QOD

QOD- ANY 01 CDP and their 02 CDP counterpart….want vintage variation in a relatively steadfast region, rock that paralell baby!

watching this being taped from UsTREAM was so cool. Dang, I’m sorry I have you a bogus # since I heard you say you were going to call me. dang. smile.

Rioja is a new fav of mine. Ya can get some real thunder for $10-$14. I like that you used two different glasses. why waste wine rinsing? ugh?

Ever look into the future. Wonder what episode 2000 will be like? You will look like more like Mott, he will have his mid-life crisis and be driving a vet with two blondes on his arms, since he will be a recognized director of Hollywood. Winelibrary will be a world wide chain with 1000 locations. 276 million folks will be trying wines influenced by you…. could it happen?

Great show. Good!

oh. QOTD: yawn. Sorry, no answer.

I would have to say the biggest variation was between the 03 and the 04 paul hobbs russian river pinot noir. The 03 wan outstanding! Complex with flavor playing a symphony in your mouth as to the 04 being boring and standard……Weird

I do like seeing the side-by-side examination of vintages for wines from good producers. However, coming from the wine retail business as well, there is nothing more frustrating than some yutz requesting a specific vintage (usually three or four releases ago!) of some mass-produced, mediocre wine. Americans put entirely too much stock in vintages for their domestic $10-15 bottles of wine. I also agree with an earlier poster: answer more questions or give some love to your posters on your laid-back Fridays. Maybe that will encourage more lurkers to post and come out of their closets!

P.S. I will probably continue to harp on the Lizzie issue until you address it!

How about doing an episode on those “boxed” wines you find at the grocery store?

2004 & 2005 Robert Mondavi Cabernet “Oakville.” Very different, 2004 Napa cab style, 2005…almost Shiraz-ish

I had a four year virtical of Rafanelli Cabernet from 97- 2001 and the vintage variation was incredible- with 99 and 01 taking the cake, they were obviously, true expressions of a single vineyard, in different years. Very interseting.

I tried 98 and 99 Pol Roger recently, with the 98 being far better than the 99 which was austere, bitter and far too young. The 98 was much rounder and biscuity.

Not seen Bottle Shock yet – hope it is better than Sideways!

yo yo lurker jay here still watching the show every day and many older episodes not so many at the moment as my external speekers are playing up and the built are very quiet ear to the screen lol .keep it up man never stop the show,id love to see an old port show some 34s 55s and earlier please please,cheers jay uk

The biggest vintage variation I’ve ever had was with a brazilian wine “Lote 43”, a cab. sauv./merlot blend, the flagship of the Miolo producer, from “Vale dos Vinhedos”. The 2002 was very herbal, with lots of olive, bell peper and some flower and fruit and strong acidity. The 2004, the first made with the consulting of Michel Roland, was much rounder, fruitier, alcolic, bigger, well, more of a “international style”. I found this change to be to the better though.

I love setting two vintages side by side in a tasting. You know how sometimes you’ll be looking for a bottle in a shop and you notice that there’s a wine with some leftover stock from the last vintage alongside the new vintage. I always grab them, just can’t resist. Here’s a comparison I made a while back.

Wirrega Heartland Shiraz (Australia – Limestone Coast) 2003 & 2004 (7,90 EUR)

2003
Dark red purple becoming quite deep in the center. spicy rich black berries with licorice. Bitter toasted ripe dark berries. Good tangy acid, but subdued tannins. Short to medium. Unbalanced with acid dominating roasted fruits and the tannins falling flat. It’s still a nice wine, but the balance is bad. The 2004 is much better. Score:88

2004
The fruit is ripe but not overripe. The balance is right. Good aging potental. Deep red purple darkening in the middle. Noticeably deeper than the 2003. quite closed. Ripe dark berries with pepper. Wood. A tic dusty. Rich ripe dark berries. Good tannin and acid complexity. Long with good balance. Rich fruit hanging on to the end. Much better than the 2003. Score:90

I went to an organised vertical tasting once of Château Fontesteau Cru Bourgeois where we tried every vintage from 1995 to 2004. Very educational, although the wines were fairly meh.

Yes, I saw Bottle Shock…..and as you say about Opus One, OVER-RATED!!!! I had already read Taber’s book and was totally disappointed that Mike Grgich was completely left out of the movie line….he made the wine!!!!! The setting was cool and all but there were too many artistic licenses taken. Besides, I think the tasting happened in a Paris hotel, not in an open air, very French looking crumbly building. Thumbs down in my opinion. I’ll hold out for the next movie on this topic…

OK, enough of my soapbox on that!

I went to a Shafer tasting once where we tried 13 vintages of their cab. Very interesting! Even more interesting, the other night I had two 2005 Cameron Hughes meritages from different vineyards….HUGE difference between them although one just needed some air, I think!

Keep bringing the thunder!!!!!

QOTD – That’s a GREAT question, and one that will easily show an infinitum of possibilities from lurkers and Vayniacs alike. Bordeaux and Burgundian annual variance, as well as top Rhone bottles immediately spring to mind as obvious in their evidences,(Simply think vintage charts) but among the countless thousands of wines I’ve tasted, what popped into mind was the general weakness of the ’98 Napa Cabs and even Meritages. I’m ,of course, talking of the big name blue chips, and not of ten , or $20 everyday stuff, where it didn’t matter… man, we couldn’t get people to pay for ’98s, so, at every opportunity to pour for public events, we poured them off…And despite the general profile of too much red fruit flavors and scents for cab, a few really surprised me with their integrity , and overall performance. And the guys who surprised me in weak ’98 were Merryvale Profile, whose wines I, previously, just couldn’t take to, and St. Clement Orropas. after finding these ‘diamonds in the rough’, or more like, in the weeds of a bad year, I’ve become a much closer watcher of their annual performance, and yes, a fan.

Spanish wine is my favorite qpr wine. Can you do some more in the lower price range? Thanks
Smell it first!

Rioja was always my go to wine in the 90’s. You could always find a great wine with some age for a great price. Now, like everything else, the great Riojas are greating out of reach for my everyday drinking. I still love them.

QOTD: I bought some 2003 E Guigal Cotes Du Rhone and was blown away by its qpr. So I was excited to buy the 2004. Sad, very sad. But the 2005 made a good come back.

QOTD: I think it definitely has to go to the side by side of Lopez de Heredia Tondonia 1968 and 1985. Both awesome. but showed huge differences in structure and flavor profiles. I knwo these vintages are 17 years apart, so not quite as close a comparison as 2 adjacent vintages…sooo:
Beaux Freres ’93 and ’94. The ’93 was softer, showing hints of age but still nice. The ’94 was just coming around, youthful and integrated.

Ta DA!

Hi Gary, now I noticed a nice sticker on your T-shirt ! Can I have one too ?

Recently I was surprised at the variation between the Goosebay Pinot Noir 06 & 07 from NZ. 06 was nice, with subtle berries, good minerality, and a slightly sour berry finish. 07 was much sweeter, starting off with sweet red raspberries which transitioned to pickled beets & a pickled tongue component, and then finished much smoother, with meaty sweet fruits.

Whats a jetsngiant?
I don’t go to the movies, so I’ll take a pass on Bottle Shock. However, if I did go see movies, I probably wouldn’t see that one.

nice short one!
🙂 Love the flurescent lighting technique!! Would like to see a whole show like that…What is on your tshirt I love it and I WANT ONE!!!

Go Sox!

QOTD: I remember having a early 90’s vintage Silver Oak & being blown away – it is really the bottle that turned me into a wine drinker – & having a 2002 vintage & being very disappointed. Very forgetable, especially at the price point.

Haven’t see Bottle Shock yet. Going to be out of town for a while so going to try catching it with the wife in a couple weeks

I have to say I was excited to see this producer back on your show…I’ve had the 2001 a couple times now and I’ve always loved it. I was highly dissapointed with the 2002 last summer when I tasted it…and with your notes it sounds like not much has changed since then.

QOTD: The largest change in a 1 year vintage span I’ve ever experienced was the 2004 & 2005 Caduceus Cellars Nagual de la Naga. It was a very large drop in quality for my personal taste. The production also went from 75 cases to 300…so that might have something to do with it too…

Bottle Shock is aboslutely on the “Things to do List”.

QOTD: Coincidence? Maybe? I just got done doing a photo shoot for a wine producer here on Long Island. As part of the payment he included some bottles of his wine. Two different vintages, Medolla Merlot 2002 and 2003. The 02 was pure Old World but nicely balanced. The 03 was high tannins, fruit bombish, something to definately keep under wraps for a while. What a difference a year makes!

Great show.
Short, to the point, and educational.
* I learned that Brett Farve went to the Jets!*

JUST KIDDING.

OK, last severe vintage variation I remember was Trinchero merlot. Tasted an ’03 that sucked. Apparently you enjoyed a different vintage(2004) in show #171. Well, for grocery store wine. And there you have it.

I’ve had less severe variations with Loring pinots and Boudreaux cabs, but those still can’t compete with a 10-pt difference. Trinchero takes the cake!