Ugh, come on, you’re a guest you get to ask the question of the day! The best Spanish wine GV has recommended is 2007 J&f Lurton Rueda White: http://winelibrary.com/reviewwine.asp?item=39896 Gary liked it so much he emptied the bottle on the show to finish it off, no joke! He’s never done that before to my knowledge. ROTFLMAO! 🙂

As fun as the guests are, I really do feel they subtract from your personality Gary. They also really don’t let you express your true feelings on a wine. I don’t know about everyone else, but I like it when you have no restraints, and you can just tell it like it is. It’s just a thought, anyways. You know I’m going to keep watching, regardless! 🙂

Interesting discussion, but I agree with Little Jonny; some of the bordeauxs i have had recently for under $30 make me reluctant to spend that much money of a Cab.

QOTD; Alberinos are really nice

another enjoyable episode gary. great to see fellow forum rat Randy in the hot seat for some tastings.

QOTD; I enjoyed the 2006 Black Big Albarino – but I think that vintage is sold out and the 2007 is now available.

By the way Gary, Lito Sheppard is over the hill…you need to snap back to reality.

Very good guest and show, Thanks!

Awesome show gary you brought the thunder today !!!! Randy was one of your best guests yet..

QODA: I hae not gotten into spanish wines yet, I seem to stray away from that isle and always end up where the burgundys are 🙂

Gary, When the guest said 75$ a bottle,the first words out of my mouth were holy

crap. Gary, times are tough, we need more wines that pack the thunder and less

PDiddy.

QOTD:2007 El Perro Verde Rueda

Keep the new interview style! I think this was one of your best recently, & I thought Randy was very knowledgeable!

QOTD: I’m still working my way back thru all of the past year’s episodes so I can’t name anything specific, but right now I’m really into any Cava- great sparkly at a great price for anytime when you can’t plunk down for a good Champagne.

QOTD: Ouch…tough one. Here’s my recommendation since i don’t remember Gary’s…Mas del Abundancia 2004 Monsant. Check it, Monsant is the new Priorat.

Cheers for showing terroir!

Good show. Not much for the poor and value driven consumer though.

I have some 05 Murcia Pico Madama that I got on pre sale at wine library but haven’t tried it yet. I hope it is the best Spanish wine I’ve had once I try it.

Gary, I did notice that you spoke all over your guest’s comments once again this show. I can see you are working on it but sometimes forget and go back to your old ways like using “play”. That is really getting old now. Please try to use “real” words and phrases instead of “slang”. Maybe thinking of it like that will help? or you could just pretend we’re all naked. Ha ha

I had a chance to open a magnum of 05 Valsalado Paisajes V this weekend and it was pretty good. We had a paring dinner and drank way more than usual. The group all agreed it was good and went with the food courses. It does seem true that Spanish wines go very well with lots of foods.

Thanks Gary!

Gary, great show and great guest, you can really tell this guy is very passionate and proud of his wines, but, 75 bones for me is a little too steep, i can probably buy 5 or 6 bottles of great wine, such as Cartiladge and Browne cabernet, Soujourn pinot noir, walnut crest cab, Robert Mondavi cabernet, casillero del diablo, etc. keep up the great work and asta la vista.

Have any of you ever noticed how Wine Spectator coddles California? It is unblievable. It is almost like they somehow own some vineyards in Napa or Sonoma. There are Great wines being grown in Virginia right now. Not a mention of them in WS. That is why I dropped by subscription to WS. Gary, nice work on VA so far…How about another Virginia show showcasing the 2007 reds? I have had a few and they are delicious.

Good guest. Reminded me a little bit of Andy Richter when he was on Conan.

Randy-go straight for the Vina Godeval Godello, Santiago Ruizwhite blend, and the Odysseus Garnacha Blanca. For reds I like the Palacios Petalos, Muga for Riojas (white rose and red) and my favorite being a nice Ribera del Duero, like Emilio Moro or Condado de Haza. Viva Espana!!

Top 65 OOOOOOOH YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH !!!!!!!!! 🙂

I enjoyed this episode. Randy seems like an honest and passionate guy, and I give him props for that. How he named his wines was a nice touch and says something about him. I think we get a filtered, perhaps G-rated version of you Gary when you have (some) guests on. To be honest, I don’t have a problem with that at all. I just take your comments with a grain of salt. You have a business to run that is heavily dependent on relationships (not being in the wine business, I could be wrong), so I think viewers need to take such episodes at face value, learn something and just enjoy the show, which I always do.

On another note, I have to say the price point of Napa Cab is a deal-breaker for me. I understand folks like Randy are in business to make money. But I can’t bring myself to spend over 70 bones to get a qood Napa Cab when I can buy killer wines from all over Spain (Jumilla, Toro, Rioja, etc.) and France (Rhone, Ventoux, Languedoc) that bring huge QPR & thunder at a fraction of the price. And as Jeffrey Davies said, let’s not forget Bordeaux. You can find great wines from 01, 03, 04 and even 05 for less than $100, some for far less. It looks like 06 will offer similar opportunities.

Bottom line, I see tremendous value at every price point up to and above $100 for Spanish and French wines and I’m having a hard time seeing that out of CA. If I’m way off base, I’d welcome a nudge in the right direction.

Don’t worry about using “play,” Gary — it’s who you are, unfiltered.

I like your asking the guest which wines have knocked his socks off lately — anyone on the show should be able to give a good answer to that without it seeming like a curveball, and I’d love to have heard what Charles Smith, Randall Grahm, et al, have been excited about lately.

I’m two ways about the QOTD being a surprise for the guest. On one hand, what absolutely, absolutely makes your show work is that we watch you and the guests drink wines — we watch their faces and their reactions — and it’s the same way watching someone think up a QOTD (and, as with last week, it tests whether they watch the show). On the other hand, if they knew beforehand that they had to ask a question, maybe they’d be less stumped. My opinion, I like watching someone on air come up with a question.

Keep up the guests Gary, they make your best episodes. Even if you need to leave out the numerical rating for fidelity and just talk about the wines.

Gary–too bad a lot of your guests are great but not big fans of the show…if I was a guest I’d be working on my QTOD for weeks prior!

GEEVEE, you are a braver man than me to put a number on a wine with the maker sitting right there beside you, with several glass bottles within easy reach! (Randy Sloan looks like a pretty burly fellow, too–lucky for you he also seems like a Great Big Huggable Teddy Bear.)

Speaking of putting numbers on wines, I’m starting to have a real problem with the number thing. Seriously putting a number on a wine after a thirty second sniffy-sniff and whirl would be like judging a woman the first 30 seconds of a first date. I’m realizing that to understand and appreciate a wine, you have to spend a good amount of time with it in a lot of different contexts. I guess with some wines, just like some people, you can know in the first thirty seconds you probably aren’t going to want to hang out with them–but then again, there are those surprises, when the first impression eventually gets turned around 180 degrees. So I think maybe it’s better to reserve judgment, to spend at least an evening or two with a wine, before deciding whether it’s a 90+ or “only” an 89. Maybe you don’t have to have a number after all–instead just take it for what it is, just like people with their own personalities and qualities, strengths and weaknesses. I almost don’t even want to use the words “strengths and weaknesses,” because who’s to say whether an honest straightforward simplicity or a baffling complexity is either a “strength” or a “weakness.” Anyway, a number rating can distract from getting to know the true qualities of the wine. How many interesting wine experiences are missed because someone rated a wine an 89 instead of a 90?!?!

And speaking of wine and personalities (returning to my initial thought), I’m also starting to think that the vintner’s personality can show through–and should show through–in his or her wine, in much the same way that terroir can and should display itself. If that is true, then these episodes with winemakers open up an extra and important dimension to the wine-lover’s experience. It also seems to me that GEEVEE’s zany interview style is, for reasons I don’t entirely understand, actually extremely effective at bringing out the essential personality of his guests. Of course, if you really wanted to get to know what your guests are like–in vino veritas–you wouldn’t spit.

QOTD: I can’t wait to learn the right answer!

Hello Gary!!! I?ve been recently turned into a vayniac and I love it, THANKS!!!

This show was a big contrast to the last guest episode (#637-8). And the thunder was a lacking in this one. Big difference in thunder when guests those are enthusiasts? vs producers. I think you should just skip the numerical rating with guests own wines because we ALL KNOW we?ll NEVER see what happened in your last episode (#639) with the J&f Lurton Rueda White 2007 if the producer is sitting right next to you!!!
(That was GREAT! It?s funny to see someone taste that horrible wine. We?ve all done it at one time and it?s nice to see what our faces probably looked like when we did it. I?m also really glad you showed us the Barone from the other show! )

About the price point ? I?m willing to pay $50, $75, and even over $100 for a wine. But, if I?m going there it had better produce a knee-buckling response. I won?t pay $75 for something that is ?good? when I know I can get a wine for less that will be an orgasmic overload on my palate!!!

It’s really great to see Randy getting some face time on the show. He’s a great source of knowledge in the forum…and it’s just frackin’ awesome to see him on the show as a guest.

QOTD: I have NO clue what a good Spanish white is that GV has recommended in the last year…but SS should know. As for me…I’ll say if you can find Mas d’en Gil Coma Blanca I’d snap up a bottle or two. It sold out in our state in a week or two (at $73 that’s fast, even for Maine) and I’ve got one bottle left to look forward to in the future…

GV – I guess this ep was well timed to a 380 point market surge! I’m going to need about another 10 of those, if I’m looking at 75 “bones” for my vino!

Good show, like the background & personality that the guests bring to the wine. You also improved in a big way with the interview style…Q & A, back & forth, give & take interaction had a nice balanced feel.

QOTD: The 2006 Black Pig Albarino, hands down! Really different “feel” from the other white varietals from Spain.

Was happy to see Randy and Match featured today. I love St. Helena, so it’s nice to see them get some love on the Thunder Show. I agree with the others, 75 bones is a bit steep. For that price I might be inclined to buy me a nice bourbon…

P.S. – Joined the forums today!

Love the wine cork middle finger btw.

qotd: Finca arentai albarino! muy delicioso!, Love these guests, especially since im really familiar with the wines. We pour the 04 butterdragon by the glas and its a beast! These wines are not for the faint of heart, they are in fact a true expression of napa valley fruit and i can see them aging well for about ten to twelve years. GO CHARGERS!! L.T. REMAINS A CHARGER AND WILL ALWAYS BE A CHARGER!!