Dear Castello, apj_ bobwine,

Sorry guys. I vented in an ugly, and seemingly unfriendly manner. Yea, I get grouchy sometimes. It just seemed that:

1. to not remember a name of, or even if you’d had a good wine,
2. not grasp how or why a great artist and talent’s wine is $150, with
rudely insinuated skepticism,
3. insult the winemaker for ‘gouging’, and imply that YOU’re paying for her
first class travel, – and you can’t even remember having had a ‘decent’ wine
4. continue that YOU’re in a position to do her a favor by promoting her
product – a product in such ridiculously high demand that 99% of us may never see, taste, (and apparently, which some will be outright unwilling to pay for)(I went off on that topic on page 6 of the Lookout Winery episode’s comments)

seemed like so much unaccosted and ignorant rudeness, I was beside myself with indignance. Sorry to sound like such an uppity prick, but after 20 years in wine, and a bunch more in Haut Cuisine before that, I think I know a call when I see one. Example? Though not a K-J fan, and def. not a shill for the likes of them, I can remember the Cambria ‘Julia’s’ Pinot, and ‘Tepusquet’ Syrah from the early ’90’s. They were good. $20. I loved Richard Sanford’s winery, but he sold to Terlato years ago. (I wonder how that’s going). I Am absolutely MAD for Brewer-Clifton wines. (Mellville, too). You shoulda seen their 3 different 1993 vintage, recent disgorged/extended tirage bubbles, released for 2000. $35. Drank not unlike Dom, and I’d take any one (all three!) over a bottle of that jumped up Cristal ANY DAY. Recent good impressions have been made by Sea Smoke, Penner-Ash, and the very small, but tasty Kynsi Pinots. If all this perfumed, and excessive fruit is too much, there’s a whole world of Burgundy – and don’t be shy about stepping up to 1er Cru, or even Grand Cru. Geantet-Pansiot Gevrey-Chambertain immediately springs to mind.

As for descriptors being too simple, or too esoteric, all’s acceptable, but as is with Gary’s vivid imagination goes, it can be anything from humorous to helpful, if not ludicrous. I have something of a taste/memory and vocabulary, and use it to aid people in zeroing in on exactly what a particular wine is/ may be about. I prefer this to the method and old colleague had of describing EVERYTHING he liked as ‘lush’. I’ll give you lush…

Anyways, as said, sorry, sincerely, take my rant wth a proverbial grain of salt. That, and a toast – to your health, happiness, and continued furthering in yout enjoyment of wine! Cheers!

Friends again? XO, Murso.

Yo Mott, Ya High Roller, hit me wit some coin so i can buy somma Heidi’s
Vino……. 🙂

Nice guest.

qotd: most syrahs are flabby and unballanced. I haven’t had a good new world syrah in years.

think globally, drink locally.

QOTD: I liked Pinot Noir, and went away from it years ago, and now appreciating it again – May I was in southern France for 10 days. But Syrah is far better to me, and I like Petit Syrah even more (I know, different grape) and Petit Verdot even more.
p.s. your picture at the website seems to be from the 80’s. no? haha. You are so very sweet, sorry to give you a hard time. smile.

This was a great show. One of the best Gary!

Murso: Friends again. I am also sorry if I was rude but some of the wine prices are out of whack with reality. I found the Brewer-Clifton Mt. Carmel for $79.99, pushing the limit, but I’ll give it a try. Some of our dissagreement probably comes from the older feud between Bordeax and Burgundy. There is no correct answer, I lean towards the darker one. That is probably why I’m almost always dissapointed with Pinot.
If her wine is in such great demand, why is she playing the salesman on the East Coast. You won’t see her in coach.

This two parter is EXACTLY the reason why Gary is changing how we view wines these days. Unbelieveable guest! Sounds like great wine that non of us will ever taste, but WOW! you crushed it with this show! Nice work Gary. And Thank you Heidi! 🙂

And I have to say I’m with Mike in C-Town…what’s with the licking of the glass? Niiiiiiiiice.

oh, BTW, murso and castello…please…com’on, really? Seriously? Don’t you two have anything better to do?

Great show!

Apparently not. But I’m not licking my glass. Oops I just did.

Terrific two-parter! Thanks to both Heidi and Gary!
I think all of us can be inspired by Heidi’s example of putting our knowledge & passion toward results, rather than toward self-importance.

QOTD: I can’t say that I’d thought about either grape in terms of its’ versatility before, but I can see where syrah would have an edge over pinot noir in that respect.

Guys. I’m all in. A little ranting. A little debate. No problems. No worries. Cheers.

Back to the show.
Heidi was a great guest! Can’t wait till this Friday. There is a trade tasting of La Sirena wines here in Dallas. I hope I get to meet her.

arg! see if you can get some pirate wine.

QOTD: I grew up with a father that had a huge bias against Syrah, he hated it because it was too silky, too creamy, he really enjoyed those big bordeauxs and he couldn’t get over that creamyness of syrah. Now, like a good son, I had to go out of my way to try Syrah and like it. So I could say, hey dad, I like this and I’m gonna teach you to like it too. 10 years later it is slowly starting to work, let’s say it has been an uphill battle.
I can honestly say I grew to love Syrah before I even thought about liking pinot noir. I do like the complexity of Syrah and I agree with Mme Barrett, it is nicer on the palate than pinot. The new Syrah’s coming out of Ontario, like for instance the 2006 Lailey Syrah is stunning … the vines are 5 years old, and they’re producing syrah with insane depth. The Syrah’s from the Okanagan are also amazing, that Rhone style that Gary loves are coming from out there. It’s amazing! I love syrah! There is one thing I would like to see before I die and that would be to try some syrah from it’s birth place in Iran, but alas, liquor laws, we won’t be doing that anytime soon. Doesn’t that make you wonder that grape would taste like in its home soil, in it’s name sake?

You can tell how strongly Gary feels about the wine at 7:14: He licks the glass to get that one drop of Sirena.

Wow, those were fifty minutes that absolutely flew by. Add this to the Jancis Robsinson episode as your best ever. Unlike Brice and so many of the other winemakers you’ve featured, it’s nice to see one of such accomplishment that seems almost humble (although Heidi’s apparent humility does not appear to extend to her prices).
That said, the 2003 La Sirena cab (which I bought from you btw) was a wine of such exquisite refinement, grace, litheness and finesse, tears fell from my eyes when the bottle was empty.I’m not kidding. Fortunately, I have one more.
Cheers to you and Heidi Barrett for such a stimulating, edifying and entertaining discusson

I like syrah probably better than pinot noir, but I have really only had one pinot and not to many syrah either… (if you count shiraz as syrah…) so i am not the most versed in them but the pinot was just … kinda like watery blueberry juice… really one sided… very angular…

Awesome Show Gary & Mott!

Heidi is a living legend, and so nice person!!
GV I want a couple bottles from that pirate chest, find a way to send me down here please! 😉

QOTD: Syrah rules Heidi! Big Kiss!

“Knock, knock.”

“Who’s there?”

“Interrupting Gary Vaynerchuk.”

“Interrupting Gary Vaynerchuk who?”

“WHAT’S THE RETAIL PRICE ON THIS?!”

Now you have to wear the cap until ep #800 🙂

Great 2-part episode, great guest!

QOTD – I love syrah. For the last year or two, I have been getting more into wines from southern France – many of which are syrah based. Would be nice if there was a new push of quality and value based syrah out of California… not all giant fake fruit bombs.

Wow what a great show!!! Totally A W E S O M E.

QOTD: Just cant get next to syrah, probably have not tasted the right ones yet although I am on the Du Mol list and their syrah is my least favorite?

Back. back, back to the warning track.
And it’s a triple!

Thank you for the birthday shout out, Gary! I loved it. You look really cute in that hat.

I love my WineLibraryTV. Having seen every episode, this was a weird week. Within a few days, we had both the worst episode of all time – the weird pizza savant who hates wine – and the best ever, with Heidi Barrett. We’ve loved her wines for years and this was a special show. Thanks Gary.

What was the name of the NYC restaurant that she mentioned?

QOTD…. it’s rare that I find a Pinot I truely like. Find myself wondering what the fuss is over it. I like Syrah so much I planted some and will make my first attempt (finally) this year!