Bring back the pack o’ cards!

ROFL I was the one who said sometimes the use of the word play made me crazy, I can’t believe Gary actually picked that up, you sir, are a class act. And you really care. And that’s why we love Winelibrary, not to mention of course everything I’ve learned from the show, it’s a beautiful thing

Gary, this is actually the first full episode of WLTV I’ve caught and I’ve gotta tell you man, I’m an instant fan. I’ve got a lot to learn so I’ll keep tuning in. Keep hustling!

Happy Birthday Derek Jensen.
Thank you for Strangely Like War.
Qotd 8

I’m enjoying a Geiiken Zipang right now that I bought from Winelibrary thanks to the wonderful, nay amazing customer service of Brandon and Jeff, please let them know that I think they’re true top shelf class acts and I’ll be ordering from WL again in the future. You could even say that Brandon really brought the thunder to customer service.

Zipang really has to be served chilled. You do the wrong thing with it, get it to room temp, or mix it with spicy cheese and the flavor really sours.

Love the interaction on the show.

QOTD: 20-30 comments

I like the new format with reading some comments on the show. I enjoyed the show but I’m having a tough time finding decent QPR California wines under $20. Most of the Cali wines I’ve tried under $20 taste like crap. Seems like I can find better quality wines for the money from Europe.

In regards to guests, for every bad guest like Robert Camuto or Benjamin Christie you’ll have many more awesome guests like Daniel Rogov, Nicolas Joly, Santiago Achaval, and Jeffrey Davies. Don’t get so down on one or two bad guests. Speaking of Jeffrey Davies, you need to give him a big shout-out for you using the word “makeup” to describe heavily oaked wines (See Episode #374 at 9:50 minutes in). You use that term all the time now.

QOTD: Only this 1!

I’ve been watching for a long while severely time-shifted as I ride the train every morning to work here in Tokyo. Although I live in the future, by the time I wake up, there are already tons of notes for you so I always figure my 2 yen will be lost in the fountain of praise, quips and (weirdly) hateration (see below) that is already overflowing the comments page after each episode. But hey, here goes:

I haven’t checked out the comments in awhile, but speaking of weird haterizm, I was stunned by some of the comments left by a particular G***** (evidently of the Jungle) H**** that apparently has you pegged for a fraud and also felt it necessary to go after Mott for his cinematographic steez. I’ll agree with him that you sometimes overcompensate for a quiet guest by jumping into the “dead air” and sort of giving them multiple choice options about their own opinions and/or experiences A) You like it but you’re still kinda finding yourself conflicted about the citrus elements on the back end B) You’re comfortable about the acidity but you don’t think it’s a quality dessert*ah-hem*sweet wine play C) It has incredibly well balanced Starburst fruit components but with a hint of doggie chew-toy… burnt rubber… flammable, No wait! ROAD TAR!!! elements on the finish D) Go JETS!

But I think that’s part of what your long time Vayner-nationalistas, including myself, find so humorous and endearing about the show! Yeah sometimes it’s tough for guests to compete with your energy level and emphatic opinions, but that’s why they should take a look at a few shows before coming on and getting bowled over by your outsized personality (especially if their agent tipped them off about the show and told them to go on and sell some books).

That said, I haven’t seen a guest of yours that I didn’t find interesting on some level, or an episode that didn’t teach me a little more, or at least open my mind further to the possibilities of wine. Thanks for all of your effort, and for keeping the content and the wine flowing!

As an aside, I would love to find out sometime in the future a little more about the mysterious Mott and what his role is, away from the camera. And besides that, since I’ll never be on the show (I’m no aficionado of any kind), and I don’t seem to be able to stop myself…. I’d like to ask my own QOTD (inspired by Stephen Fry) to you and the commenting class of the Vayner-nation:

“Is it more bizarre that only this little fruit – the grape, can somehow produce a drink of almost infinite subtlety and complexity without any additives, or is it stranger that other fruits and berries which are also insanely delicious, can’t?” I mean, you can get yourself a bottle of Strawberry-Kiwi Boone’s Farm ‘Wine,’ (and boy do I remember [and wish I remembered] some of those days) but really that’s just sugarvodka.

Anyway, if it’s not too late, thanks for reading the ones at the bottom of the comment well!

Had a wine at the California Wine Fair up here in Canada that smelt like Smoked Meat, more on the beef side Almost like Montreal Style.

qotd: maybe 40-50 been watching since Oct 08.

Nice show today. I’ve probably left around 25 comments I guess…but been watching since about episode 100 so I guilty of being a lazy commenter for sure. 🙂

Having just just received the bad news that Nicolas Potel has cancelled his Australisia tour where I was due to taste some amazing wines, I am struggling to put brain into gear and put words to paper…but here goes.

I am in total agreement with the other Vayniacs comments with regards to the last guests lack of personal opinion and preference (get some balls man) for the wines tasted and the excruitating awkardness of the QOTD.

Having never tried any wines from the Carneros AVA it is difficult for me to express any opinion with respect to the wines tasted, but following Gary V’s ethos I will certainly hunt them down and try!!

Your very favourite

Your very favourite was supposed to be erased but in my druken stupor it was mistakenly left….arghh….I have just been a vertical tasting with Nick Lane (CLody Bays Winemaker) so my apologies

Hi Gary,
Been watching the Thunder show for about 6 months, enjoy it very much. This is my first comment. I agree with the person saying you could do something to show the appearance of the wine better. I’m not suggesting great lighting/photography, that would be a distraction from what you do, but tilting the glass against a white background with a direct light source would help.

Can’t understand why your last guest got such bad comments. I think it’s just the way show went and it’s good that you have an open style which can take the show in various directions.

Enjoyed the show today. Having a live show without a guest that is current and topical is better than the taped shows with guests to me. Hearing about this particular AVA was interesting. I am going to the 92Y on Sunday and look forward to it. I also saw you at Macy’s De Gustibus focusing on South American wines this past November and that was a lot of fun.

Yeah! Glad to have you back…you rock! Great show, I knew nothing about Caneros before today. (p.s.: I love the Rombauer Zin) Hope Lizzie is feeling well.
QOTD: 15-ish comments.

Smart “play” to read the comments. It’ll get people more on board to writing them.

QOTD: I started watching around ep. 350 and have pretty much left a comment on every one I’ve seen, so, somewhere in the 375 area.

As always, thanks for the review.

QOTD—This is my first time to leave a comment.

QOTD – maybe 30 – 40
I tend to go through phases, i’m currently in a commenting phase.
Hope i can keep it up.

LOVE the reading comments idea
LOVE the shout outs at the end after the QOTD
I just plain LOVE the WLTV community, and the GV.com community.

Right, time to go mow the lawn. Expanding my smell skills.

Why does my comment need moderating?

Just watched the very first episode of Wine Library TV
Link it up: http://tv.winelibrary.com/episodes/episode1.mov
And yea, it’s rough, but a diamond in the rough for sure, and it’s
really nice to see the way that diamond has polished up over the last
4 years to what it’s become today.

And you’re right Gary, your staff rocks. I would like to see more of what you promised in that first show: tours of the Wine library itself and meeting the staff? Has that been done?

Anyway, take care as always and see you on Twitter.

Glad I met up with one of Germany’s largest Cali wine importers this week as it will surely give me the chance to try these wines on a more regular basis.

QOTD: Probably 5 in the past year. I guess that makes me a “Lurker”.

QOTD: I would say < 10 so far…had only just started as I had previously been kinda lazy! Well, definately have enjoyed your shows and will leave more comments in the future.

You’ve definately made me wanna keep on trying more wines. Only difference would be, it’s really costly to try many wines in short settings. Once we’ve opened it, we’ve gotta drink it whether we like it or not.

This is my second comment… love NY Rangers and can’t wait to see Avery on the ice tonight. Sean Avery is to hockey what you are to wine…a mover and shaker. Glad to have you both back in “the saddle”.

Great episode, I think the comments idea is awesome!
QOTD: Probably 30-40 comments total

I really needed this kind of episode after the last guy. I admit he bugged me and for the first time, I didn’t finish watching an episode. Trust me, it does not change my opinion of the show….which of course is thinking it rocks!!!
QOTD: an admitted lurker for a couple years now, I probably have only left 15 or so comments. Way to make me come out of the woodwork(and hopefully others, too)!

QOTD – I’m a big fan, but this will be my first comment!