Fall Flavors- Zinfandel Tasting

Hello everybody! Welcome to Wine Library TV. I am your host Gary Vaynerchuk and this, my friends is the Thunder Show, AKA the galaxies most passionate wine program. And I am taping along, as you can tell the shirt is not changing, the gig is up. I get it. And my good friend Andrew Glick stops by, gave me some great apples—it’s very like by the way, just dismantled in Asian pear, so we’ll change my palate for these next wines. This was very famous apple from 30 acres he said—30 acres, 100 trillion years. They’ve been in business all year long. Island pips, leave your comments if you know where this place is. Tell me your story about it, as you took your kids and your grandfather took you there, feed me; feed me. I want to learn more about these guys. But I thought—you know I’m going to put this on a table because this is really the beginning of kind of the first, you know, thanksgiving show. And we’re getting close Mott. It is not Thursday, right? It’s just Thursday. So, we’re getting close. Are we one week away because of that or two, three weeks or two. So, two weeks away from today as this airs. And so I think it’s time to talk about Zinfandel. A lot of you are going to go out and try to find it. They’re going to be tons of articles in your local papers and online how Zins are great. Zin has really been able to capture the imagination of the American public as the varietal for Thanksgiving because of the big fruit, the dry birds I know your grandma makes it or your mom or your wife makes a great bird that is juicy, it’s still dry. It’s turkey. So, you want to really focus on you know powerful fruit driven reds. Clearly I think Grenache and Rhone wines are being under rated as alternatives. So, I think hot of the pop Vacaras, Gigondas, Le Mure, Gigondas and Vacaras or probably even more interesting as Thanksgiving red alternatives. I think that’s where I’m going to go in my direction. But we will have one or two Zins for sure. It just kind of becomes a tradition play. Many of you will have Beaujolais Nouveau and I am just—on the white side. I think some of the Italian whites are great alternative. We’ve talked about those. But we’ve got three really interesting Zins here today. All scored fairly well. We’ve got a 90 point Parker Zin at 13 bones. Dying to see what this wine is all about. An 89 spectator for 14 bone from DeLoach which is a great, great winery. And then a winery that so many people are obsessed with when they talk Zins, Seghesio. Clearly with Rosenbloom and raisins would, one of the three or four top users of Zinfandel in California’s. Zinfandel is a very fascinating grape varietal. It’s been pushed us to become the official grape of California. You know Schwarzenegger pushed for it Mott but in the politics, I think the Cabernet people started paying up a little bit. And it hasn’t been officially anointed that but it’s really, you know, a lot of the Italian Americans that came over to this country brought along the varietal and so we have some really, really interesting producers here. I am excited about this show. Let’ get right into it. Let’s start with Foxglove 07 for Paso Robles, 90 points, Robert Parker, $13, 14.6 alcohol, vernerwine.com. It comes from Varner Vineyards. They make some really good Chardonnays by the way. 13 bones is an extremely low priced for a 90 point Parker wine. So let’s see if this lives up to the hype. Great color. Let’s give it a sniffy sniff, very interesting nose. Let me sniffy up one more time. This is shockingly barn yardy. This really does smell like a sheep pooped in your nose. I mean, this is pretty poopy. I mean I’m very surprised. This almost has Pinot Noir like characteristics on the nose. It’s starting to blow off but it kind of smell like, I mean you know, I got to call it what it is. Mott, it kind of smells like you know when you light a match in the bathroom to come and take away the scent, I am getting that kind of smell. I mean, you know I am sorry to paint that picture. I apologize for the vulgar scenario that I just painted for you. That is exactly what this smells like. You’re getting a little bit of that match kind of thing going on. You get a little bit of that bar yard, kind of stuff. So, it’s kind of like maybe a bonfire in the middle of a farm. That might be a little bit of more of a pleasant picture. This is massively smoky. This does completely not Zinfandel like on the nose. I am completely—let’s give it a whirl. So, from what it lacks on the nose from being typical Zin, it more than makes up on the palate. This is extremely jammy. I get crazy raspberry jam flavors. The heat in the alcohol is coming through a little bit too much for me on this wine. So, I do feel like I got raspberry jam with like a shot of vodka in the middle of it. Kind of like you know when they do that with Guinness, you know beer, beer in shot, you know kind of thing you put it in the middle. I’m imagining like this beautiful raspberry jam from a farm in the side of the road in Oklahoma. And then you know my buddies are like, ‘Great, let’s take a shot of Spirit off and put it, slob it right in right in the middle like that kind of.” So, the heat is bothering me. The tams are firm. It’s a very new world fruit. This is completely none—you know, unmistakably Zinfandel on the palate whereas the nose is starting to blow off a little bit. So I think it just needed to kind of whirl off. It’s very, very jammy on the nose. I don’t see it. I think Parker makes it dramatically on this wine, a more 84 points in this wine. I don’t like it that much. I think it’s disjointed. It’s awkward. It’s a little too over the top. And then it’s not enough on the finish. The alcohol is too intense in that 14.6. There’s a little burning. I feel like Wiggum. You know like, ‘my tummy’s burning.’ You know like Ralph on the Simpsons. It so taste like burning. And that is what this tastes like. It tastes like burning. I’m going to get passed and let’s move on. Very, very disappointing, completely flubber gasted by the review but everybody’s got their own palate but for bottles, I don’t know. DeLoach 2007 Russian River Zinfandel, established in 1975 just like me, as I am now just days before my birthday; Thursday. Two days before my birthday. And 89 points wine spectator, US$14.00. The wine was created from vines that were planted as early as 1895. So that are old vines but that is probably not the majority. Russian River known as the Burgundy of California because Pinot Noir and Chardonnay thrive so well but in recent years, we’ve seen more and more Zin and Syrah pushed to the market. Most of my experiences have been—they should stick to the Burgundian flavors and varietals but let’s see what is going on here. Also a beautiful color Mott on this wine. Let’s give it a sniffy sniff. Very oaky. This is really setting itself up. I get a lot of nutmeg on the nose. That was the initial attack. Starting to open up to a little bit of like a blueberry flavor on the nose as well, but very creamy and oaky and nutmegy. It’s got that whole vibe going on. It feels like grandma is making some pastries in the kitchen. I am very worried that that the oak monsters are about to make a huge appearance. As you know, I am very selfish. I don’t like sharing the stage with the oak monster but let’s see what happens. You know? To my surprise, it is oaky. There is clearly—you know, some new French oak kind of things going on here. But it’s not massively bothering me because the fruit is containing it, you know. Sometimes you can get away with it. I mean, sometimes you can get away with, you know, there is always ton of a place like Mardi Gras, Mott, you know. You can get a little silly, spring break. You can get a little silly. I mean if you’re my age group, I remember going to spring break when Sisqo had his Thong Song and the girls got silly. They’re sort of you know dropping down their pants and dancing in their thongs. I wasn’t complaining. So, this is not something we complain about. I like the fruit. It’s pretty bombastic but it’s being contained. There is some oak. It’s a little too hairy you know, a haired—not hairy. It’s a little too—oh like a slight—like a hair over the top for me. Just like hair, milky and oaky and all those things you get when there is too much barreled oak infused into the wine. But, it’s kind of okay. You know it’s like kind of loud friend. You take a little walk kind of you know what?! Kind of like the majority of you guys, right? You didn’t like me at first and like, wow is that okay, you know. And then you liked it. I kind of feel like that about this wine. Kind of tack me a little bit. It’s very word in the nose. Initial tack as I was going through it. I’m like, “How am I going do by oak monster like I’m going to lift my left hand a little higher than my right, you know”, but it kind of calm down on the finish. I do like this—and berry kind of mulberry, dark fruit flavors, it gets on the backend. I didn’t expect it or did a very good job scoring this wine. I am going to agree with them and go 89 points and a 14 bones. If you know yourself as a Cabernet—California Cabernet fan or somebody that likes the oak, this is probably a very good wine because the fruit is very pure and good. I like the vineyard here. I think I could really be into this wine if the oak was a little toned down and it wasn’t as extracted but a very solid effort. If you like the oak in the big wines, I can see a lot of people being seduced by this wine. This is going to be a popular wine. And that’s about it. And finally, Seghesio 07 Rockpile Zin, very small producer in a lot of ways, making really spectacular wine. 92 points wine spectator. US$24.00 I don’t know, US$29.00. I am not sere here, two to 24, 29. Hope to see better for you if it’s 24 or 29 but intend right and can make it up. Great, great color. Sniffy sniff. Pretty nose, really cherry. You know not even like sour cherry or black cherry that I often use. Just cherry, very pretty nose. It smells like cherry juice like fresh, squeezed cherry juice. Do you have any cherry juice along—or was that more of a California thing? California thing. Pretty nose. There is also look bit of like a dark, inky kind of thing, going on there which I like quite a bit. Let’s give it a whirl. Very serious wine. Well, I feel like I’ve eating this wine. It comes across like a steak. It’s so thick and viscous and big, good wine. Very, very sour cherry flavors. Ironic on the palate, which I like quite a bit. I like the puckered up component that my mouth is doing on this wine. Very well structure. Dark fruit, high dark chocolate mixed with sour cherries. It sounds like a lot of desserts out there in the market place. It’s really well made, 15.6 alcohol my friends. This is a big boy. It punches you directly in the mouth but for some reason, you’ll like it. And I don’t know why. You’re like, ‘It’s okay. It was a delicious punch.’ Maybe it was like a punch with cake. You know, it’s just delicious. It does totally attack your palate but it’s structure—I’m blown away that this is 15.6 because I don’t feel the alcohol. If you noticed, I kind of looked down. I caught it. So it’s completely like shock for a second. This wine acts more like a 14.5 or 14.2 or even a 13.9 because the tan and structure and the backbone of this wine are able to somehow contain this. It’s like an Olympics-sized pool. You can fit a lot of water in it. Same with this. It’s kind of enough boundaries in it’s structure. It’s extremely well made and I think a 91+ is a very fair score for this wine. It’s a big wine. It’s a fruit pop. You got to know what you’re getting yourself into. If you’re a classic Bordeaux drinker, you’re like the Rhone valley, you’re like Burgundy—this is going to be two fruit forward and too big for you. As many of you know, my palate is starting to shift back to appreciate some of these fruit bombs a little bit more than it use to. Definitely in the beginning when I started the show, more towards what I loved in 98, 99, 2000. This is a big wine. It’s not thoroughly asked or more nearly asked, it’s still a little bit more contained. It’s very well made and I like it. I am going to score the wine 91+ points. And I think it’s good effort. That being said, I would not put any of the three of these wines on my recommended Thanksgiving list. I just want it—I’m going to taste more Zins. I’ll let you know if there is something that pops in that direction; none of the three or even this at 91 points. They’re just too many things in a brand about—wine or some of them, I’m blown away by the way of too much of it to put on the show. And that is 1799. I thought it was much better than any of these three wines. So you know, there are still some exploring we need to do. A little disappointed overall to be honest with you, very disappointed with the Foxglove given a hype. Given that, I normally tend to agree with Parker and Alison you know just a bit. We’re very different. I actually probably even scored it too high. But the Seghesios are good wine and I do like it. Pretty raspberry flavors too. Like a raspberry tort almost if you’ve ever had that kind of desert because it’s almost like a raspberry cream cheese cake kind of flavor going on. Mott, taste this. I think you’re going to like. It’s pretty darn deliciously. Question of the day; where are you going for Thanksgiving and who will you be with? And what wine are you bringing? Because you better contribute to the wine conversation on your Thanksgiving. You, with a little bit of me, talk to me Mott, yeah, you like it? It’s pretty tasty. It’s a tasty wine, right? That is a good way to describe it. We’re changing the wine world.