Good show, I love the episodes that have you tasting wines I usually wouldn’t buy due to cost. I say this because when you taste $10 wines I know I can just run out and buy one on my own, but when you taste a $200 wine it’s a great service to me for when I want to buy that special bottle I have a better more informed idea as to which wine I’m going to chase. Thanks Gary, I really do appreciate it when you open sick bottles like today, it’s fun and insightful. Cheers!
QOTD: Probably how different yeasts affect the taste of a wine, not sure how many there are out there and what each one does to the wines flavore profile and/or texture. I always thought that it didn’t do much since non of the reviews I read ever provide the yeast info, unlike many beer reviews (especially Belgian) provide yeast info.

Hi Gary,

Thanks for treating us today to a top notch episode. My QOTD response would have to be French regional wine designations.

(tangent topic)
When I went to one of my favorite wine stores two weeks ago, I purchased a Cotes du Rhone for 9.99 and a Louis Jadot Cote de Nuits Villages – Le Vaucrain 2003 for 20 BONES!!!

In what was my first entry into Burgundy, I was astounded at how polished and controled pinot could taste, compared to the Santa Barbara / Sideways in your face style of New World Pinot. I’m kicking myself for not buying two or three bottles of this stuff because I’m probably never going to find good Burgundy at that price again.

(This is the part about my question)

That being said, when I opened my Cotes du Rhone, I could see how people would enjoy the wine, because it was well made, but it was very light bodied, and was about 80% Grenache (insert sad face for my palate that wanted a more full bodied wine). To me, French wines are sooo hard to understand because they don’t usually say what the varietal composition is. Unless I ask someone, there’s really not a way for me to know if a Rhone wine is a see through Grenache, or a more full bodied Syrah.

I drink a lot of Old World wines, but I think I’d like to see more education on WLTV about how to read bottles from different regions in France…. because it’s not easy at all. For example, within Rhone, there is the north and south sections, and sub regions within, each having a different style of wine. Because I like to research bottles before I buy instead of just showing up at the store and saying I need help, it’s hard to know what to look for on the internet.

I’m starting to get an idea about what somelliers are learning about in school…..

Awesome episode! Thanks for doing the frescobaldi brunello, I really want to try it and now I have a better idea of what i’d be getting into. I’m like the fourth person to ask but it’s been bugging me since the first episode I watched, what happens to the rest of the wine after you taste it? Does Eric get hammered? If so he has the greatest job in the world. QOTD: the appelation systems of any country, especially France. It’s like you need to to serious research just to really know what you’re looking at in the wine shop. Also how to know when a wine is ready to drink without having to open a bottle. I LOVE PICKLES!

Great stuff Gary! New to winelibrary-tv.

qotd: state laws that govern distributors/retailers, and as a result govern the wines that are available to the consumer.

i want to know why there are restrictions on what i can purchase.

wine… TWO things that confuse me: the 100 pt rating scale and same varietals that essentially taste so different.

I don’t like the 100 pt rating scale, because the score essentially tells you nothing about the wine. What the score tells me is that the taster like that wine, and not necessarily me! I prefer the WLTV scale, like the ones we watch every (week)day. We learn the flavor and the essence the wine has and that is most important. It’s like the difference between reading a book or getting the “yellow notes” of the book.

It amazes me how the many Cabs can be so different from each other. How an Aussie Cab, essentially the same type of grape, can taste so different when it is grown and pressed some place else. Shiraz is some of my favorite juice but some California Cabs have come very close to tasting like Shiraz/Syrah’s. How? Why? Why ask why?

QOTD: How can the Rhone and Spain and Chile grow the vines, tend the fields, pick the grapes, make the wines, load the ships, send them to the US, pay the tariff (are there any?), mark up the price at every point where ownership changes hands, and still make very good wine for $10 a bottle. Especially with the French stuff, considering their labor laws are every bit as strict as ours if I’m not mistaken.

Quit wasting your money on crappy Jets Jerseys…especially w/ that pricey-ass NY rent/mortgage to content w/. Definitely concur on the Poyferre; my note from Executive Wine Seminars in Febrary blind:
Leoville Poyferre 2003
A boatload of Indian spices (such as curry, cumin and chili powder) filled the air so vividly, I assumed Cos d’Estournel due to it’s distinct spice profile. Flowers, rich cassis and mocha spice were present in copious quantities, clearly stamping Poyferre’s place on the ‘big time wine’ category. The loads of dark fruits and bitter chocolate simply wouldn’t quit as they sailed on the ripened-to-perfection tannic backbone. Unreal…just wait 5 more years and then see what happens. 99 points.

Quit wasting your money on crappy Jets Jerseys…especially w/ that pricey-ass NY rent/mortgage to content w/. Definitely concur on the Poyferre; my note from Executive Wine Seminars in Febrary blind:
Leoville Poyferre 2003
A boatload of Indian spices (such as curry, cumin and chili powder) filled the air so vividly, I assumed Cos d’Estournel due to it’s distinct spice profile. Flowers, rich cassis and mocha spice were present in copious quantities, clearly stamping Poyferre’s place on the ‘big time wine’ category. The loads of dark fruits and bitter chocolate simply wouldn’t quit as they sailed on the ripened-to-perfection tannic backbone. Unreal…just wait 5 more years and then see what happens. 99 points.

wow…serious grape juice today….i love St julien wines, and my splurge was 6 each of the 2003 L Poyferre and L Barton….looks like i’ll pop one soon-now i’m way too curious!!!!

99 Pt. Episode GV (free shipping gets you 100) start to finish, what I look for in an Episode of WLTV….!!!Extremly hard to avoid the temptation to buy several of the 03′ St. Julien…spent my $ at WL last week! QOD : California!

Excellent ep, Gary. 🙂
QOTD: Most confusing to me is matching the grape with the type of wine, or not understanding if the wine name is describing the location it came from, or the type of grape.

Excellent ep, Gary. 🙂
QOTD: Most confusing to me is matching the grape with the type of wine, or not understanding if the wine name is describing the location it came from, or the type of grape.

Gary I wanted to let you know that I’m hitting up Paris this weekend and looking forward to spending my time relaxing by the Eiffel Tower while sipping on some wines from Bordeaux. So, I will in fact be with good friends and company and enjoying a great bottle of wine. Kudos btw for mentioning my home state (Wisconsin) today.

Wow! I wish I could bring myself to spend that kind of money so I could taste that kind of wine! Gary, you are one fortunate young man.
I loved your queen analogy and I was humming Kumbaya as I was listening to you rave about the Chat.Leoville Poyferre. 🙂
Your QOD is difficult for me as I find most wine related issues confusing.
Marketing….I wouldn’t know where to begin. I guess shadowing Gary on any given day would give me some insight.
Most fascinating to me: winemaking. I would so love to particpate in it from beginning to end. I’ve helped plant grapes with my grandma as a child and grown with the vines until we made pies and jellies together. (they were concord and Grandma didn’t imbibe)That wasn’t too technical but it was so much fun.
I can’t even begin to imagine what the beginning to end process of winemaking involves and I would truly love to somehow and somewhere be a part of that. Just once. Or twice.
Loved today’s episode.

Brilliant episode. Top five for me. At your charming best. Excellent wine choices. They really got your motor goin’! If I can’t drink them, then I’m gald its you who can.
QOTD: Italy.
I would like a pickle tee-shirt but don’t know what you meant for us to do to get it. I just ate an earthworm. Is that it?

Interesting Note: the 2003 Leoville Poyferre received 89-91 points from Spectator as a barrel sample in 2004.

GREAT EPISODE, GRATZ GARY YOU REALLY NAILED IT IN THIS ONE 😉
QOTD: ITALY BY FAR, BOURGOGNE HAS A LOT OF APELLATIONS AND WHAT GIVES YOU, BUT ITALY IN GENERAL IS KING OF CONFUSION 🙂 SEE YAAAAA

Great episode GV! You brought the THUNDER today!! You inspired me to break out a Ridge Monte Bello this weekend.

Ewing better the MJ? You are kidding I hope?

QOTD: I am most confused with how long to cellar wines and when is the right time to drink them.

Great ep and the LP makes me feel a little better about buying all of those 2005 futures. Okay, so I’m from Cali and have never had a Sour or Half-Sour pickle. We’re bread ‘n butter out here, but I’d still like that T-shirt.

I understand the idea of terroir, but is it the dirt, the microclimate, the environment, how the vineyard is maintained or a combination thereof that makes say an identically cloned cabernet sauvignon grape taste different from the one down the road.

There have been a lot of comments about winemaking. If you’re going to the SF party, look me up. I’d love to share my philosophies of its science versus art.

Ciao

Some thunder! I think I’ll forgot about making my car payment and use the money to buy 2 of wines featured!

QOTD: I find getting the nose and palette in wine tasting, especially those with mineral notes the most confusing aspect.

G!
WOW great ep dude!
I want some of those!
QOTD: For me it is detecting which wines will age when tasting them young. I would love to be able to judge upon release to know which wines can age for 5-10 years and which ones are drink under 5. Any suggestions?

Most confusing…. most European wines until they start listing grape varitel.

If you ever spent anytime in a corn field in Iowa I can’t believe any wine reminding me of that,,,, and I spent 10 summers detasseling corn.

Great ep,,, would have loved to see you do them double blind???? I CHALLENGE THEE!!! MORE BLIND TASTINGS! COME ON EVERYONE!!! BLIND TASTING! BLIND TASTING! BLIND TASTING! THEN LET’S SEE THE THUNDER!

Thanks for letting me enjoy a bit of the Vaynernation.

SAND CLOCK, Very nice!

I was again salivating watching you today. You are costing me a ton of money this year Gary.

QOTD: French wine in general is tough for me, but overall I have trouble remembering which vintages are the best from various parts of the country, this is especially true when I’m dining at a nice restaurant.

Awesome Gary – surprised at the Vega result, but that’s why you taste ’em!

QOTD: Viticulture.