I often use the scores to point me to the tasting notes. If a wine didn’t score too well, i most likely won’t read the tasting notes. in comparing several bottles deciding what to purchase, i’ve many times chosen lesser scoring wines due to the tasting notes that suites me.

QOD- basket

Good episode.

Wine basket…I’m quite lazy, you know. Vote casted, by the way.

Question of the year…why do all the East Coast critics use a 100 point score? Is it Ivy League?
The Brits and West Coasters use the UC Davis 20 point scale and have for over 40 years. Can you function on a 20 point scale?
If scholastically speaking, 100 = A+ = 20, 95 = A = 19, 90 = A-/B+ = 18, 85 = B = 17,
80 = B-/C+ = 16, 75 = C = 15 And 70 = C-/D+ [anything lower is undrinkable – but you could marinate with it or add it to your vinegar mother] Great Topic – I’d rather taste and choose according to my preferences…but I have been turned on to many wines I have not yet had the opportunity to taste by various wine critics – generally select from the wine critics over the winery marketing notes.
QOTD – I’d prefer the winemaking kit. Adventuresome type of a gal. Spouse, Bob, would prefer the basket. Send one of each.
We both like different kinds of surprises

Gary, good show again but your analogy is wrong. If I go to restaurant I wouldn’t ask the waiter for a dinner recommendation unless there were 1,000 meals named ‘Surf-n-Turf’ (or Shiraz or Grenache). With so many meals named the same, you have to rely on someone to tell you who is the better chef ( or winery). I use ratings as a guide – not an absolute. A 90 point wine should be better (regardless of scorer) than a wine that rates 75. Since price has so little to do with wines (unlike most industries) you have to base your decision on something. The names are usually the same (Cabernet, Shiraz, Merlot, etc.) so you only have two things to go on: The way the bottle looks or someone’s recommendation. Given that I am dishing out 5-10 McDonald value meals just for the wine, I’ll rely on the recommendation.

Oh and got my first decent bottle of wine as a screw cap. Not happy about it though I know you and everyone else touts it as a good thing (like NCAA Football playoffs). I don’t like it though. I prefer the custom and romance of the cork. It’s just more civilized. 🙂

How about a wine making kit basket.

Great Episode…Please..PLEASE keep ’em coming.

QOTD: I’ve never gotten a basket… so basket.

cool episode, like the theme. Also, please introduce us to more cheese in the episodes. Currently I’m seeking out some robiola from the Brunello episode a few weeks ago.

QOTD: winemaking kit for me, it is one of my dreams to be able to artfully put my hand in the making of this life-nectar!

-Nico

I really need to start trying more whites, perhaps a few of these to start with….Thanks for the tastings Gary

I would take either the “Basket” and/or the making kit. If pushed to choose, I would have to put my confidence in another wine maker, as I do not know what the H-E-double_hockey_sticks is going on. I just like to drink it…ALOT. Thanks for another great one…. CB

Definatly wine basket. Who would drink wine made in Brooklyn?

QOTD first: I’d probably take the kit. I make my own beer and my folks make wine (from kits) that’s pretty decent for the daily drinking category.

Funny this episode should come out after I spammed an email to Gary last night looking for a show on Wine Ratings. I would argue that, like grades in school, ratings are important, but the problem is that there’s no real standard or rubric for scoring a wine. I’ve seen a published breakdown of how Parker says he scores wine and I try to follow that to be more objective than just giving it a yea or nea.

I’d still like to know what our host uses as HIS criteria for scoring wines. Someone should make “Vaynerchuk — the Home Game” where a video clip of Gary nosing, then tasting the wine is played, but the video is stopped before he speaks after spitting. The goal is to score the wine based on Gary’s facial expressions alone. Usually I’m within 1-2 pts. 🙂

While I do agree that buying wine because someone SAYS it’s good (or not buying it because someone says it’s bad) isn’t always wise, but for those of us who are still relative novices, the alternative is to play Grocery Store roulette and grab random wines, something that is likely have even poorer results than seeking out 88+ point wines in the under $15 range. That said, I won’t buy a 93pt Chardonnay for $11 because I know I can pick up a tried & true Brancott Sauvignon Blanc for the same price that I like.

Question of the Day: Wow, so it looks like the the basket is the winner… HOWEVER, I sustain that you can get wine anywhere. I would appreciate the wine making kit. This way -for the many people like myself that dont have the oportunity to be a part of the wine making process – you can learn a little more by expanding your horizons in that direction, in turn becoming a more educated and perhaps cultured individual.

QOTD: Basket for me. I’m a wine newbie so I’d rather try a new kind than try to make some on my own.

Gary I want to thank you for raising my interest in wines dramatically. The enthusiasm, humor, and wild analogies you use make your show an instant favorite of mine. Keep up the good work man, cheers!

QOTD: basket, no doubt.

I want a GaryVWLTV spitting thing 😉

Favourite episode so far …. wine kit for me!

Cheers

Mark

QOTD: Basket, clearly.

As far as scores go, come on people, scores ARE fun… It’s not a matter on buying according to the score, but to taste what you’re drinking, giving a score and then comparing… I love to say that Parker is wrong on such or such wine, that Suckling really had it right on this one… Actually, I like giving like an 89 to a wine that was scored 83 or lower, means nobody will chase it and there is more left for me! Anyways, I keep in my computer my tasting notes and copy next them the ones from WA or WS to compare them in the future… And giving your own ratings to wines allows you to follow their evolution or just to remember clearly the ones that you liked better… You may not remember how that Palmer 1995 was when you tasted it 4 years ago… A quick look at YOUR rating will keep you informed…

Great episode. I am fairly new to the wine thing and I am definately persuaded by wine scores. I have to say that I have been disappointed in the past with some 90+ scored wines. I stumbled across this blog a couple of months ago while looking for wine making tips. There was a link I pressed it and now I am hooked. Having said that, (QOTD) I would prefer the wine kit. But I am patient. Thanks for the entertainment and education. By the way impressed by the superbowl prediction in episode 107.

Nice episode….it’s good to see u pumped up again. I believe you just reenforced your theme of let scores be a guideline and nothing more. Smell, swirl, sip and savor….I’ll take a basket..please

kit

QOTD:Basket of course.

Ratings are highly overrated imo. :=)

For me low ratings are more important than the high ones. On the low end all the critics seam to agree. So if the wine has rating below 85 that is usually (not always) a good sign.

How do we buy wine?

Say I decided to buy a sangiovese based Tuscan wine for $15. I see full shelf of them
in the store. Which one do I pick?
Some of them are good, some plonk, some overpriced.
Some of them are traditional and some are international style.
Yes, I need tasting notes and guidance/recommendations. If I am in the reputable store and can trust sale people, I ask for advice. And I need to hear something better than â??Itâ??s a good one!â?

As far as ratings go I learned to ignore Parker’s rating on inexpensive Spanish, Italian and CDR wines.
But, I read his notes which are pretty spot on.
I found that Eric Asimovâ??s taste is similar to mine and I trust his recommendations.
And so on.

Gary,
Your notes are very good especially lately when you give us NEW WORLD alert!

Great episode Gary. I will have to seek out that hermit crab lol. I gave you the shout out on the wine blog awards the first time you mentioned it. I am sure you are gonna smash the competition.

QOTD: I would like either but the wine making kit would be cool. I have made some wine myself and it was a blast. My best friend up in Napa his dad makes it for fun. If all the grapes dont sell we pick em and crush em and the whole process and it was very cool. It is a good feeling when you pop open a bottle and you put the hard work into it. It feels good. When you come to cali and stay at my house we can drink a bottle 😉 lol

Great episode – how about an episode of wines scored really low that you think are good, Gary?

QOTD: basket for sure. tried to make beer once, what a disaster.

QOTD – definitely a basket.

P.S. thanks for the episodes on chinon and bourgueil, cause guess where I am? IN THE LOIRE VALLEY! Four and a half months in angers. Yum Yum

Hmmm… How good are the wine making kits anyway? It would be useful if you can get good grapes I imagine. It probably would be useless to me as I don’t think I could get access to such grapes. So I would have to go with the wine basket.

Great episode Gary. Cheers from Panama!