Greg Norman Estates Australia Sparkling, OK perhaps not the worst, but not what I wanted from a sparkling wine. Very oakey, chardonnayesque, not the bright pinot grape flavor I was looking for. One the other hand, The Domaine Chandon Pinot Noir sparkling wine was fab! Love, love, loved it.
(You have to have sparklers for the 4th!)

QOTD- Well the 4th at our place was interesting, as it was the day my stepson chose to get married. After a small ceremony we had a reception at our house with 40 family and friends, and we went through about a dozen bottles of wine. IIRC, they were:

Beringer Pinot Grigio 2007
Johann Falkenburg Gewurztraminer 2006
Chateau St Jean Chardonnay 2006 Sonoma
Greg Norman Cabernet Merlot 2005
Riunite Lambrusco NV
Twin Fin Cabernet 2004
A $14 Prosecco I can’t remember
Alice White Lexia 2007

In the Florida summer heat with a *lot* of non-wine drinkers I mainly opened up lighter, sweeter quaffers, as you can see. With the crowd I had there was no call for opening up anything remotely “serious” (BTW the Riunite was brought by one of the grandmas, and it was as grim as I remember it).

The Norman Cab-Merlot and CStJ Chard are reliable staples in my cellar, inexpensive and satisfying.

A surprise was actually the Twin Fin, which for a cheap Cab was quite enjoyable, I think because it didn’t taste like a cheap Cab at all–with too much residual sugar, big fruit, and toned-down tannins it really tasted more Shiraz-y that Cab-ish. Yellow Tail folks will adore this stuff: It scores much higher on the deliciousness scale, and was quite a hit. Silver Oak it “ain’t,” but there’s a time and place for most all, I guess!

Awesome thunder on this episode, I’m super stoked for thursday. Hope everybody at wine library had a great weekend.
QOTD: Worst wine was a demi-sec vouvray, I’m sorry but I dont remember the producer, I do remeber it was a 2005.
Best wine was a Lieb Long Island Pinot Blanc. I will be patiently waiting the episode when wristbands will be given to all who leave a comment. Thanks for the show!

QOTD in haiku: Question of the day: Best – Brancott Sauvignon Blanc. Not so good – Wild Bunch.

Gary,

The worst wine: Heat damaged red from down under. It has a penguin on the label. Shiraz I believe.

The Best Wine: Rodney Strong: 2005 “A Gentlemen’s Port” Sonoma County.

I know, not so hot, but the best I could do. I have to admit, I’m more of a 15 year Tawny Port guy than the heavy stuff out of that bottle. However it was gift, so I will keep on drinking it.

Mike Nelson

hey gary –

This weekend’s wine recap (ranked in order of enjoyment):

1. Turkey Flats 2006 Rose
2. Rombauer 2006 Carneros Chardonnay
3. Chelehem 2006 Pinot Gris
4. Alamos 2006 Torrontes
5. Pazo Senorans 2006 Albarino
6. Grigch Hills 2006 Chardonnay
7. Black Pig 2006 Ribera Del Duero

Good show as usual – hope all is well!

No wine for me this weekend but I did finally pick up a Chateauneuf Du Pape that I’m excited to try this coming weekend.

The new wristband is great, GV! I am a fan of Dolcetto and have been one for a while. Like you said, it is sad to see the price going up on it, but you can still get some great juice for under $20.

QOTD: I didn’t get to have any wine this past weekend because I was on call for work, and just didn’t want to be called in while in the midst of enjoying some great wine. Hopefully this weekend will be different.

Great EP!

I would just like to retell my GV email story here:

I sent GV an email with a photo of my wife and I and the book. I got a link to GV’s “why you won’t hear from me in less than two weeks” video. I got a email back the next day!

Go GV!

New mic, not good. You sound like you’ve got a very bad cold and somebody shoved you into a box……..oh, and closed and ducttaped it and put you in the back of a ’69 Ford Econoline van.

The worst: A hot 2006 Fleur Pinot Noir (Carneros) poured at a 4th of July festival served in a plastic cup. The best: 2004 Palm Cellars Syrah Judy’s (Paso Robles). Used to not prefer this area, but some stuff I’ve tasted lately have been delicious.

Hi Gary,

My 10 y.o. son is starting to sniffy sniff and taste a bit (we’re Italian!). It’s neat how he uses references that he knows and that you have used as well eg. Skittles and Nerds.

QOTD : Best wine this W/E was a ’00 Cesari Amarone – went great with some nice Reggiano and bruschetta.

Have a great 500th. And come to Canada for some Niagara and BC wines.

Nice Show…i didn’t like the new audio though…
QOTD: worst: Alamos seleccion malbec 2006. I’m argentinian and big fan of malbecs, but this one was too oaky and unbalanced for me.
The best was a brand new 2006 vacqueyras from Domaine Bouletin. On my way back home, i found out that the cork was broken and some wine spilling out. I didn’t want to return the bottle (the aromas were beautiful), so i decided to open it that day. It was delicious. Gorgeous red fruit with a huge minerality backing up.

Hey can someone tell me what the 3 of the episodes where gary travels to France.
thanks!!

QOTD: Gary, I am all about trying new wines, however this weekend I was in the mood to go with the “tried and true”. Therefore, there was no “worst” wine. I had the 2004 Terrazas de los Andes Cab Sav. I rate this wine 92+ at $10. It is unfiltered. Heavy tomato and plum components with chocolate and mocha on the finish. The other wine was the 2006 J. Lohr White Riesling. A fantastic wine from a winery that I love. A little more “Chard-like” than the 05, but really excellent. The customary great acidity of J. Lohr Riesling. This wine has more nuttiness and cheesiness than the 05, which was more tropical. Great complexity, great fruit, everlasting gobstopper finish, great wine for $10!

Nothing but good wines which was fortunate as it was my birthday on Saturday July 5.
After a tasty pate starter, the delightful BabsHoney prepared a couple of delicous porterhouse steaks with a suteed tomato topping, the recipe for which was actually on Gourmet this month. We washed it down with that 2004 Turnbull Cab. I was impressed by this wine’s liveliness and drinkablility, not ponderous or heavy going at all. Defnitely great with food and perfect with the steak. Even more delightful was the sight of the ever-dainty BabsHoney mounting an attack on her Flintsonian-sized steak. She’ so sweet.
BabsHoney had baked a gorgeous golden buttercream birthday cake which she painstakingly garlanded with sprays of frosting flowers and cresting curlicues. We drank that prosecco you see in better wine shops with the green label. Everybody knows it, don’t remember the name. The citrus, pineapple flavours mated deliciosly with the creamy birthday cake.
And on Sunday, with our farewell-birthday-weekend, tomato and shrimp dinner, we opened the Havens Alabrino which you loved but has caused some controversy on the forum boards. It took a while for me to get into it but once it opened up, I totally dug the faintly tropical notes atop a mix of grapefruit, herb and mint. Definitely arty but wonderful summer drinking.
The new mic set up makes your aerating sound like a trpical storm. Talk about bringing the thunder. Yes, the other viewers are right. Retire that lavalier.

great episode, get a better mic because the concept is good, you sound much richer but the thing you are using has very little dynamic range. You need to spend a few hundred bones to get quality, and your voice does the whole spectrum over the time of a show.

QOTD The best I had was a 2003 Col Solare Washington Cab. Wow it brings the thunder! The worst was a ’96 Tempranillo Grand Riserva that had unfortunately turned the corner. Otherwise it would have been a contender.

Mate the mic is terrible.
You sound like you have a cold and are talking into a large cardboard box.
The previous voice recording was much better.

I think it was waaaay better without the mic. Now it sounds like a bad CNN feed from Kabul or something. Totally different feeling actually when you watch it…

Gary, was reading the comments and have got to agree with otis, the microphone SUCKS! Old School rules!

The new mic sounds pretty awful.

The BEST wine I had on the fourth was a gorgeous Cinsault basted Rose – oh, how nicely the fruit and acidity came together.

The WORST wine? Well, one of the guests actually brought a bottle of Robert Mondavi Private Select Merlot to the BBQ – not knowing that many a wine snob would be present. My friends and I snickered at the sight of it, but towards the end of the evening I demanded that we give it a fair shake. So we opened and tasted it. IT WAS BLOODY AWFUL. It wasn’t just awful in the “wine snob” sense. It just tasted like crap. Further, it had nothing to do with being cooked, nor corked. It just tasted like crap. It was awful from front to back. I feel so bad for folks who drink that swill. It just keep them from wine for the rest of their lives.

What a great question for me. I’m on a temporary work assignment in Melbourne Australia and took a wine tour of the Yarra Valley this last weekend (no 4th of July action here). Best find, the Tokar Estate Tempranillo (unusual grape for this region).

The microphone sound can be made much better. Several commenters have already given some tips.

The sensitivity setting or “level” of the microphone itself is too high. This causes the sound to be distorted because your voice often hits the limit. If you have the possibility to turn the sensitivity down on the piece of equipment that the microphone is connected to then that may fix the problem.
Alternatively, move the mic further away from your mouth.

Once that is fixed we should be able to hear if the microphone you are currently using still makes it sound “muddy”.

Perhaps you can post the list of equipment and description of your setup on your site somewhere. I’m sure there are some vayniacs who can give some tips to improve it.

I’m gonna KoKo-B-Ware of that Pietro Rinaldi, but I will try it. Getting my spoof video ready…look out…it will rock!!!

QOTD:
Best weekend wine – Wolffer 2004 Reserve Chardonnay (RAZOR SHARP…Split my tongue in 2)

Worst weekend wine: Toasted Head 2006 Chardonnay (Tasted like a grapefruit soaked in rubbing alcohol)

QOTD: Best and worst were the same, because I drank just one wine during the weekend (at a birthday party) — Woodbridge cabernet.