Coincidentally I’m watching this in the morning while sipping a cup of coffee, Trader Joe’s Peruvian Cafe Femenino.

QOTD: I had been drinking wine for a few years but not any particular varietal. I hadn’t begun expanding my palate. Then in 1990-something, I had a 1990 Chianti Classico Riserva that I loved. That’s when I started the early stages of expanding my palate.

TREMENDOUS show!!! Great guest, he was a lot of fun to watch and his passion was also inspiring.

AOTD: I gave out a lot of hugs this weekend!!! Big fan of hugs and high fives.

QOTD: Not sure if its an epiphony, but I finally realized how much I ENJOY wine when I started spending time on the weekends driving around to check out new wine shops and see their selections. Before I got into wine I didnt even notice most all the of the hole in the wall wine shops. Now my eyes are like magnets to anything related to wine! Its been a lot of fun.

Great episode. Thought you guys were going to break out the D&D board next. Like the garage/basement vibe. Big ups to the UK and the artisinal coffee bloke.
My epiphany came at an intimate wine club event when I was a novice drinker. The host help the event for 10 people in his midtown NYC apartment. He served a vintage white burgundy, a vintage salon champagne, & an aged sauterne. I had no clue until that day just how good wine could truly be. That set the stage for my passion for wine and spoiled me to swill for the rest of my wine swigging life. G’s Wine Club may you RIP!

Great guest! What passion!!

QOTD: Thanksgiving time 13 years ago, a wine store owner picked us out three wines for Thanksgiving based upon what we were serving. . . and she nailed it!!

Great episode. We should all drink wine directly from the bottle, no washing up afterwards 🙂

I will get on my action by Wednesday. But the moment I first realized I loved wine was when I was 19 I was bar tending at a wedding and they were surving this $8 merlot. I had the bottles open and in front of me all night and the smell was just so great. I fell in love with it. At this point I am almost embarrassed to admit it because I am sure it was terrible wine but it was the bouquet that really turned me on to wine.

Great, great show.

I have watched about ten of these shows so far. No big deal? Well, consider that I do not have the LEAST interest in wine. I never drink wine, I never have, I don’t plan to. Somehow, this show is still worth watching, though.

It’s just so REAL. I don’t know how else to put it. This is the “realest” show on the net. Period.

Thanks for the inspiration, Gary and Steve!

Cheers,
Shane

I’ve been watching since episode 200 and this was (hands down) my favorite show. Just goes to show you that you don’t need a fancy camera or proper lighting (or even wine glasses) to tell a great story.

Love it! Cabo welcomes GV for your Visit.We’ll have Glasses
Cheers
Tana Craighead

Awesome episode. It’s great having a guest on the show that is so passionate as well, even if it isn’t for wine.

QOTD: I feel the same way that you do Gary about wine when you were just starting out in wine. I was 25 when I absolutely fell in love with wine when I was on a trip to Napa with my brother. Before this tour, I enjoyed wine, but was just starting to learn the complexities. We toured many vineyards in our 2 day trip. The wine that turned me into a fanatic was the Merryvale 2002 Profile. It was unbelievable. This was not a wine that was allowed to be tasted, but one of the tasters decided to open a bottle for us, because we seemed so interested in wine and were asking so many questions. I broke my bank account that day buying a lot of bottles and joining their wine club. Many props to Merryvale vineyards for opening up my eyes to the wine world.

This is definitely in my top 5 episodes of all time. I’ve never seen someone get so excited about Mott’s links. Wonder if sales for the t-shirts will explode? Maybe a separate website?

Picking out the tea flavor in the Gran Opalo was brilliant – especially when Gary came back with his comments (PAZZZZZ!)

Entertaining and informative as usual. Dig the format.

awesome episode, really. Loved the passion and the excitement from both, it makes a huge difference when somebody truly loves what they are doing and is thrilled to share the experience with others.

QOTD: 2003 Chateau Guiraud Sauternes. That was it.

Great show! Great guest! Love the passion for his product.
QOTD: Ravenswood Zinfandel with Prime Rib at the Pioneer Saloon in Ketchum, ID. I was young enough that my dad was still ordering the wine. I had no idea what it was at the time, but it made an impression. That was when I realized that there was something more to this juice than getting a buzz on jug/box wine on Saturday night.

After watching about 100 episodes without commenting I’m finally compelled to answer a question of the day.

I’ve always liked wine but the moment I realized I loved it is burned into my memory. A number of years ago I was having brunch with my wife and friends at a cliffside restaurant called “Napenthe” on the Pacific Coast Highway just south of Big Sur. We were sitting outside on a crisp spring day, one of those where the sky and ocean are clear all the way to the horizon. The wine was a Pinot Noir from Tantara Winery in Santa Barbara made from grapes grown by Gary Franscioni in the Santa Lucia Highlands. The meal was a smoked salmon and dill salad.

The combination of setting, friends, wine, and food formed a memory that, although it may be equaled, will never be surpassed.

Thus began my descent (ascent?) into wine. I’ve recently quit my job as a retail executive to work for a winery and go back to school to learn/experience everything I can about wine. I’ve found that life only has meaning when you’re pursuing your passion.

This is one of the best guests i've seen on this or most any show. really pumped to be there. A real fan, not someone who watched a clip here and there. I enjoyed that a lot.

QOTD: My epiphany. though not wine-related, came a few years ago with a patient of mine when I was a third year medical student. I was in charge of a three year old patient recovering from some breathing issues. After a week of caring for the patient, she was ready to be discharged. As a third year med student, I could not give out any medical advice that was not first cleared by the attending physician. I mostly regurgitated the textbook at them. The most I could do was interact with the patient and spend some time explaining the situation with the parents. Apparently it was something the other doctors had forgotten to do. When the patient was ready to leave, the mother came up to me and said I had done more to comfort her and the daughter, than any other doctor they had seen there in the past couple of weeks. She wanted my cell phone number so that she could contact me in case she needed her daughter to be seen by a doctor. Basically, she wanted me to be her pediatrician. She had a hard time understanding that I was not licensed, nor even prepared to take care of her daughter, and that I absolutely could not be counted on as her doctor. Nonetheless, that became the moment when I realized that my career as a student (19 years at that point) was over and my career as a caregiver had begun.

Good guest..fun show. http://www.winelx.com