Good show, nice concept! We don’t do Thanksgiving either, but in our version of it which usually takes place in early October, we had some Chenin Blanc from the Loire, some Riesling (Shpeht-Leh-ze, approx.-) from the Saar and a huge bottle of 2004 Clos Badon, St. Emilion, which was great with the goose. Best so far.
Happy Holiday!

This is the first Thanksgiving pack that I have gotten, and I am actually pretty disappointed with it. Partly it is because over the past few months I have already received these wines and I was hoping for something new’

I was still pretty happy with the Reisling because this is a good wine to go with Turkey and I like Reislings. The chateauneuf du Pape is a good wine and I enjoyed it the first time I got it, but it just doesnt seem to go well with Tukey and ham and thanksgiving dinner in general to me. I think more in the terms of Reislings and a lighter reds like a Pinot Noir would have gone a lot better. I personally dont think you pick a wine on the side dish, and as a desert wine most people have pumpkin and fruit type deserts and this doesn’t really go. I like the wine, but this pairing doesn’t do it for me. The Malbec, Just is not a great Thanksgiving wine for what most people eat. Personally I think Malbec is very over rated wine and is more hype than any other wine out there. I have yet to have one that I think is worth the bang for the buck. and that is from Malbecs from $8 to $120. To me they tend to have mua little too much bite on them and they just arent smooth. I had a Lindaflor Malbec this past summer from wine library, don’t rember if it came with the C wine club or not, but at our office wine tasting everyone thought it was just average at best, and no one wanted to take the rest of the bottle home and the bottle ended up getting poured down the drain. I can’t remember if it was a different vintage than this one or not, but this is the wine that i am least interested in re-tasting. Most likely it will sit in the cellar and be given away as a gift at some point.

Anyway sorry for the negativity. Wish I could have been more positivie, but keeping it real for my palate. Anyway Love the show and I enjoy tasting a bunch of different wines through the show and the wine club, keep up the good work. Any specials coming for Christmas packs or a desert christmas wine pack??

Happy Thanksgiving to you and you’re family as well Gary! I purchased that Malbec at the Wine Library a few months ago. I can’t wait to have it, but that might now be for a few years

QOTD: Well being that I SWEAR by Sparkling wines with the Thanksgiving meal, then it would have to be Roederer Estate Anderson Valley But Rose. We LOVE it and what a value!

Completely Agree the Malbec is Harsh. I siad above that I brought it to our office wine tasting and it didn’t get any good reviews. Most thought it had too much of a bite and wouldn’t put it over an $8-10 bottle. We ended up pouring it down the drain. I almost feels as if they are trying to get rid of all the leftover malbec from wine library’s inventory any way they can. I’ve seen it in multiple pack discounts from Cindy and now this. I bet very few re-order. I bet if we took a poll Friday of how many people liked this wine it wouldn’t break 50% like. Anyway completely agree

Happy Thanksgiving AndersN! Thats ok you don’t celebrate in Sweden. We are very Thankful for our Euro Friends! 🙂

Most vintages aren’t out of the park good *cough* (besides 2009) *cough* . But even so I agree it is certainly more of a crowd pleaser wine for some who like the big fruit stuff.

Happy Thanksgiving to Gary, Wine Library staff and all the Vayniacs!

Happy thanksgiving to all!

Great show… Ive had 2 bottles of the Graacher already. Still have 4 left. For $17 its a killer QPR. And I drink a ton of german white wine. I have 2 bottles of the CDP. Haven’t opened either yet but excited to do so. I guess I’m gonna have to try this Malbec. Everyone is saying good stuff about it. I wanted to hate on malbec for a long time now but I’m coming around to it now.

QOTD: The wine I associate with thanksgiving the most is the shwag my grandfathers friends used to make. It was hardcore italian table wine made from piss poor grapes. although it was poor at best I have fond memories of it due to the circumstances.

Happy Thanksgiving Homey!!!!! Good show!!!!!!

QOTD: Numanthia Termanthia…. 04 I think…. it was GOOD!!!!!!!!

QOTD: Mon Coeur…Cote Du Rhone

I like the all episode, and thanks for sharing nice information.
http://leanspaacai.org/

HAPPY THANKSGIVING, BROTHER!!

QOTD: I decided to bring an elegant-styled southern Rhone wine to dinner…
2007 Domaine Cecile Chassagne Gigondas (brilliant Grenache-dominant poultry pairing)

No thanksgiving in the Netherlands but you guys have a nice holiday! Going to drink some wine anyways ;)…

Hilltop is correct. The Pradikat levels are based on must weight (ie ripeness) at harvest. You can vinify a dry wine from a Spatlese or even an Auslese but the alcohol starts to get out of control. Trocken is an optional designation they can choose to put on dry wines, it’s usually there but there are dry ones that don’t say Trocken. The easiest way to guess at sweetness without knowing exact RS levels or tasting the wine is to compare the Pradikat level and the ABV. So a Kabinet under 8% is going to have some sweetness, over 8% is going to start towards dry. If you see a Spatlese that is 12-14% ABV It’s probably fairly dry.

Ratzenberger makes a great Spatlese Trocken: http://winelibrary.com/wines/54669-2008+Ratzenberger+Spatlese+Trocken+Steeger+St-Jost+Riesling++750ML

What do tannins smell like???

YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS! I knew you would catch that, a little shout out to u JL 😉

Stunned on the Malbec boys, wow! The wine is really well done!

Tannis are tight, give it a few hours and I think you will see it differently

A happy Thanks Giving to all;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s6n4cTdPc30

Thanks Gary for enlightening me on this Les Blondes. I am one in the “don’t like” camp. I think its the bitter taste. I will give it another chance after a 3 hr decnt, I’m sure it will show much better. I understand a tobacco taste in wine, but I don’t think the words “tobacco” and “sensibility” belong in the same sentence. (just my personal opinion) Happy Thanksgiving to all Eat, Drink, Be Merry!!!

Unfortunately can’t get any of these in Montreal but as a huge fan of Chateauneuf du Pape. I will open one tonight, thx for reminding me as I tend to keep the in the cellar and just drink Vacqueyras on a day to day basis when I want some Rhone wine.

Liked your tasting of the Riesling

Nice show and Happy Thanksgiving to one and all! I am stuck in Europe on Thanksgiving on a #$%^& business trip so I am missing the holiday, the bird, the pumpkin pie, and especially my family. So I’ll be having dinner on Thanksgiving at a nice restaurant and I’ll come back and let you all know what wine I had. BTW, my wife made me choose a couple of bottles of wine from our cellar for her to bring over her mom’s house for Thanksgiving with some of her siblings and I selected a 2003 Lesac CDP and a California Syrah (don’t remember which one at the moment). Hopefully that will work well for them.

Hi Gary- hate to say this but we go with a medium priced sparkling on TG now as we have served great wine in the past and have not had great responses. I would like to say that you have opened my eyes (palate) to Malbec- love it- the Lindaflor is great as well as many other less expensive brands from Argentina like Katena.

Terrific show Gary. I really liked the interaction with Mott and the VaynerNation. It was definitely one of my favorites shows in a while. Happy Thanksgiving. QOTD: Turkey Day for me is always about the Zins. I’m gonna finish my last bottle of Mazzocco 05 Maple. Also, I’m gonna have a bottle of 06 Patrick Lesec CdP and watch the show again. Cheers.