Great guest. Nice interviewing skills GV. Way to blast him with the big dog questions. Facinating topic about wine vs. business. Gotta have both or you’ll never survive…

Thanks for all the thought-provoking comments and kind words for the boss! I wanted to leave a note to clarify how to get the wine club free shipping through 2009 offer Jeff mentioned. We added a field to the online sign up form that asks where did you hear about our club. Go ahead and put WLTV in there, and we will ship your December selection for free. Then if you want to order anything else online, again put WLTV in the comment field and we’ll comp the shipping on the back end.

Phredd, totally get the pdf thing. We have live pages for current releases in the store but pdfs for the library. I might need to put fixing that on my winter project list…Thanks for the input.

Would love to keep in touch with all of you. You can follow Jeff @sonojeff or the winery @gunbunwine, or tell us what you thing at facebook.com/gunbun. Better yet, come see us in Sonoma…Happy Thanksgiving! – Susan (from GB)

Nice show! Enjoyed Jeff’s candor.

QOTD: I’m paraphrasing Brendan Eliason from Periscope Cellars when he said, “That grapes care about where they’re grown but not about where they’re made (into wine)”.

A MUST read concerning the QOTD. On the Daily Beast – read How wine became like fast food..
A great article and totally fitting with this discussion…

QOTD: Gary, great advice for Jeff. My opinion, no. Estate Grown does not necessarily attract me. Not all Estate Grown wines equals quality.

I love it, another great episode gary, good guest, very cool down to earth dude. I’ve even visited Gundlach Buncschu amazing experience. Bought a TONNE!

Anyways QOTD: Estate Bottled isn’t important in my purchasing decision now because I am a college kid and I can’t really afford to be looking at the nice section and be buying up estate bottled wines for every day drinking, BUT, when I am buying wine to throw in my cellar for 5 to 10 years thats the only thing I buy. I only want estate bottled, it’s about the story, I want the wine to give that “sense of place” and I can only TRULY get that from an estate bottled wine in that the winery has complete control over everything, once you outsource, things get hairy. It’s as simple as that.

Great show GV. Super down to earth guest. QOTD, yes estate bottled means a lot to me, but I can hardly ever pay for the better wines that are estate bottle.

I am sooo impressed by this show: the guest with his infinite knowledge and, of course, you Gary, who asked the most succinct questions and your advice at the end was mind-blowing. Gorgeous labels, esp the cab. A consortium of “estate bottled” wineries . . . brilliant!

QOTD: By all means, I am the romantic when it comes to wines and a bit nerdy and ‘ESTATE BOTTLED” is very, very important to me when I look for that special bottle of wine. I will say that “Mis en bouteille au château” is much sexier but either one, yes, is extremely important.

I want to wish everyone have a most Happy Thanksgiving and thanks again for looking after the Vayner Nation with free shipping from da Bunder!!!

Cheers!

Go Colts! 10-0 baby!

Jeff Bundschu, what a great guest. This two part episode is quite entertaining and illustrative of the California wines world. I haven’t seen his wine locally but I will ask if they can carry them, must try them.

QOTD: Estate Bottled, from someone who is into wine for education and enlightenment I can honestly tell you: sometimes… I have had some highly scored wines that were not as good as I expected and some that come from the darkest reaches and are incredibly good in my opinion, nevertheless, some Estate Wines do tell a story as you drink them, you can taste something is going on there with the place and the vines and that should be encouraged.

Fantastic question, and great timing since a friend and I were discussing “estate” just this afternoon. I’m going to play devils advocate: My short answer is – no, estate doesn’t have much cachet with me. Here’s why…

Especially in a year like this harvest where large amounts of incredible fruit were available for a reasonable price I want the ability to purchase whatever I like to create the best wine I can. The wine will still have “terroir” – a Montebello Cabernet made someplace other than Ridge is still a Montebello. True it’s nice to have total control over the grapes from dirt to wine but I know my limits and I may not be the best person to have that control in the first place. I still get to make the final decision of when to pick and whether or not to accept the fruit which to me are the most important questions.

“Estate” is meaningful if the winery and vineyards are well established and there is a track record of excellent wine. When it’s used by a new, unproven, winery it’s just a marketing term.

People are still confused. The question was “Estate Grown” and not Estate Bottled.

What a great guest. Gary you are right about Estate Grown, in that to the general public consumer, it means very little. To people that care about great quality wine that is made with great passion, it means a lot. It means that the winery can get what they want out of the land and fruit, and not chance it to someone who might not be a passionate about the outcome as they are.

good conversation… this guy reminds me of Tom Arnold (and that isn’t a bad thing)

qotd – yes, estate bottled does mean something to me, to some degree. what means more to me is knowing that either a) the winery is owned and operated by one family or a small group of people or b) the winery has COMPLETE autonomy within a larger company. I don’t necessarily want to be drinking the McDonalds or Applebees of wine – nor the Cheesecake Factory or Morton’s. The chain or corporate mentality – to me – must take away from the artisnal, handcrafted, farming-focused wine making that keeps the uniqueness and terrior at the forefront.

Outstanding series!! Your questions were spot on! Great interview! I just love listening to him same the name!!! Great marketing ideas GV if it was more prominent more people would get it!

QOTD: Yes it does mean something. Genuine, authentic and a blood + sweet kind of behind the scenes goes into making it. I wish I can afford more of them for when I’ve tasted them there truly is a difference!

I loved this show estate wine rules. I toured this winery and it left quite an impression on me. I cant find any of their wine in Canada can you help?

Gary, I love the guest (Great Job Jeff!). I would listen to this guy for 3 hours straight! For all of you haters out there that are busting on Gary, give the man a break, so what! He interrupts people…you should all know by now that that is Gary game. If it bothers you, log off. Boom!

again, great guest.
QOTD: estate does not matter to me. It’s the taste, not the foo-foo. I know some wines are about “the story” “the terrior”, “the romance”. But in distribution, it’s about sniffy and taste. If I am at the winery, sure, seduce me. But in the retail store, you have to give me smell and taste, or I move on to something else next time. People that buy retail bottles based on “reviews” or “what i heard” are just one step away from buying cheaper when they lose their jobs.

i don’t mean this mean, just

GREAT GUEST & IMHO THAT IS THE BEST EVER>>>
QOTD: I ACTUALLY HADN’T THOUGHT ABOUT IT SO MUCH. I HAD THOUGHT AT LEAST THAT IT IS A SOURCE OF GRAPES FROM ONE SECTION OF GROUND & I THOUGHT THAT WAS SIGNIFICANT. BUT YEAH, IT IS IMPORTANT & I THINK GARRY’S ADVICE WAS GOOD.
GREAT SHOW & QOTD. I WILL PREFERENCE ESTATE BOTTLED WINE FROM NOW ON.
PITY GARY DIDN’T LIKE HIS REDS SO MUCH 🙁 BUT THE GEWURTZ SOUNDS GOOD 🙂

MJR
TOKYO

The package on the last wine was one of the best I have ever seen! Amazing.
QOTD: Like Gary said: It doesn’t meen as much as it should. I like it if I see it on a bottle but I don’t go out and buy wine because of this fact.

Absolutely another down-to earth, passionate guest who has also been following the show for some time! It’s great to see guests who have been on this train with the Vayniacs, and it’s even better when Gary likes at least one of the wines enough to get excited about it!

QOTD: For me, this designation means more or less depending on the winery. If the winery has great vineyard locations and work with a limited acreage with a focus on letting the vines and soil speak for themselves, then “estate bottled” on the label means quite a bit. However, if this designation is on the bottle of a humongous producer who has bought more and more land over time, then the wine may not be as personal or have as much personality and character as an estate bottled wine from a more focused, hands-on grower.

QOTD: Yes. Hell yes.

Thanks Gary, great content. And thanks Jeff, we’ll try to drop by and see you some time.

Fantastic show, even the Jeff kinda doesn’t like the Cab Sauv honest!

qotd: yes it does sound sexy, but when you mention all those facts, I don’t know. I think if your making the wine and you control the vineyards you have better control. If its better quality then the price should reflect that

fun episode…I have two bottles fo the Gundlach Bundschu 1980 cabernet still in my cellar. The last of a case that has drunk well for decades.

Hey Gary,
Thanks again for having Jeff on the show. Hopefully all these great comments will encourage him to start posting more video diaries on his blog. Hopefully Jeff still has a bottle of the dry Riesling from Moss Bros. in NYC to share with me.
PS – sea bass for Thanksgiving dinner — join the fishmonger train now! 🙂

epic show, it should be in the favorites. so much great information.

QOTD:when i first learned what little i know about wine, i thought that estate grown was a big deal. but then it seemed that in actuality, according to main stream popularity, the main thing was the producer or importer. and nobody really pays attention to whether or not it’s estate grown. i agree with gary that something that important should be marketed better.