As someone who writes the checks for the expense accounts I cringe every tme Gary V says go out and get this on an expense account dinner. I’d rather be paying for Applebees thank you very much.
Agree about Gary trying some of the really high end CA chardonnays like Konigsgard etc.
As for me, if I’m paying that much for Pinot Noir it will have to be a Burgundy.
Worst wine…given a glass of wine at an outdoor barbecue last weekend… tasted it and spit it into the bushes…Yellowtail Shiraz vintage doesn’t matter.

QOTD My church (presbyterian) uses wine for communion, but its a small church so they can only afford the $3 grocery store brand red “table wine.” Sicky sweet vinegar, actually. They provide grape juice for alcoholics, and I may have to go with the Welch’s.

Saving some dough so we can try 2004 Kosta Browne.
QOTD—- 2004 Martin Ray cab ++++ not good.

loved the blind tasting format! keep bringin the thunder gary!! and man, i would love to have a look through your cellar, if you’re bringing two 150 dollar bottles out without breaking a sweat.

twisty twisty

qotd: a corked 2003 eponymous napa cab.

QOTD: Cakebread 2003 Cabernet Sauvignon. Cakebread’s tasting room is about 50 degrees and staffed by evil oompa-loompas that charge you $25 to talk down to you. The wine at 50 degrees was completely unimpressive and closed, not to mention that you couldn’t afford a moments peace between the 6,000 handouts and commentary from Unfriendly the Tour Guide. It had to be said.

QOTD: About a week ago, I had a 2001 Kistler Chardonnay – Kistler Vineyard out of my cellar that was badly oxidized. This was my 9th bottle out of a case of this wine over the last couple of months, but the only one so far that wasn’t superb. I presume this one bottle to be an abberation from a defective cork. I have been collecting Kistler for about a decade, and have never had an oxidation problem except for the 1999 vintage. I had to pour about 25 bottles of that vintage down the drain. I wrote to Kistler twice asking if they knew of a problem with the vintage, but most disappointingly never got a reply.

I have never tasted a Kosta Browne, but would love to, since Pinot Noir is my favorite varietal. However, I can’t even image myself paying $150 for an American Pinot.

Kudos to Sarah L. She has a great idea in suggesting a series of videos to demonstrate what you think would be good benchmarks for the various varietals by country or appelation.

A carbonated rose. Nuff said! Great show!

I haven’t had any bad wines per se in the past 14 days, but I did have an underwhelming glass of Wolf Blass Yellow Label Riesling on Sunday. The Cono Sur Viognier was alright but I probably won’t get it again.

Awesome show Gary. Nice twist on the blind taste test. I probably won’t be able to get my hands on any Kosta Browne Pinot Noir up here in Canada, but it was still fun to watch. Well done!

QOTD: Rosemount 2005 Shiraz

Love the blind taste test, please do more of them. I would like to see several double blind taste tests.

On a visual note, this definitely looked like a hostage video. Your grey shirt looked like olive drab fatigues. The t-shirt made you look like a hostage. Darth Veyner’s mustache made it look like a middle eastern hostage video. The New Jersey Life Magazine also put a place and month when this disturbing tasting was filmed. Visually the most intriguing show so far.

QOTD: No horrible wines in the last two weeks. However three bottles of Gewurztraminer not living up to the notes that I associate with the varietals Alsatian standards. I got hooked on Gewurz a few years ago because of it’s spicy pepperiness. None had that pepper I was looking for. 2004 Claiborne & Churchill Central Coast Alsatian Style Dry Gewurztraminer; 2004 Abbazia Di Novacella Gewurztraminer (an Italian Gewurz!!!); 2004 Valckenberg Gewurztraminer Pfalz. The Claibourne & Churchill, and the Novacella were disappointing with the first glass, but on the second or third day gained some spiciness. The Valckenberg, was a bit on the grape juice side, probably safe to give to people who don’t drink wine.

Great episode, Gary. I’ve been lucky enough to drink alot of the Kosta Pinot in the past. Yummmmmm. Another absolutely phenomenal Pinot from the same area is from Flowers. Their Chard is also amazing.

QOTD: an italian red that tasted like it had sat in someone’s western facing 2nd story closet for about 5 summers. Turns out, it had.

No fruit, way too much tannin, way too much astringency, that unmistakable ‘dead’ flavor. Didn’t pour it out, the owner of said bottle put the cork back in and stuck it in his fridge saying “I’ll use it for cooking.”

Awesome episode, I love Pinots, too much hype I know, but the good ones are spectacular! I will seek out the Kosta Browne, but wondered your thoughts on Sea Smoke or DuMol, which are 2 of the more complex pinots I’ve ever tasted.

QOTD: guess I’ve been lucky, not much bad vino lately, maybe a wine by the glass I had out at the club, kind of HiC-ish.

Yup, another fun and worthy episode. I actually LIKED the format of putting such modern “cult” wines of higher cost up against a lower cost option. Really a nice way to look at QPR in context.

I will put in agreement on Sonoma Pinots, and the Flowers above. I also have to make a huge shout out to Fort Ross. GV recently reviewed their Chard at 93 I believe, and their pinot noir is equally fantastic. Right down the dirt road from Flowers.

QOTD: Thankfully nothing. Even the Meridien Sav Blanc surprised me the other day. Been in a craft beer mood…but I’m sure that will change shortly!!

QOTD: The last couple weeks have hit some highs and lows. Unfortunately, more lows than highs.

For worst, I’d say it’s a tie between 2002 Beaujolais, Pierre Chermette
and 2004 Domaine Massamier La Mignarde, Cuvee des Oliviers (rose).

In the category of very, very disappointing:
1967 Chateau Pontet-Clauzure, St. Emilion GC (oldest Bordeaux I had), and
1975 Chateau Pontet-Clauzure, St. Emilion GC.

In the category of (merely) disappointing:
2004 Matteo Correggia Roero Arneis
2001 Tomaso Gianolio Roero Arneis
1996 Chateau La Grande Clotte, Lussac St. Emilion

In the category of just ok (or maybe a touch better than just ok):
2003 Cameron Hughes, Pinot Noir “Lot 8,” Monterey County
2002 Chateau d’Oupia, Minervois.

All of the above were less than exciting. However, I did have two wines that were really great:
2003 Chateau Dassault, St. Emilion GCC, and
2004 Emmanuel Darnaud, Crozes’Hermitage, “Les Trois Chenes”.
These two made up for a lot of disappointing stuff.

Gary, just cover the bottles with numbered foil or paper bags, or pour them into numbered carafes (if there are various bottle shapes). Itâ??s a lot easier and you can use your eyes.

I think you should conduct all your tastings blind. Itâ??s the only way to guarantee objectivity and maintain the integrity of your rankings.

In response to the question of the day: Smoking Loon 2005 Syrah. It started strong but fell apart on the mid palate and never recovered.

In response to the question of the day: Smoking Loon 2005 Syrah. It started strong but fell apart on the mid palate and never recovered.

GV,

GREAT episode!!! Love Pinot Noir; and YES a good Pinot can hold it’s own with a very nice cut of NY Strip and a double baked potato. Try it.

Love WLTV, but this one did not do it for me, sorry.

QOTD: Nothing to complain about

good shoo, really good shoo. I learn something with each episode. BTW is that mustache for real?

Worst wine was a 2005 albans viognier that we had at a white wine tasting with our tasting group last weekend. We are all red drinkers so this was a bit different.
Thanks for the Kosta Browne tasting. I have been on their mailing list for a year but have not risen to the worthy few yet!

Love Darth Vayner and the blind tasting. New Jersey Living…good stuff. Blind is the way to go (double would be better), especially to silence all the criticism about your interest in Wine Library.