Wine Library TV

Search

EP 879 California Pinot Noir Tasting with a Guest – Part 1

Gary Vaynerchuk sits down with Michelle Turnbull from David Family Wines and tastes through these Pinots, including 2 barrel samples.

Wines tasted in this episode:

2007 David Family Pinot Noir Santa Lucia
2009 David Family Pinot Noir Mission

Links mentioned in todays episode.


Latest Comment:

View More

luca bercelli

87/100

Not my favourite episode. The guest is probably okay but everything she said had a marketing slant behind it (which is fair enough as she’s trying to advertise her wines) and no matter how hard GV tried to keep it real, it came across as a bit of an advert as far as I was concerned

Tags: Pinot Noir, red, review, Video, wine, wines

Related Stories & Episodes >

Episodes >

←  Older Comments
Newer Comments  →
  • winecrazy

    Ran out of reply space…. so yeah I'll meet ya anytime. Where is the school?

  • Randall

    Yes, of course… quite.
    California is known to produce 'mouthwash swill' and nothing else. How silly of me to have forgotten that. 🙁

  • Randall

    Paging Dr. Edwardo… Dr. Edwardo…

  • Really?? Do you REALLY believe that to be true? How sad.

  • winecrazy

    I ran out of reply space and rplied to myself so I'm double replying here…lol

    I'll meet you anytime. Where is the school?? And oh yeah, I wrote all my relatives off 20 years ago in a court room so the only people I give wine to at Christmas are the guys who pump gas at the Shell station near my house and the Fed ex and UPS guys. And of course my guitar tech Bill at Dave's sound in Whippany. He's just now getting into wine.

    He'e due for a bottle soon. Can't wait till Christmas with him. I like turning him onto different wines. He's never decanted wine until I told him to.

    And you have to think about the label. There is a cost of hand cutting and embossing and gluing the labels so……that can't be cheap. I mean if I was working there doing the hand made label job the wine would be $200 a bottle just for my time….lol

  • Randall

    I guess you've never seen my posts here at WLTV…
    That was said with Dripping Sarcasm. Some of the best vino in the world is made here in NorCal…
    😛

  • Lisa, you're fighting the good fight!

  • 🙂 Whew!!! Thx Randall.

  • corkscrew

    Love that Ausi twang…nice beads…love Pinot…lucky to on the lists for Kosta Browne, Ketchum, Fulcrum.. http://www.winelx.com

  • A dumb Rhein king

    Huh, normally I am in agreement with the crowd, but not today. I thought this was a fun ep and it's nice to see it get (very) pretty'd up every once in a while. She was very knowledgeable about the biz and the marketing is great. Can't wait for numero due.

    Nice job on getting the pricing deal btw.

  • Randall

    My pleasure, ma'am. 🙂

  • A dumb Rhein king

    Ha! I was thrown for a loop too. Where's that sarcasm font? 🙂

  • I think a lot of Vaniacs aren't giving this guest a chance. Sure, it is a new start up and yes it is pricey. But so too was almost every modern cult wine when starting up and they weren't even giving a cut to Habitat. The top notch growers trust her, that says something. She is the first guest who put her finger on something I've been feeling for a long time: variety is the spice even within the Pinot framework. If I have a favorite style and keep pounding this style down my gullet then soon it becomes tiring. By mixing it up I can avoid palate fatigue. So I don't feel it is PC to say “I like different styles depending on the season, the occasion the mood.” Palates evolve as even GV has proven recently and if I mix it up enough, my palate will still evolve but where I've been won't be something I avoid at all costs; I'm merely adding wines that I like and never really subtracting (unless we're talking 2 buck chuck etc.) Good guest. Thanks GV.

  • Jrouss

    I liked the episode but it is hard for me to drop $70 on a wine that has no track record and like others have said, it may be a little difficult for you to be completely critical with the winemaker there. When there is a whole new wine, I think we need some kind of idea of what this wine reminds you of so that we have way to judge the wine. For example this is like an old world sea smoke, or compares favorably to x wine.

  • Randall

    Wasn't the '00 or '01 2 Buck Chuck Cab blind-rated extremely high?! What about the recent Chard from them that was beating out high $$$ Chards from CLASSIC producers to be rated THE best in Cali?!? (I know… I don't want to get into a style argument)
    Granted, they have made some awful wines. Their Beaujolais Gamay comes to mind. One of the worst vinos I have ever tasted. I didn't even turn that one into a marinade or vinegar, just down the sink it went. But they're not ALL like that.

    All I'm saying is… Don't throw the baby out with the bathwater… 😉

  • Good point. And I agree with you about mixing it up to avoid palate fatigue!

  • I am definitely enjoying this episode. Somebody should tell Ms Turnbull that Google isn't finding her site very well though. I agree with Gary, love the pre-sale at discount concept. I have personally opted out of ordering direct because my local store sells for less and doesn't have shipping. I like the idea of building value into being on the list! Retail is definitely high though the pre-sale is in line if this is juice with pedigree (for better and worse).

  • Jrouss

    I really enjoy Sea Smoke and Tudor pinot Noirs and was wondering if this would be something that would pleas my palate. If it was then I'd be glad to order it, but I really don't like the really earthy pinots like Foxen.

  • sometimes it's hard to follow Randalls rants and Dripping Sarcasm may or may not be seen through written words. And not everyone is a veteran poster nor reader of comments, but never mind, live and learn, conversate and expand, mingle and drink.

  • Hands?

  • Randall

    Good points, AndersN!! I tend to assume that everyone just understands where I'm coming from (in 'real life', as well), and that's just one of the things I'm trying to minimize in order to improve myself…
    I try to broadcast my smartassery so that it's easy to pick up on, but fail miserably sometimes…

    p.s. Any ” 🙁 ” from me is a SURE sign that I don't appreciate someone's negative attitude.

    Anyway… Cheers!! 🙂

  • YoungDave

    Great PART 1 with a lovely guest. Pricey Pinot is nothing new to the US market, though that doesn't mean that I am condoning the price structuring here…

  • Oh no you didn’t just say that Altboy!!! Well, I have to agree, My 02′ Saturn is a classic and I only buy water blessed and bottled by albino monks in Moldavia.

    😛

  • Cheers you to. I like your ranting .

  • No throwing the baby out! I drink 2 buck chuck but it is only at best a good quaffer. The best I can say about it is that I've been surprised at how good it is for 2 or 3 bucks but it will never be a wine of contemplation.

  • Kirinichiban

    She was way too mindful of her sales pitch to enjoy the show. When the guest doesn't flow, the show doesn't flow. This should have been a single episode. Get down to tasting. No BS. Rank em' like you see em'.

  • ScottyEJ

    I love a good Cali. pinot, but, sorry to disagree that the prices *hopefully* will go up to be in a fair and equal cost compared to Burgundy. Also, just wondering what the price of these bottles might be without the leather labels? Pretty packaging is nice and all, but, leather labels?

  • I think you might enjoy Roar more or even Boulder Banks (if you can find them)

  • DAveAll

    lovely guest. my ears bled from the marketing pitch. skipped forward and didn't see anything coming together… so stopped it. sorry, catch you next week.

  • DAveAll

    I agree, text needs a sarcasm font or XML indicator… like “sarcasm on”, “sarcasm off” i only really laughed at Randall when I realized he was dripping sarcasm… again. haha.

  • DAveAll

    OMG. you are right.

  • DAveAll

    more. when i sell direct, I make a ton, when I have to go thru distributors, i have to do a lot of volume to get same profit. that's why so many wineries are popping up around the nation and selling from their tasting rooms… great profit !

  • Don't let him off that easy Lisa. He's a wheelbarrow full of trouble. Don't let the puppy dog eyes and sweet talkin' fool you. ;P

  • Really? Do we have to bring looks into this? I understand (and agree with some) about the critiques about the wine, the price and scoring. But can we leave the other stuff off the table?

  • Love tasting the big$ pinots, but have a hard time plunking down for them…but the again, I'm not the customer that David Family is aiming at. Interesting to hear her marketing approach and business plan…with the small production, if she can identify and charm the right clientele, I think she'll do just fine. Let me know when they make a decent pinot that is affordable for folks inhabiting the lower levels of the social pyramid.

  • It would be interesting to find and try her wines, although at $60 USD, it's on the edge.

  • Brunellofello

    Not feeling it yet. Meh. Hoping part 2 brings a little thunder.

  • JayZee13

    The wines sound interesting, but my reaction is that this is yet another California small producer of Pinot Noir shilling on WLTV (Emeritus and Loring come to mind immediately). That being said, the guest is rather charming and the discussion, while somewhat subdued, is also interesting. But I have to say that there are a boatload of Cali Pinots out there around $50 per bottle now (thank you “Sideways”). Of course, as you said, Gary, there are a ridiculous amount of very mediocre to crap red Burgundies out there at the same price point. BTW, I find the leather labels an interesting marketing play, although it would have been nice if GV could have put the label back on at least somewhat straight – not even close, dude.

  • Not feeling the “Thunder Love”, Way TOOO many guest!!! We were told in December that this year would be LESS GUEST!! so far the Guest ratio out way the Non-Guest ratio.
    Starting to lose the interest, wish we had the old format back.

  • Blc1957

    Gary is wound alittle too tight.

  • Although I like the old school format, and think that should be the focus, guests like this really make the show shine for me. Maybe I'm just a wine geek who likes to hear two other wine geeks talking, but so it is. Nice shout out to Abe Maslow.

  • BuffaloLou

    Heavy, viscous, gamy PN… Sounds like BuffaloLou might like this!

  • John__J

    I know you've addressed this yourself Gary, but I'm always leery of when I see someone rating a wine in front of the winemaker, whether for a show, at a tasting, etc. Not that you're not being brutally honest, but that possibility is always there.

  • charlzee

    Sold me, got my 4 bottles

  • Randall

    That's not what the professional wine judges said in the cases I mentioned. That said, I still agree w/ you… that many of their wines are surprisingly good!

  • BuffaloLou

    “VaynerNation” code is not working…

  • Liked the guest, but man GV you gotta call it like you see'em. Seems to me that bottle had some Syrah in there like a lot of Cali pinots by the way you described it and the way you kind of beat around the bush with her over it. Liked the worthy cause angle, but the wines don't seem like my type of pinot.

  • pawncop

    Good episode, good guest, she knows her stuff I think.

  • Randall

    I couldn't have said it any better…

  • subdaimon

    She's kind of hot, think I need to sub her into my free pass list, maybe even for the rest of the year. Gary, Can you set up a meeting?

←  Older Comments
Newer Comments  →

Close

Not Subscribed to WLTV yet?

Never miss an episode and get notifications on the hottest wine deals!

No thanks.