QOTD: the show is great!!!!!!!!!!!! And I also support the efforts for more blind tastings… episode 131 is the one that hooked me!

-Nico

Great show Gary, you gotta a way with words, and it is better that the flowery language of most Wine Critics.

Qupe Bien Nacido Cuvee rocks hard. A customer actually told me about it and after coming to the same conclusion as you, I’ve been pushing it onto all the customers who lean towards the ABC way of thinking (thats anything but Chardonnay to you newbies.

QOD … Blind Tastings, Blind Tastings, and maybe some more, like a blind tasting of three wines, one just opened, one opened and decanted for an hour, one opened and decanted for four hours – all done blindly (some one pours them into glasses before you sit down and then you go to town on ’em!

Since everyone is interpreting the QOTD as show suggestions, I might as well delurk and offer some:

1. Along the theme of “unusual” regions: Slovenia. Obviously Movia is the big name here but I’ve also enjoyed the Dveri Pax Sauvignon Blanc in the past and I’m interested to try their Furmint-based stuff. Oh, and Jura wines–crazy stuff.

2. More food and wine pairings. I know you’re not a big one for overthinking pairings, but it does seem a bit unfair that the food-friendly stuff tends to get lower points/$ when it’s more relevant to the way lots of people actually drink their wine. So get a bunch of wines together that you might drink with, you know, sea bass…and eat some sea bass! And drink the wines! And rate them! Or get a bunch of wines that might go well with a pork chop, and eat a pork chop! Or, spicy food is a particularly useful one. You already slurp and spit into the mic, now we’ll get to wait for you to finish chewing, too! Would this make for bad TV? Maybe!!

And more on wine and cheese. Which wines go with which cheeses, and why? (Not to mention beers, ports, sherries…) IMO an area where the pairing can actually matter a great deal but might be harder for a novice to figure out–how do you pair against a really salty blue; how a really milky creamy cheese interacts with wine tannins. Ep. #98 is great–more of that!

3. Getting about time for another 15-wine tasting explosion ala Ep. #110, isn’t it?

4. Sake. I know zilch about sake.

5. More dessert wines
Sherry
Tokaji
You seem to love white Rhones (with good reason, of course)–so do a show on them!
Vins du Pays. Lots of bargain everyday food wines being imported, at least to the NYC area.
And some of the dozens of obscure French appellations. Maybe have an importer on as a guest, a Neal Rosenthal or someone. It might not be quite as uncomfortable to pan wines in front of the people who chose them as it sometimes is in front of the people who made them?
Keep it coming with the tour of Italian varietals. A good knowledge of these (and the little
French appellations too) is really useful for the wine lists at a lot of great moderately priced NYC restaurants which are full of cheap, off-beat food-friendly Old World wines, especially by the glass.
Wines from volcanic terroirs (personal fav of mine; have had one white and one red from Ischia in my life and both have kind of blown my mind)

6. And of course another vote for more frequent blind and even the occasional double-blind tastings.

Have some Vaniacs on including:

-Brandon & Tampa Steve as reward for being top 2 posters
-GeneV for a Rielsling/Alscace episode
-Julius & Paul as experts
-donâ??t forget Kahuna, Barbotus, Brooklyn Paul & Stallion
-Steve B & Jaye too

These guest Vaniacs would set up the theme of the shows, youâ??d just need to drink & interact.

Iâ??m not kiddingâ?¦.I think many would love it.

Also, as mentioned previously many timesâ?¦.one with your POPS with you interviewing him on his journey.

Good Suggestions SS Chris!!!

No problem with the birds thing I watch your show with my two dogs and my wife’s three cats. Toby (my dog) and I did a big high 5 when you pazzzd on the NW fruit bomb even though its from the appelation of my namesake. FYI Toby’s IQ is 20 points higher than his namesake Toby Keith. Is there an appelation Vaynerch-(ook)in Belarus? Perhaps someday you can make one. Start looking for terrior. I’ll have to try the Clarendon ’98 since I am partial to gym socks stuff’d deer ass. Thanks for another great on the fly, off the cuff, stream of conciousness show.

Oh, to jimwalker comment 43…TMI on what you did after your order arrived yesterday. Thanks.

G,
Good to see your having a good day.
Not to bash the new format but buffering does suck.
QOTD: It would be great that when the 2005 Bordeaux hit the shore, you tasted some 2-label values.

Blind tastings but also, more battle episodes, for instance take the most popular wine of a region, grape, etc. and taste it along side a less common or even “unknown” wine from the same region, grape, etc. Ie. E. Guigal 2003 Cote de Rhone versus Berthet Rayne 2003 Cote de Rhone or like a $50 Cali Pinot versus a $50 Bourgogne.

SoCal, could you email me at cdevroe (at) chancecube.com and let me know the following:

1. What problems you are having.
2. Your geographic location.
3. Your computer system details (hardware, software, and internet connection)

This would help us make the experience better for you.

What’s up with the bag O’ carrots? Is this a WOOT-OFF reference?

QOTD – Agree w/ blind tasting suggestions. Episodes “in the field” (wineries, restaurants, etc). Food & wine pairings.
Stay with Quicktime!
Mulderbosch is the best South African chenin I’ve tasted so far (vs. Ken Forrester 04, Raats 05). I had the 04 and the flavor was slightly thin and it was slightly too acidic, but overall it was pretty good. Not a competition to the Loire’s I’ve had.

Very astute tasting and commentary today. As to suggestions, I wouldn’t tinker much. The best shows are those where you get a good range of wines and get — often by chance — at least one good rave and another solid pass. I like it that some shows have geographic diversity like this one while other concentrate on individual regions.

I truly believe that “if it ain’t broke, then don’t fix it.” More of the same please. That said, I can really go for the free shipping that has been so often mentioned in these comments.

QOTD-blind tastings & maybe invite some vayniacs to do them with you!

QOTD: More cowbell.

Weird. Went in from email and something called Viddler came up with your vlog. No place to submit a reply. Played around with things and got back to the real realm.
Enjoyed. Qupe sounds like a real Vanerbuy!!

PS. Tried to get back into the voting area and they won’t let me vote for you again. Will keep trying.

Nice one Vaynerchook!

Great comments on the Clarendon Hills, especially exploding the myth about these big Australian (and other) “fruit bombs” not having the structure to last. As an Aussie, I have seen Australian winemaking change markedly over the last 15 years or so in particular. As a young guy growing up just about all the best Australian reds were NOT designed to be drunk young (5 years min, 10 min better). That has slowly changed, but recent experience has convinced me that whilst the style has changed the longevity hasn’t. I recently (last year or so) have had the chance to taste some mid-90’s reds from Australia that would all have been classified as the “fruit bomb” style (Mitchelton, Orlando Lawson, Clarendon, Gemtree, Kay’s, Luddite, Yalumba Menzies blah blah). They have all been AWESOME, and WAY more complex and fascinating than when young.

So Gary – my suggestion for WLT: taste some more of these much maligned wines at the 10-year stage (if you can get any), maybe from California, Australia and Spain (which seem to be the three that do this the most), and then maybe leave room in the minds of people that the rewards for keeping these are pretty damned amazing!!

Video seems to be working OK now. Seems a bit dark though. How can I vote for you as best looking vlogger if I can’t even see your face clearly??? Just kidding, of course I have been throwing you my vote :).

QOD: I agree with most of the Vayniac suggestions for the show, EXCEPT for the “hot chicks”. It would do nothing for me and I would guess most of the other female Vayniacs. It’s bad enough we have to read all of a certain Vayniac’s sex related comments over on the forum. The dude must take a lot of cold showers 🙂

Man, I’ve been working too much… I live in Modesto and didn’t even know that Ernest Gallo died.

Gary – You are STILL scoring new world wines CONSISTENTLY higher than old world! You are a closet new world freak arentcha! You have to find some more old world wines that you like so that all the folks that only drink cali and Oz wont be scared by the rotten bambi’s grandpa and sweaty cabbage lines!

The shows great…don’t change a thing 😉

QOTD: why don’t you film an show at the WLTV parties that you are having. I also vote for blind tastings.

Keep up the great work

QOTD: http://www.bottleroom.com/?p=41

Like the new video player, works well and very quick on my machines.

I’m with TimF, gotta have more cowbell!