QOTD: People in this country don’t decant wine ,they just pop and poor and then complain that the wine didn’t taste good until the last drop !
MY MINI RANT. Cheers !

like the format a lot, go straight to the tasting and then chill out at the end.

like the format a lot, go straight to the tasting and then chill out at the end.

Great show G. I recently went to a California wine tasting event featuring wines from more than 80 Cali producers. What shocked me is that all the cab sauv. and even Merlots tasted very similar independent of the price range (up to Beringer and mondavi reserves), mainly because oak and vanilla were dominating the flavors!! I think that Over-oaking has gone far in Cali!! Cheers..

Thanks for the great show Gary!

QOTD: Perhaps it’s just where I live (on FL’s panhandle), but I’ve noticed that very few people are into trying different things. They almost always ask for a Cali chardonnay or pinot grigio, and to a lesser extent, a Cali merlot or cab. That’s it. For heaven’s sake, try the Spanish, French, Chilean, Aussie, Italian, S. Africa wines!! There are plenty that are 1/2 (or less) the price of that Cali wine, bring their own unique thunder, and are as good if not better!!

QOTD: Biggest surprise: how this is all of a sudden “rose season” and that people (many of my customers) think that because of the time of the year, this wine should be consumed more, and that many wine drinkers don’t know as much as they could about the variety of this style of wine, as well as the various parts of the world where they are made, and how fantastic a food wine they can be when paired with certain dishes ALL YEAR ROUND!!

I’m Lurking….MwaMwaMwaaaa

But seriously…QOTD…The biggest wine shock of this month was the news about how the “new world” wine regions want to break away from Vinexpo and do thier own exop.

QOTD: I’m always disappointed with the selection of wines I’m offered where I live (Louisville, Ky). I can’t ever find wines reviewed on WLTV (except all of these today). I know it’s a product of my locaction, but it’s extremely disappointing since I moved from Wa State where the choices were plentiful. I have to throw in Cali’s prices….they’re ridonkulous considering the mediocre quality of what I can afford.

QOTD: Biggest surprise is not necessarily for just this month, but in general how many overoaked wines there are in the market, especially overoaked expensive wines. I don’t understand why people pay $50-$100 for a wine that tastes like a pile of oak sawdust.

This episode got me, a lurker, to post for the first time, because I wanted to comment about a wine tasting I went to recently. Out of the 20 or so bottles of red wine, I was surprised to find that the best one by more than small margin was a Cabernet Sauvignon from South Africa. They also had a Chenin Blanc from South Africa that was better than the Chardonnays, Sauvignon Blancs, and Pinot Grigios there. Maybe a show on South Africa would be a good idea?

Very Good show. Nice value Chilean Cabs (Root 1 is also a good value cab).

QOTD: The insanely high prices in the futures market for bordeaux/burgundy.

QOTD: My biggest surprise in the last month is how hard it is to find large varieties of wine in smaller southern towns. I live in College Station, TX and in case some of you don’t know where it is, that is where Texas A&M University is located. But as far as wine is concerned, the population here must have a complete aversion to different or unique wines. Recently a new and better place has opened up, but before that it was this tiny little place which sold over priced wine which you could in almost any other city in TX for cheaper in my opinion. I enjoy going to their weekly tastings but that was about it. I’ll be leaving in a year though (at least I hope so), so the situation should improve after that.

Great Questions.

I think there are two trends really shaping the wine world.
1) THe pricing structure seems to be all over the place. You’ld think WA Scores were oil contract futures that were being traded. Bordeaux is all speculation, and Burgundy has gotten worse as well, and now California is following suit. However, Spain and Australia seem to be polarizing in pricing, some really high, and some trying to stay in the middle. There seems to be no predictability, and no rules.

2) I think the wine market is becoming increasingly fragmented. While I think the diversity of opinions is a good thing, I also think that consumers are being disconnected from some vital parts of wine. I think its getting harder to learn about wine, because of the different ways it is sold, described, promoted etc. I get the feeling that (present company aside) many in the wine world are trying to replicate what happened in the food world throughout the 60’s-80’s, in which we stopped understanding what we were eating and merely accepted whatever was coming at us off the shelves and becoming victims to clever marketing.

Just some thoughts, but would be glad to discuss these further and explain some of these ideas.

Bought the Lapostolle baes om this show and tasted it along with you this time. Great recommendation, thanks.
QOTD: The fact that I am not buying any American wines. I find better value in France, Spain, Portugal, and Chile.

QOTD: What’s shocked me the most lately? I’ve rediscovered a love for exotic white wines! Gewurtztraminer, Xarel-lo, Chenin Blanc (not that that’s particularly exotic, but it’s not Cali Chardonnay), and white Bordeaux. I’d given up on white wine because of the over-oaked Cali Chardonnays of the late 90s to mid 00’s. I’m back.

this show is tight

Tried dried strawberries tonight. Totally different flavor from fresh or fruit rollups or anything like that.

Also slurped some Walnut Crest Cabernet Sauvingnon, and detected a little of that same flavor. It is very delightful for a cheap wine. Very pleased, very glad for the recommendation, because even with cheap wines I’m anxious when shelling out on wines I know nothing about.

Two words to describe Walnut Creek’s Cabernet? Bucka wow.

Great show, nice theme and, from my experience, a nice wine style.

QOTD – Although you said you wanted the mindset from “this country”(i.e. the US?) I’m afraid you’ll also get views from other countries, since we watch the show as well. Except today, as I can’t think of anything too shocking about wine I’ve noticed recently.

I am SOOOO pumped about you coming to Cleveland!! I can’t wait 🙂

QOTD: ??? Maybe how chain grocers mark prices up when they find an inexpensive wine that was rated strongly by the press. I find it so fickle!

Great epsd GV.
QOTD: The amount of fakers that pretend to know what they are talking about. The overuse of wine terms. Much of what I see in from a servers perspective, since I work in a restaurant.

I watch your show at least every week. I watch you on CNBC and everything and appreciate your opinions on things. I do not drink, because I am not 21, but I can not wait until that time comes.

I however do take your advice and eat whatever I can (in moderation) to advance my palette, and it has helped me with my cigar tasting to pull out the flavors in the cigar.

Do you smoke cigars as well, it would be interesting to see the response of the cigar version of this show.

The biggest recent shocker for me has been the Brunello scandal. I haven’t seen any proof of anything, but I have my own suspicions based on what I have seen. Thanks for another great show. To be honest, when you did the shout-outs, etc. in the beginning I watched, whereas I skipped to the QOTD in this episode.

GV – Thanks for the show. QOTD – Lots of bad stuff out there – seemingly more so than just a few years ago. Also – how good Second Wines from Bordeaux are! I seek these out over their parents as much as I can!

QOTD: I don’t want to sound like a complainer, but I think the biggest thing that’s surprising me is the price of wine lately. It may not have registered with me but I’m watching money flow in general lately, for the obvious reasons, and it seems like I spend more for less lately. Of course, then Gary points out some great Chilean bargains, so that’s a nice resolution to this surprise.

QOTD: Fuel surcharge causing the cost to rise?? Bull Shit I say!

GV, good show. Sucks for me that I already have the 2005 Montes Alpha but not the others (oh well, only was 15 or 16 at Costco – and depending on my palate, maybe I’ll like it).

Happy wedding, Bryan and Dan. (No, I’m not that Bryan. I just think Gary’s face was funny when he read that off the prompter or whatever.)