If you or your other buyers taste the wines before you order, why are there so many plucked from your shelves for the show that you absolutely hate??????????
Smell it first. TR

Where’s the thunder Gary! ?m

was not a fan of this style, not very informative

Well, I guess I’m going to have to have my own show right here. I will open my bottle of Penfolds Cab, give it a “Sniffy Sniff”, “Give it a Whirl” and “Bring the Thunder” on my “Laid Back Friday” Couch! 😛

Well, let’s face it, Gary V, you SUCK!m

Gary, I’ve got some friend who drink the box wines. Have you considered doing an episode on box wines. I’d like to convince them to try different wines but if I can’t, I’d like to be able to point them to the better box wines…if that’s possible.

Take it easy, Allan. I know you don’t think so anyway 🙂

if you tilt the screen just right, it is perfectly clear, allan. I second the whine!

ADot I am super sorry

sorry pal and I agree, i should have never done the episode

understood gang, I am sad u thought the whole week was that, the last show for sure though and I am super sorry and I will revisit the concept

You are awesome. I love wine and you have made it so easy for me in decide which wines to buy and which wines not to buy. Thanks so much Gary. Val Acree

Can’t wait ’til Monday…….. Can you tell people care? Your show rocks! Have a Great weekend!

My God Gary! 984 episodes and you’re apologizing. You need to be more inner directed rather than other directed! Do they (critics) have a vlog with untold thousands watching? I don’t think so! Are they paying you for this? I KNOW not! Do what you want and tell those who think they could do it better, BRING IT! Love ya.

As your punishment (since you are unnecessarily beating yourself up) I think you should do a 3-wine brown-bagger (from Virginia) on the Laid Back Couch with some cheese or hor d’oeuvres. Then everyone is happy.

Have a great weekend my man. You earned it.

Cheers!

QOTD: I’d like to see you actually tasting wines for the store sometime that would be cool!

Wow, after seeing all those replies from Gary, he could write a book on the thank you economy.

I don’t like the format as I think it was too rushed. I felt anxious as I was watching it, almost like you were hurrying to finish . You have great energy and witty comments but in this style they just get lost.

AndersN, Thanks. Have not been plugged into WLTV that long. Appreciate the response and the links to the earlier episodes. Have a nice day.

GV:

Why no talk about Fridays? Don’t be a Hosni. Ignore the peeps for only so long…

~XOXO TSL

I’m a huge fan of Aglianico. I’ve been watching for about a year now. I think you’ve done only one other episode, unfortunately. In seriousness, I enjoy nearly all episodes on some level.

But, there’s a significant distinction between Aglianico at large and Aglianico Del Vulture. This episode is all Campania Aglianico, which is fine. We’re talking Naples area under Taurasi influence in terms of style if not Taurasi produced in some way. Institutionally, it is mostly certified DOCG, while Aglianico Del Vulture maintains the superior DOC credential. However, Del Taburno I think may also be a DOC. In general, I think Aglianico is great because it’s a very ancient wine with a rich history (it means ‘Greek’) and it evidently seems that it feels no real need to market itself beyond its normal scope.

Vulture is the area south of Campania in the north of Basilica. It has highly volcanic soil due the fact that Mount Vulture is an extinct volcano. This has an obvious impact on the taste, earthiness, and complexity, and this is generally what I desire out of an Aglianico. From my experience of really good Del Vulture and knowing your taste for the earthy, complex, bourdeaux kind of flavor, I’m surprised that you’ve been giving the Barbera and the Piedmont wines so much disproportionate love in comparison. It’s not that they shouldn’t be. Barbera, Barolo, Nebbiolo, etc. are all well deserving of love, but I’m just saying, attention must be paid.

Perhaps this would be a good episode: Aglianico against Aglianico Del Vulture.
Or: you have to blind taste the difference between Aglianico, Barbera, and Nebbiolo.

The normal format is good. People like seeing you describe things at length while you take the time to process. This time is important for the viewer to see you truly experience the wine, and in some cases have the wine change you. Expediting and prioritizing the task of comparison works against your descriptive strengths which we all know by now are highly individualistic to say the least, but this is why people like you. In this format it seems as if you’re jumping ahead to find out all the answers ahead of time which may be satisfying to yourself in the moment, but people really like watching you to see you guess, process, and really struggle with it. It’s really what wine tasting is all about. The scoring system is helpful but not always inherently.

Then I was going to talk about some dissatisfaction with some of the wines that you’ve chosen to represent Oregon Pinot. I was going to say, that it’s not exactly fair to judge Oregon Pinot at large with some of these choices. Perhaps this discussion is best left for a comment on another episode.

Other than the occasional small note, I’ve been more than pleased by the show. I often come away with the gist of the wine almost as if I had tasted it while I yearn for more comparative and articulate language only on occasion. For example, I definitely get what you mean and appreciate most comparisons such as the ‘poop’ flavor (and the highly theatrical oak monster), but sometimes I’m thinking – help me out, Gary, is it like a damp, chilled, goose poop or three week old moldy diarrhea? So, I would say, keep talking and in fact saturate people with even more information where possible. You definitely have the palate and entertainment factor in the bag by just being yourself.

Tension in the room today, Gary. No worries, I was just excited about an Aglianico episode.

Have you ever had an opportunity to try Seghesio’s Aglianico? I think they have been doing it for a few years and I have been storing it away like a chipmunk. It would be very cool to see an episode of American winemakers who embrace lesser known Italian varietals.

Happy weekend.

Blindly taste quickly through before the show and rank. Then carry on with the show as usual. And then reveal how your initial rankings compare.

Oh, man. We scared him off for the weekend.

Hmm… well I liked it. Here are my general thoughts on how it could be awesome.

I think if you gave some subtle visual clues as to what was going in your mind while doing that power tasting it would actually be pretty cool. But still power through them. (In this episode you were talking because you were explaining what you were doing which was understandable)

THEN maybe you could do 5 or more wines, toss out the 3 or so “passes” and then do a more in depth review of the good stuff (whether that’s based on taste or value or w.e.). That will help us discover more wines since we’ll be trying more and we won’t have to hear about why sucky wines suck.

Pretty cool. I think it’d be a nice addition to your format repertoire.