Gary,

They are all whining that you didn’t score the Four Vines. Well if you have been watching the show from the first episode like some of us you would be able to tell by Garys facial expressions and other quirks that we have grown to love that he is going to score the wine 91plus pts. Count on it!

Jenn Willis referred your site to me- very cool! I think next time I’m at the liquor store I’ll pass on my usual Merlot and give a red zin a try!

Gary, Iâ??m sorry to hear that you did not care for the 2004 Terraces Zin. I have greatly enjoyed other vintages of Zin from the Terraces but I havenâ??t had the 2004 yet and I believe that if it is built like other Zins from The Terraces it is too early to drink it. One thing that I have found about these wines is that they are almost like a Claret and they tend to age well as opposed to other Zins that Iâ??ve had in the past. The other contrasting feature of these Zins is that they are nicely balanced and not too â??over-the-topâ? as you will often find with Zin. Additionally, I have found that they are better with a little bit of air/decanting. Also, try The Terraces Cab sometime and I think you will be wowed. The owner of The Terraces, Timm Crull, is a super nice guy and will spend several hours with guests visiting his winery (appointment only). The next time you are in Napa, make an appointment for a tour. It is one of the best winery tours Iâ??ve taken.

QOTD: I really donâ??t manage my cellar but I know that I should. I keep track of what I have on an Excel spreadsheet and I have notes on wines Iâ??ve consumed in a Word file.

Nothing like cali zin for me.

First Time writing here for me. Love the videos.

QOD: I use the VinCellar at VinFolio to track my cellar of a few hundred bottles. It’s quick, easy to use and update, features awsome reports, and has some great links. Best of all it is free even though I have never purchased from VinFolio due to inability to have wine shipped to New Jersey.

Keep up the great work Gary.

I love zins! Great episode. I really like the Seghesio wines and their non-vineyard Sonoma County is a good QPR.

QOTD – Been meaning to input cellar tracker but in my mind for now.

QOTD EXCEL Spreadsheet

Gary V…Do me a favor sometime…You need to get that barcode off the bottom of the J-E-T-S Jets, Jets, Jets Spit Bucket…LOL…Or maybe your going to sell it at some point. Keep going man!!!

QOTD. I use VinCellar from VinFolio.com even if I can’t afford their prices. It looks like it hasn’t been mentioned yet. It’s an online system as CellarTracker or the others. I found it throught the web and I really liked the interface and some of the reports it produces. I’m generally happy although it’s not so easy to manage remotelly. Sometimes I think a simple Excel spreadsheet would be easier to carry around in my PDA (BlackBerry). But after importing all the data is not easy to migrate out now. I’m generally satisfied.

QOD-I basically manage my cellar in my head. I have tags hanging from the wines as to their height of drinking.

GARY, *** SPREADSHEET QUESTION ****

You forgot to rank the 2004 Four Vines Dusi Ranch Zinfandel (your favorite from the Episode).

If possible, it’s probably best if you post your rating in the Comments section, so that it is officially “part of the record”. Otherwise, send me an email, and I’ll post a comment relaying what your rating is.

QOTD ;

Since I’ve only just recently gotten into wine and only have about a case of wine in my cellar,
I use index cards to write my 3 word tasting notes and give the wines a school grade. I think B+ is the highest mark so far.
BTW- My brother in law brought me back a Cowboys shot glass from a recent trip to Dallas, I will make sure to celebrate with it on Thanksgiving day !

G

Excel is up to the task, especially if you come to know the data sort features.

Love the show, good to hear you talking about Zin’s again.

QOTD: I mentioned that I use FileMaker Pro on a Mac [Windows version also available], which is a database easily adaptable to your needs. You can create any fields you need. So for keeping track of my wines I have created the following fields:
Varietal (e.g. Brunello)
Name (e.g. Casanova di Neri)
Producer: Tenuta Nuova
Vintage: 2001
Price: What I paid
Source: Where I bought it
Date bought
Number of bottles I have
Ratings: 3 sub-fields: RP; WS; my own
My tasting Notes

I use a database program called HandBase on my Pocket PC (also available on Palm) that Synchs with my PC. I built the Wine Cellar Form several years ago and manage my cellar, currently ~700 bottles down from 1000, very easily. When I buy wine I cut and paste all relevant data including tasting notes from the Wine Library web site into the database on the PC. I use the Pocket PC to select wine or remove wine from the cellar and update the quantity at that time. I make tasting notes which is great for future buying decisions or discussions about the occasions when we previously drank a particular wine. With a few clicks (or taps) I can obtain many reports such as number of bottles and value. Works great for me.

I manage my cellar with an OminOutliner document. OmniOutliner is sort of like a spread sheet mashed up with an outliner, mashed up with beautiful colors and details. (Mac-only).

Thanks for covering Zins!

You gotta check out the Zins from Lodi. Talk about Skittles and fruit explosions…

The Petite Sirahs and Rhones from Lodi are also quite nice.

QOTD: A custom FileMaker Pro database. I got so geeky that at one time I was syncing my main database with my Palm Pilot using FileMaker Mobile. I felt odd at the tasting room bars taking notes into a PDA, so I stopped that one pretty quick.

Gary, awesome timing on the Zin episode. I was just getting back into them this week. Opened a Rosenblum Cellars. It never lets me down.

QOTD: Until about a week ago, I was using http://www.manageyourcellar.com. For wine-o’s with beginner computer/Internet skills, it’s a good choice. Pretty robust, and I linked cellars there with my Dad. But last week, I realized I just want a lot more functionality. So I switched to cellartracker. Got my 80 bottles up on cellartracker now. User name there is brian1970.

I only wish cellartracker would add a prettier user interface, and update with some web 2.0 / social networking flair like TagWorld (shout out to my work). It’s too hard to find other users on cellartracker. Need some personal profile info, maybe a profile pic, etc…

uncorked

QOD – A simple spreadsheet with a score of 1-5 for how much I liked the wine. I don’t have the moula for a nice wine cellar, and can really only afford budget wine right now. Maybe someday…

Lurker alert!!
OK Gary…emerged from the depths I have. lol.

Unprecedented!! During the same year the SEC brings home the NC Trophy in f’ball and both men’s and women’s b’ball…not to mention a shot at baseball, golf and track titles too. But wait!! What’s this…a shout out to the Gators but NOT the Lady Vols?!!? Coach Summitt w/ 12 Title appearances, 7 NC’s (3 from legnedary Coach J. Wooden) and 900+ W’s!! Shame on you Gary.

Nice show…
Seghesio makes very good Zin. but their Sonoma (made WS Top 100 the last 3 yr.s) County is actually my fav. and at around 18 bones it just happens to be their least $$$ too.
Too the other extreme for Zin’s…
Turley, another fav. Zin maker of mine…fantastic, monster Zin’s but their Hayne Vnyd. and Ueberroth labels rise head-n-shoulders above the competition…just incredible juice.

QOTD-If you’re into intricate details; Cellarmaster software. Otherwise, Excel will suffice.

I got a 42 bottle wine fridge.
1/2 full.

Thanks for the episode. As a relative newbie to wine, I didn’t really think of Zin as a “fun” wine, but given its tendency to be fruity and jammy and candylike, I completely agree it’s not something to be taken too seriously. Glad to have found the site!

Qotd My celler is managed in my head of coarse,now if it grows like I’d like it too I’ll look into a different system but for now the noggin will do. By the way I love zins great episode.