what an appetite

Gary,

I’m in (sort of) the same shoes as you were when you started off with wine. I’m 18, and coming from an Italian family have become very interested in wine. Like you I have good parents who respect the law of the land and don’t let me drink. I love the show, and have been watching it for a little while, and just stumbled upon this episode today. Let me tell you, I’m gonna be spending a good amount of time at my local produce store picking up some of these things to taste. I’ve become so fascinated in this whole world of wine, and I’ll continue to watch the show daily. Thanks for all the work you put into this show, it means a lot to all of us!

-Paul

I just rewatched this episode for the fun of it. Tell me how you learned how to discern how much oak is in a wine? Did you chew on oak?

Just watched this for the first time — we’re going to use this idea at our wine club! (but w/out the jalapeno.)

My 7yr old daughter watched it with me and wants to order some NJ dirt to taste. I’ll need to go checkout stuff.winelibrary and see if it is on offer… 😉

Suggestion: whiteboard behind you; you write the flavors and wines where they are typically found, as you go. Just speaking the information does not aid audience retention.

I just started watching your shows. I find them thoroughly enjoyable and exciting, in that they make me want to explore wine more. This show on palates really explained to me why I seem to enjoy white wines over reds (from my limited experience), as I am passionate about fruits like mangoes, papayas, apples, and apricots. I honestly can’t get enough of them. Now, I’m excited about expanding my own palate and gaining a better understanding of the flavors offered by various wines so that I can use that knowledge to pair wines with dishes in order to highlight specific flavors.

Thank you for the knowledge and motivation.

Thank you so much for having an episode to train the palate. I’ve recently gotten into wine so I really want to understand and appreciate it. Your show, I feel, has really helped me to do that.

Gary, I give you HUGE kudos for doing this episode! I’m not sure I would’ve been as brave to go for the jalapeño pepper, especially after the cloves. But your point is well taken to keep expanding my palate. WELL DONE! – An had I seen this episode as a kid, I might have actually not fussed so much about eating brussel sprouts or lima beans…

I’m in tears laughing at the end of this…… to answer your question, I would not even THINK about trying some of the stuff you ate in this episode (dirt, OK…. Jalepeno? I don’t think so!), but listening to you talk about wines that have those characteristics makes me realize why I don’t like some varietals…. because I don’t like that food! FASCINATING…..

They say that the predominant characteristic of NZ Sauvignion Blanc is “cat pee on a goosberry bush”…

Now that I would love to see.

Great show Gary!!

Great work. By far my favorite episode so far – Ive been watching as many of the older episodes as possible, and I just hit this one.

I found myself tasting along – the jam, soy sauce, etc. I tasted some roasted tomatoes I made tonight – since I do hear you mention tomato now and then. I am truly excited to taste just about everything you tasted on this episode.

I cook a lot for my wife, and I am obsessed with ingredients. I love the smell, taste and texture of tasting the raw ingredients that go into everything.

Some other things you might want to try (though I am sure you have tasted these) – nori (dried seaweed sheet), roasted peppers, cumin, powdered ginger, fennel seed.

Anyway, thanks again for another great episode.

Great episode as always Gary.

My only regret here is that it took me 4 or so months to finally get around to seeing this classic episode.

You have inspired me to get together a “train your taste buds” night. I can’t believe you ate your sock. I don’t think I will include this in the line up. By the way, could you tell me exactly what “Asian Spices” is? One sees this description all the time, but I don’t quite understand what this is. Is it a marsala mix, curry mix, byriani mix, Chinese five spices, satay mix, etc.?

And, yes, clove and clove oil have been used for eons in the East as a spice, but also as a breath freshener and numbing agent for bad teeth. In imperial China, it was once required that when presenting oneself before the emperor, one has to have been chewing on cloves to freshen the breath.

Thanks again Gary, you bring the thunder!

How did this take me so long to watch? Excellent, classic, wonderful episode. I don’t know who is cracking up in the background (Mott? Matt? Some other M–tt?) but I was laughing right along. You have me convinced (minus the jalepeno) to expand my pal.

Great to come back and watch EP 148. Big laugh. Thanks for all the fun.

Hey, I just tried this and found the Hero brand black currant. Very interesting taste, not something that I am used to. Thank you for the idea and all the diffent flavors.

Haha… that’s crazy.. thanks god that I am not a wine drinker really.

I don’t like red wine, what is untypical for a men who mostly like the dry red stuff. I love hungarian desert wines though. Tokaji Aszu… old .. Essencia (about $200 per 0.5l bottle) if you can afford it or the 6 (at least 5) puttonyos one, if you don’t (about $30 for a 0.5l bottle) :).

That’s a very steep price for a product out of Easter Europe. Very heavy, very sweet, almost like a liquer (as in the french word liquer and not liquer store). I have been to the Tokaji region once, which has a story on it’s own (and climate, and fauna, which is the secret to the wine and grapes it is made of).

You should try it, if you like heavy and sweet desert wines.
Cheers!
Carsten

Uh, Gary, I think that you’re not supposed to eat the seeds of the jalapeno. Just taste the tip. hahahaha

Gary, I discovered you about a week ago through Twitter. I feel SO at home with you as I watch the Wine Library.

I come from a family of grape growers, both table and wine. I have never developed my palette the way I should have, but love a really lush, bold jammy red (cab), and up until now, a dry, crisp, grassy sauv blanc (which you may have changed my mind about last night with the Cederberg Chenin Blanc that I’ve yet to find.

My QUESTION to you is, very often, as I try to get the nose I just smell a lot of alcohol, even when I air it. A. am I smelling the black pepper or B. the alcohol? A really good example of this dilema in leaning how to differentiate the different flavors in wine would be a: Turning Leaf – Reserve, 2006 Cab Sauv.

Please,oh, Guru o’the Grape. Help me learn.

Hillary
PS. Wish I had been able to be at tonight and last weeks tasting in SF!

Great episode, Gary. You are hilarious. I learn and laugh at the same time.

Episode 148 was great. Thanks for the great information and the laughs. I am new to WLTV and am already a fan. Can’t wait to view more of your “classics”.

You just keep going! I thought you were done with the Jalapeño, but you proved me wrong. Great job!

Holy crap man…. that was THE craziest episode ever. Have you tried natto before? Japanese fermented beans… tastes very much like someone’s sweaty feet after running in sneakers all day.

Best show ever…I usually watch a couple hours worth of WLTV each night and this is the best one yet. I had a question though….how is it that wine gets these flavors? Dont get me wrong, i taste them as well but how do the wines get it? N E way, have a good vacation.

-Alex

This is the 2nd episode I’ve seen and I really enjoyed it. Watching the 1st half made me think “I wish I was still in Moscow or could find those things in Hanoi”, but watching the 2nd half made me think “I don’t think I have the guts to taste a sweaty sock or dirt”.

Thank you for this episode, I had a lot of fun watching it and now I know what I should look for to start training my palate.

OMG!
From a selfish standpoint . . . Thank You Thank You Gary for doing that to yourself so that you can describe with amazing detail the flavors and aromas of wines that you are tasting . . . I’ve never tried so hard to supress laughter (watching this at work as the workday is coming to an end and I’m getting ready to go home)in my entire life! I think I may have strained something internally! I will definitely get my wine friends together for a wine palate training session. I will report back on the experience. Not so sure I want to chew on whole cloves and jalapenos though . . .

Hmmm.. Arrowroot. A way to say the wine has no flavor. 🙂