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.

Gary,

Hmmm… the “puff, puff” comment towards the beginning of the show makes me wonder if you’ve read my email.

It’s easy to use pipe smoking references to paint a picture of the sort of folk who drink wine more out of snobbery than for any other reason, but I can attest to the fact that there are other pipe smokers out there who approach their tobacco in very much the same way that you do wine. Like the drinking of wine, pipe smoking is another pastime that is made unpalatable by the snobbery of some of it’s enthusiasts.

This reminds me of a question that I’ve often had when watching your show. You often mention that a wine has tobacco in the nose, or other overtones of tobacco. What type of tobacco are you talking about? In my experience, tobacco has a variety of forms that barely resemble one another in flavor and smell. The smell of a cigar is nothing like that of a pipe or a cigarette, and each form has a wide variety of ingredients to choose from. In the world of pipe smoking, the tobacco can be blended from a variety of virginias, latakias, burleys, and cavendish tobaccos, to name a few. Some styles of the blends also include other ingredients such as oils or syrups to make them more aromatic. So, when you mention that you smell tobacco, do you have a particular type of tobacco in mind? Are you talking, perhaps, about the smell of many of these ingredients combined, such as the one encountered upon entering a tobbaconist’s?

Thanks for the episode on port, by the way. I saw the word “port” in the title and proceeded to spend four hours downloading with my ridiculously slow connection. It was worth it.

I ALWAYS wanted to see a port episode!!!!! thank you gary, and by the way… several months ago you promised a champagne blind tasting to around these days, just so you dont forget to keep up your word!!! see ya

Gary, you were good, but you are getting better! I really enjoyed this episode. I even laughed out loud while watching on the plane when you took that bite of cheese. Everyone around me turned to look at me. I made my husband watch — he wondered if you maybe enjoyed the cheese more than the wine.

I’m really happy you did an episode on Port wine. I have a number of nice bottles in my collection (1994, 2000 and 2003), however, being that I am 40 now, I think I won’t be buying any new vintages going forward. My experience is you really need about 30 years for a vintage port to come into its own. I figure I will be almost 70 by the time the 2003’s are ready to drink. Don’t know if my taste buds will really enjoy things as much when I get much older than that.

Hope your “Saturday in the Store” was fruitful!

Props to all the Mets fans out there. I never thought for a second that the Mets had the ability to sweep my beloved Dodgers….I hang my head in “double play at the plate” dissapointment.

San Felipe…24 hours and 1/2 a bottle left.
I must say that the time has done even more to this wine than expected. The nose has opened up extemely well. The smell of Caramel and Coffe are VERY prevelant, body seems balanced, finish a bit short.

I’ve never had a wine I’ve been all over the board with like this one, but I think the price makes it an absolute steal…Time to order some more!

B

Yeah, baby! Goodbye Yankees!!! – and good riddance!

brandon m…I used my saved corks to make a “cork” cork board for my office

1) LOVE YOUR FAMILY…absolutely! I know we Vayniacs don’t need reminded of this, but it truly is THE most important purpose.
2) QOD: My original goal, the reason I took my very first sip (and subsequent others that evening), was to experience what all my other friends had said was so cool…drunkeness..which is the reason still today that I will not go near certain wines (or certain “friends). Thankfully, my goal has changed. Now, I would like to own and drink wines that taste good to me, are highly rated and highly affordable. I always believed they existed; just didn’t know how to go about finding them. Thanks to Gary V & WLTV, I have begun collecting my personal “stash”. Bad part is, the ratio of purchasing vs. consumption is too close. I need to increase purchasing! 🙂
3) Port EP: Gary, thank you for drinking a “wine before its time”. I can afford to buy the young Port, (never tried a Port) but I wonder if I can wait all those years to try it. Does one really have to wait Soooooo long to enjoy a Port purchased this young?

BTW, Gary, I haven’t commented since EP 99 …Congrats! and FYI, I really enjoyed you introducing your father to us. What a treat. I would love sometime to know the whole Vaynerchuk story.

I’m BACK!!!!!!
Just caught up with the episodes and posts!!! WHEW did I miss a lot. I’m gonna have to try and get my girl to post on here too!
BrandonM…save a bottle or two for a hippy style candelabra and I am using my corks to make a cork board and to also show off some of the wines I have consumed!
I’m about to vote…play poker…and submit my trip notes from San Fran and the wines we drank…UNBELIEVABLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I’m BACK!!!!!!
Just caught up with the episodes and posts!!! WHEW did I miss a lot. I’m gonna have to try and get my girl to post on here too!
BrandonM…save a bottle or two for a hippy style candelabra and I am using my corks to make a cork board and to also show off some of the wines I have consumed!
I’m about to vote…play poker…and submit my trip notes from San Fran and the wines we drank…UNBELIEVABLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Original goal for wine…To build and have the ultimate cellar where I can drink hundreds of wines with my friends and family at my leisure…The goal remains the same…and I am working on it too with my inventory quickly increasing by the week.
BrandonM and Tony…My girl has mentioned my wine buying habit too! I counter with my poker winnings and salary 😉
J/K…she is very understanding and lets me do my own thing as it is my own money. And (thanks to GaryV) she understands the whole futures thing.

MarcT is from Lithia Springs, GA

BrandonM…stop giving away your alter ego!
Did you know that I too am a computer geek by day and a personal chef by night and weekend?

Say it with me Gary…T I G E R S, TIGERS, TIGERS, TIGERS!

Gary:

Very interesting episode. I have a couple questions on Port. If you open the bottle should it be treated like wine and consumed like wine within a day or two or like a liquor? If you like wine will you like port or is it a different taste?

I drank Ermitage Du Pic St Lour 2004 over the weekend. Which I thought was very good.

On the back of the bottle is says:

“Good wine is a Necessity of life for me” – Thomas Jefferson. This would be a nice line to close a show.

Gary:

Why do you have the Jags 23 and the Jets 13 on the board behind you in episode 101?

METS win!! I’m taking my 3 boys to game 1 of NLCS!

Even if you’re not a MET fan, you have to admit that they are a likable team.

As I write this, I have a bottle of the ’03 Pessagno Zinfandel (Ep #63)…looking forward to it!!

Gary, terrible question of the day, may I suggest like someone else did some things have jumped the shark and if this is the best you can do I say you got 25 episodes left and this is coming from somebody who watches every episode and has since the beginning. Hopefully, this inspires you to prove me wrong. As far as I can tell 3-5 people addressed your question and half of those answers were to get drunk. The rest was stuffy nonsense which I thought we were trying to avoid. I am currently watching Cowboys/Eagles game hoping for T.O. to be mamed. Jet update 28-0 Jaguars second quarter, so 56-13 is looking more likely.
Sorry,
Ed

That might help

That might help

ouch! 41 to nothing. What up with that? Pats… P-A-T-S
I got interested in expanding my wine knowledge back in the early 80’s. I was moving up the culinary ladder from sous chef and wanted to pair wines with foods. Things were a lot different 26 years ago. A restaurant bottle of port once open merely sat on the back bar with other high percentage wines (sherry, madeira, marsala) and gradually was consumed.
GV, really interested in your thoughts regarding port storage once it has been opened.
Thanks, from South Coast Massachusetts.

P.s Joe Torre too?

I’ve noticed some posts re: the Super Tasting. Anyone interested in the potential of a WLTV After-Party on the 10th?

Are you buying Denise? j/k

SeanM, you have a sense of humor! : )

Yanks gunned down and Jets destroyed. Me thinks Gary is going to be in a bit of a down mood tomorrow. Guess there’s still time to become a Mets fan.

Why don’t you use a different glass?!