Thanks Gary for another great episode. Blind tastings episodes are the best!
QOTD: Don’t have a story yet…

QOTD: Several years ago, I purchased three bottles of ’97 Castello Banfi Brunello at a supermarket in Boise, Idaho. For some reason that remains unclear, they were ON SALE(???!!) for around $35 so I bought whatever they had. I laid them down for a while, but then found myself in that old bind of never having a significant enough reason to actually DRINK them.

One night, when a winemaker friend of mine (Matt Gubitosa, ANIMALE) here in Seattle had his brother visiting from LA, I brought the last bottle of the three over to his house and he made a beautifully basic meal of pasta, bread and a salad. We opened the Brunello, let it breath for a couple of hours…..and were BLOWN away by its majesty and multi-dimensional layers of flavor. It was a wine that took your breath away. I’m so glad that I had the smarts to open it for exactly the right reason: three friends getting together to eat great food, talk endlessly about wine and share the joyful miracle of winemaking.

Matt told me later that he had the last glass in the bottle some three days after our meal, and it JUST GOT BETTER!

Wine is magic.

Thanks for a great show!

Havnt had a brunello experience yet but I will try number three soon!

Hey Gary! Yet again, another stellar episode. Ok, you finally called me out…this lurker finally dropped a comment! Sadly, no story with Brunello, but…a story about Hacksaw! Hacksaw’s father was the chief of police in the town that I grew up in, and my mother worked at the Glens Falls Civic Center. Obviously the police were regularly there providing security, etc. My mom and the chief became good friends, and while I’m still a bit younger than Hacksaw, I can remember him putting me in quite a good headlock in the backyard while fooling around. This was about ’82, just before Jim’s career took off. Thanks for including his 2 x 4 in this episode! And really…if there’s one guy that can mish mash Hacksaw Duggan and Brunello…Gary Vee is that man! Oh, and J-E-T-S!!!!

SoTD: Well here it is…why wine storage units need a lock. I was well into the 17th bottle at a wine tasting I held in my apartment about 7 months ago when the “then” birthday boy announced that Brunello was his favorite wine. I wanted to open something special…but only had one Brunello. I KILLED a 2001 Valdicava Madonna del Piano that night…and it finally started strutting it’s stuff three days later as it was far too young to be opened.

Gary – Thank you for the great shows…we do appreciate all the hard work.

In the last month I have tried to buy a nice Brunello so I could try for the first time. I bought two $50 bottles, one was Orange and the other one was vinegar. Returned then and bought another one, again orange from a different producer.

Fantastic show Gary.

QQTD: I really enjoy Brunellos, but I deffintely find I like they so much with food more than alone. No real impressive story, but just enjoy drinking them with a favorite dish.

I found a Banfi Brunello in my local Tesco (kinda like WalMart) going for £15. With UK taxes being what they are that equates to something under 25 bones… so I went for it. When I got homw I did a little research and discovered, amongst other things, that the 2002 vintage I had bought was regarded as a wash-out with may smaller producers not even bothering. So that explained the price. What did it taste like? I could have bought a much better wine for the price but learnt a little – so guess it was worth it.

Iâ??m glad to see you get right back on the horse with the blind tasting.

Brunello doesnâ??t fall within my price range. I will probably buy one just so I can chalk it up, but itâ??d really have to change my life for it to become a regular for me.

When I was little my parents told me Santa brought the Christmas presents. He also delivered presents to all the children in the world in one night in a sleigh pulled by flying reindeer. But they never tried to convince me wrestling wasnâ??t fake. They assumed I wasnâ??t that gullible.

SOTD: Unfortunately, I don’t have a Brunello story b/c it’s just a *bit* outta my price range. However, I do have a Barolo story and those are usually outta my price range unless a few friends and I share a bottle!

QOTD: I have had a few but nothing that I consider best so far…….

ummm, let’s see, the only brunello stories i have are “i was watching wltv and gary was talking about brunello” so I suppose that’s that. A tad out of my budget, I think.

QOTD – My Brunello story is when I went out to dinner with my boss several months ago. He goes to this particular restaurant quite often so the sommelier knows him well. She suggested a Brunello and it just so happens that the daughter of the producer was there visiting. She came to our table and poured the wine for us as she told us about her winery and how they made the wine. The wine was fabulous and information insightful.

Not tried a Brunello yet…may wait for US dollar to get stronger, they sound expensive.

There is no better Brunello story than the Cork Soakers. When was that, ’68? I’m thinking ’70.

I don’t have one “Yet” *Grumbles and fades back into the shadows*

My favorite Brunello experience is not much of a story. It was the first time I tried Brunello and the first time I spent over $50 on a bottle of wine. I fell in love. The many earthy characteristics, the power and elegance … I’ve had a few since then and Brunello is my favorite category of wine.

Don’t drink Brunello, usually bit pricey for the quality.

Also, gee, look at the episode: one great wine, one OK, one not OK… For $50-$60 a bottle? Too much variability at that price point, it requires too much work and too much money (bit like Burgundies)…

That being said, will go get a bottle of la Rasina 2003.

QOTD – A few years ago I was able to do some traveling in Tuscany, and some friends at a local win store hooked me up with an ‘insiders’ tour of one of the vineyards. It was a pretty awesome experience to walk through the vines and the wine making facility… good times. Getting to taste some good stuff afterwards was also nice.

QOTD: I haven’t had one yet.

Great show

QOTD: I haven’t had one yet.

Great show

None yet.

Nice show !!!!

When are you going to talk about Wineinvestment in generel !!

Man, do I agree with you that some Brunellos (and Piedmente red wines) in the last few years (5-7 years of releases)have too much oak. My rule of thumb is that if the oak is obvious, it is too much. Barolo has been doing the same thing, but in the last two vintages has noticeably pulled back to a very enticing blend of “New World” and “Traditional” vintification approaches. The 2004 Barolos are among the best I have ever tasted. The Modernists in Brunello have further to go to get to a balance I enjoy, but there are signs of progress in that direction. Fanti is definitely one that needs more progress. I just hate to see such good grapes, and otherwise such good vinification techniques, be corrupted by so much oak that the the classic characteristics of a wine are simply covered up.

QOTD: My greatest revelation is that there is a trend in Brunello and Barolo to “get the right balance” between Modernists and Traditionalists. The ones that have done this are making the best wines in the world for my tastes.