Great show! Sorry the other dude thinks you’re a drunk Russian! Favorite number is 7! What wine today? 2004 Justin Isosceles (79% Cab Sauv, 11% Cab Franc, 10% Merlot; unfiltered). Open 20 or so hours. Lovely wine, although not super complex. Mid to upper 80s.

The Wreckx-n-effect reference was nice. Loved the blind tasting!

qotd1: Don’t really have a favorite number.

qotd2: Had Kung Fu Girl Riesling over the weekend and would rate it a 90.

Great job, Gary! Long time lurker, we (my wife and I) started watching around episode 450 or so. Love the blind tastings. Need to get into chardonnay some more, haven’t explored it enough.

QOTD #1: 62, look for it, it is everywhere!
QOTD #2: Chateau Serilhan, 2004, Saint-Estephe, I’d say 87 points, got it for 12 bucks, not bad, but not mind blowing.

Good episode.

QOTD1: 98. There’s a good reason. When I was a kid, when someone asked how much of something I wanted, that’s the number I’d give. It was the largest number I could imagine.

QOTD2: Columbia Crest 2007 Vineyard 10 Rosé. I drank it with some mussels and brie. Great acidity, lots of aromatics, and a great long finish full of cranberry for days. I give it an 88+. Definitely recommend.

Hey Gary!

Excellent show.

1/2 QOTD: Favorite number is 20 because it is my birthday.

QOTD: This weekend we drank an 8th Generation Riesling from the Okanagan wine tour we went on. 91 points but to paraphrase one of your older shows. “When you’re young everything tastes great!” -Gary V

From our tour in the Okanagan:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Imjnj2JYXNU

Leave a comment!

G-MAN,Great episode dig those b,b’s
QOTD,wine this weekend was Chateau D’aiguilhe Querre 2004
scored it 88+ good w/food,bit to vegetal by it self.
Hey you mentioned Michelle’s good looks,now you got me wondering
what she looks like? maybe she can say hi or something one of these times
My favorite color is also blue

G-MAN,Great episode dig those b,b’s
QOTD,wine this weekend was Chateau D’aiguilhe Querre 2004
scored it 88+ good w/food,bit to vegetal by it self.
Hey you mentioned Michelle’s good looks,now you got me wondering
what she looks like? maybe she can say hi or something one of these times
My favorite color is also blue

Really great show Gary! Loved trying to predict (after looking at the list below the vid) how the wines would do. I was surprised like you, but love what Argentina is doing. Favorite number: 12 (Jim Kelly..)

QOTD: 2007 Two Vines Vineyard 10 Red Wine by Columbia Crest. Great blend and value: I would score it 88+

Great show! Not a real Chard fan, but have to try look into some South African and Argentina Chards just to see!

QOTD: 13

QOTD: Menage a Trois Red Wine– 85 pts. . . not too bad and great price.

Although Gary mentioned Grenache in the Valentine episode, Airén is the most planted grape variety.

P.S. I Googled.

Love the blind tastings!!!!
Hate the racist anti Russian email!!!!
QOTD: 2006 Viña Peralillo “Arenal” Carmenere, Chile ($9)
I agree with the 89 point review from the Wine Advocate.
This wine has floral aromas with black fruit flavors, and the price is right.

Gary,

I always love blind tasting. I feel that this is a good way to judge a wine without being influenced by brand, price, or other critic’s score. I am glad that you did Chardonnay this time, because I have been searching for a great Chardonnay to add to my small collection of mostly red wines. On the other hand, I am sadden by your low score of the Mount Eden, which I have recently acquired two bottles. I had a high hope of that wine being a great collector due to Parker’s score, but now, I don’t feel like saving it anymore. I think I am going to have to pop one of them this week to see whether it is worth the 68 points that you gave.

With respect to the 2006 Catena Alto being the highest score of the bunch, it does confirm my experience with it. I think the Catena alto is in the same rank as two other decent Chardonnays that I recently had: the 2007 Neyers and the 2006 Macrostie Wildcat. I would call these killers. To me, they are good Chardonnays that are worth 90-92 points.

To answer your question: Is Grenache the world’s most planted grape?

Second question: My favorite digit is 8. My favaorite numbers are 8, 18, 28, 38, 88, 188, 288, 388, 888,… You got the picture.

The last question of the day: I had tasted two wines this week. The first one is the 2007 Descendientes de Jose Palacios Bierzo Petalos. It is a very good wine for its price. I would score it 91-92 points, but it is a tremendous value play. The second wine that I tasted was the 2005 Patrick Lesec Bargeton Chateauneuf du Pape. This wine is in a different class altogether. I did not like it at first, but after a day of decantering, it turned into one of the most delicious wines that I have ever had. It goes better with food, especially food that is slightly bitter in taste, e.g., watercrest. I would score this wine 94 points.

By the way, what’s up with wine critics when they give a wide range of score to a wine. For example, Parker gave one of the wines a 90-93 points. To me, there is a huge difference between a 90 point wine and a 93 point wine, especially for someone like Parker. A 90 point wine would be considered the entry level to good wine, while a 93 point wine is the entry level to greatness. Beyond 93, every single point counts. Therefore, stop using wide ranges already. Assign a single score, and only in the most undecisive moments, using a small range.

fantastic episode! brown bag revelations were awesome and once again very telling of where your palate is and how the New world has influenced your taste..

QOTD 1: 13
QOTD 2: Had a 2007 Malbec from Argentina didn’t write the name down cause it wasn’t that good would score it 81 points.

Way to read the haters out there to, shows your keeping it real. (it might be Robert Parker sending them after this show!)

Wine #4 you said “Nuts in your Mouth” LOL

Fav #____duce

QTOD: Trapiche Oak Cask Malbec 2007 Mendoza Argentina 87pts. not bad just not great.

Keep going its great to have you out there helping me learn

No way, Gary! Don’t do it! Do not tone it down, like the commeter (you read) suggests. It’s the real Gary we love, loud, obnoxious and full of passion, not some quite, snooty “expert”. Do not change!

Great show, Gary! Love the blind tastings!

Favorite number: 11

Wine this weekend: I can’t remember the damn vintner’s name, but it was a Nebbiolo from California and it was great. Easily a 90 or 91.

GV–

How you responded to the last comment is exactly why you’re successful. If it were me, I’d have told Dedic that he could always feel free to stop watching. Of course, I’d probably use a more expletive-laden remark. If you genuinely believe what you said to Dedic than you are a better person than most. Keep it up.

Jeff S.

Thank you, thank you, thank you for yet another brown bag episode. I love these.

By the way, the most interesting part is not the revelation at the end, to be
fast forwarded to. Interesting bits are your blind tasting notes and reactions. Priceless.

As for the Russian comment may I counter it by saying that if anything comes as Russian from you it is the archetypical panoramic Slavic soul and the heart bigger than the snow-shovel. If someone can’t take them, it is their own loss.

Fav’ number? not telling you, I use it as my pin number (no, it is certainly not a single digit number).

QOTD: 2006 Les Obriers De La Peira (Languedoc). 94 points. Introduced to me by WLTV back in the Winter. Tried it, loved it, got the last bottle (literally) from the physical WL store. Turned Internet upside down and got last 14 bottles available from store in California. Have 3 left now. It went perfectly with lamb and steak weekend.

I didn’t use Google, so I’m venturing a guess and saying that the nuber one planted grape in the world is Concord. I wasn’t clear on whether or not you meant wine grape or just grapes in general. Oh well…haha

GV, Good episode, I do not get as excited about blind tasting as some but this was good,
QsOTD: No favorite number or color but I do have a favorite girl, my bride, for 33 years.
2004 Altesino Rosso 90+ decanted for 2 hours but still young needs a decade in the cellar will probably try it in 2014-15.

Awesome show. Love the blind tastings…especially with results such as those!
QOTD#1: 26
QOTD#2: I had the S.A. Prum Urziger Wurzgarten Riesling Kabinett. I would rate it a 93…it was absolutly amazing. Some grilled shrimp complimented it very nicely.

Wow. Aren’t you Belarusian anyway? There are a lot of ethnicities in the Russian and old USSR region, it’s almost like talking bad about Dutch people because you’ve met some Swiss peeps that you didn’t like. Kind of makes me wonder what his “superior” race is, just because I like to pick apart the race argument systematically.

Since when do you get drunk on the show anyways? I think that I might be able to count 10 out of 100 eps where you actually consumed the smallest sip of alcohol. He must not watch the show very often, because the fondness of nuts in your mouth is widely known, but it is also common knowledge that you rarely swallow.

SQOTD: 976
QOTD: Woodland Hills – Summer Breeze. I would assume a 2008. It was a semi-dry style from a mix of white winter hardy varieties. It had great acidity and fresh melon and citrus flavors. Even with the great qualities it was a little aromatically challenged, so I think that I would go with an 86.

Keep it real Gary, keep being who you are!

Sorry…the vintage was 2006 on the S.A.Prum. Thanks for the show!

Skipped ahead to the end, but stopped myself and was glad as I cracked up after that 6th grade dance comparison to that off balanced wine.
QOTD 0 and 2008 Ebner Ebenauer Wienviertel Gruner Veltliner which I picked up at BiRite Market for $11 & was great on a hot day in the East Bay.

Oh, and I’m right there behind you on the obviously racist commenter. If you don’t like the show, go read Decanter or watch porn or something.
We all love what you do, your insane enthusiasm (although sometimes I do skip through your Jets ranting), your knowledge, your passion for great wine. Plus, you never stop trying to give more. So don’t be sorry Gary, you are a great guy who is always seeking to be greater. Keep on rockin.

Oh, just to take the prize for the first call, I used bing for the first time when I left that comment, not google. I guess i “binged” for my first time. That sounds more interesting than it actually was.