QOTD: I don’t drink Napa Cab because it is very hard to find wines that deliver for the price. It seems like the catagory is over-inflated. I would rather spend my money (and usually get better wine) on wines from the Rhone valley, Brunello, or Priorat.

Long time viewer and lurker extraordinaire, had to say something after these two fantastic episodes. Really, a tremendous guest, and a pleasure to watch and learn from.

As a student, I experimented with Napa Cabs when I first started drinking wines, but soon learned that I could get a much better value elsewhere on my limited budget; avoiding the minefield that is Napa Cabernet has allowed me to develop my palate without having to drop a ridiculous number of bones on an overpriced Napa Cab.

Keep up the good work Gary!

Gary and Joshua it must be a while since you have been to D?arenberg because since 92 or when ever you were there last Joshua the place has changed. A beautiful tasting area big curved bar, a delightful restaurant behind the tasting room. The place isn’t as cut-price as you have mentioned.
Also Gary planing to come to Australia any time soon?

96+ points on your interviewing skills this time! Much more “balanced”, we got to hear both sides of the conversation! nicely done.

Great show and guest.

QOTD: I used to buy Cali cabs but have branched more into Pinot Noir and Bordeaux in the most recent times. I just feel like I am searching for something I have yet to come across to find that perfect wine for myself.

I tend to drink my wines young, so this was also a good insight into the benefits of letting a bottle sit for a couple years. Thanks!

Thanks , Josh, and thanks GV also, for the Customer App Sale. I’ve drooled over the selection of offerings. Agreed – your magazine seems a bit under the radar, but always well done.

This epi. was just so much goodness, I wanted to jump out of my skin. Footbolt is, yearly, one of the huge sellers in it’s categorie, and with very good reason. d’Arenberg is alwaqys on their game, but sadly, in states like Ohio, the Dead Arm has to retail in the $80+ range, and for the years I’ve tasted it, that was just a little overvalued…

Higher quality levels (i.e. the Gran Reserves) in Rioja are truly unmistakable, and seperate from the more normal level wines of the region. Their intense noses strongly evoke cumin, leather, and tobacco, as well as sweet candied fruits and spice. Your coverage was pretty spot on, guys. Besides Vega Sicilia, and Muga’s outstanding efforts, I’d once bought a six pack of C.V.N.E.’s Contino G.R.’s. mid to late 80’s Cosechas, and none of them made it past 15 years old. They were irresistable, even if I only had 1 or two bottles/year.

As for Diamond Creek, I must confess, while young to wine, in my 20’s, (and over 25 years ago,) the wines showed outrageously and inaccessably tight and closed. They were also, even way then, way higher in price than 99% of anything on the market, save 1st Growths, or GC Burgs. With years, my palate grew to understand, and recognize that some wines – even those at the pinnacle, can require you to work for them. Their tannins are massive, power concentrated, and finish long lasting enough that you can only realize and ‘get’ the wine with diligent patience – up to a minute for the finish. THEN you have your “Ah-HA” moment, your face lights up, and your soul floats a little. Outta my range, but it’s nice to know. Boots is a sweetheart, and somewhere up there, I hope Al is smiling.

Thanks again, for the great work – both you guys, now go on, get outta here.

QOTD: As a wine Som I have been encouraging people to buy locally, holding the communities together financially. This tends to be the slightly cheaper option aswell. An opportunity to get stuck into what you know, what is around you every day. Cal Cabs here in Australia don’t really get a mention or a rating as from USA/AUS $ conversion it is just costing too much for the average Joe. Plus Australia has the Coonawarra.

QOTD: I am a college student. I am drinking wines in the $10-$12 range and figuring out what style I

As good as Part 1! Great guest! Thanks for the motivation to make some money…

QOTD: I enjoy California cabs, but have drank less of them in the recession. I have mostly replaced it with South American malbecs and value searches. I would say it has pushed me to try new things that will probably somewhat replace what California cabs used to be for me. Sometimes, you just feel like a Napa Cab, though!

As good as Part 1! Great guest! Thanks for the motivation to make some money…

QOTD: I enjoy California cabs, but have drank less of them in the recession. I have mostly replaced it with South American malbecs and value searches. I would say it has pushed me to try new things that will probably somewhat replace what California cabs used to be for me. Sometimes, you just feel like a Napa Cab, though!

Fantastic show! Possibly my favorite guest in some time.

QotD: I have switched from buying CA cab to something else but I’m not sure if its not more my palate changin than the region changing. I prefer Washington state or Chilean Cab or Malbec now more than Napa Cab.

great guest

Great two part episode, great guest, and finally some great wines.
QOTD: I mostly stopped buying California Cabs in the late 90’s as they
got very expensive and it was easy to find Cab values elsewhere.
I purchased 2005 & 2008 Bordeaux futures, mostly lesser know QPR wines.

Awesome show. I sometimes like nerding it up and this show was a perfect balance of keeping it real and getting a little snobby at the same time. Great job GV.

QOTD: I still love and buy California Cab. It is pricey and there are a lot of wines out there that I think that are very good compared to CaliCab that have a much better value and I tend to buy them more (from Argentina, Portugal, and even Spain).

One more thing … I gotta get the magazine now.

Great show, guest and wine! Joshua has a really nice laugh too.

QOTD: Almost never drink Napa cab as I feel it’s waaaay too over priced, over extracted and over oaked. I’m also turned off by the corporatization of Napa and prefer to support small family wineries without cheesy tasting room architecture. I buy mostly $10- &20 french wines that have more finesse.

Oh, yea… And as for the Diamond Mountain District, as made famous by the work of Diamond Creek, et al,… Von Strasser? Yes, tight structure as well.
Andrew Geoffery, ditto, but we found them beautiful and perfect for those who are interested in wines to lay down for a number of years.

But not all Diamonds would seem that hard. Lokoyas had a very generous amount of fruit concentration up front and in the open. And as you stated, Norm Kiken’s Reverie wines -every one of them in every vintage I tasted (and bought) was well built and completely delicious. And GV, I know Napa SB’s may not exactly float your boat, but Kiken’s Daydream Sauv Blanc pretty much blew me away more than most any other since Brian Babcock’s Eleven Oaks ten or 11 years ago.

QotD – I drink below the serious range of most Cali Cabs, and can find more excitement and variety for the money. But if I had more, I’d def. spend it on the likes of Caldwells, Hartwells, Kamens, etc. No doubt, ther’s ALOT of really good stuff out there, and it’s not always all estate grown fruit, but as often, purveyed from some of the fines ultra premium growers known, or unknown. Cosentino’s C2V, just for example, was a treat.

I find a good alternative strategy is to get the red blends of the really great producers, and they’re always priced more modestly than the full on real deal Cab. I’m talkin Chappellet’s Mountain Cuvee, Delectus’ Dog Gone Good Red, A.S Kiken Red, or Caldwell’s Rocket Science, to name a few.

Loved the episode, great show.
QOTD: Being a kosher only consumer, I am somewhat limited in terms of Nappa options. I believe that I have had most if not all the kosher wines out of Nappa in the past 10 years or so. Like the Covenants, Herzogs, Winestocks, and Hagafens. But, honestly outside of the U.S. specifically in France many of the major wine producers also make a kosher run, like Laurent Perrier, Chateau Guiraud, Francois Labet, Chateau Leoville Poyferre, Smith Haut Lafitte, Chateau Valnendraud, Wilm, Pontet Canet and many more. Not to mention all over Europe, and the multitude of excellent wines from Israel (to many to name).
Also, for the food I eat most of the time a heavy explosive wine like Nappa cabs, I have usually found don’t complement my diet (at least what my cardiologist reccomends i eat).
But out of Nappa what I Drink more often is the Herzog Gen VIII out of To Kalon, its absolutely wonderful, although I genneraly save it for special occasions.

Flat out awesome guest! It was great just listening to you talk about wines. Dear god the two of you made me really want to taste the Diamond Creek.This show was so good that I am subscribing to his magazine.

QOTD: I have not purchased a lot of Napa cabs this year. Not because of the economy but because I am on a Rhone varietal kick right now. I would say that when I do buy I am being really selective with cabs. They have to blow me away before I am buying.

I am buying some Napa cabs but not as many as I have gone to Washington State cabs as a better value. I do have a case of Diamond Creek put away from 1990 (under $500 per case) that was still a bargain comparatively. I also have somewhere in the neighborhood of 75 cabs from 1982-2004 so I’m not really in the market for more of them now. What a great 2 episodes and the wines made me wish there were someway to taste them through the screen.

We buy a lot of wine but we buy no California Cabernet. We have it at tastings, we get it by the glass sometimes, but the QPR is never what we find in Bordeaux, Spain, Argentina, or even Italian reds. Maybe we’ll start buying it when it’s less fruit-bomby and less oaked. Or maybe when we have $175 to spare.

Great 2-part episode! One of our favorite guests. Gary, you were restrained for the most part, not too many interruptions, which we appreciate. Keep doing what you’re doing, we love it.

Wow! This series of episodes was one of the best guest shows to date. Gary, you did a great job of not interrupting your guest. The flow of conversation was completely natural. I have a 30th birthday coming up in a few months. All of those wines will be at my party. You only live once right? Am I buying Napa Cab? No. I am focusing on German reds (Pinot, Dornfelder) because I find them more interesting and less expensive. Where do I get my four star German Pinot? http://www.trulyfinewine.com

I can’t wait for the next episode. Hey! Where are the links for the next Thunder Cruise?

QOTD: I look for value cabs like: Anderson’s Conn Valley Prologue, 07 very classy with a nice textural/energetic finish; or Alexander Valley Vineyards Cab (07 is massive both fruit and oak but lacking length); Rutherford Ranch is often excellent value too. If I am trying something new that is cab/merlot based I go north to the Rogue Valley (S. Oregon). The Foris Fly Over Red is a secret and a steal at around $10. For an elegant bordeaux blend another secret is Marynissen Estate (Niagara on the Lake, Ontario) Cab Merlot. This one usually has freshness, intensity and minerality all for under $15.

I really enjoyed Joshua, I need to pick up more Wine & Spirits. I have often preferred their wine reviews to Wine Spectator.

you messed up the appellation information on the Diamond Cab.

Wow this was a really great episode Gary. You got me near drooling over these wines. I’m ordering that Marques de Murrieta Castillo Y Gay tomorrow for myself.
Qotd: don’t buy a whole lot of Napa cabs. Especially recently, I feel that there are much better q.p.r’s in other areas of the world right now. Maybe when the price gets a little less absurd. Although, if all those 07 cabs turn out to live up to the hype, I may succumb to some of those.
Gary, it would be really cool if you did a vin jaune episode, a wine nobody talks about. If you tackle a tasting on charbono’s, that would be great as well