Hello everybody, welcome to Wine Library TV. I am your host Gary Vaynerchuk and this my friends is the Thunder Show a.k.a. The Internet, most passionate wine program and today we have a very interesting episode in my opinion. We are comparing the same producers wine from the same vintage, but the only differences is that one of the cuvee is known as the Vieilles Vignes, the old Vignes. Mr. Matt, zoomy zoom, Vieilles Vignes. This is the old Vignes version of this wine. So the procedure we have in front of us is the Herault Chinon, one is the 06 regular. One is the 06 Vieilles Vignes.
Now, what I find fascinating about this is one little thing. The price difference is quite minor, 16 bones for the regular cuvee, 20 for the Vieilles Vignes. Normally when we see the scenario in the wine world where this is a old vines version of the regular cuvee, you’ve seen more of like almost double 67%, 70% swing. Here, we’re seeing a very slight swing, almost about 25%, so really minor. So, that’s one thing to keep in mind. But the normal is you’re going to see a bigger kind of spread.
Now, Chinon is in the Loire Valley, it’s on the left bank of Loire Valley River. It is a very interesting place. Loire Valley is probably most known for Sancerre and maybe Vouvray. But Chinon has been catching a lot of thunder lately. It’s made from the Cabernet Franc grape, one that I’m very fun off. And Chinon has done fairly well in the Thunder Show through years Matt. So in fact Matt, would you search Chinon on a linking up prior episodes where we have some Chinon if you don’t mind, I appreciate it.
Here, I brought two glasses that I really want to go like head to head. You know, really want to go head to head with these wines and see what’s the difference. You know lot of times you here wine people, especially wine makers, owners of wineries talked about how old their vines are, more mature, getting more for the ground, for developed, more serious, old vines throughout the old vines throughout the old vines or Cornish of just thick barks and trunks and very fascinating stuff. But what is really the impact in the wine? Why are you and I paying four more dollars of bottle in this scenario?
So, we’re going to put this head to head and see what really gets down to the nitty-gritty. A lot of them we do head to heads. There are different wieners from different states and then really want to batch each other, but yet these are brothers, older brother, little brother, Gary and Ejay. Clearly, we already know that this is going to win today. That being said, it would be fascinating to me to see what the differences.
Now, I can tell you right off the back, uncolor, there is virtually no difference. Matt, maybe will go high with it. How’s the high doing anything good, no bad, okay. Let’s go low. Let’s go low, a little bit better. Clearly, little to no difference on the color, I would say believe it or not, which is kind of ironic, the Vieilles Vignes might be a little bit lighter. Big fan of the Cabernet Franc online, they’re normally very vegetal, if you’re VA drinker and sort of soda drinker, this can be a play for you. I also find him to be values at sometimes. This is a very solid producer. Herault have had small experienced with them. It’s been pretty happy with what I have, maybe 03 vintage or four. And the prices are very fair, $16.00, $20.00 with the euro still pretty much not even Steven and think about all that pretty nice values.
Let’s give these two wines a snippy sniff and see what really happens here, don’t you guys think? The right wine Chinon snippy sniff, clearly—I would have say minor but I would definitely say fertilize action kind of smell coming through. I got a little bit of a blackberry current, kind of blackberry meats current and they join forces maybe Marry have kids, blackberry current is a new fruit that kind of scenario in this nose. Little bit like broccoli component, let’s see what’s going on the Vieilles Vignes. Now this wines are about 34, 40, 50 years old in comparison to five, 10 over here, FYI. This is supposed totally different. This smell slight mint component on the nose but really driven home is the fertilize action that I get over here. I get a little bit more intense over here. I also get a little more chocolate over here.
Yeah, the Vieilles Vignes is much stronger aromatically. So that is right off the back and the first difference, it’s got a lot more going on in the nose. It’s much more interesting. Yeah, this is much more aromatically challenge, and little tight. This opens up a quite bit. Let’s taste them side by side now, starting with the regular Cabernet sauvignon.
This is very good, very smooth, great mid-palette, gorgeous firm tendons in the back-end, explodes with like raw veggies, meat, cherry juice. So it’s almost like take same broccoli and celery and take real fresh squeeze cherry juice and put it all over and the bite it and then maybe bite a dark black plumb, that’s what this taste like my friends. And you know what, I kind of like it, very smooth, pretty complex, very fair. This is really good.
I get a great broccoli flavor on the back-end which I like quite a bit, a little brussel sprouts, you like brussel sprouts. I love them. This is a vegetal play, yet there’s enough fruit here, blackberry and cherries that I think those people that are kind of like, “Uh, the Cabernet Franc wine. I don’t know. I think this kind of wine bring you in. I like this. This is a very good effort and I’m often scared for the Vieilles Vignes right now because this rolls around a 90 point effort. This is very good, very good. Let’s see what’s going on over here.
Herault, maybe we should zoom in. So the first one we have was the Cuvee Herault Chinon. It was the Herault Chinon, the red wine cuvee. And now we’re moving on to the Vieilles Vignes. It’s got gold lettering. It’s a little bit blingee, $20.00 still very fair pricing, four Chinon in generally. Let’s see what’s going on here.
This is much more intense and much, much more earthy raw vegetal. It does not have the saddle fruit that’s over here. This is much more interface big firm Chinons would probably last three to five years longer than this wine. It’s probably a five to seven-year window. It’s probably in the 10 to 12 range window. I really like the brightness of the veggie components of this wine, but again this is more than of an acquire taste. I have this been purchasing situation for Wine Library. This would probably the wine that I would buy. This is more of a transition, probably like five or 10 keys on this and a case of this, right? This, I would show to my hardcore. “Yo, what’s up? You like the Cabernet Franc? I love the Cabernet Franc” Customers and I showed them this and be like, “Oh, this is the raw stuff. You know I love this.”
This would be more like somebody coming and saying, “You know Gary, I’ve seen you talking about Cabernet Franc but it’s more of Cabernet Sauvignon.” All right, let’s give you this. This is a little bit of a transition to that world of vegetables. Oh, you like the strawberries, okay. Oh, maybe a cucumber, maybe more so than a brussel sprout. You know what I mean? So this is definitely much more intense, big firm Chinons, a bigger wine. I like it. My palette I’m kind of in and I’m not even lurker. This to me is a big play for a straight up hardcore Cabernet Franc lover. This to me is more of a play of somebody looking to transition and get involved. This to me is more popular style for the masses. This to me is a little wine up or people nerdy up or people that are really just intuit their palette and realize they’ll it celery and cabbage and carrot taps and not the actor or whatever he is. But like the green stuff on top, that’s stuff before they’ll eat a fruit. No plumbs, no cherries that are so prominent and really well-played in this. This is just strut in your face—strong excuse me in your face intense vegetal earthy minor kind of flavors. Let’s me give one more shot.
These are both really good wines. First and for most, big ups to Herault, like I said in the prior show when we did up Lambrusco, I get worried about shows where you only got one or two lines but especially place that I really love like Chinons. Understand, our probably score is a little higher. This is a flavor profile I like. I’m going to score the regular cuvee a 90+. I think it’s extremely good and I like it quite a bit. I’m going to score the Vieilles Vignes a 90. And I know I led you all to believe kind of like—but when I just tasted them side by side, I’ve got to be honest with you as much as I gravitate towards this style. There’s something about the creamy fruit here that’s a little bit smoother and I do believe that if decanted these wines for three or four hours, this would hold on stronger and this would be a little flabbier or if we wait for five to six years from now, this would probably win because it would hold up better. Not being said, it’s not five or six years from now. We don’t even know what we would be doing five or six years from now. Matt, we’re going to an episode like 1700.
Big upset especially for my palette, I’m going with the little braw maybe because I love Ejay so much by the way. But great wines, great value place, if you’re looking to mix it up, go to your local store or restaurant, ask for the Herault Chinon. This is a very spectacular showing on both parts and I think very well price. Question of the day. You know what before I do that, I don’t feel like I’ve really summed up really where I was going with the show. I kind of went to the wines. We’re really talking more about what’s the difference between the Vieilles Vignes.
You know, here’s the difference, guys. In life right, your probably know somebody who’s 67 years old, who’s not as wise and not as life smart that somebody that you know that’s 18. The genetics thing, grime up, I mean there are some people that is 65 right now that are acting like they’re 13 years old. There are some grandmas who still want to be in high school and said one of the things, do, do, do, do, do or a note. I mean let’s be honest. Just because you’re older, it doesn’t mean you’re wiser or smarter. Now you learn a heck of a lot. I even know that I was a punk yet, though I know all these stuffs about business at 21. I know a lot more know. I get it. Not being said, there is a both load of people that I know that are over 60 years old, that are basically playing around like their six-year-old kids.
So that being said, just because you’re older vines and you’ve been around longer, it doesn’t necessarily mean that that has been the right play and made you a better wine. It makes you a different wine but not necessarily a better wine. And so, if nothing else, if the price difference is huge and especially if you have the opportunity to taste them both side by side, tasting Vieilles Vignes—in the Rhone quite a bit, you see the scenario and other places. If you get to taste the Vieilles Vignes, the old vines next to the regular cuvee, the regular, I’d highly recommended, it could be a shocking learning experience. To me this one was, kind of surprise.
Question of the day: What is your favorite Vieilles Vignes, old vines wine you’ve ever had? I expect a lot of answers. Got you Matt. We need the Markham that was awesome. You with a little bit of me, we are changing the wine world.
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