QOTD: I’ll always be a sucker for a good Zin but Cabs are still my varietal of choice. Long live the Rutherford Dust!

Good show Gary! What about Duckhorn? QOTD: Off the CAB laddder, into BRDX

QOTD: I’m on the middle of the Cab ladder. Started w/ Merlot, then Pinot, now I’m Cabbin’ it.
Your words are seriously slurring… cannot wait to see “tomorrow’s” episode!!

QOTD: basically on the ladder I m have my last 12 bottles of my post SLC olympics score I drink one or two a year, all ’97 and monsters and the Silverado private res. and the pineridge Slv are really hitting their stride the last go around, the caymus sp sel is a litttle disappointing.

Have been avoiding cabs in favor of red zin’s and pinot’s. Haven’t had a cab in several years now but think I will look for the Turnbull. Thanks!

QOTD Been there done that, Being an older type was able to drink Cabs from the mid 70′ s on. Great wines but don’t like the current prices, oak, fruit or high alcohol. Being the patient type I’ll lay a bottle down for 10 years and wait for things to happen. Cut my teeth on $10 Lynch Bages so have a hankering for the more subtle bordeaux style. I can’t wait for ETOH to drop down to the 13’s again.

I have had my fair share of cabs and getting kind of bored. Although, I have to admit, I haven’t had too many $100+ cabs. I guess I’ll look for those at the next tasting I go to and also search for the library wines.

Fine…I will quit lurking in the shadows.
Do we have to slog through more of this overpriced California swill? Take your blinders off and open yourself up to the rest of wine the country is making. You have 182 selections of Cali cabernet and “ONLY” 11 Washington cabernet on your web site, some on now!!!
I’d bet you a nickel that if you put together a blind tasting of nearly any california cabernet against a Washington cab at half the retail price of the cali bottle that the WA cab would come out on top 9 out of 10 times.
Just in case you are too focused on the south to have noticed, I will make it easy for you and provide some great producers for you to try.
Betz
Abeja
Buty
Boudreaux – Will knock your F****** socks off
Cougar Crest
Cadence
Terra Blanca

Quit following the lemmings off the cliff and try some real wine.

Hope you are having a great time on your vacation.
MG

I am removing myself from Lurker status… Tho I have only been lurking for 2 days 🙂 Just discovered you Gary! Excellent! You are like a breath of fresh air. Thanks. Really like your style; Frank, Honest and can laugh at yourself.

QOTD: I did start out loving the fruit bomb Cabernet. Then abandon cab and concentrated on Rhone style wines and over the last few years Burgundy and Pinot Noir. Have lately started to drink more cabs and Bordeaux’s though. So, perhaps, started up the cab ladder then hopped off and now testing the next rung.

Great episode Gary!
I’m in the middle of the cabernet ladder. Started out ok, but then i moved out to try some other varietals. Recently i tried a chilenian cab and got me back into it. Cali cabs are definitely overpriced. I’m drinking more cabernet than ever and they are all from Chile (Don Melchor for $ 45 is a joke, and the $12 to $22 range is just fabulous). Some Bordeaux and few Australian and Argentinian cabs complete the cabernet section in my cellar.
See ya tomorrow, Gary!

Nice episode; big cali cabs are way out of my price range, but I have a bottle of 2000 Episode Rutherford Hills that is the only “hold” in my small collection. This episode made me want to take the California Zephyr from Chicago to Emeryville and share good wine along the way.

My first post, one request for Gary:

I really hope you are able to find the more magical Moschofilero wines in Greece. I traveled there for a month last year, and the best wine we had was an unlabeled Moschofilero at this little restaurant in a piazza in Naphlio. What minerally lime goodness, with subtle frizzante…easily the best varietal in Greece, too bad Boutari’s import lacks the WOW of a good Moschofilero. Anyway, enjoy the views of Santorini with good wine and great seafood!

gv – not everyone in hollywood has blond highlights – i am beginging to worry you had your heart broken by a shallow, highlighted hollywood gal at some point in your life and you are spreading the hate on WLTV.

that being said – thx to you – i had an amazing bottle of trebboano d’abruzzo tonight which i never would have sought out if it wasn’t for WLTV – spread the love gv, not the hate

QOTD: I’m deffinitely on the way to the end of the Cabernet ladder, because I haven’t bought a Cab. varietal bottle in a LONG time. However, I’m still experimenting all over the place, and not in a rush to go back any time soon. I bought a half case today, and here’s the rundown: 1 fruit-foreward Zin (for a friend), 1 Albarino (cheers, BIG G.), 1 crowd-pleasing extra dry prosecco (in anticipation of company), 1 Gruner (again, cheers BIG G.- it will be my first “GV”), 1 fantatsic bargain Cote du Rhone, and an interesting Spanish Syrah-Cab blend… I guess I’m reaching the final rung back to Cabernet on that last one…

Thanks for all the pre-recorded Eps. to keep us satisfied, but WHO WAS THE GUEST IN THE AUDIENCE AT TODAY’S TAPING? WHO WAS TAKING ALL OF THOSE PICTURES?…If it was some newspaper or other publication, I guess only time will tell.

Nice Michael J Fox reference.

QOTD: I’m still at the bottom of the ladder. Being fairly newly interested in wines I’m starting to try more Cabs from different parts of the world, while also trying to pickup a few different varietals from time to time (so little time, so much wine!). Had a very good Malbec at a restaurant recently so I’m excited to try a few more of those as well.

Gary V.,

I’ve been a lurker since the Diggnation podcast started being sponsored by you (yah it’s been at least 2 weeks now). Loved your appearance on Alex & Kevin’s podcast! Anyway, I’ve gone back to your earlier podcasts and REALLY enjoyed your review of screw-capped wines (the ones from New Zealand). I love the NZ Sauvignon Blancs BUT, the one whom I enjoy my wine with (my spouse), hates the grapefruit character so I guess it qualifies as one of my “guilty pleasure wines.”

Enjoy your vacation in the Mediterranean….my question to you is this:
Most wine connoisseurs are snobbish about screwcapped wines and their quality….to take that to the next level, what are your thoughts about some of the “premium” boxed wines over the last few years (e.g., Black Box wines, etc)?

Best regards,
Bill

QOTD: Cabernet is what got me into wine 10 years ago, but I quickly drifted away to zin, syrah, mourvedre, malbec, petite sirah. I’m not fully back on cabernet, but I’m heading in that direction.

QOTD : I think the Oak Monster knocked me off the Cabernet ladder before I got past the first rung. When it comes to red wines I drink mostly Shiraz from Austrailia, Pinot Noir from ORYGUN (!) and once in a while an Amarone. Most of the Cabs in my cooler gets passed over when I reach for something else. That said, tonight I decided to open one. Thought it would be over the hill, but the 1987 Chimney Rock Stags Leap District still had plenty of fruit and seemed very smooth and well balanced. Maybe I’ll have to try to climb that Cabernet ladder again with some of the Cabs that have been sitting in my cooler for the the 10 or 15 years.

I am past the cabernet stage and into obscure varietals and imports right now. I am really digging the spanish wines!

California used to bring the thunder with their cabs. What happened? Most of them are sucking wind compared to the scores they received 10 years ago.

Qotd -I have about 30 percent of my cellar in California and Washington cabs. 40 percent in mostly “Orygun” Pinot Noir. Been buying California Merlot lately along with Spanish Tempranillo, and Tuscan stuff.

Great episode, GV. I’m in the middle of my climb up the cabernet ladder. It’s my go-to cellar choice, but then the more adventurous side of me likes to try new varietals and regions too. Right now I’m hoarding the Hartig cab- I love it and think it’s a great gpr. Can’t wait to try the Turnbull. Thanks!

I started drinking wine out with friends who would ONLY drink cabs and blends. So then I started to learn more about wines myself, and started to pick out wines that were anything BUT cabs. Then I would start ordering wines at the table for everyone and they loved my picks. (These of course were non cabs.) So I developed this opinion that cabs are too easy, and are for people who don’t know what to order. (“Oh, just get a blend!”) Ever since then I have been interested in wines from out of this country, and I haven’t looked back (yet!)

I look forward to trying the Turnbull though, sounds great!

Chris
(College Kid Crew)

Well, Gary–what a way to box me in! Since I have been a bargain-shopper $7-$19 bottle of wine gal these past 2 years, I’ve NEVER been able to climb the Cab ladder. Instead, I’ve tended to purchase more affordable red varietals, encompassing grapes such as Shiraz/Syrah, Grenache, Mourvedre, Carmenere, Merlot, Cab (as a component grape, not 100%), Tempranillo, and grapes endigenous (?sp) to Chile and Spain. So, my answer is, shopping by price causes me to try all types of varietals. Strangely, for whites, I will spend significantly more (up to $25). Weird, huh? But it seems that if you like Rieslings or good white Burgundies, you have to open the wallet a bit more. Happy sailing!

There is a time and place for cabs. i think americans, my mother included, has had their palates destroyed by it. this is confirmed when a beautiful volnay tastes like vase water with old flowers in it. too sad.
i agree with you about bordeaux on steroids. i drink french wine 95% of the time cause i live there. i never understood the “cherry cola” on the palate until i drank some NAPA cab. maybe Coke a Cola is a silent partner?
drink everything. take 50 bucks and buy a 1999 Pomard.

I love Napa Cab (totally agree Gary on the Luna by the way) but most are out of my price range which has forced me to look to other varietals as well as to other wine regions. But I usually come back to the Hess Collection, Turnbull, Markham and a few others still in the under $50 price range. Because prices have gotten out of control in Napa my cellar has very few recent or current vintages from Napa.

I started drinking Cabernet Sauvignon in the seventies after a trip to the Napa Valley. On a second trip in 1980 I purchased two cases of Robert Mondavi 1978 Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve. I would open a bottle every New Years Eve with a Prime Rib diner. I have saved one bottle in the cellar, I know it is past prime but I just cannot open it.
I still enjoy a good Cab, but currently drinking Robert Sinskey Cab Franc from Napa. My taste has changed over the years to the French Saint Emilion and Bordeaux. I feel they are a better value at this time.
Bill