Love the Bubbles and Big Up’s to the Med School Graduation Matt…

QOTD: MY FAV wine moment… my friends had just had their 2nd child and I met them upon their return home to enjoyed a chilled bottle of Sumac Ridge Sparkling Shiraz… Just one of those surreal moments with the ones you Love; couldn’t have been a better intro to little TOBSTER (Tobie), It was amplified as we had sampled an Sparkling Red the prev New Years and it was Awful, so there was a little redemption in there as well….

QOTD: I’ve had so many……definitely traveling in CA Wine country. Managed to find a wine that was sold-out at the winery in a little country market. While grilling some fantastic corn and burgers, I cracked open a bottle of the ’99 Young’s Zinfandel and poured a glass. Upon tasting it, I screamed in delight and called my husband in to have a glass–he went head over heels for it also. This is one of our fondest wine moments ever. You don’t have to visit Napa to have a great wine vacation in CA.

hmm, favorite wine moment is probably sitting with family at a house by the beach with a fire going inside and a thunderstorm outside. it happens probably once or so a year, and i just love that combination of crazy weather, waves, cozy and surrounded by loved ones.

QoTD: Most definately would have to be this past Wednesday. My room mate, a culinary student at Kendall (where I also went, recent graduate) had won, a week ago, $20000 in a culinary student competition here in Chicago. So to celebrate, we did a little dinner party for our closest friends at our place. A four course menu – we collaberated on the food, I handled the wine. First up Chilled Papaya and Carrot Consomme w/Coconut milk foam; pair: 2006 Richard Hamilton “Daisy’s” Viognier – McLaren Vale AU. Second, House Smoked Seared Yellowfin Tuna, Braised Rainbow Chard, Herbed Polenta Cake w/Pomodoro Sauce; pair: (my personal all time favorite wine) 2005 Land’s Edge Pinot Noir – Sonoma Coast. Third (and the star of the evening), a modified version of the winning recipe: Dijon Crusted Lamb Loin w/Goat Cheese and Squash Parfait & Sauce Romesco de Mostaza (awesome stuff!); pair: 2003 Mitolo “Savitar” Shiraz – McLaren Vale, AU. Fourth, Banana Cigarettes w/Basil Ganache and Strawberry Mochi; pair: Bugey Cerdon NV.

Even though this all sounds great and was insanely fun to try to do out of a small home kitchen (try plating four courses for 8 people, a la minute, pour the wine, entertain and clean as you go!) none of that was really the special part. It was about the people! Thats what wine (and food!) should be about! So we all dined and drank like kings and queens then watched the new episode of Top Chef: Chicago and had some REALLY interesting discussions!

Just saw episode 292.
Left my thoughts on a comment there so I won’t go into it here,
but suffice to say I’ve lost all respect for Gary Vaynerchuk.
Think about it, Gary.

Two moments:

We went off for our Official Engagement weekend, picnicing in New Hampshire and he swapped the $18 bottle (this is back in ’87 – a pricey wine for us) for the $30 Silver Oak – wow!

In Italy for our honeymoon, we’re trying to find the Masi vineyards – the grapes are all around us, can’t find the vineyard. See a modest house, mid 20th century, nothing special, a sign says VINO tacked up to a tree in front. We pull in, this old Italian man comes around. We speak no Italian, he speaks no English. We use sign language and point at phrases in the little phrase book to communicate throughout. He motions us along the side, picks up three tumblers from under his outside tap, we go into the cellar. He sucks on the straw of one of those straw covered glass barrel-sized jars and pours wine into each of our glasses. We salute and drink, buy a bottle, and have memories I’ll never forget.

Went to Phoenix on vacation and ordered the Rose-pairing tasting menu that was featured in the then current issue of Wine Spectator with my wife and our closest friends. Everything came togehter. Great friends, great service, great food and the wine, therefore, was great!

Favorite wine moment – first sip of damn near any fine wine
Favorite Champers – Bolly Special Cuvee NV, beyond a doubt – nose, palate all yeasty, nutty and toasty with a light citrus finish AND reasonably priced
Favorite Babe – right now Kiera Knightley

GV – Nice Conan appearance! QOTD – Earlier this year, went to a fine locally run restaurant in the Finger Lakes – they served up a simple Cab from the area – really nice – all amped up by the atmosphere. Also – found 3 bottles of Ch. Laforge for $20 each in a wine shop. Errr – what? I asked no questions and walked out. Those are special too.

Hey Mr. GV

Thanks for yet a super show – great to see some bubbles 🙂
(please MORE bubbles/champagne-shows!!!)

QOTD: I sort of agree with Greg B. about wine being a single, constantly developing and continuing experience, filled with small intermediates of very special experiences which intertwine over time.

Yet some experiences do stand out, now that I think about it:

Not so long ago I was attending a port-tasting with a good friend of mine, at our local wine-shop. We tasted our way through nearly thirty ports (both tawnys, colheitas, rubys, whites and older vintage). At the end of the evening, my friend and I were almost the last ones left – we still sat trying to analyse some of the particularly outstanding elder vintage ports. The owner of the wine-shop, who is a good friend of mine and a very capable wine professional, and one of his employees came over to us and sat down. They had brought a little half bottle of quality brut NV champagne, to finish of the evening. However this bottle didn’t last very long, and soon my friend and I were sent into the shop itself to retrieve a variety of champagnes: Grand Reserve, Premier cru, Premier Cuvee and vintage 98′ and 99′. So the four of us ended up drinking many bottles of serious champagne, talking and laughing into the wee hours of the night 🙂

Hey Mr. GV

Thanks for yet a super show – great to see some bubbles 🙂
(please MORE bubbles/champagne-shows!!!)

QOTD: I sort of agree with Greg B. about wine being a single, constantly developing and continuing experience, filled with small intermediates of very special experiences which intertwine over time.

Yet some experiences do stand out, now that I think about it:

Not so long ago I was attending a port-tasting with a good friend of mine, at our local wine-shop. We tasted our way through nearly thirty ports (both tawnys, colheitas, rubys, whites and older vintage). At the end of the evening, my friend and I were almost the last ones left – we still sat trying to analyse some of the particularly outstanding elder vintage ports. The owner of the wine-shop, who is a good friend of mine and a very capable wine professional, and one of his employees came over to us and sat down. They had brought a little half bottle of quality brut NV champagne, to finish of the evening. However this bottle didn’t last very long, and soon my friend and I were sent into the shop itself to retrieve a variety of champagnes: Grand Reserve, Premier cru, Premier Cuvee and vintage 98′ and 99′. So the four of us ended up drinking many bottles of serious champagne, talking and laughing into the wee hours of the night 🙂

I with my girlfriend of 4 years here in washington state took her up to Lopez Island in the San Juan Islands. We shopped around that day and picked up groceries for a dinner at sunset at the same time picking up a bottle of White Wine, now Gary i’m with you on the room temp for white wine, however my girlfriend likes it chilled. The only problem was it had sat in the back of my car for almost 4 hours in 90degree heat. How was i supposed to cool it down for her? well we got to the beach and I immediately grabbed the bottle tied a string around the neck of the bottle and completely submerged it in the icy cold water for the next hour! it came out perfect! she was happy and we got to enjoy our very romantic dinner at sunset in beautiful Lopez Island!

Great job on Conan last night. As the third guest, you’re a bit rushed but you made the most of it. I’d be upset with Conan except for the fact that he lets you come on in the first place.

To JudeMurphy (post below),

This is why severely left leaning liberals are a mess. Just because you have an opinion/belief about something, doesn’t mean you get to ram it down others throats. In this case, I happen to agree with you but why do you feel you need to strong arm others? You don’t like how foi gras is made, then don’t eat it. But, to each his own. What’s next Kobe beef? Lamb? I respect your opinion but would respect it more if you didn’t try to use it as a weapon.

Favorite wine moment: July 2007, Hotel Afroessa in Imerovigli, Santorini at sunset, 2006 Sigalas Santorini AOC, a plate full of feta, tomatoes and greek olives… on our last evening in Greece.

Great show GV, good guest!

Q- Tuff one, I have had a lot of good wine moments.

PROPS FOR GETTING NEW MEXICO WINE ON THE SHOW!!!!! But it is true, the people at Gruet are elitist jerks. Seriously,they (except for the youngest guy in the family wholesaling the wine)are jerks and are not nice….at all.

QOTD: October, 2005, in the town of Monterosso, Italy, in a little cafe on the beach with my wife, with a plate of anchovies and lemon, we had a glass of vermentino or pigato. It doesn’t matter which, because it was all about living that moment.

I have to second Mike James’ comment. The flutes are great for parties, but if you REALLY want to taste the bubbly, do what they do in France… use an actual wine glass.

And one more thing…
with the expansion of the Champagne region, how about you taste some wines that today are Sparklers that’ll be Champagne in the 2008 or 2009 vintage?

Great Show Guys !!! Yo G , just watched Ya on da Jim Cramer Show. Ya
gotta tell Jim ta chill-a-tad…..or i’m afraid da guys gonna blow a
gasket (or worst)…………. 🙂

QOTD: Got a TON of ’em !!!

QOTD â?? This is an easy one. It was a long weekend in Camden, Maine in August 2006. My wife and I were visiting with friends from Delaware, Connecticut, and (our hosts) Maine. Good food â?? including mussels that we harvested ourselves and lobster caught by our host, great conversation â?? including the kind of â??raggingâ? that only long time friends can get away with, and a seemingly endless flow of wine. Whether the vino was pricey or from the bargain bin I couldnâ??t tell you, but with those people and in that atmosphere it was fantastic.

Mott, drink it up!!! Mott Cam, Mott Cam !!! ( We won’t use the words ” Co-Host”). How about those color coordinated wrist bands?

At a pizza/italian restaurant in Miami with my girlfriend – ordered a four cheese pizza (that our server called ‘stinky’), and couldn’t decide on the wine. The server recommended an incredible bubbly. The matching was unreal – I couldn’t believe how well the pizza and bubbles went together, and it definitely changed the way I thought about sparkling wine.

QOTD – favorite wine moment was the first secret pack party we had at my house. To me, drinking some wine with friends beats all.

Very, very nice show. QOTD: I’ve had so many!