QOTD: So many! Quaffing Beaujolais Nouveau as a student in France in 1983. Discovering Gewurztraminer on a balmy spring evening on holiday in Alsace in 2000. A New Zealand sauvignon blanc at a dinner with my then fiancee in the late 80s. The list goes on.

Love the bubbles. Love the small grower’s, which are also a value when you consider that a 1988 Dom P that goes for over $300 is probably not any better than the $100 1988 De Venoge.

QOTD: Before flying home from Paris four years ago my girlfriend and I stocked up on great cheese, cold meat, pâté, bread and wine. We smuggled it all on the plane and had an amazing meal. The wine tasted fantastic. We were very happy on a crowded flight that would have been miserable if we had to eat the airplane food and drink their wine.

QOTD: Sitting around the kitchen table at my mother’s house catching up with my friends, three years ago. We had all been on around the world adventures and there’s nothing like seeing old friends – we were sneaking some CNDP from mom’s cellar IIRC.

Best beer moment: Drinking Arrogant Bastard IPA, Smoked Porter, and 750’s of warm La Fin du Monde north of Banff in the Yukon, camping with my friends. We were grilling veggies, without the use of tongs and it was bear season…

Top 30…woo hoo.

QOTD New Year’s Eve 1999, cooking dinner for my new girlfriend, now wife, serving a 1918 Bordeaux — tired and fading, but still making the moment

Very nice show today guys, I LOVE sparkling wine.

the other day i was thinking about where in hell are the contest winners? presto!

qotd: there are so many, and not enough. i can say my most recent one. i had some friends over a few weeks ago. they like wine, like everyone, but are not really into it. so, we had 3 bottles already, a real nice swiss white wine ( we live in switzerland), a 2001 GC riesling from alsace that was getting there, then with our veal, we had a disappointing 03 savigny les beaune 1er cru. at this point, the 4 of us are a little loopy. i look at my friend delphine and say, do you want something real good? did you ever have gevrey chambertin? so i took her downstairs to the cellar and we picked out a 02 gevrey chambertin.
the moment i guess was when she still had the mediocre savigny in her glass and i gave her a whiff of my gevrey. she just said wow! it was that moment of discovery for her, and sharing for me that made it. the bottle was good. brimming with deep dark fruit, traces of dirt. it was being with friends, drinking good stuff, and laughing.

Good QOTD! About five years ago my brother and I had a private tour of Mondavi with several tastings along the way of their best stuff and ending with a fabulous lunch with four different wines. It was a beautiful day with a lot of really good wine. And sharing it with my big brother was the best!

QOTD: 13 years ago was walking through the liquor store with a girl that I really wanted to bang and as I was going to grab some Ruffino Gold label she goes- I love this so I am thinking great got to get 3 bottles now- still less than getting a hooker so what the heck- but turns out she was oogling the Carlo Rossi Paisano- Grabbed the handle on the gallon and smiled all the way to the register!

Great show. Guest was really relaxed which was nice to see. Good job.

I’m curious though… Both of you were swirling those sparklers pretty hard. Whenever I crack any type of bubbly, I want to preserve as many bubbles as possible and just let the escaping bubbles bring up the aromatics. Thoughts/reasons as to why you think swirling is better?

QOTD: Sitting outside at a winery in Lake Chelan in the heat of the summer, eating a little cheese, and hanging out with friends.

Good QOTD.

QOTD: This last Friday night when I finally drank my first home made wine and it was surprisingly good.

QOTD-Dinner at Jordan Winery 2003. Never felt felt like such a rockstar, havent felt that since. ps. yeah the wine was better at the winery that night. isnt it always?

QOTD: I was in a Wine Appreciation class at the local community college. We were doing a Malbec tasting when the teacher brought out some brie cheese. The Malbec by itself was good but for me, the pairing of the Malbec and Brie was…. well it was just incredible. I had an “A HA!” moment and I finally understood how food and wine can enhance each other.

QOTD: I was in a Wine Appreciation class at the local community college. We were doing a Malbec tasting when the teacher brought out some brie cheese. The Malbec by itself was good but for me, the pairing of the Malbec and Brie was…. well it was just incredible. I had an “A HA!” moment and I finally understood how food and wine can enhance each other.

QOTD: Kicking back at the Fairmont in SF after our wedding with my Julie sipping Pacific Echo (now Scharfenberger Brut) which was a freebie that came with the room. I never had it before but after being a good groom, greeting all of the out of town guests, in laws, ect., and only having a glass or two the whole evening it was nice to relax and refresh with a sparkler. I’ll always remember sneaking away from all of the obligations and finally enjoying a quite moment with my new wife. Sappy? Maybe, but a memory nontheless and it didn’t matter that it wasn’t Dom P or Crystal or all of the high end plonk that Gary V likes to sip at PerSe. La Dee Da! Sory Gary, but you are an elitist when it comes to bubbly.

Fun show today, great to hear that Matt is headed to the best part of the country – Go Irish! QOTD: my best wine moment was probably my vacation to Napa and Sonoma with my two best girl friends, kickin it at Cline winery with our host for the day, Joe. Keep it real.

Nice episode today! Congrats Matt, what a great accomplishment! Big day today/tomorrow! Conan on tonight/”early tomorrow morning” and the book comes out TOMORROW! Man oh man I’m excited….

I don’t have a response to QOTD yet… not 21.

Also, I sent an URGENT URGENT URGENT email about this, but if you could give my Dad (Ed Sherman) a big birthday shout-out this Friday, May 16, that would be awesome!!!

Thanks GV — I don’t think I’ll be able to sleep tonight! Maybe I’ll watch some reruns of WLTV…

QOTD: Haven’t really had any wine moments, but sitting in my favorite restaurant with a nice little chianti does the trick nicely!
If you get down to Dublin sometime check out a little place called Pizza Stop. Sounds modest, but they make the most ridiculously good pizza on Earth! No joking- better than any in Italy!
; )

Great Show!!!

Congrats Matt on the completing med school.

QOTD: Best wine moment was probably back in October ’07 when I visited Napa and did the Del Dotto Tour. The guy heading the tour and the people on that specific cave tour were all a blast and we ended up enjoyin all different del dotto cabs for the hour and a half.

It’s called Pat Bing Soo

QOTD: I have quite a few favorite wine moments, but for some reason the memory that is coming to mind right now is of me visiting my best friend in New Mexico. I hadn’t seen her in a couple of years and was there for just a few days. My flights had been miserable and I arrived much later than expected, but she had pasta, bread, and a glass of something red and Italian waiting for me. We sipped wine out on her back deck and watched the last vestiges of the sun setting over the desert mountains. As the heat left the air, and my glass of wine emptied, my body began to relax into that comfortable feeling of being with my best buddy. That feeling of Aaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhh…. is incredible.

QOTD: I have quite a few favorite wine moments, but for some reason the memory that is coming to mind right now is of me visiting my best friend in New Mexico. I hadn’t seen her in a couple of years and was there for just a few days. My flights had been miserable and I arrived much later than expected, but she had pasta, bread, and a glass of something red and Italian waiting for me. We sipped wine out on her back deck and watched the last vestiges of the sun setting over the desert mountains. As the heat left the air, and my glass of wine emptied, my body began to relax into that comfortable feeling of being with my best buddy. That feeling of Aaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhh…. is incredible.

QOTD: I’ve got a few I’m wobbling between, but I think I’m going to go with the trip to Florence last year with my girlfriend. We had a crisp white wine on the side of a mountain in by a little village called Fiesole with stunning view of Florence. We had some Italian salamis and the waiter was just great, bought a 2001 Tenuta la Fuga Brunello from the guy at a very fair price. All-in-all very memorable.

Btw, I’ll be turning 26 tomorrow, closing in on the 30! Argh!

Last night, Inniskillin icewine!

Wow! Awesome show. Where do I start. Great guest. Great wine. GV showing the love by breakin out the $$$ bottle. I like it!

Matt’s QOTD: Inspiration (small Sonoma, CA winery) I am friends with a friend of the owner. Group of us did catered box lunch in the vineyard under a walnut tree and tasted the the wines served to us by the owner/winemaker. Beautiful, suuny 80 degree California day. Good food. Good wine. Heaven.