Another great episode Gary, loved the cheese…goat cheese has to be my favorite. QOTD: ummm probably trying to sleep in the hours between 10-midnight when the baby is asleep. Then wake up around midnight to help the wifey change a diaper and then rest while mom takes care of the rest…phew being a dad is tough….not as tough as you are on the cork industry though! Hey…have you seen those new glass corks? What do you think?

I am heading to Daniel’s Broiler in Bellevue, WA and a party afterwards at the Hyatt Regency. We will be drinking two bottles of 1997 Clos Du Val Robert Porter Cabernet Sauvignon.

I already know where I’m going to be on NYD…for I just arrived in Memphis, Tennessee, and have started celebrating it! I’m only 1 block from the Civil Rights Museum and the Lorraine Hotel, where MLK was killed, and I’m only 3 blocks from Beale Street! Will be celebrating the new year with my boyfriend Jason who flew in from Guam to bring in the New Year with me(he’s the love of my life) and a couple of his friends. We have all committed ourselves to a veritable food and drink orgy/mission for the entire New Year’s Day weekend by going to all of the top eating joints we can stand. We are NOT going to worry ourselves about weight gain, lack of exercise, possible premature death, or any of the mundane stuff we normally sweat ourselves about. One of my boyfriend’s free-spending and very rich college friends (who loves champagne, and calls it “cham pag knee”) has put himself in charge of the bubblies and he has promised that we will have either Dom or Cristal for New Year’s Eve (among many other spirits)…tomorrow we’re all looking forward to a barbequed shrimp skillet dinner for 6 at the Rendezvous (best rib joint in the WHOLE WIDE WORLD). We just came back from Memphis’ top place for buying wine (it’s called Busters–hi Tiffany!). I normally like Zin with my BBQ, but the folks at Busters said that even with BBQ’d shrimp, a red could be a bit overwhelming, and so they suggested a Sauvignon Blanc instead. So that’s what I ended up getting for us to take to the Rendezvous with us tomorrow (yes, Gary, it does has a screw-cap opening :-). I am sooooo psyched about all the good food and drink I’ve already had here in Memphis so far, and about what lies ahead. This is the absolute, most idealized, most perfect way for me to celebrate a new year, for I do love good food and drink so very much!

Hey Gary,

I’m with you about enjoying cheese as much or more than wine! I don’t think i’ll be able to find it; but i’m going to be on the lookout for that Leonora!

Have a great new year!

~Chris

We will be playing our annual NYE poker tournament with the fam. When you live in Florida, the house becomes a “Holiday Inn” this time of year. I am about ready to kick them all out, so my husband and I can enjoy our nice bottle of Gosset without having to share!!

New Years: crashing parties in S.F. drinking whatever the hosted bars are serving; will prime the night with Paringa Sparkling Shiraz and Le Grotte Sparkling Lambrusco (something charming about red and bubbly and the girly girls love it).

I can’t get past the Beringer association with their White Zinfandel; will probably never purchase anything by them — that’s their fault, not mine: there’s no government regulation that says you gotta make White Zin if you have a winery. . .

End of year is a great time to extend a major THANK YOU for all you do in bringing passion and fun along with a little bit of you to the wine world. This was a nice little episode. I agree with the former comment it would be great to see a mini-vert on same wines different vintages same producer (e.g., Knight’s Valley 01, 02, 03). Or perhaps easier to arrange would be different wines from same vintage same producer. QOTD: Not at all sure what we’re doing New Year’s Eve. I never drink on New Year’s day because I’ll be forty feet up in the air taking down Christmas decorations. I was going to open my last 90 Dominus for NYE but then got worried it might be corked so I opened it Christmas night. The cork was fully saturated but the wine turned out to be fine. Better than OK, it evolved fabulously in the decanter and in the glass over the course of about six hours. Absolutely beautiful mix of cherry, herbs, tomato, tobacco, and later on, fresh bell pepper. It reminded me that not only do we tend to be impatient about how soon we drink wines, but many many times we drink them way too FAST, robbing ourselves of the potential to experience different stages of what you call “the moving target”. Best to you and your family for the new year Gary, CK

Happy New Year to Gary and all the Vayniacs!

QOD- Root beer or ginger ale for the kids and 2001 Justin Isosceles for me and the wife.

PS- Those plastic/rubber/fake cork corks are the worst. Nearly impossible to remove and completely impossible to re-cork. I much prefer screw caps.

Think I’ll hang up the car keys and drink some wine. Actually, a group on another forum I was participating in (before advent of WLTV Forum) decided at the last minute to do an impromptu online tasting, for the sake of “togetherness”. Wasn’t time for many guidelines and zeroing in on a single wine we could all drink together, so it sounds like we will either pop a Barolo or a good Chianti CCR, or both. I plan to try the Virna Barolo Cannubi Boschis 2000 (I know, you panned it on Episode #116, a couple of days after it was an e-mail special). I had already ordered three. (BTW, I’m always glad when you tell us what you really think about the wine you are tasting, whether it’s good for sales or not). For the Chianti, either Castello della Paneretta ’01 Torre a Destra CCR or Felsina ’95 Berardenga ‘Rancia’ CCR. Happy NY and Happy NYJ.

Gary, Nice two-color shirt. Is it Michelle or Michel? I think the corkscrew industry is behind the agitation to keep cork. You know, another Big Business conspiracy! Thanks for enlightening and entertaining us. A very happy New year to you and your family. I’ll be at dinner with friends and then to a house party with me bringing Duval Leroy Brut.

I will look for that cheese.

Me like Spanish cheeses.

QOTD
At the diner, I feel like drinking something like California cab.

Haven’t decided which one yet.
Champagne at midnight.

G to the V… As luck may have it, I have to work. Yup thats right. Hopefully the Krug will be flowin’ My wife and I are popin a ’89 D’Armailhac New Years Day to celebrate. Cant wait. Holla’ Back, CB

P.S. Thanks for the shout out!

My wife and I are driving up the coast to Santa Barbara and staying at a b&b over New Years. The plan is to wine taste New Years Eve day and on January 2nd, and have some nice ad hoc dinners in our room with some of our purchases. New Years Day will see most of the wineries closed, so we’re hiking in the mountains to work of all our holiday glut.

Hi

New listener here. First comment ever. First of all, congrats for this great educational AND entertaining machine that is WLTV. Keep up the good work.

I watched a couple of old episodes and really liked the blind tasting one. How about a part II to that?

QOTD : Probably a Minervois РLe R̩gal du Loup 2004. I also have a generic 2000 Burgundy (Croix St-Louis) that begs to be opened.

Hey Gary,
Thanks for all the tips and tricks.
Have a fantastic year….

I’ll be in Rio de Janeiro at the beach and drinking a Paul Roger-Winston Churchill 1995

Seeya next year

Going to spend some quiet time with friends:

Drinking:
Drappier NV Blanc de Blanc “Signature”
Eric Rodez Blanc de Noir Grand Cru Brut NV

To Joe, who is positive that his Leoville Las Cases and Latours will “age gracefully and positively for 25 – 50 years in cork,” I say: Maybe not. Yes, the cork will let in some air, but it will also let in the smells of the cellar. If you have an expensive, custom cellar to hold the wine at the right temperature, then the wine has a good chance to age well, but I’ve tried many older wines that smell musty and taste oxidized.

One anecdote. I organized a tasting with six couples about 10 years ago, the organizing principle being: bring a great, ready-to-drink bottle of red wine. I brought a Margaux, someone else brought a Latour. All the wines were between 20 and 30 years old. Of the six wines, all were over the hill — some undrinkable. Four of the six came from basement cellars and two of the six had been purchased at high-end wine stores a few weeks earlier.

Since that experience, I’ve been very cautious about holding wines too long. As I’ve gotten older (I’m 55), my taste buds have become less sensitive to tannins, so I don’t mind young wines — as long as they’ve had time to breathe in the glass (or opened bottle). And anyway, I can’t count on being around all that long even if I had a fancy cellar.

All this reminds me that I have an ’85 Lafite in my basement, and that tomorrow would be a perfect time to pop that cork when friends are over.

Great episode. I enjoyed the questions and your responses. Is there a rule of thumb that a novice like me can use to tell how long a wine can be cellared and when is likely a good time to pop a bottle open to see how things are going?

I realise it depends on vintage but simple rules of thumb based on grape variety or wine type & quality of vintage (good, fair) would help newbies a lot.

-Aamer

The sound of the cork is akin to the ping of a golf ball off the tee right down the middle of the fairway, the crack of a Ryne Sandberg home run, or the swish of Jordan fade-away jumper…ok, pull the natural, but what’s wrong with synthetics? Graphite racquets ruined tennis, don’t let twist caps ruin wine in similar fashion.

Hi Gary!

Longtime lurker here, must say I really love and look forward to WLTV.

As far as New Years, the hubby and I will be spending it at home together in front of the fire. He’s demanded my Chicken Kiev. I’ll be making a vanilla bean cheesecake with blood orange curd as well.

Sofia Blanc de Blancs was half price at the grocery store so I thought I’d give it a shot. I did see your WLTV episode on this one, and I’m not feeling hopeful. Doesn’t sound like my style of bubbly (I always look for descriptors such as “brioche”, “cake batter”, and “bread dough”, then I know it’s up my alley) I’ll probably get a back up split of something more reliable just in case.

Anyhow, a “Wine”derful (ta-dum-dum!)New Year to all! Keep it rockin’ in 2007, Gary!

Staying at home with my wife. Eating a nice lobster, which I will boil here (I never hear the screaming). Drinking a Laurent-Perrier Grand Siecle “La Cuvee”.

well gary i’ve been a lurker and fan for a while now, and thought i’d pop out of the woodwork just to congratulate you on your big W with the jets today. i’m a college football fan myself, but found myself rooting just a little bit that the jets would win today.

enjoy the playoffs!

oh, and lets celebrate by getting winelibrary to ship to arizona! woot!

qotd: new years includes mumm napa blanc de noirs NV

Happy to spent New Year’s Eve home with my family…..having a nice dinner by the fire, ringing in 2007! J-E-T-S won big this afternoon—gotta keep the Playoff Beard alive!!!!!!!!! 2006, a very good year, the birth of WLTV….here’s to all the Vayniaks……..best to you 2007!

So we drank the ’85 Lafite that had been in my basement for god knows how long. It was perfect. Maybe corks aren’t so bad.

For the bubbly at midnight I opened a charmat method brut that I brought back from a winery in Chile last month. I paid $4.50 for it. I didn’t taste brioche — or stars, for that matter — but it was refreshing. No one complained.

Spent the evening at a dance party, drank a little pinot gris, and I’m now on four hours sleep.

Happy New Year, and thanks for WLTV!

Goat cheese and cabernet is usually a pairing from H***. That’s white wine country. Albarino rocks with that cheese.

IMHO, the New World winemakers are losing a big chance when they go to the cork. True, a wine with a cork will be a different wine from the same wine with another closure. There is so much tradition with the wines which have been produced for more than a century, that I’d like to see a good portion of the old world traditional wines stay the way they are. Better yet, let’s see some wine sold in skins.

However, New World wines were always destined to be different. I’d like to see everything in California, Oregon, Washington, Australia and New Zealand in a screw cap or other modern closure. It may age somewhat differently (maybe better), but there is so little of these wines aged, that we won’t be missing a traditional flavor.