Great Show Gary. Clarification though. Looking online, I noticed that Bueler sells an estate cab and a non-estate cab. Which were you tasting? The estate wine seems to sell for about $30 and the non-estate for $20.

I want to formally apologize to Helen, I was a bit harsh and unfair. I would never treat a lady like that. That was low class and I would like to say beneath me, but I was just very disappointed for the first show of the decade, and I just wrote what I was feeling without filtering it first.

I should be a true gentleman 100% of the time! I am truly sorry.

Sorry my brother!

Ciao!

El Pirata

Love the name, Helen was my grandmother’s name, and Buehler was one of the greatest movies of all time. You present well and it was good to hear your thoughts on Napa Valley.

Some constructive comments, you must learn more about the overall industry and tasting to become a bit more educated with what you’re drinking if you truly want to make your own wine. While not your intention, I feel you came off as extremely arrogent when you say “I don’t pay for wine”. But you’re palate is towards for $50 bottles of chardonnay? 99.99999% of us DO pay for wine and most factor that cost when deciding what to purchase.

GV,

I picked up the ’05 Buehler cab for $19.99 last year. Huge value play. ’06 was similar in price as well. I think suggested retail was probably mid to high $20s. Both the 05 and 06 were average in my opinion. The weren’t steak-style cabs, but nice everyday drinking.

Helen probably didn’t know what she was getting into on your show. It’s tough being a 20-something y.o. hottie and steppin’ onto this stage. Most (but not all) of the Vayner Nation expect more than just a pretty face.

It’s easy to critize your guests though from the safety of the comments, but it takes guts to get on camera. Not everyone can be a Jancis Robinson or Heidi Barrett. Helen’s one lucky girl though to be born into the wine biz. I hope she becomes a WLTV follower and works on her palate though, especially if she plans on starting a label.

Wow Lisa Buehler, way to comment to the group. Please read a copy of Gary’s book “Crush It” and then appologize for the words and tone of your comment. You are doing MUCH more harm than good to your bussiness and brand; because I was going to try to find some of your wine, but now I’m reconsidering that.

There is a serious problem with the “mellennial generation” and this article in yesterday’s Detroit News summarizes it perfeclty well: http://detnews.com/article/20100105/LIFESTYLE/1050307/Over-parenting-backlash

I appreciate that your daughter, Helen, was authentic; hopefully she can use this experience to improve her industry knowledge.

If she is the future of Buehler then they are in trouble as a winery.

For her to not know how she is coming across to the public/consumers with the statement ” I don’t pay for wine” is a sad statement of who she is (no matter what her age is or her amount of wine experience). That comment is a snap shot as to who she is as a person right now and hopefully she will mature for the sake of her family’s winery.

I’m sure she means well …… but really, to not know better ????

QOTD – who really cares?

If she is the future of Buehler then they are in trouble as a winery.

For her to not know how she is coming across to the public/consumers with the statement ” I don’t pay for wine” is a sad statement of who she is (no matter what her age is or her amount of wine experience). That comment is a snap shot as to who she is as a person right now and hopefully she will mature for the sake of her family’s winery.

I’m sure she means well …… but really, to not know better ????

QOTD – who really cares?

sounds like someone just realized they have a degree thats not worth the paper its printed on and came back to napa cause she had nothing else to fall back on. try not to run the family name into the ground sweetheart..

All I can say is WOW. I am in the same age range as Helen but cannot excuse a guest for being so unprepared. It gives my generation a bad reputation. I can see how she came off to all of us, especially with comments like “it tastes like wine” and “I don’t pay for wine”. Very Paris Hilton like. HOWEVER, she did have a few good moments and I was intrigued enough to watch more. I even visited the Buehler website, looked into buying a few bottles and put it down as a place I’d like to tour and try wines from. May be good QPR… that being said I just read Lisa Dollar Buehler’s comments and was floored… I have now scratched Buehler off thelist. If Lisa would of commented with a little more grace and class instead of stooping to the lows of some of the mean posters, I think she would of won over more apologies and potential buyers. Yikes Yikes Yikes! GV way to get some drama going at the start of the year!

Wow who would of thought,that the comments for episode 796 would be so much better then watching episode 796 🙂

didn’t take long for mama Buehler’s comment to be removed

One problem with social media and building a personal brand with them is just this. Positive and negative comments and the focus turns to negative and the owner/brand of this platform do not interviene.

Other problems are the anonymity, which make any …. to write any … in order to?

Why this hostility all the time. To Crush it is to make a fool of yourself sometimes, it is to make mistakes (and learn).

The young girl was nervous, yes, she was not ready for what may happen, yes, she was pretty, yes, she did not know the answer to some facts, yes. Big deal! Give people a break or at least try to understand the situation. Could you done a better? What was the purpose, to sell or to entertain?, to represent, to learn?

I don’t get it…you call her a snob yet most of you are the snobs! Must you have your tasting notes to decide if you like a wine or not? Do you truly get hints of flowers and herbs and earth and fruit from the nose or do you listen and follow like lemmings to whatever the “experts” tell you? Most of the tasting notes are pulled out of nowhere to make someone sound like they know what they are talking about. Can’t you drink a wine and like it for what it is? A glass of wine that tastes good? It is you who are the snobs for being so cruel to someone who was just trying to spread the word about some of her favorite wines. Try them, if you like them great! If not, don’t buy them again… it’s really pretty simple

Braden G, don’t know what you’re looking at … Mama Buehler’s comment is still there – as it should be. A mother is always going to defend her children, I wouldn’t mess with Mama Bear, you’ll lose every time.

Lisa Dollar Buehler: I think your idea that us commenters are Gary’s groupies is kind of cute. Although I guess I wasn’t included in your statement since I didn’t say anything negative.

Hmmm, will your daughter have my babies? lol 😛

Kiss And Make Up! All! Then We Can Move On… Gary The Word Is Yours…..

Hey Anders,

Its a COMMENTS section on the show. I must have missed where the rules are posted on posting a comment about the show.

One thing I know for sure though, you’ll never crush it or develop a winning brand if you are not open to comments, both Positive & Negative. As a participant on this show this is exactly where you learn your most valuable lessons. No rosy colored glasses here my friend.

Where were those rules on comments about the show again?

I think Helen has learned in the real world they don’t hand out trophies for just showing up. Yes, its rough out here in the real world and you just got a harsh reality check. You will learn from it I am sure.

This has been a comments epic (ep). I think a few vayniacs have been a little hard on Helen in this show – first time online appearance and all that – it must have been nerve wracking and I believe there’s a lot more to this girl than this show has portrayed. OK she struggled to describe the wines but that’s not a crime people – not everyone has the gift of the gab on live uncut shows!
Fair play to Lisa for hitting back – some comments were un-called for fellas! If you want to criticise do it constructively; don;t just attack for the sake of it/your own enjoyment/to show off.
Even I now feel a little guilty for my sly jib in the opening comments – but at least I wasn’t cruel/personal. Shame on you guys (you know who you are).

I bet you Gary’s gonna give us all a right ribbing on the next show… The thunders gonna strike I can feel it! AARRRGGHHH! HIDE!!!

The best comment was “it doesnt cost much to make wine”. I guess she’s correct, assuming your family had the cash to buy napa land 40 yrs ago.Next time Buehler decides to send someone to do an interview how bout spending 1hr researching the show and 1hr on your own product with who ever you send. That still leaves 2hrs on the plane to tweet and facebook. Lisa,if that was u, take the high road stay off the comments its bad for biz. The only sales Whit, I mean Helen, has to know is the number for Constelation, they r buying. Helen u did fine, its a tough crowd, maybe stick to cute family stories till ur knowledge grows. Stay away from terms like “selling” it implies knowledge and work. Oh, I agree, I hate paris and most of cali and I’ve never been to either.

Love your wines! Absolutely love them. I came across a 2001 Napa Cab at a restaurant in New Haven some time ago and it was out of this world. Your Zin is also on my favorite list. Keep up the great work and please stop by when your in New Haven, CT.
On a side note….wine is supposed to be fun. There are no right or wrong answers or opinions. The nature of the biz is constantly evolving as are the palates of the consumers. So wine geeks…back off! How great were your palates in your 20’s after swilling Mateus in college? Everyone has a starting point and from there only get better.

Love your wines! Absolutely love them. I came across a 2001 Napa Cab at a restaurant in New Haven some time ago and it was out of this world. Your Zin is also on my favorite list. Keep up the great work and please stop by when your in New Haven, CT.
On a side note….wine is supposed to be fun. There are no right or wrong answers or opinions. The nature of the biz is constantly evolving as are the palates of the consumers. So wine geeks…back off! How great were your palates in your 20’s after swilling Mateus in college? Everyone has a starting point and from there only get better.

I don’t normally comment on wine blogs…but felt compelled to respond.

Big red flag: the group of people who felt the need to make personal, negative comments to a 24-year-old making her first video appearance. That takes some real intelligece to do such deep level analysis. Funny that there were comments about Helen being called a snob because she didn’t use the right terms to describe drinking a glass of wine. Get real.

For some reason, quite a few people on this forum are unaware of the fact that the wine business encompasses many things, and making great wine is one component. There are a multitude of roles and responsibilities within in a business, and it doesn’t mean that one individual should understand all of it. She was offering a fresh perspective on her family’s business, and never sold herself as being the one making the wine.

She is the one who had the courage to do an interview, be authentic, and not hide behind esoteric wine terms that have lost all meaning and quite frankly sound like bs.

@WINO

The characterization of the guest as a ‘snob’ arises from her — get this — snobby demeanor. While I don’t really doubt that she’s a fine person, and probably retrospectively regrets the way she came across, particularly with the ‘not paying for wine’ comment’, I think it’s to be expected that viewers react negatively to her. From ‘not really liking Paris’ to simply presuming, albeit probably accurately, that she can just inherit her way into winemaking without any apparent insight into the topic, there’s plenty to dislike. There’s a confusing and indefensible vein of sexism in some of the negative comments, but I think many other commenters express legitimate gripes.

As for the idea that tasting notes are entirely subjective and invented for the purpose of inflating one’s ego, I think you’re right and wrong. People who have been tasting wine seriously for years, who have trained their palates and are interested in assaying the content and character of wine, are genuine in their notes. It’s still a process with an undeniable aspect of subjectivity, but that’s something which Gary constantly mentions, and which anyone interested in being intellectually honest freely admits.

At any rate, what I think really bothered people more than simply that Ms. Buehler didn’t have an assortment of generic phrases to offer up was that she seemed generally disinclined to talk about the wine itself, which is particularly disappointing since ostensibly she might have personal anecdotes about all three. I don’t necessarily think that she really knows nothing about wine, but I do think that she failed (almost completely) to give us any reason to suspect otherwise. For that matter, I don’t have a problem at all with someone liking wine just because it tastes good, and lacking all deeper understanding of it; but I don’t think those people belong on a show about wine education.