In my wife’s aunt’s cottage in the mountains drinking Yellow Tail Bubbles outta the bottle with my homies, smoking cheap cigars, drunk off our rockers and united, smiling, forgetful of the world around us and unaware of the headaches we would all suffer from the next day!

Sparklers & Champagnes are great but what can be better than driving in a open convertible on a warm sunny day sipping on some Robert Mondavi Chardonnay. The beautiful oak, balance, and tropical fruit flavours are meld together to bring some incredible synergy to this wine. This for me is a 2 case annual wine purchase for sure.

QOTD: The last night I spent with an “old flame” before I left the east coast, and her, about a year ago. It was the Summer of 2007 in Boston in my apartment after a great dinner, I popped a local Rhode Island wine (2005 Sakonnet Vineyards Vidal Blanc) that was just sweet enough for her, but with plenty of acidity, and we talked until the wee hours…

QOTD: Man, that’s tough. Really, for me, nothing makes me happier than seeing people I care about being happy or excited. Last week, I introduced 6 people, most of whom haven’t had anything but oak monster chards and other stuff along the same lines, to a beautiful Brunello di Montalcino. 4 or 5 of them “didn’t drink red wine” because they didn’t like it. Seeing all of them in genuine amazement and delight as they sipped on the wine, which admittedly was beautiful, afterwards telling me I had changed their views on red wine, was a great wine moment.

The wine itself was a ’96, an off year for Montalcino, but this particular wine really delivered.

Great show…Congrats Matt!
QOTD: I would say my best wine moment occured this past fall sitting in a farmhouse in Italy sipping wine the owner of the farmhouse had made himself! The meal, wine and company was fantastic. Simple but great!

GV,

I’m getting WAY behind in my episodes but saw Conan last night and you were awesome. You should be hosting the show and Conan should be smelling YOUR armpit!

Scott

Nice job, Matt! Congratulations on your graduation from med school!!

QOTD: My favorite wine moment was when I was on a trip to Washington State a few years ago hitting various wineries tasting rooms and I came upon a small winery on Icicle Creek Rd just outside of Leavenworth, WA called Boudreaux Cellars. They only accepted visitors by appointment, so I called and reached the proprietor, Rob Newsom, and went to see him that afternoon with my wife after we finished a hike on 7 Lakes Trail a couple of miles up the road. He was outstanding. This was before he had finished his winery building, so the winery was pretty much in a large garage. He took us on tour of the winery-in-progress down into the cellar and we tasted several of his wines (which happen to be quite good) and played fetch with his dog, Roux. It was just a great time and I highly recommend a visit to anyone who does a Washington State wine tour.

love the bubbly, especially the “bowl of mushrooms”
Favorite moment – wedding reception on the Indian Ocean in Mozambique, South African Sparkling, great friends on the beach

whats up with no “whether they like it or not” industry Chill?

Interesting show Gary. Sparkling wine is my beverage of choice, and have been drinking bathtubs full of Cooks Brute for many years. It just seems to have the taste that I really enjoy. While the DeVenoge Brut sounds fun, I simply can’t phantom spending upwards of $4.00 per sip for any beverage. While your guest liked the first two samples, I unfortunately am too visual when I drink, and don’t care to look at a reddish sparkler. Probably my loss.
QOTD………I need to think on that one. Too many choices.

Enjoyed the show, GV. Your shows with guests are always entertaining and informative. Could the Korean beverage you mention be Bubble Tea???

QOTD: My wife and I had an anniversary in 2006 where I decided to get a Sauternes for us, and hearing all the descriptions of how sweet and honey-like and all that, we both sipped it and thought that it was the most rotten tasting stuff we had ever had! I get the noble rot thing, but HELLO! Needless to say, there was some mildew on the cork, so it was probably tainted. That was a very memorable wine moment.

Awesome ep G … A big Congrats to the new Doc.
QOTD— Tasting Iron Horse sparklers at the winery on a beautiful morning with a little fog in the valley with my wife celebrating our wedding aniversary. It was our own little private tasting and it was spectacular. The wine was pretty good too.

Good show and congratulations on an impressive accomplishment.

QOTD – Still very new to thos and do not have a best wine moment just yet.

QOTD: This past holiday season we hosted a wine and sweets party. You had to bring a bottle of wine OR a home baked treat. Totally rocked.

Congratulations Matt!!! My girlfriend and I will be joining you in that same accomplishment soon if all goes well.

QOTD – Last year when my girlfriend and I decided to cook for the first time together, we made a quick stop at the wine/liquor store after doing the grocery shopping.

We hadn’t yet discovered WLTV, and I didn’t know much about wines besides that California wines have a fruitier characteristic than French wines which have a more soily/earthy tones. Neither seemed appropriate to accompany our simple and healthy chicken and vegetable lunch, so we picked a funny-looking Chilean red wine. I can still remember the label, but not the name – that’s a great example of good marketing.

That afternoon we enjoyed each other’s company in the kitchen (though not without some bickering about our different cooking styles), we then reaped the benefits of our hard work by digging into a tasty and wholesome meal, which serendipitously paired perfectly with our wine. Our afternoon lunch soon trickled into the early hours of the evening as our conversation flowed like the wine that accompanied it. Before we knew it, our food and wine had all but gone and we were still at our dinner table talking without a care in the world. That’s my most memorable wine experience.

Awesome show, by the way!

I like it when you interact with Mott, it really changes things up, and usually makes for some funny moments.

the time i ate a dinner of beans and cornbread and drank a bottle of shiraz by myself and it tasted like the greatest dinner ever

Sweet potato fries with curry mayo and Jean Lallemant NV brut.

First meal with my wife and 2 beautiful kids that I remember us all having a great time together. (the kids had milk)

Gary- I have to agree with several comments already made. YOU should be HOSTING a prime time talk show not any of those others clowns………. 🙂

QOTD: Introducing wine to my fiance. She still is not 100% sold on it (she enjoys fruitiness). But teaching her how to taste and how to analyze it, and how its made has really opened her eyes up to a whole new world.

I thought you were not supposed to swirl bubbly wines. Doing so destroys the bubbles which is part of the fun of these wines. Or am I getting this wrong?

QOTD: My husband and I stopped for a night in San Gimignano and had the best wine of our lives: a 15-year-old Brunello di Montalcino. We had not ever tasted this type of wine before and were instantly hooked. We had a wonderful time tasting various wines from around Tuscany, but the Brunello stood out for us.

Bubbles, not just for kids anymore! I like the Marenco Brachetto Dâ??acqui, I picked some up and it dissapeared.

qotd: cooking italian w/ shiraz
awesome that you did a sparkling wine or champagne; rose was so beautiful, can’t believe it tasted veggie