Hello everybody and welcome to Wine Library TV, I’m your host Gary Vaynerchuk, and this my friend is the thunder show, aka, the internet’s most passionate wine program and we are on location at the Napa valley grill at the Perenas Garden states.
You know, this is what I loved about Jersey, an unbelievable wine restaurant in the middle of the mall. Let’s clap it up Jersey folks. Yes, it is good, it is great, Matt to do a live show from Jersey, we’ve done Virginia, and California, and all that bull crap. There is no vibe like the dirty Jersey, and we’ll going to rock this out right now. We got four, that is actually eight, we got four California wines today, ranging in prices, two reds, two whites, so Matt, let’s get right into it, you ready to zoom in.
We’ll going to start with the round hill oak free, so no aaah! Oak monster in this wine, 2007 chardonnay, you know, round it, 11 US dollar wine. Now Matt, you remember number 11 was Kellen Clemens, we kind of forgot about him now that we have Brett Fard, we don’t talk about him that much do we. So let’s see what’s going on here, obviously, un oaked chardonnay is all the rage. A lot of people have been over oaked, too much oak monster, too much butter, too much cream, and people are looking for crisper, more food friendly white wines these days, and that’s what we’ve seen an explosion of these un oak chardonnays. Round Hill I never had before, we’ll see what’s going on. Let’s give it a sniffy sniff. Good fruit coming through, like a little bit of kiwi component that’s quite nice, which I like quite a bit. There’s a little bit of like a, I don’t know, like a candied apple component.
Do you remember that candy Matt that was like the apple juice and the carton was shredded up like a little pieces of gum? I get a little bit of that smell coming through on this nose, which is quite nice. Let’s give it a whirl. Good acidity, which I like quite a bit on this wine, very, very clean on the palette, let me give it one more shot. Ripping pear flavors on the mid palette, which I like quite a bit, sharp acidity on the back end, which makes it a far more food friendly white wine than a lot of other chardonnays. Medium to full bodied, solid stuff, very nice long finish. I’m actually quite surprised with the finish, a little apple jacks in my mouth right now, and I like it, at the end of the day. I think that this is a solid bottle of chardonnay, 11 dollars, if you’re not looking for that over oaked, over rich chardonnay that so many people have out there.
To me, it’s got probably 87, 88 points written all over it, and that’s a very fair price. Let’s go 88 points, mainly coz I love al tune, so we’ll going to go 88 points on this wine. 11 dollars, and in my opinion one of the better un oak chardonnays from California I’ve approached in the 10, 15 dollar range, for everybody that’s here. I think it’s in the back corner of that room, I think you should try it. I’m always impressed when you get up a chardonnay that’s crisp and clean and still have a lot of flavor, and isn’t so thin and taste like water, so, Round Hill, solid start to this show. I’m pretty excited Matt. Not bad at all. Let’s give it a rinse, let’s go to the next wine.
Now this is a winery I have a lot of respect for, probably Flora Springs more than any other winery in the late ‘90s we’re making some of the best values in the world. To me Trilogy was one of the great red wines, what we have in front of us is the 2006 Napa Chard from Flora Springs, this wine rolls in at 21 US bones, let’s give it a pour, and let’s give it a sniffy sniff. Now this nose come across a little stinky, a little dorm room action, I do get a little sweaty sock after playing a little basketball for a little bit on the nose, wow, it has a little stinkified action, which I kind of like. I mean it’s giving you a little bit more charisma than most chardonnays I come across. I get a little pair as well on this nose. I was liking a sugarcane component, which I like quite a bit. Very powerful nose, aromatically, if we live tonight with anything I hope more people out there, Jersey, and all the 80 to 90 thousands vaniacs watching this episode. Smell your wines, the bouquet is such a major factor, we are just, almost like the previews on the movie, if you missed them, I’m crushed. So, It brings something to the table, way too many people just pop and pour, no patience, shame on you. Let’s give it a little more sniffy sniff. I like that, let’s give it a whirl.
Good richness, I get a little bit of a creamy oak component, which I like, very traditional, and it’s chardonnay approached. Good length, good body, nice roundness, a little boring, and that hurts my feelings, especially I’ve been dropping down 21 US dollars, but, solid stuff. At the end of the day, very different than the Round Hill, obviously a lot more body, has a little more hurt, a little more love handles, like who doesn’t love a little love handles. I like it, I need it, I want to squeeze it, that being said, it’s also a little dull on the finish, and the finish is long, it’s rich, but, it’s maybe missing a little of the charisma that I’m looking for if I’m going to drop a 20 dollar bone or higher. All in all, a solid chardonnay, with good mid palette transition to the finish, which is very impressive. Especially for a lot of California chards that missed that mid palette component, but, at the end of the day, missing the charisma and the explosion that I’m looking for in most chardonnays like this and I feel like some white burgundy counterpart to this wine that I would like better. That being said, I do like it a little bit better than the Round Hill, a minimal 89 points, that being said at 21 bucks, 89 points, for my palette, and I don’t want anybody listening to my palette.
It’s just my palette, but for me this would probably a pass with six or seven’s, coz I just think there will be other I rather spend my 20 bucks on. Let’s move on. Trinchero, Pinot Noir, from Napa valley, established in 1948, 2006 vintage 14 US dollar Pinot Noir, you know why I was like number 14, because that’s Richard Tads number, so you know I like that. 14 US bones, on the Trinchero Pinot, fair price for Pinot Noir, coz we all know, not that many people are drinking Pinot, then Hollywood told us, now we all drink Pinot. Let’s give it a whirl, a sniff, and a taste and see what’s going on here. By the way, let me mention, here at the Napa valley grill that we have had an unbelievable tasting before this taping, tons of great wines, 96 amazing wines, great food, let’s clap it up for the Napa valley grill, because it was a beautiful event, I know everybody’s having a good time. Listen, listen, you got to drink 96 wines at least when the dowel goes down 500 points every single day, we need this Vino. All right, let’s give it a sniffy sniff. I get some nice sour cherry component on this Pinot Noir, which I like quite a bit right of the bat.
I also getting a little bit of like a road brush, you know, like when you pull off to take a pee and you smell the ground. Little like the side of the road action coming through, which I like quite a bit actually, little sticks, a little moss, a little rock, it’s got a little earthiness that I don’t mind. Mix that with the cherries and a little creaminess and you’ve got your bouquet, which is quite solid. Let’s give this wine a whirl. Really firm tenants, caught off guard, am I, I just talk like Yoda, didn’t I? Caught off guard am I? Quite a bit of tenant structure on the back of this Pinot Noir, and very bitter tennant, which I think are going to turn off a lot of new drinkers. Now this wine was just pop and poured, these wines did not open long enough and they clearly could use some decanting and 2006 is very young for Pinot, but this is very sharp tenants on the back end for a Pinot Noir, let me give it one more shot.
I appreciate the cherry cola component that I get on the back end, which I like quite a bit, but at the end of the day, I can’t get off the bitterness, and the bitterness is serious to me. This is the kind of wine that you want to put away for 3 to 4 years in the cellar, and really see evolve, because at this point, it’s just not good in my mouth, and that makes me sad. I’m going to score this wine 78 points, and if you’re really bad because I can see the guy who represents it right there. He’s a lovely man, a lovely, lovely man, but at the end of the day, vaniacs, I got to do this for you and this is just not the wine I can get excited about, so I’m going to have to give it a pass. Let’s move on. Let’s give it a little bit of a rinse.
Now, Twomey 2004 merlot from the Napa valley, Twomey is a silver oak project, it comes from the people that do bring you severe oak. This wine is 68 US bones, two problems. One, the economy blows, two, Kevin Muay wears number 68, and he turn down the Jets and went to the Titans, so I’m a little bit down. I know we cut him, but there was a reason. I’ll explain it later, on another show, but that being said, this has consistently for the last 5 or 6 vintages in my opinion. Been one of the five to ten best California merlots on the market, is it a little pricey? Yes. Is that the suggested retail price? Yes. So you could probably find it in the 50s around the US. It has gorgeous color right of the bat, let’s give it a sniffy sniff. And this what I love about this wine, there is an underlining like dusty chocolate peppermint component about this wine on the nose. I get a very minty chocolatey kind of thing going on, and then imagine just putting a whole lot of chalk dust on top of that. I love this nose, it’s very different, but you got to know your own palette, coz if you don’t like chocolate, or mint, or dust, you’ll probably not going to like this.
I get a very gorgeous black cherry component coming through on this wine as well, let’s give it a whirl. Big boy, feels like somebody punch me in my mouth, and I liked it. Lot’s of fruit, a absolute fruit bomb, but not over the top, very concentrated and focus flavors. I get black cherry, I get tar, and I’m talking about when you’re little and the tar bubbles pop. You know, that started coming off over the summer, and you press them, you know you press them and I lick, I licked it. It was delicious, so tar, black cherry, I get a little bit of a residual hot jam, like hot cherry jam which I like, great long finish, I’m still yapping and I’m still tasting it, and it’s delicious. This has great length, it’s probably not hurting that it’s an ’04, so it’s got a little age to it, surrounded, it’s like a classy woman, always better than a young 18 year old floozy, I’m telling you, I promise, there we go.
So great richness, great roundness, great complexity, I like this Twomey merlot, I’m going to do 92 plus on this, and in the ‘50s I think this rivals a lot of Pamerols, and other merlot based wines out there in the world that don’t bring this much structure. I’m a fan of this wine. I’ve been a big critic about a lot of silver oak wines, so this is kind of fun for me to see how much I do like this, and I think the length is tremendous. I see this with rack of lamb, I see this as a 7 to 10 year wine in your cellar, and I see this as something you would pop and enjoy right now.
Question of the day, one, when are you going to bring your ass to the Napa valley grill? Because these pips are awesome, tell them you’re my friend. I heard you get a free dinner, maybe not, but something maybe. Number two question of the day, what is your favorite restaurant these days? Matt, we need some data; I need to figure out what people like. You, with a little bit of me, and awesome dirty Jers people like these, we’re changing the wine world, whether they like it or not. Thank you.
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