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EP 820 Celebrating with a Shiraz – WLTV Turns 4!

Gary and Sasha team up to talk about the 4 year anniversary of WLTV and taste the big time FU Shiraz.

Wines tasted in this episode:

2004 R Wines F U Shiraz Australian Syrah

Links mentioned in todays episode.


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Tags: Australian, red, review, Syrah, Video, wine, wines

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  • BrettFavre

    Awesome! I love it when the Russian spy is on!

  • Paul Blank

    Thank you very much audiofan for the reference . I shall look for it.

  • Paul Blank

    Thank you for this reference also castello.I shall look for it.

  • (Andy): I was so excited to see your dad on again. These are always the best shows for me! You guys really have such great chemistry together. Do you think AJ would ever come on again and do a show with you and your dad? That would be a blast! I think you guys would make a hilarious reality TV show together. Keep up the great work and thanks for keeping us entertained for 4 years and going!

  • Thanks to you for keeping up the spreadsheet for so long as well! That takes a lot of time and dedication.

  • winecrazy

    OK, I see Sasha was only kidding about the economy question….although I answered that already yesterday……the answer to his second question would be. You should have more wine tastings….in store and dinner type tastings and aslo big ones like at the Manor only not as big. Like 2-4 a year. And do more give aways and contests. What happen to those?? Those were fun…although I never won any, I would like to see things like that.

    In store I would say it would be nice to do some favorite type special calls to customers when you get hard to find, or favorite wines of customers so that they have a heads up on them. Have Ian or Dennis do a survey and see what wines people prefer so that when you get 10 cases of say Turley, you can apprise them of that and let them have a chance to get thier favorite wines before they hit the shelves. Even if you limit the person to 2 bottles I know you don't need to do that as those wines would fly off the shelves anyway, but preffered customer service is always a good thing. I for one would buy more wine just because it was offerd to me.

    Also my email issue…..when am I ever going to get a winelibrary tv email again??

    And what ever happend to Sasha's wine celler show?

  • Awesome show, thanks for the inspiration your pal Chef Robert the Happy diabetic happydiabetic com

  • ronribbons

    Sasha looks like an older MCA from the Beastie Boys. I don't know if his rhyming skills are as good.

    QOTD: In addition to the “wishlist,” have a “puchased list” as well, so its easy to keep track of what you've bought. Overall though its pretty solid.

  • CharlieTN

    Things WL/Cinderella could do better (for me):

    1. Offer more combo packs. I think a lot of us, especially the CKC contingency, would love to try a lot of the wines on Cindy, but we don't have the money, storage capacity, or drinking rate (I can't crack a new bottle every night when I have papers to write) to shell out on a regular for the 3+ bottles of the same wine it takes to get free shipping. I'm assuming you're not going to go to 1 bottle free shipping anytime soon, so another solution would be to offer 2 or 3 discounted wines in a pack, with free shipping on the pack. Like the Montviel/Il Bosco pack, that was awesome. Secret packs are good too!

    2. Ship to Washington state! I'm moving there in June, and it's going to make me sad not to be able to order from WL/CW anymore. Other companies do it!

  • Haha… Gary my wife accuses me of the same thing when we play that game. She tells me I can't be “myself” when I play, so that it's fair for everyone else. Love it.

    Your dad is a wonderful man, you're very lucky to have such a great dad.

    Great show, QOTD: I love everything you guys are doing. Keep it coming.

  • philoxera

    Phil Oxera 4 years ago

  • philoxera

    this is my second attempt at serial posting

  • Happy 4th anniversary. Sasha is a star.

    Can't comment much on the WL/Cinderella being in Canada but I did visit the Cinderella Wine site. It seems like a great concept; however, if you are a first time visitor who knows nothing about Wine Library or Gary Vaynerchuk and happen to land on the page looking for wine, there isn't a good explanation on the “About Us” page. So, that could be fleshed out more.

    We'll have a Canada-USA gold medal hockey match up on Thursday for with the women.

    And Sasha might be interested in what Gretzky had to say about the Team Canada men yesterday: http://bit.ly/bLYrO2

  • drt999

    QOTD — keep up the good work!

    formally DrT in NC

  • Anonymous

    Also a great Art/wine book is the Grapes of Ralph, by Ralph Steadman. Both books were gifts and I enjoy them both.

  • Phredd3

    Spectacular show. Very worthy of a 4th anniversary effort. I was all set to razz you about trying to blame Sasha for you and AJ having a fight over the Monopoly board, and then he whips out the political question of the day and pretty much validates everything you said. I loved it.

    Speaking of which:

    Political QOTD: The economy is on the way back. The White House and politicians in general have less effect on that than most people give them credit (or blame) for, in my opinion.

    Standard QOTD: There's not that much you can really do better. WL rocks. Customer service second to none. Oh, I know one thing, though: Put in a decent search/browse function on the web site. I know it requires massive re-coding. So, what are you waiting for?

  • Congratulations!! 4TH ANNIVERSARY~!!

  • Anonymous

    I got a couple recently and they are HUGE! You can pour the whole bottle in and still have room for a sniffy sniff. Awesome!

  • TJS079

    Gary this is simply a superb episode. Someone else has already said it, the banter between you and your father is “irresistibly watchable.” Authentic quality. Educational. Historically powerful. Great stuff.

    Congrats and many thanks!

  • guymandude

    What can you say,that show speaks for itself.

  • A_S

    Happy anniversary Gary, Mott, Sasha and everyone involved in making the show!
    Keep it up;)

    QOTD: Keep doing the show!

    Gold: USA
    Silver: Canada
    Bronze: Sweden

  • Anonymous

    I cant believe I have missed this Avatar! Birdman! or rather birdmans boss but still! I love it.

  • Anonymous

    It will be an uphill battle, there is no doubt about this. And unfortunatly if our current administration cannot level things off it might get worse before it gets better. I am glad Obama was elected (I would have literally moved back to Australia if Palen was our vice presdent) but he might have bitten off mroe than he can chew. There is a lot of repair to be done before we can spearhead issues like universal health care. Hopefully we will at least make progress in the next couple years.

  • Since I live in the burbs of Chicago, my very selfish wish from you is for you to open a shop with tasting events right here! Other than that, keep it up!!!!

  • I can't believe it took me till today to watch this show. I loved this one, really Sasha is the man, I love your patriotism it reminds me as a natural born citizen how wonderful our country is. Sasha/Mott 2012!!
    QOTD: I don't know, you guys do so much really well…I guess I'd like to see Gary review more lower priced high volume wine, but I understand why you don't.

  • missatiejacket

    Great episode. Thanks for 4 very nice years! (though I've only been watching about 2-1/2 or 3) Gary, I would have liked to hear where you think this wine stands among the many Barossa Shiraz wines that are in the $40-$120 suggested retail range.

    qotd1: I'm not convinced that the economy is improving, but I think things would be much worse had it not been for the efforts of the current administration. Unfortunately, I think it will be too easy for the opposition to paint the situation in a negative light in 2012, even though I would bet they would have done much worse.

    qotd2: I don't know if it would make sense with the costs involved, but I'd like to see you guys reuse the shippers you use for wine. I might even be willing to pay a portion of the postage to return them to you. I imagine that your business creates an absurd amount of waste because of those shippers, and while I realize it's my choice to have wine shipped to me in the first place, I'd be really happy to see you make some effort on behalf of the planet. Thank you so much for asking. All of my dealings with the staff at WL have been positive beyond my expectations. Overall, just keep up the great work.

  • ChicagoMatt

    Awesome episode. Sasha always brings the thunder. He both builds GV up and keeps him grounded. Love the show. I'm appreciative each day when the notification comes around that a new WLTV is up. Thanks!

    QOTD: WL and WLTV could promote more events in advance for people outside of the NY/NJ area to travel to WL. That would require a bit of advance notice. Pimping the Super Tasting for Columbus Day is a solid start. That allows me to try to make a plan for Oct 11.

  • brixforbrains

    Good gosh, Gary's dad always makes a show. He is such a good counterpersonality to Gary.
    17 minutes til the food busts out? That was a shock.
    Awesome banter between Gary and Sasha. Awesome.

  • Richie

    Amazing. One of my favorite episodes ever! I was really shocked that there was no food on the table at the beginning.
    QOTD: Start shipping wine and food to Germany! =)

  • I love Sasha reminding us what the timid/quiet Gary used to be like!

    QOTD: Maybe a few more shout-outs to the CKC's
    Also, a chain of Wine Libraries is an interesting idea…

  • Episodes with Sasha are the exceptions that more than prove the rule regarding my oft-commented loathing of WLTV episodes with guests.

    I actually *watched* (rather than just listen while doing something else) this ~30 minute episode.

    I would observe that part of the reason why Sasha episodes are so good, beside the obvious love and chemistry between you two, is that you are less likely to interrupt Sasha, or put words/ideas in his mouth/head; but when you do, Sasha makes you back down. He's had >30 years of knowing you and knowing how to deal with you.

    Great show!!

    QOTD: WL could improve if they could ship to Canada. That ain't going to happen unless some major laws change. Apparently the BC monopoly is relaxing. If WL could use whatever influence it has (perhaps through or with the considerably influential/demigodlike – in Canada – Wayne Gretzky) to lobby the Canadian and provincial governments to change whatever rules/laws necessary to allow this.

    BTW, Gary, I thought you were going to be up in Vancouver during these Olympics? Too busy taping all those WLTV guest episodes you had resolved to reduce in 2010? (just kidding).

  • Don Simpson

    Brett Favre watches the Thunder Show?!?! SWEET! 🙂

  • DaveyJohnson

    great episode, thanks. I love Sasha because sometimes i think he completly forgets that the camera is filming, and that nothing Gary (his son) does really cant get him frazzled.

    QOTD: Just found you guys about 3 months ago and right now i would say keep doing what you are doing, push the limit, “blow it out,” and enjoy it, I sure am.

  • Don Simpson

    Amen!

  • SS Chris thank u for being such a bigg part of this community, your efforts and support means a lot to me!

  • 100% agree. Time flies when you are having sooo much fun.

  • Thursday

    QOTD: Add a customer rating/comment section to your wine listings.
    Collective intelligence is a wonderful thing… have you every seen the “audience” be wrong on Who Wants to be a Millionaire? I haven't.

    Question for you: Are you guys between vintages on the Vayniac white wine or are you no longer producing it? I think it is a great value drink. Congrats on 4.

  • Valentin

    Happy 4th anniversary!
    Keep up the good work.

    QOTD: Wine / Food pairing show would be a good ideea.

  • Bonny

    QOTD: Ship to New Brunswick, Canada would be a dream come true for me 🙂

  • Sasha is great although it will be Canada vs Russia for gold!!! Go Luongo!

  • Here's a great fun fact on the collective intelligence:

    The Wisdom of Crowds by James Surowieki

    In 1906, British Scientist Francis Galton of Plymouth, England did not think much of the masses. At the Plymouth Fair, he tried to prove that the average person at an ox weight-judging competition was capable of very little.

    There were 787 people who submitted guesses. The average guess was that the dressed weight of the ox at the Plymouth Fair was 1,197 lbs.

    The actual dressed weight of the ox was 1,198 lbs.

  • The only area for improvement would be for WL to direct ship to Canada. I will volunteer to be the agent/distributor.

  • ??????????? ? ?????????????! ??? ?????? ???????? ?? ??????? ????? ???? ? ???? ??????????????, ? ?? ??? ?????? ??? ????? ??? ?? ??????.
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    QOTD: It seems as though others in the Vaynernation have echoed our sentiments that you should just keep doing what you're doing. Keep growing, and we'll keep watching, and supporting you. Cheers!

    Zak & Olena

  • darren28

    Congrats on 4 years G.V. Really enjoyed this episode. They are always great when your Dad is on.

    Q.O.T.D. Ship to Australia – At least the mystery boxes. We are starved of anything other than Australian wines. I have been to 20 Liquor stores around Perth since the Barolo episode. One store had two bottles of Pio Cesare 2005 he had sold about a month earlier for $100 a bottle. Previous Barolo anyone could remember stocking to that was about 18 months ago. It is driving me CRAZY.

  • CBone

    Ugh! Mott!!! You're a Republican!! Oh man…best not to address politics on the show. Well, I think Obama was given a big plate of steaming crap from the conservatives that preceded him, and has been doing a wonderful job, in the face of a bloc of no votes from the right. Health care for all is a good idea, this administration kept the Bush economy from derailing us entirely, and the ship is being righted. The world no longer hates us like they did, the war on terror is more successful now than it has been, and I could go on and on and on. I love that guy. 2016.

    Other than Mott being deeply disappointing, great show! I'd love some more hockey talk. That USA Canada game was amazing!!! Being a huge hockey fan (and a Sabres fan) I must say…Ryan Miller was unbelievable! I think the USA will win the gold, they play with such heart. Canada and Russia play in the quarterfinals, so they both can't medal. I think Canada gets silver, and Sweden gets bronze.

  • LMNOPinot

    Great show!
    QOTD: If you could please find away to ship to British Columbia Canada, that would be great.
    Keep up the good work. Happy 4th!!!!

    Canada makes a comeback to win the gold.

  • KVM1985

    Thanks for all of the episodes and congratulations! Though I have NOT been watching for four years, I appreciate everything I've learned so far from WLTV.

    QOTD: I've never been to the actual shop so I'm not sure…as far as episodes go, I actually really like guests, especially new wine drinker guests. I like seeing you interact with them and I learn as they do. Also, maybe a guest from the hip hop industry to discuss the presence of wine/”bubbly”/alcohol in popular music.

  • Mott

    I am an independent. I do not identify with either party and both idealize policies that I don't like.

  • CoffeeSmith

    I am finally ready to get out Lurker Land. I've always wanted to, but todays show and something that Sasha did inspired me to get out of Lurk Land. I usually am captivated by the velvet look of each wine and the great descriptions that it makes me want to go run out and try some wine. In which I normally do go out and get some to taste. However! Today, Sasha inspired me in a different way. When the two of you ripped into that hoagie, I just had to go out and get one myself. Unfortunately I couldn't uncork with you guys, but I will later! Just wanted to say thanks, and thanks for making the passion contageous and thanks to Sasha for getting me to log in.

  • angelatcarlson

    Happy 4th Gary & Crew!
    You are so lucky to have such a great realtionship with your Dad.
    (Mine's been MIA since I was a teenager, but has finally made some small efforts)

    I would love more regional meet-ups/tastings that you'd attend or at least facilitate.
    I haven't gotten a chance to go to one yet and would like you to come back to CA
    so we can all “taste along” live. I have a lot of convention/event expereince, so if you can find the venue, I could help your team make it go.

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