #80), as part of our new Friday Night ritual mentioned in her comment above. It was excellent..we both enjoyed.

After Dede went to bed early (another part of her ritual on Friday’s…she’s plum tuckered from the work week) I, then opened the San Felipe Cab watching the rest of the Yankee game. (I’m an avid MET fan, but luv all playoff baseball). The San Felipe was so good, that I nearly drank the entire bottle!!! What a nice bottle for $7. I agree w/ Tony that this may become my go-to red. BTW, the ’03 Castano Hecula(Ep 76) is another great value

So…THANKS to Brandon & Paul….and, of course, to Gary as well.

CORRECTION: the last comment (#40) was from me, not DedeStan (pretty obvious, I know)

Question For Everyone…

My Corks are piling up!!!!! Any suggestions on what to do with them?
Does everyone recycle their wine bottles? Any idea what to do with all the dead soldiers?

B

Port
GV, great Episode to start enlightening folks about the top end of the Port financial spectrum, but how about wines ready to drink now in an affordable price range. Hint – hint – Australian Ports.

I have found Australian â??Portsâ? to be quite nice with many example available under $20 for a 750ml bottle. My current favorite Australian is the Seppelt Port Barossa Bin 109 it gets 94 WS. Hardyâ??s Whiskers Blake (WL item 60210) at $16.99) WS 94 is really nice, and itâ??s extra nice at its price. Plus the back label has a charming story of why the wine is called Whiskers Blake. I note that WL has a 93 RP for $7.99 in a Trevor Jones Old Tawny Port Jonesy. Ah!…For my next order!

A side note: WL categorises Australian Ports on the WL web site, very correctly, as Australian fortified wines.

Last weekend my wife and I hosted my niece and her husband for a Paella dinner, Nora Albarino, Godello (from WL) and a ripping good Rioja.. For dessert we served fresh Bartlett pear gallette, a Spanish blue cheese, and the Australian Seppelt Port. Port and blue was a first for my niece, she let out a yelp of joy when the port and the cheese made happy in her mouth. There are few other pairings more profound than port and blue.

If you want a real in-depth look at the world of Duoro Port and Madiera go to:

http://www.fortheloveofport.com/

For those who have not voted for the Tshirt Name
Voting ends Sunday.

http://www.vaynervote.com/

Remember:
Terroirists is a dirty choice

Chin chin

For those who have not voted for the Tshirt Name
Voting ends Sunday.

http://www.vaynervote.com/

There are rummors afoot about
Wine Librarians
doing it in alphabetical order.

Salud

For those who have not voted for the Tshirt Name
Voting ends Sunday.

http://www.vaynervote.com/

Remember:
Terroirists is a dirty choice

Chin chin

I have several jars full of corks. But now, we’ve run out of jars, and they’re beginning to pile up around the kitchen. The bottles we toss – no recycling up here (though I did keep the bottle from the 1999 Dominus, even though it was crap – for $100 I keep the bottle no matter what!).

Denyce, the one place in Chico that does it right is Redwood Forest. Excellent food and great wine list. If you do ever try it, I highly recommend the 1998 Pontifical Chateauneuf du Pape. $38 in the restaurant, and a great wine. I bought a case of it after having it there (no, unfortunately WL doesn’t have it).

Gary,
My goal was to see the heat episode… and I haven’t reached my goal yet! Actually, my goal is to discover another new favorite bottle.

If we call Bordeaux “Bore dough” and Chianti “Key aunt ee” why do we call Porto “port” ?

Dear Gary,

1. Very nice episode on Ports.
2. QOD – My goal was to buy some wines at a price I could afford – to taste them when they got
old (which I didn’t think I could afford) & presumably better. That’s been 30 yrs+ and
I’ve learned a lot from that:
a). the wine I loved most young, 1968 BV PR George de Latour, – I no longer love!
My wife keeps encouraging to drink the young wines. (..to drink the wines young.)
b). people are surprised at how well some older California wines have held up
esp Zins from the 70’s. This confirms what you say about wines being resiliant,
as my storage conditions are pretty good but by no means perfect –
under my front steps in a room I insulated but do not refrigerate with slow temp
changes from 55-70 during the year.
c). most relevant to this episode – how pink (at least mine) some old Ports become.
I had a 1966 Dow a few years ago and was shocked at how pale it was – I imagine all
the color went into the sediment (sludge really). It was like a white zinfandel
almost.

Last week I had the first bottle of a case of Taylor Fladgate 1977 and it was also
quite pale. ( My question for you – Is this normal for old ports?)

3. keep up the good work!
4. p.s. I think your funny – at least entertaining and certainly enthusiastic!

john

QOD-I am Itailian- we do not get into wine – wine gets into us

Gary,
Had to tell you how much we enjoyed a 2002 Charles Creek Merlot Miradero tonight! Fabulous wine …your review in episode 89 was right on! I just placed an order for more. Thanks!

Bill T

Hi Gary,
Nice show on Porto. Not an area I am familiar with and look forward to the experience.
As for the QOD: my goal is to learn about and experience a variety of wines. First exposed to wines in college, (Matues and Liebfraumilch) then moved on but not much. Received Alex Lichine’s book as a gift and explored further. However, then got into a rut buying the same wines, Cab or Italians for Red and Mosels for White. About 18 months ago realized I was in a rut and missed the great changes made in the wine world.
I decided to explore again and sampled a New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc and was blown away by its taste and nose. This encouraged me to explore some more and picked up Karen MacNeil’s book. After reading it I felt like I took a world tour. Used this as a jumping off point to explore wines and varietals from around the world so I can take my own tour. Now I keep a log as to which wines I sampled so I can note which I like. Still enjoy German rieslings but like those from NY State, Washington and Aussies as well. Only wine I really disliked was an Italian Fiano, strange taste. (Not corked though) Although I will give another producer a try to see if it was the varietal or the producer. Ah some many wines, so little time.
Looking forward to future WLTV for more suggestions.