Great REAL Ep! But how dare you dis Brady because of your poor tossing skills…

QOTD: When you offered presale, or “en primeur” orders of the 2005 Bordeaux vintage with free shipping, I pounced. I intended to cellar them all, but decided recently to pop one of the more opulent, right bank, 100% Merlot bottlings recently just for sh!ts and giggles. Although the
2005 Chateau Balthus
was extremely concentrated and intense, I found it to be a bit closed, astringent, and one-dimensional for a 93pt Parker wine. I UNDERSTAND that the ’05 vintage should not be touched for a decade and needs that time to express itself, but from the RP tasting notes (which I always value greater than the # score) I expected more flavor and opulence. Bottle variation? Perhaps. TimVEe? Absolutely. When tasted, that rating seemed way too generous, but with more time I’m sure my other bottle of this wine will show its true colors and earn that great review.

We are aware of the problem and the guys at Vaynermedia are working on it.

Mott

conn valley reserve cab 2006. 94 rp? i really dont get it. thought it was too big. alcohol came through way to much for me. i would have given it an 84 tops.

QOTD: Gotta be sherry, especially the dry kinds. I LOVE them but almost never find anyone in my immediate social circle who agrees.

Great show!

Brown bags lighting it up this week FTW! Difficulty with Mt. Difficulty, LOL.

QOTD: Haven’t been too far off lately with what I’ve tried…at most a few points. I had a couple Italian-based Merlots last year that were pretty off, like 5-8 points.

Brown bags are bringing the thunder this week.

QOTD: 2006 Plumpjack Cabernet really fell flat for me. Wasn’t terrible, but didn’t find it anywhere near worth the price.

unhappy experience with young dominus.temperature controlled cellar in dallas with vintages back to the early 90’s.may give an older vintage a try again at christmas.

QOTD: The 2003 Valderiz RdD WL had on sale a while back. Scored 81 points, felt it was completely out of balance and really disliked the short, sour finish.

Incidentally when I see something like what happened with the Mount Difficulty on the show I always wonder about bottle variation and what would happen if Gary tasted from another bottle after the show.

I think he means he scored it 81 points

QOTD: Cloudy Bay Pinot Noir 2007 did not do it for me. But everyone I know thinks it`s amazing..

That seems way old for cali cab. I would start opening them yesterday!

Loved the episode. I would say most people who are offended by your reviews are not getting the show. While 71 pts is a disastrously low score, we understand that the Mt. Difficulty did not hit the right notes for your palate and in comparison to the other wines that you were tasting, it was made worse.
Taken out of context things can get ugly but the Vayniacs know what’s up.

GARY, KEEP ON KEEPIN’ ON!

QOTD: Rombauer Chardonnay, I think the wine is okay but not nearly as great as most make it out to be.

make sure to come back to that tasting note in a decade. Seeing the evolution is priceless and an exciting process in wine.

BTW: I do not care for Brady either. : P

If Bluedevil99 is a Duke grad, that would explain it. All they study is how to put blue paint on their face and look stupid on national TV.

Just kidding Bluedevil99. I’m a UNC grad and we just don’t like Dookies this time of year. But I do understand how much you guys love your home games in Hansbrough Indoor Stadium.

Nice Pinot show, Thanks

Tasted the Brancaia Tre 2007 from Tuscany, it was high in Wine Spectator top 100 in 2010, think it was at 7. place.. but for me it was a dissapointing experience

QOTD: can’t think of one except for the one you said, I don’t see how KJ Chard is so popular. It’s terrible.

My big huh? wine is Chateau Latour. I recently had the 1998 and it tasted like almost nothing. There was definitely no bottle flaws, it was perfect as a beverage, but had no special qualities whatsoever. I felt like I was drinking cranberry juice and water after smoking a cigar. I understand it was not a great vintage but how can something that non descript be considered excellent in any way? My only other first growth experience was 1995 Chateau Margaux which got a 100 point score from Spectator. Again, nothing special whatsoever, I barely squeezed out some tropical notes from it. Weird to say, but so far, First Growths are a bust.

A couple of wines come to mind with respect to your QOTD, but I think I often find myself at odds with one or more of the prominent critics, which is fine with me. I’ll still read them and remain unaltered by them.

A Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars Stag’s Leap Vineyard Cabernet forget the vintage.. RP scored something like 74.. and it was a phenomenal wine. Ditto for a 2001 Andrus which was similarly scored in the 70s… they were beautiful bordeaux-like wines, both of them. Alternatively, Kosta Browne comes into the light. To me, they are all in the vicinity of 87/88 points. The examples I’ve had, from different vintages and stored fine, were over-extracted fruit bombs with little character.

I’ll take it under advisement! 😉

QOTD: KJ Chard definitely is a fav with many. I keep trying to “EXPAND this person’s palate with all types of Chards and other whites, but they always flock back to their old standby.
The infamous Les Cretes on Cindy

“Tom Brady Pass!” That stuff is what makes the show real.. Love it GV.

nice to see the Oregon pinot on par with a red Burgundy.

QOTD: as far as wine critics go, I’ve worked behind the scenes, so I know to take their scores with a grain of salt. They are tasting 50 wines at a time, which is a much different experience than drinking 1 wine at a time. I once heard a winemaker describe the review as a snapshot of a wine. It shows you something, but it is different then meeting the wine in person.

That said, a couple wines came to mind. I had the Longshadows Pirouette next to a couple red blends from Washington that were half the price, and it was the worst wine of the bunch. Like wine & oak flavored cough syrup.

Also, the Wine Spectator put the A to Z pinot noir in their top-100 this year. As someone who lives in Oregon, I don’t know if that wine would make my list of top-100 Oregon pinots.

KMurph is da bomb.

Charlotte, you are the bomb also! I was wondering when you were going to catch-up on the eps, being a lover of the Pinot and all. 😉