Pairing Wine with Frozen Food

Gary Vaynerchuk: Hello! Everybody and welcome to Wine Library TV. I am your host Gary Vaynerchuk and this my friends is the Thunder Show a.k.a the internet’s most passionate wine program and as you can see another lovely guest. Lovely okay? Greg Ng: Sure, lovely is okay. Gary Vaynerchuk: You’ll take it. Greg Ng: I’ll take one of it. Gary Vaynerchuk: And this is a very interesting episode to me. I’m very excited about it for a few reasons and I think you guys are going to like this. We are doing a wine with—is frozen, the proper terminology. Greg Ng: Frozen food. Gary Vaynerchuk: Frozen food, a pairing episode and why don’t you call the Vayniacs out there who you are, what this is all about, how you got here, how you’re sitting in the seat. Greg Ng: Sure. My name is Greg Ng. I’m the self proclaimed “The Frozen Food Master” there’s no one— Gary Vaynerchuk: Don’t even, you know, just what I do. Just say I am the frozen food. Greg Ng: Yeah you know, I proclaim this— Gary Vaynerchuk: And you have two letters in your last name. Greg Ng: I have two letters, it’s pronounced Ng, I’m a little jealous because I can’t spell it out in syllable. It’s pronounce Ng. Gary Vaynerchuk: Don’t be jealous of Vaynerchuk please. Go ahead. Greg Ng: And I run a video review blog called freezerburns.com. The tag line, you’re following me as I eat my way through the freezer aisle one box at a time. Sometimes its bags, but you know for tens of purposes—boxes. And I’m doing it because I’m finding my niche and I’m crushing it. Gary Vaynerchuk: I love it. I know those terminologies. So how long have you been doing it? Greg Ng: So I’ve been doing it for about three and a half months and it’s a funny story. A buddy of mine sent me a link to one of your key notes and you talked about finding a niche just going full steam ahead hustling, you know, I get a day job. I’m a creative director during the day. I got kids. I got a lot of stuff going on. Gary Vaynerchuk: How old are you? Greg Ng: 33. Gary Vaynerchuk: Oh! You look young. Greg Ng: I’ve got three kids. Gary Vaynerchuk: You look like 19. Greg Ng: And—thanks. Gary Vaynerchuk: When is your birthday? Greg Ng: June 1. Gary Vaynerchuk: 75? Greg Ng: 75. Gary Vaynerchuk: He’s older than me. I like this but he looks younger so I’m sad. Go ahead. Greg Ng: So anyways— Gary Vaynerchuk: You look good dude. Greg Ng: Thanks. Gary Vaynerchuk: You’re welcome. Greg Ng: So— Gary Vaynerchuk: I called him lovely and looks good— Greg Ng: And I’m a dude too. Gary Vaynerchuk: Yeah. Greg Ng: But I’m the first of frozen master. So— Gary Vaynerchuk: I like that not self proclaimed, I like that. Good job. Greg Ng: I watched the Pinot. You told me, you know, put your kids to bed and then do what you love. Gary Vaynerchuk: Right. Greg Ng: So I took that to heart. Watch that Pinot that night. I recorded my first episode. Gary Vaynerchuk: Good for you. Greg Ng: And I just published my 50th episode last night. Gary Vaynerchuk: I love it, you’re hustling. 50 is a lot. Greg Ng: I’m hustling. Gary Vaynerchuk: And why frozen food? Greg Ng: Frozen food is—its amazing part of a supermarket experience that’s why I like it, whether you— Gary Vaynerchuk: Like as a kid you would like, run to it and then you’re going to open it up. Greg Ng: Well you know, we grow up with microwaves. Gary Vaynerchuk: Yes, I do know. Greg Ng: We never had— Gary Vaynerchuk: As old Chaps Greg Ng: We never had to worry about you know, boiling water. Gary Vaynerchuk: Sure. Greg Ng: Or cooking soup you know, the old fashion way. I mean depending on your parents. I don’t know about your parents. My parents did— Gary Vaynerchuk: My mom did everything. Greg Ng: Grew up on frozen pizzas, grew up on chicken nuggets, grew up on basically everything I guess low brow, if you consider, right? Gary Vaynerchuk: Yeah. Greg Ng: And then you know of course— Gary Vaynerchuk: They are delicious. Greg Ng: I did the college circuit right, in college. Eat frozen foods all the time. So the frozen foods is the key to—you can’t do a shop without throwing something in there whether it’s— Gary Vaynerchuk: It’s like the backbone of American chop— Greg Ng: Totally is. Totally is. Gary Vaynerchuk: I like that. And so do you love to still actively eat frozen food? Greg Ng: You know, I do but if you ask my wife, she’s like you better not eat all that stuff. It’s just loaded with fat and sodium, all that stuff. Gary Vaynerchuk: Right. Greg Ng: There’s a lot of healthy frozen foods out there now. Gary Vaynerchuk: Is it getting better and better? Greg Ng: A lot of organics. Both store brands and national chains, great stuff going on but I got to tell you, I’m like I’m liking the hot buckets there like the bagel bites and like in the pizza rolls. Gary Vaynerchuk: I understand. Greg Ng: So I just take a couple of bites and then I figure out how I like it. Gary Vaynerchuk: Got it. Greg Ng: And then I move on. Gary Vaynerchuk: All right, let’s get into the first pairing. Greg Ng: Sure. Gary Vaynerchuk: So you emailed me and said how should we do this and I was excited. I thought it was a great idea. Mott, let’s zoom in on the box I guess. What do we have here first? A little over head? I got it. So what do we have here? This is the Amy’s Asian Noodle Stir Fry. Greg Ng: Right, it’s totally organic, it’s got basically nothing in that. Everyone says it’s bad for you with the frozen foods. Gary Vaynerchuk: Okay. Greg Ng: And it’s hopefully going to taste well, you know, it’s going to taste good. Gary Vaynerchuk: And what I decided to pair with it—Mott, you have to go on a little bit on angle—is the Julien Meyer 2006 Gewurtztraminer. Rolls in at $24.00 and Gewurtztraminer I think always does extremely well with stir fry. I’ve been a huge fan of Gewurtz especially when you go to the all sauce. And you know, I think what’s really interesting about this wine is that I’ve really enjoyed it in past vintages. I haven’t had it for a couple now. So I’ve been trying to find a reason to taste it and so first I think what we should do is probably taste the stir fry. Greg Ng: Sure. I’m glad you chose Gewurtztraminer too because I— Gary Vaynerchuk: Are you a Gewurtz guy? Greg Ng: I have a funny story about that. Gary Vaynerchuk: Fired it away while we’re eating. Greg Ng: Okay so here’s the deal, I know very a little bit about wine. Gary Vaynerchuk: Right. Greg Ng: And I kind of—I have that Asian blood alcohol issue. Gary Vaynerchuk: So what is that mean? You get drunk real fast? Greg Ng: I get drunk really fast. And the issue that I have— Gary Vaynerchuk: I’m so hungry today by the way. Greg Ng: When I turn 21, I went on that Napa Valley training tour. Gary Vaynerchuk: Okay. Greg Ng: With my girlfriend at that time who is now my wife. Gary Vaynerchuk: Very nice. Greg Ng: It’s the first time we legitimately, legally drink wine. Gary Vaynerchuk: Right. Greg Ng: And they served the Gewurtztraminer. Gary Vaynerchuk: And? Greg Ng: And for some reason now, maybe I’m just proud of myself because I can pronounce it. But for some reason, every time I go to choose a bottle of wine, no matter what it is— Gary Vaynerchuk: It’s a Gewurtz? Greg Ng: It’s a Gewurtz because it’s got that special thing for me. It’s good, it’s not bad. Gary Vaynerchuk: Review it, tell me what you think. Greg Ng: All right so, definitely organic, I love the tofu, I love the vegetables. I’m a little worried about the vegetables not being kind of rubbery. Gary Vaynerchuk: Right. Greg Ng: And you know, and I think when we get to the second wine, there’s a new technology that makes that crisper vegetables. Gary Vaynerchuk: Okay, can we do that? Greg Ng: But you know, this is close to five bucks and you know, it’s not bad for an organic meal. Gary Vaynerchuk: There’s not a lot of food for five bones. Greg Ng: Do you want quality or quantity? Gary Vaynerchuk: Yeah I mean this is—listen, it’s pretty good. I mean it’s pretty darn good. I’m not devastating any shape of form. Greg Ng: Right. Gary Vaynerchuk: All right let’s get into the middle part. Great golden color, I mean extremely bright. Let’s give this a sniffy sniff. What do you pick up on the nose? Greg Ng: Citrus? Gary Vaynerchuk: Yeah I think you know and a lot of apricots. I get a lot of apricots but I do get like a tangerine. It’s extremely sweet on the nose which I find kind of exciting. Greg Ng: It smells like those—the dried apricots. Gary Vaynerchuk: I agree with you. Much more like dried apricots, absolutely actually. And also like a little sugar cane action. Like pretty interesting. I mean on smell, I think this is going to be fairly sweet actually. Greg Ng: Okay. Gary Vaynerchuk: Let’s give it a whirl. What do you think? Greg Ng: It’s okay. Gary Vaynerchuk: What? Not your favorite? Greg Ng: I think—not my favorite. I was hoping for a bigger kick on the back. Gary Vaynerchuk: Right? But you know what, it did pull out, you know, I only had a piece of broccoli and some noodles in there. It did pull out some, I don’t know, pull out the soy sauce a little bit. Greg Ng: Yeah I think so as well. I totally disagree with Ng. I think this wine is extremely good. It’s got great backend acid. He’s looking for a kick and I think he’s right. That being said, in my opinion, everybody has got their own palate. I think what is being overlooked in that scenario is how smooth and bright the backend finishes. I almost get like a ray of sunshine directly in my mouth on the backend. The dried apricots almost like a reduced sauce on top of maybe like the piece of chicken or something right now, like the sauce that you get in a five star dining experience, whatever that means. And I also find that the transition on the mid-palate is extra ordinary. It’s got very silky smooth Gewurtz. And when Gewurtz can get a little too leechy fruit for me at times and can be a little bit sugarfied, this one’s a really refined, old world, elegant balance that I look forward in the Alsace wines. Let’s give one more shot. Actually like the food just as much. I’m pretty impressed with it. Greg Ng: Yes. Gary Vaynerchuk: Yeah I really like it actually. Is it growing on you? And not because on me? Greg Ng: It’s growing on me. Gary Vaynerchuk: No, listen to me. Greg Ng: But you know what, it’s growing on me only because I swallow the second and the third. Gary Vaynerchuk: And do you feel like you’re getting more of it? Greg Ng: Yeah. Gary Vaynerchuk: Okay. Greg Ng: Yeah maybe it’s because—no, I keep in mind you know, five days a week, I’m burning the heck out of my palate. There’s pizza, tortilla rolls, all it like cheese whiz. Gary Vaynerchuk: What’s the best have you tasted so far? Greg Ng: The best thing the one that’s given me the highest review, perfect five star is a limited edition Edy’s pumpkin ice cream. It tastes just like pumpkin pie. Gary Vaynerchuk: Loved it? Greg Ng: Unbelievable. But in terms of a meal, Stouffer’s Stuffed Peppers. Gary Vaynerchuk: Good stuff. Greg Ng: Good stuff. Gary Vaynerchuk: You loved it. Greg Ng: Yeah. Gary Vaynerchuk: Great acid, great complexity, I see pairing this with Thai food, Chinese food, even if you want to go real spicy. I think this wine is going to bring serious thunder to all of you hot food lovers out there. You want to bring up to the Tabasco sauce or hot sauce and put on put stuff, this wine I think can really do wonders with it. With kind of—it’s a layered fruit, dried apricot, kind of slight residual sugar. To me, this is a 91 plus point wine. I really like this. I’m going to go 91 plus points, I think Julien Meyer brought some thunder in this effort and I think it’s a very serious bottled Gewurt that I think at 24 bucks is probably a price that were it belongs. I wouldn’t call it a screaming value but I definitely don’t think it’s overpriced and 24 bones is a lot of money for a bottle of wines. So, I’m pretty happy with that start. All right this is now off the show though I want to eat more of it. Let’s move on to the next thing. Greg Ng: Sure. Gary Vaynerchuk: Mott, what do we got here? The Healthy Choice Café Steamers—what do we got here? Grilled Basil Chicken. Talk me more about this. Greg Ng: Yes so, Healthy Choice just came out with this. Gary Vaynerchuk: Yup, instead of pork. Greg Ng: Thanks. Café Steamers, it’s kind of a cool idea. It’s kind of new technology actually. It came with a plastic strainer so I cooked the sauce below. I cooked the vegetables and chicken up above and it kept the vegetables really nice and crisp. So that’s good. You don’t get that rubbery vegetable taste. Gary Vaynerchuk: Have you done, have you eaten any foods with this new technology? Greg Ng: Yes for this line but not this variety. Gary Vaynerchuk: Got it. Greg Ng: I got to tell you from the looks alone, I’m a little nervous. Gary Vaynerchuk: About the chicken. Greg Ng: The chicken. It’s kind of pinkish. Gary Vaynerchuk: I kind of look. It looks illusion. I’m so hungry. Greg Ng: You know what I’m nervous about? Is it kind looks like—do you remember that horrible airbrushing job on the Michael Laga—Seven Tops. Gary Vaynerchuk: No but that is a tremendous effort. Greg Ng: He has a pink shirt on. Gary Vaynerchuk: That’s pretty tremendous. Greg Ng: Because I guess he got treated— Gary Vaynerchuk: I’ve seen a horrible airbrushing that they do in all the models on magazines now and he’s like the real version or the fake version. So anyway, what I decided to pair with this is I’m really focused on people really looking towards the Rhone and looking at wines from the Condrieu. This is François Villard. Great producer, this is his Viognier 2006. The single vineyard Deponcins at $30.00. Viognier is a varietal that I think—let’s give it a little rinse here. Greg Ng: Okay. Gary Vaynerchuk: A varietal that I think a lot of people are overlooking, a lot of people are over thinking, a lot of people called the next Chardonnay. It’s really not. It’s a wine that really—is a lot of fun because I think it’s a red or wine drinkers white—it’s one of the few whites that I think you can really pair with even steak. But in this scenario with the chicken, really I decide to pair it because I just want to try this wine. Greg Ng: Okay. Gary Vaynerchuk: I mean, really honestly. Greg Ng: Sure. Gary Vaynerchuk: Is that okay with you? Greg Ng: That’s cool with me. Gary Vaynerchuk: But shall we taste it first or we should taste the food first. I feel like this in the food first. Greg Ng: All right. Gary Vaynerchuk: All right. Let’s get in like—let’s keep to our system. Now there’s some sauce down here. What is this? Greg Ng: It’s a tomato basil. Gary Vaynerchuk: Indeed. Greg Ng: It’s good the vegetables are crisp. Gary Vaynerchuk: The vegetables are crisp, not soggy. Greg Ng: Right. Gary Vaynerchuk: Like you’re classic. Now how much is this? Greg Ng: $3.79 a box. Sometimes if you go to— Gary Vaynerchuk: $3.79 where? Greg Ng: I got it at Super Stop&Shop here. Gary Vaynerchuk: Okay. Greg Ng: But if you go to like a Target, sometimes you can get these like four for 10 bucks. Gary Vaynerchuk: You got to love Target. All right, that was way too big for a piece of chicken. Let’s give this wine a sniffy sniff. What do you think on the nose? Greg Ng: It smells pretty too but— Gary Vaynerchuk: Do you know what acacia flower is? This has a really raining dose of acacia flower on the nose in my opinion which I like quite a bit. There’s also an underlining kind of almost like weedy. Like weeds you know, like grainy kind of thing going on. And also like a little bit of like a honey melon kind of thing going on. Like melon without the pre-shoot. Greg Ng: Okay. Gary Vaynerchuk: Let’s give it a whirl. Greg Ng: I don’t like that at all. Gary Vaynerchuk: And this time I agree with you. Is the backend heat bothering you? Greg Ng: Yeah. Gary Vaynerchuk: I feel like I’m puffed the magic dragon where I just took a shot of vodka. Greg Ng: Yeah but also it kind of felt like—it tastes a little pungent to me. I know if you can taste pungency but it taste a little pungent to me in the back of my tongue. Gary Vaynerchuk: I can taste chaos. And that’s what I’m tasting a little bit in this wine. I mean it’s little off balance you know. The acid on the back-end is way too upfront. It’s got good body structure in the beginning. I like the bright fruit that we get first hit with and they kind of falls apart and gets angry on me. Greg Ng: Yeah. Gary Vaynerchuk: It’s kind of like a girlfriend that you kind of like in the first couple of weeks but then she got angry. Do you know what I mean? Greg Ng: Yeah. Gary Vaynerchuk: Like it’s a little waste that way. You may not know because it seems like you married your— Greg Ng: Yeah I may be pretty young but-- Gary Vaynerchuk: Right. Greg Ng: It doesn’t mean I don’t have any psychos in high school. Gary Vaynerchuk: That’s a good call. I think that the acid here is a little off balance that’s why it is in ‘06 I think for people that you know, follow Villard like I am a pretty big hardcore fan boy of François Villard. I feel like this wine does have the potential to sit in the cellar 46 more years before really starts opening it up. A lot of people maybe all the cool peeps on the crowd might not even realize. A lot of you will think white wine is meant to be drunk so young. But this is a white wine that probably last for 12 to 15 years. I think we’re trying this wine a little early. I think we can all look back at our lives and say, “you have 14 maybe we want completely the polish product we are now” And I feel like that’s what we’re kind of judging this wine. That being said, we have to judge this wine now and I’m going to score this wine 87 points. I’m a little bit disappointed by the balance of it. It is a little awkward. I’m going to give the benefit of the doubt because I know this producer, not usually like the efforts, but I agree with you. I think the backend is really a problem. Greg Ng: Yeah. I don’t like it. Gary Vaynerchuk: You’re pretty angry about it. Greg Ng: Yeah well not angry. Gary Vaynerchuk: No I feel a little angry. Greg Ng: Yeah I’m really angry. Gary Vaynerchuk: Okay good. Greg Ng: You know, this could be just me but and again, I’m not you know, I don’t taste a lot of wines. This taste is metallic to me. There’s parts, like you’re a kid and you suck on like a drumstick or something. Gary Vaynerchuk: A metal rod, yeah. I mean, I legitimately—I don’t suck on my— Greg Ng: Okay. Gary Vaynerchuk: I agree with you. There is a metallic kind of more of like you know, did you ever lick your aluminum baseball bat? Greg Ng: Oh! Yeah. Gary Vaynerchuk: Yeah I mean to me, I get a little bit of that. Yeah, I mean I’m trying to like it. I’m looking for like the oily complexities that I love in Viognier and I’m just not finding them and you know, there’s only so much I can do. I’m going to try this a little bit one more time. Greg Ng: Go for it. Gary Vaynerchuk: So what do you think about this? When will you like this like four stars, three stars? Greg Ng: I’ll give this a four star. It’s for the price and you know, it gives you a little extra work but it’s worth it. It’s not like you’re putting through all of these pieces. Gary Vaynerchuk: It’s pretty good and it seems there is more of it with the noodles and what saw in the stir fry. Greg Ng: Yeah. Gary Vaynerchuk: I like six bones right? Greg Ng: Right. Gary Vaynerchuk: All right. And finally, what did you— Greg Ng: All right finally— Gary Vaynerchuk: What did you choose in— Greg Ng: I went with the classic. You know I’ve been upset lately because Hot Pockets has really— Gary Vaynerchuk: Oh! Look at that thing Mott. Greg Ng: They have just expanded, they’ve just expanded their line so much and people were just like changing it up with Hot Pockets and it’s kind of like—I’m trying to figure out what’s the best way to describe it. Its like-- Gary Vaynerchuk: It’s like when fruit roll-ups jump to sharp that putting shapes in them and you like pop all the shapes. Greg Ng: Yeah but those tastes the same. Gary Vaynerchuk: That’s a fair point. Greg Ng: The thing for me its like— Gary Vaynerchuk: New coke? Greg Ng: You know like the movie Multiplicity? Gary Vaynerchuk: No I don’t watch movies. Greg Ng: Okay. Well he goes—you don’t—never make a copy of the copy. Gary Vaynerchuk: Okay. Greg Ng: Okay because he starts copying and duplicating himself. Gary Vaynerchuk: Okay. Greg Ng: The bottom line is the next thing you know, you pick your head up and you’re three generations away all right. So Hot Pockets has lean pockets, they have croissant pockets, they have— Gary Vaynerchuk: They’ve got a way from who they were. Greg Ng: They’re all the same. Gary Vaynerchuk: They over expand it. Greg Ng: Yeah so that kind of— Gary Vaynerchuk: So you’re mad at Hot Pockets? Greg Ng: No so— Gary Vaynerchuk: Because I’ll jump on board with you. Greg Ng: I’m not necessarily mad at Hot Pockets. They’re good. They’re good for the values which is two bucks for two of these. Gary Vaynerchuk: Two bones? Which are a buck a piece? You mean there’s two inside. Greg Ng: Yeah left the other one in your freezer. Gary Vaynerchuk: So they’re dollar. Greg Ng: They’re a buck each. Gary Vaynerchuk: Two for the package. Greg Ng: But I went—the reason why is I went back with the classic. Pepperoni Hot Pockets. It’s not lean, it’s not a croissant. Gary Vaynerchuk: It’s like hip hop. Some of the bullrap we hear now. I mean you want to just, you want to throw it back. Greg Ng: Can I go back to Dalo. Gary Vaynerchuk: Yeah I understand, I know Dalo is wow! All right, what I decided to match with this, when I heard Hot Pockets, I got excited because I’ve been dying you know, it only took me 630 shows. But I’ve been dying to this pair of Hot Pockets on the Thunder Show with the Porter Bass Zinfandel, 2004 from Russian River Valley. Now Russian River known really as a burgundy play. Why I am doing this all day—as a burgundy play Chardonnay Pinot Noir but Zin is starting to really show me something from this area. 25 bones so far from an expensive but a small producer I mean—zoom on that label Mott. Do you see what’s going on there? It’s like the grasshopper fighting like the insect or something—it’s pretty bad ass. Look at that. Greg Ng: Oh! Yeah. Gary Vaynerchuk: You like that right? It’s like a bee versus the grasshopper. 2004 Zinfandel, I’ve always found with kind of like cheesy pepperoni, like pizza. I think the Zin is a great pairing with pizza. This has like a hard kind of crusting to it that I think it’s going to be tremendous with the Zin. Let’s reverse it up. Let’s smell, let’s sniffy sniff the Zin first. Greg Ng: Sure. Gary Vaynerchuk: Because I really want to end on a Hot Pocket kind of kit. Greg Ng: Okay. Gary Vaynerchuk: What do you got on the nose? Greg Ng: Cherry? Gary Vaynerchuk: No. I’m just kidding. So listen, everybody gets their own things. I mean I don’t pick—I actually pick up a little bit more of a blackberry kind of flavor than cherry. Greg Ng: Okay yeah. Gary Vaynerchuk: But are you picking up a creaminess to it? Like the subtle oak, like a little bit of wood— Greg Ng: I pick up a little bit of oak. Gary Vaynerchuk: It’s not the oak monster but it’s a little bit of an oak thing going on. There’s also a little bit of like a—did you ever have a jaw breaker? Greg Ng: Oh! Yeah. Gary Vaynerchuk: I give it a little bit of like strawberry, like purple, like grape jaw breaker candy in here a little bit. Greg Ng: You know, I tend to stay with whites but this smell like Merlot to me. Gary Vaynerchuk: Okay. Greg Ng: And it’s only because— Gary Vaynerchuk: That’s the only great wine you ever had? Greg Ng: I’m normally—I'm in the Merlot with the big stake. Gary Vaynerchuk: I understand. Greg Ng: Because the men you told me— Gary Vaynerchuk: This was probably a little bit fruity upfront and little less old world than a Merlot. It has more bright fruit than a normal Merlot. Let’s give it a whirl, and see what do you think? Greg Ng: Okay. Gary Vaynerchuk: Do you like that. Greg Ng: I like that. Gary Vaynerchuk: You like it. Greg Ng: I like that yeah. Gary Vaynerchuk: Do you like the creaminess on the backend there? Greg Ng: I feel them inside in my tongue. Gary Vaynerchuk: Yeah. Greg Ng: The sides of my tongue. Gary Vaynerchuk: If you just went down—this show would explode and get like 40 million hits on YouTube. Greg Ng: You see what I’m saying? Like I’m— Gary Vaynerchuk: I got really excited when I heard tongues, I’m like, this is it. That’s what I’m looking for. Mott, we did it. I agree with you. I think that you know the blackness black cherry, there’s almost like a black cherry meats, cream soda component here. Well, I actually like that. That’s actually what this really taste like to me. You’re like what the hell I’m talking about. Greg Ng: No because I’m starting that you know what, the after taste is like, taste like a mix between Robitussin and like a Frank’s black cherry soda. Gary Vaynerchuk: You grew up in North Carolina? Greg Ng: No I grew up in Phili. Gary Vaynerchuk: And you’re a Patriot fan? You told me this before this. I almost get them out. Greg Ng: My dad was born and raised in Boston. I’m a science man too, I’m sorry. Gary Vaynerchuk: That’s fine okay. Greg Ng: Okay. Gary Vaynerchuk: Okay, I like the Zin. It’s solid, it’s got good fruit, I think it’s crowd pleasing. I think people with—not a lot of red wine experience would like this wine. It’s creamy, it’s soft. It’s a little off balance. The tannins are firm, I like it. It’s a little boring. It’s like you know, dependable. It’s like that friend you have. Dependable but you’re going to hit the town with him a 2:00 in the morning text him up. You are just dependable and that’s kind of what this is. I tad boring solid, I respect it for what it is. It’s got good backend, it’s almost got a dusty like dark chocolate component. You know like little high coco count. Like the bitterness of like the chocolate, but it’s solid. But now, I’ll probably score this about 88 points. Now, I think it’s going to show its true merit. Let’s see this. Greg Ng: Yeah let’s pick this open actually because I— Gary Vaynerchuk: You got excited? No go ahead. I’m not scared of anything. Greg Ng: I typically use a fork. Gary Vaynerchuk: Except internet on planes. Greg Ng: Yeah I heard about that. Gary Vaynerchuk: All right go ahead. Greg Ng: I typically use a fork but I think with the Hot Pocket, you got to go in hands. Gary Vaynerchuk: Yeah absolutely. Greg Ng: I don’t like to— Gary Vaynerchuk: No, that will be so weird. I’ll take the bigger piece. Mott, you should zoom in here. This looks extremely attractive to me. It’s just gorgeous inside. These things are good. Greg Ng: Importable. What I like about is it got real pepperoni. The cheese is isn’t like the cheese whiz but it’s also not like the bega bite cube cheese. It’s good stuff. Gary Vaynerchuk: What would you review something like this in your show? Three and a half stars. Greg Ng: All right you know what, I give it a little bomb. I never do that. Gary Vaynerchuk: No I don’t. Greg Ng: Okay. Gary Vaynerchuk: I’m emotional. Greg Ng: Well you see, you know, I’ve ruled the frozen food space so I pretty much do whatever I want. Gary Vaynerchuk: That’s a good point. Greg Ng: I’ve give this a four star only because I can have that quick flashback of like 50 different experiences with Hot Pockets. So that’s why, I’ve give it a four. Gary Vaynerchuk: Now, try with the wine. What do you noticed on the food and wine pairing of it? Greg Ng: What I notice is that I’m definitely picking of a way more, way more— Gary Vaynerchuk: Tannins? Greg Ng: Yeah I guess. Gary Vaynerchuk: The bitterness? Greg Ng: Yeah, that’s what it is. Gary Vaynerchuk: Yeah. Greg Ng: Yeah, this is dangerous because if I have like a six bags of these and be journeying the whole bottle. Yeah this is good. Gary Vaynerchuk: I like it too. I mean what really happens now is that with this fruit pairing, you pick up more the tannins but you’re picking up just overall more of the flavor. The flavors are really bouncing. Something I didn’t pick up the first time, so let me just try it one more time. With this, this is almost like—Mott, you okay? Are you all right? I get a little more of like a lilac component. Like a very floral thing going on. And so opening up a little bit but the food really made a jump. The black cherry is undeniable. That is the story of this wine. I’m going to stick with my 88 point score. I didn’t really come through with picking the wines with the foods as well as I’d hope but I’m going to have these wines, I just went kind of—stylistically. So solid stuff, again mainly over priced. I would say the Gewurtz that you hated. Greg Ng: No I like the Gewurtz, but I didn’t like the one in the middle. Gary Vaynerchuk: Well that’s right. But you don’t really like the Gewurtz at first either. Greg Ng: It wasn’t like this. Gary Vaynerchuk: You like that more? Greg Ng: Then again the Hot Pocket wasn’t like at Amy’s. Gary Vaynerchuk: Well if you know what, I still think I like these noodles. These noodles were good. Greg Ng: It has own fat? Gary Vaynerchuk: Yeah. I mean the bottom line is wine pairs with anything. We’re going to do our White Castle episode. Mott, we’re going to have to go on 22 and do the White Castle episode next week. But we have to come back. Congratulations, 60 frozen food shows is pretty awesome. Has anything gone viral yet as one show. Greg Ng: Yeah one in particular. Right before Thanksgiving, I did—I have what they call Fro downs, frozen food. And I did, I consumed 6,000 calories in 30 minutes. I ate four turkey and mash potato, frozen foods, head to head at 30 minute show. Gary Vaynerchuk: Right. Greg Ng: And then proceeded to threw up about 8,000 calories afterwards. Gary Vaynerchuk: Did you throw up? Greg Ng: Yeah, off camera fortunately. Gary Vaynerchuk: Yeah right. Greg Ng: But that one is probably that one that’s gone most viral Gary Vaynerchuk: Nice, pretty cool. Do they still make the hungry man chicken one? Greg Ng: Oh! Man. Gary Vaynerchuk: That’s the best one. Greg Ng: I did that one. Gary Vaynerchuk: And? How many stars? Greg Ng: I think I gave it like a two and a half. Gary Vaynerchuk: All right question of the day as you know the guest get to ask the question of the day. I know you know that because you watch the show. So fire away, ask the Vayniacs out there their question of the day. Greg Ng: Could it be frozen food related? Gary Vaynerchuk: Of course. It could be porn related. Knock yourself out. Greg Ng: My question of the day is what is your favorite frozen pizza variety? Gary Vaynerchuk: Favorite frozen pizza variety and I’m going to throw in on. What is your favorite food pizza period? I’m just curious what if everybody ask if they’re eating. I was a hungry man chicken guy. I love that. Greg Ng: I was too back in the days. Gary Vaynerchuk: But now, it’s a two and half. Greg Ng: Yeah it’s not that great anymore. Gary Vaynerchuk: You with a little bit of me, we’re changing the wine world whether they like it or not.