Gary,

Sorry I did not get the wines to taste along. I find Greek wines very interesting. Xynomavro is one of the most interesting–like ancient pinot noir. The tannic Greek wines work well with Gyros or a nice lamb chop.

I hope you fly first class to France and get some good sleep on the plane.

QOTD: The best prediction I’ve ever made was probably when I said “What kind of wine is this?…hmmm sounds interesting…I think I’m going to start getting into this stuff…”

I can’t recall any truly great predictions that I’ve made–mostly, I’ve simply taken wild guesses and any wins that I’ve experienced have been sheer luck, usually based on loyalty to the STL Rams/Cards, or on my hopes (that some arrogant team that I absolutely HATE didn’t win the championship game).

I do have some comments about today’s comments, though:

#43-Pink makes many guys look really hot! I love seeing guys in colors–sometimes I’ve noticed them from way across a room based on how their shirts have brought their faces out. I usually tell guys that I like their cute shirts, too, so that they know that they’ve made the right fashion move. My girlfriends agree with me about how are really liking this new color thing going on with men’s clothes. Think peacocks: The most successful guy peacocks are the most colorful ones, so that they can attract the girls! 🙂

#57-I agree with your prediction that Gary V. is discontinuing WLTV in order to have his own new show on national TV. However, I think that his new show will be airing several times a week, not just 1 time a week.

#64-I disagree strongly about an individual’s ability to evaluate wines being linked to having a high IQ. I’m in Mensa, and when folks get their drink on, believe me, it’s an average experience. No super-tasters present! Anyhow, although I have no data to support this, I DO believe that people who are “sensualists” may be more likely to have, or to be able to develop, superior tasting skills. Who do I consider to be “sensualists?” I would consider Gary V. to definitely be one. Also, people who naturally gravitate to fields of employ where their skills of observation are routinely called upon (writers, artists, chefs, great vets), and also people who lose a sense (ie., become blind) and develop enhancements of their other senses as adaptive tools. Basically, I think it very likely that all of us are physically capable of doing the same thing, but mentally most of us lack the descriptive tools and the ability to make ourselves “sit back, relax, and smell the wine” so that we may recall our mental tools from our toolboxes!

Gary – I love these shows where you get more instructional. Helps a newbie like me to understand wine tasting a bit more.

I have three questions for you.

#1 – With these very young wines, could you store them warm (80 – 85 F) for a year and consequently have them act as if they were aged naturally for 4 or 5 years? That is, can you accelerate the aging a bit without destroying them. Obviously, too much heat will be detrimental, but I wonder about prodding them a little.

#2 – When you taste wines, you go from one right to the next with very little time in between, probably because you’ve been doing this forever. I would think intuitively, that the residual flavors in your mouth from the first wine might influence how you perceive the next wine. Would it help an inexperience wine taster to perhaps eat a couple of saltines and drink a bit of water between wines in order not to confound the flavors or is that unnecessary?

#3 – Could you consider doing an episode where you taste some wines that HAVE been properly aged, especially if you had tasted them when they were young and can describe the changes that took place with aging.

Thanks and I really enjoy WLTV, but I’m going into the poorhouse buying all of your recos!! By the way, I have enjoyed everything that I’ve tried on your reco. Keep it up. As somebody else mentioned though, even though we all love the shows, you ought to slow down a little so you don’t burn out.

With the theme of this taste-a-long, have you considered a WLTV wine club where you pick out the wines each month and ship them out and then have an episode on a consistent basis (like the first of every month) where everyone in the club could taste-a-long with you???

I apologize in advance if you get this suggestion 17 times a day.

Gary, I like you. I really like you. 🙂
My best prediction happen a couple of weeks ago. I go running around my neighborhood about every two weeks or so (yeah, avid exerciser… not.) I record my time using a kitchen timer that I leave just inside my apartment door. Two weeks ago, I jokingly predicted I would complete my run in 23 minutes and 47 seconds – because I was trying to beat my previous time of 24:36. So I went for my run and came trhough the door after, pressing the stop on my timer, and it was EXACTLY 23:47!!! I know, it’s kind of lame, but I was really amazed with myself, and now I’m glad I got to tell the story thanks to your prompt.
Gary, you’re the best.

The Terroir Blog (March 5 article, “Do You Smell What I Smell?”) has a great photo of people smelling armpits! and it contains a great discussion between blog readers about why some people seem to be able to smell/taste more in a given wine than others. The contributing roles of genetics, education, and experience are all discussed. If this sounds interesting to you, you can easily check it out by clicking through the link Gary always has on the upper right hand side of this page.

Have a great time in Bordeaux, Gary. And I agree with the people that are saying they’d rather have you a couple times a week than not at all.

GV you said the Syrah was $68 but they put up $37 on the screen when you presented the wine. I prefer $37. Whaddya say?

Trish Da Dish:

You’ve convinced me (post 78) – I’m going out and replacing my blue shirts with boldly colored shirts (including bright Pastels)!

joe

Help…

My Brackets are Dying 🙁

Wearing a pink shirt is like singing in falsetto, ie it takes a real man to do it cuz you gotta have cajones. This is why it’s sexy, It’s like a guy is so comfortable with his masculinity that he doesn’t give a shizzle.

re Pink shirts, or it was white and you washed it with reds.

QOTD: Last year’s World Cup; I put $20 on both France and Italy to win and by the time the final came around I was assured of a very enjoyable game no matter what the outcome.

The new format stinks. New does not always mean better. The old format never stopped and started as much as this one does.

QOD…January 12,1969…”dad, I think the Jets are going to beat the Colts”
That cocky Hungarian did it and my father never took my perdictions lightly again.

“If I were the QB, it never would have happened.”

I’m having withdrawals though without the Vay-ner-chuk to enlighten me on new wines. 🙁

——

The new format stinks. New does not always mean better. The old format never stopped and started as much as this one does.

Comment 90: By Bill mondavi

——

I’ve had the opposite experience. The new format rules. Old format was choppy for me on 3 different computers.

Gar-
I hope you are having a
BLAST
in France.
Come back soon!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
🙂

QOTD: Definitely Super Bowl III. Jets over the big bad Colts. I took odds instead of points. What a day !!!

Re-watching this episode as I consider some purchases. SHould I get another Bordeaux, some California Cab? Wanted to see the Avaton tasting again, gald I did. Great discussion on evaluating young wines. Looks like I need more Avaton.

WOW – I was really slacking by now!

qotd: that you’d do a vin jaune episode one of these days. kidding.

Have had Neyers, good stuff, love most Behrens wines. http://www.winelx.com