I noticed a fairly big variation between the 3 Sauternes of Chateau Caillou 1964, 1971, and 1973; I also noticed big time variation between the 2003 and 2004 Guigal Cotes du Rhone. Of course, the 1995 Guigal Cotes du Rhone was very different from both, but you’d expect that from an aged wine over a less mature vintage (who’d think you could age a CdR 13 years? It’s actually phenomenal). Interesting how these wines change over time.

Bottle Shock Was very light, fun entertaining somethin’ you might
tell your French friends about this movie. Was fun becuase I have been
to Chateau Montellano recently and sampled the wine.

QOTD: 2005 Malbec Gascon brought the Thunder at $13.00, the 2006
was kinda meh.

Get on ustream and yap with gary.

Gary Great episode. I have been watching a lot on Ustream and i love that.

QOTD:
-Cant really recall one.

QOTD – haven’t really done that much side-by-side tasting. I have done some of this during winery visits and remember during a Chianti flight the 2002 was at a much lower quality level… Otherwise, I have been buying a few wines on a yearly basis to do some of my own verticals…

QOTD – haven’t really done that much side-by-side tasting. I have done some of this during winery visits and remember during a Chianti flight the 2002 was at a much lower quality level… Otherwise, I have been buying a few wines on a yearly basis to do some of my own verticals…

QOTD: 2004 & 2005 Schild Estate Shiraz – the 2004 was much better then the 2005! 94 vs 89/90 pts.

Yes, I’ve seen Bottle Shock, and I liked it. But I’m a pretty easy movie critic and like most movies I see (two exceptions: China Town and Lost in Translation – HATED both). Bottle Shock, to me, was very evocative of the mood and spirit of the 1970s in California, when the wine “industry” there was very new and “wild west” in spirit. This was a film made by folks who really love wine. It certainly put me in the mood to drink some Cali chard, and I popped the cork on a bottle as soon as I got home. But my enthusiasm was dampened a bit when I read Eric Asimov’s slam of the film in the NY Times: I respect Eric’s wine writing greatly.

QOTD: Have not seen it yet.
QOTD2: 1994 vs 1995 Freemark Abbey Cabernet Sauvignon Bosché……94 was awesome…..95 was one dimensional…..same night…..same wines…..different quality…..

Bottle Shock has not yet made it to Albuquerque, NM. I did read Eric Asimov’s critique and it was very funny.
QOTD: last vertical we tried was a year ago: Ridge Montebello ’84,’94,’04. They all tasted pretty much the same though. I just had the’02 and I didn’t like it as much as last year, but I don’t remember the vintage I had last year. I’m keeping notes now on Cork’d, so I’ll be more organized.
We should do a vertical of Gary’s from when he first started the show and observe and comment on the changes.

QOTD – I don’t drink a lot of the same wines two years in a row and very rarely side by side. I have taken your advice and try lots of different wines to expand my pal.

I love Fridays on the couch, how come you don’t answer questions anymore? I think Laid back fridays could be a little more info heavy, I think bringing up different vintages is a good point, would have liked a little more on that, like was 2002 especially rainy or cold or what? and specifically what effects does it have? Sunny seasons make the grapes sweeter, but how do seasons produce one bottle of awkward bourdeau style to a dark fruit shiraz style?

QOTD: A while ago, I had a La Boca Malbec that I really liked but I don’t remember what vintage it was. I bought another bottle (2007 I think) expecting it to be if not the bottle I remembered, at least similar in style and I was so disappointed.

Bottleshock was lame but still entertaining because of the wine country shots and story about wine. The movie had 10 minutes of plot filled with 90 mintes of cheesy drama. Not bad for an independent flick. It was the only movie I’ve been to see in a theater since Sicko.

But, it did make me read Taber’s book to get a different perspective.

QOTD:
The (2) vertical wines that I drank back to back that were
oh sooooooooo different were:
(2) Sullivan Vineyard Cabernets from Napa.

The 2002 was so much more rich and full versus a slightly lighter less explosive 2003. Oh well I should have bought more of the 2002’s.

Rich
Upstate NY

I’m a lurker and finally felt the need to post. I love the show and I am getting back into wine after a brief dry spell due to being a poor college kid. Love the show Gary and hope, though I know it will happen one sad day, that you never stop. I’m looking foreword to the 20 year anniversary of the Thunder Show.

QOTD: Though I know its a cheap Finger Lakes wine, the 2001 Lucas Tug Boat Red was so much better than the 2002. 2001 still had some good strawberry and fresh cut grass flavors where 2002 seemed to go all to fruit and sugar.

Awesome show Gary!

I took my wife to see Bottle Shock. She had no idea what we were going to see. I got the impression it wasnâ??t challenging Batman for box office receipts. We had to travel over 15 miles to get to a theater that was showing it. The woman at the box office never heard of it. I had to convince her that not only was â??Bottle Shockâ? the name of a movie, but it was a movie being shown in the very theater for which she was selling tickets. So she checked again and eventually confirmed that I was right and she sold me two tickets. No one was in the theater when we entered. Before the move started two other people arrived separately. After the movie my wife said she wasnâ??t surprised there were so few people. I interpreted this to mean she didnâ??t enjoy it. I did enjoy it. This may have little to do with cinematic art. It was meaningful to me. It (the story not the movie) affected my life. In the late 70â??s and early 80â??s I didnâ??t know the details, but I knew California wines had beaten French wines in some contest. This was a factor in motivating me to introduce myself and my father to vintage California wines. Once I started on this road there was no turning back. Today, everybody who drinks vintage new world wines has been impacted by this story.

Love the Laid back Friday! Good Show!

“Sheep’s butt . . .”!!!! Good show since I adore the Spanish wines, esp the good ones.

I have yet to see Bottle Shock but plan on seeing it soon.

QOTD: I have to agree with Andy regarding OPN (Oregon Peenots) that vary from year to year. For me, Archery Summit comes to mind with different wines from one year to the next.

I’m hoping to join you for the festivities tomorrow. We have tickets but the Dominette’s mom is not doing well. We need a fun evening.

Cheers!

Gary & Mott, LIGHTS !!! LOVE the fluorescent lights!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 🙂

I’m from Virginia, actually not very far from where you are filming your podcast. I was thinking about coming out to see it in person. The only problem I had was just to get in it cost like 75 bux a little steep if you ask me. But anyway hope you enjoy the Old Dominion.

QOTD: Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm…. I dunno.

I think to get verticals that are dramatically different you have to go old world and I haven’t done that many old world verticals.

QOTD: cant say that ive done the 2 diff vintages back to back but to say hockey is getting soft I can see youve never watched your Buffalo Sabers play and its like when they get into the play offs!!! Its going to be a good your for the Sabers and the Bills well there the Bills

Well…I havent done any vintage tastings…but i remember a while ago when i had two 2001 Solaia’s 6 months apart, and they were totally different…probably just bottle variation, but who knows

qotd: Justin Cabernet 2005 good. Justin Cabernet 2006 not as good (and age wasn’t the issue).

QOTD- 2001 Artazuri Garnacha ($8) was about a 93, the 2002 was poured out into the sink. Cheers!

Haven’t see Bottle Shock yet, but looking forward to it!
Love the laid back Fridays on the couch! Especially when combined with the head to head tastings.
QOTD: Attended some Ridge Monte Bello tastings in recent years thanks to a buddy of mine. Able to taste older vintages of Monte Bello next to the vintage that Ridge just finished blending or is currently blending along with the components by themselves Itypically Cab, Cab Franc, Merlot, Petit Verdot) Very interesting tastings. Clearly demonstrates how each element contributes to the final blended wine. Also a good opportunity to see the benefits of aging as well as, sometimes, how there can clearly be bottle variation even within the same vintage (many people attend, so many bottles of the same vintage are being poured).