Nice to have you back and good show to get ya’ in the mood for the holidays.

QOTD: 1998 DP or a Thomas Kemper Old Fashioned Black Cherry Soda

Good to see you back in your element in the elements…

Not much a fan at all on bubbles. but will keep info handy.

QOTD: Dom at like 200 clams..

My man is back and in his element! My withdrawals have subsided. Whew!

Great show, you brought back the enthusiasm and on top of that my favorite type of wine, da bubbles.

QOTD: Tough one but just love Gosset Grand Reserve and the Pommery Apenage a very close second. I have taken a tour of Les Crayeres (The Caves) of Pommery at Chateau Boyer and it had to be the greatest dinner/experience in my culinary journeys. Amazing place so the environment pumped up the score big time.

Have a great holiday season.

Cheers!

P.S. How ’bout dem Colts! I think we play the Broncos in the first round so looking forward to a trip to the Meadowlands. 🙂

QOTD:

Codorniu (can’t remember which one) 1996 vintage
Fabrice moreau champagne

Never tasted a serious Krug or DP though…

gary, great show- 2 well knowns and 2 newbies for me. i love the jeep plowing snow into your head at the end

qotd- last month i had some larmandier bernier rose de signee brut 1er cru……. woooooooooo. i was a little tipsy and it was late when i popped it but damn it had depth and character. 100 % pinot goooooooood stuff

I bubbles are my favorite too, even though I still haven’t had the real thing. Thanks for the ideas!
1999 Roederer L’Ermitage Brut has been the best so far.

We missed you Gary and friends!!!

Are you sure taping outside in freezing rain is a good idea for someone recovering?…You rock!

I promise y’all that new bubbles will be hitting this palate this New Year’s Eve. I remember enjoying the Veuve…Now it’s time for something new…

Party on!

QOTD: A&W Sparkling Vanilla Cream Soda

Are you ready for the Dolphins Jets showdown? Pennington is hunting for you! Go Fins!

Great show Gary; wish you’d do more on sparklng wines. Champagne is my desert island wine too.

QOTD: ’96 La Grande Dame; ’95 Cuvee Louise (at Pommery’s cellars; I suspect the atmosphere was an influence, though later bottles in the U.S. rocked as well); ’96 Feuillate Palmes d’Or

Surprised you used such a narrow flute; looked as though you really had to squeeze your nose in there for your sniffy sniffs! 🙂

Happy holidays and thanks for your show!

Glad to see you back and smiling.

“tight nose in these conditions”

Don’t drink much bubbles these days. But I remember liking some early-mid 80’s crystal. Never liked the usual california “brands” much.

Happy holidays to all!

QOTD: Dr. Pepper, lemonade, a spritz of Hawaiian Punch, and water. Don’t knock it till you’ve tried it.

I was FREEZING just watching you. Good idea to be out in the cold and getting over an illness? Just the dad in me.

F’in SWEET! I knew that after a few day hiatus, GV would do something fantastic to make up for it!! Love the snow, the ice pellets smacking into the glasses made for a nice effect, and the shot w/ the wristband was on-point (do you practive throwing corks etc at the camera?)

QOTD: Uh, haven’t had too many bubbles. Those that I’ve had have generally been spumante, and it’s trite, but Martini and Rossie generally brings a nice delicate flavor profile. Other (inexpensive) bubbles I’ve had have transitioned poorly on the palate.

Oh boy I smell an instant classic here – and you were pimpin Kat’s hat –
very nice. Great Great show – spittin on the floor (ground) was the bomb.

As much as I love the Champagna, I’m a sucker for alittle rs (residual
sugar). The Banfi Rosa Regale just does it for me. This and a rich
chocolate cake and one is in Heaven.

Yoooooooooo Geeeeeeeeee, What da heck Ya doin’ in that Ice Storm
when yur “under the weather”??? 🙂
Hope the JETS stomp the Seahawks!! Goooooooooo JETS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

qotd: LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVZZZ DA BUBBLYZZZZZZZZZZZZ !!!!!!!!! 🙂

QOTD= 1989 Krug! kinda sounds like Im bragging but it is true. Pierre Morlet is a close second but WL wont ship to me in Oklahoma anymore so I guess I cant have that again !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Great show GV!!

QOTD: Jacques Selosse Champagnes are the absolute BEST!! And Anselme Selosse is probably the most interesting winemaker I have ever met!

Best wishes from Paris,

QOTD: gotta say of all bubbles, 2 rocked me, one was a ’96 Duval-Leroy Brut “Cuvee La Femme” and another was a cremant d’ alsace but forgot the name, you used to sell it for bout 40 bucks, had a crazy metal top over the cork haha

Krug 1996 brut

wonderful show! Love the outdoors! Can spit anywhere, ugh?
I could tell you were freezing! I’ll bet Mott had mittens on!
The traffic in the background was great! Maybe you can do beaches, shopping malls, highways, open it up!

QOTD: RC Cola. I don’t like champagnes.

QOTD: Nicholas Feulliate Vintage Blanc de blanc…sick good!

When I haven’t seen a new show in a while, I miss hearing you GV and appreciate all of the great shows you have done over these last 3 years (seems like 3). Your wife could not have known that you were going to sit outside in a sleet storm doing an episode after just recovering from being sick. Thanks for the bubblies. Always good to see new values this time of the year and I have not had either of the last two so will have to give them a try. Went to a vintage tasting of champagnes earlier in the year and got to try very old Krug, Billecart Salmon and Bollinger. Even went back as far as a 1921 Krug that was still quite wonderful. Again, thanks for risking frostbite to give us another memorable episode.

Gary,

GREAT episode! Lurking for a few months now, but had to post since your Jets are here in Seattle. Wait til you see this game. It will look exactly the same as your set for this episode. This has been the biggest snowstorm in downtown Seattle/Bellevue I have ever seen. It’s awesome.

QOTD: Don’t like champagne…too yeasty. Give me a Prosecco, Cava, or…black bubbles. Tried them yet? Shingleback Sparkling Shiraz…nice.

Since I’m posting, I wanted to point out a little “issue” I have with your last Seattle visit. You put NW reislings agains NY. One of the reislings you tried was the Chateau Ste Michelle Eroica and you scored it low. As I recall, because the fruit character wasn’t as big as some of the others. You missed something here. This wine is a collaboration between Ste Michelle and a German winemaker. You even pointed this out during the episode. With that in mind, you should have known that it wouldn’t be as fruity as the others and should have been looking for the characteristics of the German reislings. I was really disappointed in your stance on this wine, given the style caveat that YOU pointed out. No big deal, just take that into consideration when you’re scoring these wines. You gave a fantastic wine a low score because you didn’t take that into consideration.

POTD (prediction of the day at 9:40 Pacific time): Hawks 27, Jets 24. I want a shout out to “My Man Mike in Seattle” if they win. If they lose, shout out to “Mike’s my bitch in Seattle.” 🙂

Keep up the GREAT work! We talk about you all the time at George’s Wine Shoppe here in Bellevue. Let us know when you’re in town next time and stop in.

no better way to come back then with an awesome bubbles episode.

qotd – either francoise bedel “entre ciel et terre” brut nv or the pierre peters you did on the growers champagne episode awhile ago

more on that, as this episode shows, the small production stuff kills it. since you did that episode i haven’t touched any champagne house i’ve ever heard of before, and have had 10X better stuff because of it

speaking of, i think you should do another growers champagne episode before new years

if you can get your hands on it i would love you to do the 98 arygle extended tirage on the thunder show

and finally… i’m with you 100% about the island wine question

to all the vayniacs, have a great holiday and enjoy great wine with the people you care about

Great comeback in the snow GV! I can’t say I miss the east coast weather, especially since I’ve been trying delicious champagne here in Napa. I got to retry the Pierre Peters Blanc de Blanc, which is probably my favorite so far, followed by Gaston Chiquet (Pinot Menuier is drastically under appreciated). Happy holidays all!