Still not diggin’ the show, although the interplay of the personalities was entertaining enough to give it a whirl. Gary, never, NEVER, interrupt someone in the QOTD. Give the guest that much freedom, at least. At least he was cool enough to step in a shut you up once or twice earlier in the show so he could finish his point. You really tanked his question, though. Not good.

QOTD, narrow version: I never had an epiphany moment on a beverage. On about my third trip to the Napa Valley, I finally realized that I didn’t think wine completely sucked. A year or so later, I realized I genuinely liked the stuff. It took a couple years after that for me to pay it enough attention to want to find out a lot more.

QOTD, broad version: As a philosophy major in college, I took a philosophy of law class. When I realized that I had just spent 15 minutes passionately debating natural law theory with the instructor while the rest of the class groaned with boredom, I realized that I had to have a JD.

really awesome guest. When you gonna come to NC and do some fruit wines?

Super informative. thanks! There’s a saké tasting in Hawaii next month with 300 different sakés up for grabs. I’m so there now after this show. Btw Gary I’d like to see you try this one day… powdered red wine! http://tinyurl.com/nr2gzk

can’t wait to try sake for the first time…..

love the show, so glad I couldn’t sleep the night you were on Jimmy Fallon – I didn’t know you existed until then…..

Please come to Niagara

Great show! Loved learning more about sake.

Straight up, this guest brought serious thunder! Truly, the amount of information and passion in this episode really rocked. Thanks to Beau and GV!
QOTD: It was wine…and it was a 1989 Lynch Bages. It was the moment the I realized, YES- wine can taste as sublime, as how the wine writers describe the best wines.

Best guest I’ve seen in a long time! It’s great to see two people who are super passionate play off each other. Makes me really feel inspired. And it makes me want to drink more sake.

Great set of episodes. I look forward to trying some decent sake. QoTD: technology.

Great segments. I look forward to expanding my palate and trying all kinds of Sake.

Q.O.T.D. Tech gadgets

Good show – really knowledgeable guest. I have never tried Sake but I honestly think I will go out and try some. Partly because I have been meaning to for a while .. but also because of this episode.

QOTD – My original epiphany beverage was coffee. That is the first beverage where I started to really recognize and approeciate the differences in quality and styles of production.

Passion squared! Loved it.
QOTD: Epiphany moment: Back in 1985… David Bruce Pinot Noir Santa Cruz 1978 – like velvet magic in a bottle.

GREAT guest, great chemistry between you two! You need to have him back soon so he can talk about the ‘sommelier license’ and trying some of the other glasses there in addition to the cedar box.

QOTD: It was wine, when I was in Italy & it was one of the first wines I had had and to this day one of the best. It really got me passionate about wine which has continued for years.

Long time Lurker, first time poster. Gary, this episode was so great I had to post. It was educational and entertaining at the same time. All you have to do to keep people interested in anything is to be passionate about what you do. Both of you showed that tonight.
QOTD: After university and drinking beer every summer I decided to have a “Summer of Scotch”. What a summer! It only took one year however for me to move on to wine and I haven’t looked back.

6 months ago, I decided to try out some serious coffee and grind it right there. I tried this mainly because of a friend who made fun of my chock full of nuts habit, saying that?s what his grandparents drink. And I got a french press and grind ed some Hawaiian Blue and I was blown away, It was the first time i really tasted the coffee, yeah I?ve been to Starbucks and got a coffee or a frapaccino (WHICH ARE AWSOME)but i never really thought about what I was drinking.
Now, I am a full fledged junkie, I have multiple grinders and a slew of french presses, vac pots, aeropress?es, drip percolators, high end espresso machine, a super-automatic espresso machine, Turkish coffee pot.
I get all my beans fresh roasted and expedited shipping then I immediately vacum pack them to keep them as fresh as possible. A total coffee nerd. And, I love it.

What a cool dude.

– Elliot K. *The Original C.K.C. Representative

Great episode- never found a sake I liked, but I’ll keep looking

QOTD: 1997 Shafer Hillside Select about 4yrs ago, still one of my favorite wines

Gary,
in case I don’t have internet access at next stop somewhere in Tuscany, congratulations on #700!!! and mamy many more. With your daughter’s help who know how far this will go. Could you please give a shout out to my niece Raissa in Halifax from her dad and uncle missing her in Tuscany and wishing she were with us…love love the sake!

Gonna be honest. I skipped around a lot on the 2nd episode. The two back to back were like an hour.
My time is valuable!
“we don’t give names”? What is he in the CIA? Give it up dude, it’s sake!
He was reborn from a Japanese Master 400 years ago….. ok..sure..
QOTD: Purple Passion grape juice that had booze in it.
real answer to that question.. It was probably when I had a good glass of red wine and realized that I only hated merlot and not all red wine.

OK, so I’m lurking more than posting..excellent show..I’ve been going back and watching all episodes from #1..this two-parter will rank in the top..great job guys!

QOTD: It happened for me when I visited my first wineries and tasted my first wines in Washington and Oregon (I had always been a beer drinker) and I said to myself, “This is it..I HAVE to learn about wine..and I bought a copy of Windows on the World Wine Course by Kevin Zraly. I’m an entrepreneur and I stumbled upon GaryVaynerchuk.com which led me to winelibrarytv.com. Anyway, I’ll have to start learning about sake!

Hi Gary! Hi Beau!!

Awesome 2-part show! It?s always nice to learn other subjects, and this Sake episode opened my eyes. To this day I only drank Sake in Japanese restaurants down here in Brazil, mostly Gekkeikan (Kyoto – Japan) and Azuma Kirin (São Paulo – Brazil). After this episode, I?m surely going to Liberdade neighborhood (big Japanese community in São Paulo, Brazil) to try some premium Sake.

The guest was amazing, it?s funny how GV cuts him all the time, but the result was a very, very god show.

QOTD: My eye-opening moment on a beverage was a 3-staged one:

1) In 1997 I went to Portugal with my grand-father to visit some of our family there. The Portuguese wines won me over, and from that trip on I mostly dank wine.

2) The second moment was in 2005 when my dad brought home a bottle of Amarone, that he is a big fan, and BANG!! That wine was SO good that awakened me that wine is much more than a beverage, is a life experience, full of culture, history and geography! It?s a human science! From there, my quality standards only developed, and my taste for wine made me read a lot of books and go to seminars about it.

3) The third moment was when I stated watching Gary classes (to call it a ?show? doesn?t fully represent what it is!) on Winelibrary TV. From this 3rd moment on the quest for quality went around the world, as I try ?expand my palate? always now.

Keep Crushing It GV!!

Best wishes,

Mauricio Fernandes.
Brazil.

Great second half guys…domo arigato gozaimas.
O sake onigaishimas!

QOTD: About ten years ago I got to go to Chile to to visit the extended in-laws for the first time…I’d already been drinking wine, cooking a lot, and enjoying it for years. The patriarch had gone down into the bodega and brought up a really dusty bottle of an Undurraga red to go with the roast wild boar. Something magic happened, and since then I have always felt the need to be more conscious and responsible when pairing beverage and food.

Looks like a little “Bromance” was sparked. Zow.

Ok, this guy not only looks like a young Alton Brown, but he also makes the same kind of corny jokes and revels in the same glorious nerdom? in a good way. Lol at the “Bromance” – great show!

QOTD: Tea ? In high school I drank some of my dad?s mail-order tea after school and was blown away. In college, my friends were amused when I had tea shipped to my dorm room.

Loved the episode. I will definitely have to give sake another go round. Keep up the wonderful work.

QOTD: It was the Hop Dragon Beer from Olde Auburn Ale House in Auburn, AL. Started my love for Hoppy beer.