Real Duff Beer from The Simpsons Review

Gary: What are we looking at here, we’re looking at Boony Doon vineyars syrah from Bien Nacido, 40 US dollars. Tell me a little about this. This is something that I never had before. So I’m excited about this. Randall: Yeah, Bien Nacido vineyard is arguably the best syrah vineyard in California. It’s certainly coolest in a strictly climatic sense. Gary: And in a rad way as well. Where there is cool people. Randall: There are cool people. But it’s, it’s a very special vineyard. You get more, what I think is authentic syrah character in Bien Nacido vineyard than in any other vineyard I’ve ever experienced. You get real textbook syrah, you get bacon fat, you get anis, you get all this pepper, white pepper. All this wonderfull… Gary: If I get a bacon fat, I’m just, I’m almost always in. Randall: Okay, check it out. Gary: I’m all in. Randall: Check it out. Gary: All in. Randall: Check it out. Gary: Like, like I’ve got bullets. Randall: Yeah, just check it out. Gary: Alright, let’s give it a sniffy sniff. Yeah, I mean, you know. For me, anytime I can get a little leather and a little, you know, again, slight bacon fat, not as much maybe, I’ll see it in the palette. Tons of pepper, I mean, white and black pepper for days on this nose, which are always two characteristics that I love about syrah as well. What I love about this on the nose, right off the top, is it’s not over the top. It doesn’t come across like a massive fruit bomb. Not over oaked, you know, arrgh, the oak monster scares the crap out of me. Randall: Yeah. Gary: And, anytime I get that much oak on a wine, I’m pretty much out, and it’s great to see on the nose, at least, not a lot of those characteristics. What is the treatment, how do you, I mean, I’m assuming there’s oak, you know, you putting this in oak. vYeah, but we aged the wine in puncheons rather than barrels, so these are double size barrels, 500 liter. Gary: Yup. And are they usually, you know, brand new. First year. Second year. What’s the mix breakdown? Do you remember? Randall: Well, yeah. I’ve sort of. Maybe 20 percent new oak, so… Gary: That’s great. Randall: So average about 2 to 3 years. Gary: You know to me this whole hundred percent new oak thing is disastrous. Randall: Yeah, yeah. I mean the same… Gary: It’s like make up. Randall: Yeah. People… Gary: Keep your pure beauty. Randall: People who think of oak as a primary flavor in wine, are the same ones who think of ketchup as a vegetable. It’s a condiment, it’s not a major food group. Gary: I totally agree. Let’s give it a whirl. You drank it? Randall: Uh huh. Gary: I really like this. Randall: Good. Thanks. Gary: I like this a lot. This is by far my favorite wine on the bunch. Now, that is because of the obnoxious balance this wine is bringing to the table. It’s nice to see, you know, you’re talking about balance, I mean, you know, I’ve said it in front of wine makers in the show, you know it, so many people love to talk about balance, and then they give something that’s 15-7 with, you know, so much fruit and oak, you don’t know too yourself. This has ex… you know, you can taste the land, I mean, you could taste the dirt of, you know, It’s almost like a little fertilizer action, which I like quite a bit. I like fertilizer, you know, just that whole lot fertilizer flavor, component. There’s great fruit, but it’s sour, you know, I like sour cherries, I like, I like sour fruit in my syrah, a lot of times. Not sour, negative, you know what I’m saying, has that great balance of fruit and tenance, you know, which always represent to me, a nice little sour cherry component. It’s very lush too. And awfully gamey. Almost like a vensen component, like a bit of deer’s ass, you know what I mean, Randall? Randall: No. Gary: Okay. Come on. Little bit. Randall: A little bit, I do. I get, I get. Gary: What are you getting on this wine? Randall: Smoke. Smoke and mirrors. No, actually this. Smoke. Smoked meat. I mean there’s a little savory umami character of sorts. Gary: Yeah. Randall: Get bacon fat. I do get the cherries. I get olives. I get a little black olives in it. Gary: Yeah, I do. You know what, that’s a great call. I do as well. You know, this to me is a much more old world play than the last wine, which is so, on my palette. Randall: I think they’re both, I think they’re both over all. And by the way if somebody really wants to be nice to me, they say, this is really old world wine, Randall, this is like, I don’t know how you did it, but, it just taste just like European. Gary: To me, the, you know, the cigar, is, definitely has character. If I was to taste it, I would think it’s a little bit more of a new world wine. I would hurt your feelings, in that scenario. To me this syrah, would baffle me. I would, I would start getting into crazy senses of like, god the fruit is so pure and it’s gotta be, you know, Americans, definitely not Australian, is this a, you know to me, I would start thinking warmer vintage Rhone, you know, something like, is this ’03… Randall:’03. Gary: Yeah, you know, I’d be like, is this an… exactly, that’s exactly. So, to me, and especially when you see syrah, and Bien Nacido syrah, I mean, I agree with you, I love the vineyard, and it is cool climate, but there’s a lot of people who’d put out over blown monsters from here. I mean a lot of people, they’ve actually, in my opinion, ruin the brand. I, you know, when I think of the vineyard, you know, you kinda reminded me, coz I was there, you know, maybe 5 or 6 years ago. I mean, I think of it as a place that puts out fruit bombs. You know, because there’s a lot of producers that have really put out massive over oaked fruit bomb type syrah. So this is, to me, I really big play. A lot of you know that I’m addicted to the Rhone valley, and to me, there are, I’m very, you know what, I go in with pre conceive notions just like anybody else, I’m very caught off guard by this wine. Randall: Good. Gary: In a very positive way. Randall: Good. Gary: I mean it. Randall: Good. Good. Could do worse. Could do worse. Gary: It’s really neat. This a really good wine. Randall: Thanks. Gary: This is really good. Randall: I’ll tell you a really funny story. Gary: Please. Randall: So I, I was selling this wine. Gary: Story time. Randall: Yup. I was at San Francisco, in the bay area, and, you know, the bay area is like very Huck Finn, and so many areas are like, just to hip… Gary: They think through the shed. Randall: Yeah. They’re too hip for humans. Gary: We should arm wrestle them. Randall: Yeah. They’re great. They have, they have European palettes… Gary: He’s got to be careful. Be careful. Be careful Randall, these guys are important. Go ahead. Randall: They’re very sophisticated. I completely love them. And… Gary: They’re the best. Randall: They’re the best. So, they’re saying, you know Randall, nice wine. Really delicious wine. Good job. But you know, it’s like a little concentrated, it’s like a little, maybe a little over extracted, you know, but, lovely wine, lovely wine. Gary: And they’re doing this out of respect. Randall: Out of respect. Gary: For who you are. Because behind your back, they’re like, did you tasted Ran’s stuff, that stuff is way over the top. Randall: What they do, they’re trying to say it in a nice, in a gentle way, but it’s a little over the top. Gary: Yup, go ahead. Randall: Little con, maybe a little concentrated. So then I go to southern California, like, literally the next week, and they say you know, Randall, good job on the wine, but like, could you like punch it up a little bit. Gary: Sure. I mean that’s just, I mean that’s the scene. I mean, you’ve got a lot of different characters out there. But this is the beauty, right. I mean, everybody has a different palette, you know, we definitely, you know, what’s kinda neat now, when you’re probably like this. We are probably in an era, at least from what I’ve seen you, you’ve been doing it long enough, I have, what a very nice era in my opinion though, we do have a little bit more of a debate going on. There are people you know, and of course, I think people that are professional sums in, all over the country, master sums, people like myself, and people that are into the scene, we wanna talk a little bit more about the balanced, the over blown stuff. As a matter of fact, I’ve been noticing my own palette gravitating back a little bit to the fruit bombs, just a hair. Just because I’ve been off them for 36, 48 months now, and then all of the sudden, you know, I’ll have Martinelli, jack ass hills then, why not, I’m pissed, I need some alcohol, I wanna punch me in the face. Just to mix it up, you know, you go back, it, it’s a seesaw, the palette becomes a very interesting seesaw. But, we finally have a situation, where I think people are really debating a little bit. And there, and it goes back and forth and god, we really, you know, we had an era of just, you know, we’re just getting out of it, I would say, mid ‘90s to 2000 or so. Where people are just drinking bomb, after bomb, after bomb. Randall: I would say that the bomb, bombs away, I mean, we don’t have bombs away yet. I mean there’s still making bombs. Gary: Oh, there’s plenty of bombs. Randall: Yeah. Yeah. Gary: There’s plenty of bombs. But there’s a period where every simple wine drinker that I sold to only wanted bombs. Randall: Right. Gary: Heavy Napa valley, oak cabs. Give me the Australian syrah so baroso, and zins were off the charts, and it became like who can get higher alcohols. And, we’ve definitely seen a balancing acts, and we’ve seen people finally gravitate towards white wine a little bit. Randall: Yeah. Nice. Gary: It’s about time people understand that white wines are serious. I mean, stupid, people legitimately feel that, they have to drink red wine to be serious. Randall: You know Gary, the point you make goes that, it’s not, it’s not one or the other in, you know, there been some interesting studies that have shown that if you like rich wines and powerful wines it doesn’t mean that you hate more elegant wines. You can actually love them both. And I… Gary: Go figure. Randall: Yeah. Under different circumstances, they’re both actually can give, can give pleasure. Gary: What have you been drinking yourself personally lately? Is there anything that’s on the radar. Anything that’s really catching your attention these days. Randall: It’s kind of the usual set. I drink a lot of cornaz, I’m kind of a cornaz guy. And German wine, I’m a Riesling guy, I just can’t get enough Riesling. And a bordello guy. Gary: Have you drank. Randall: And burgundy guy. Gary: Have you drank any of the wines from Baja, California, Mexico? Randall: I’ve not. Gary: You need to. Randall: I’ve not. Gary: I think. Randall: I’m told they’re very good. Gary: You need to, you need to. I’m completely baffled by the potential of this area. I’m excited. Randall: What do you like? At Baja. Gary: I, you know, there are a lot of the tempenio base wine have shone very well. To me, you know, what’s funny about them, you know, and I have had, I had 5 or 6 not too long ago. The wines that really show, you know, back to the balance, you know, they’re wines kinda remind me of your syrah a little bit here. Where you can taste it, it’s like, you know what, it’s like that 7 year old, it’s like Alex Pikitan. Do you know Alex Pikitan is. Randall: No. Gary: Okay, there was a show in the ‘80s called Family Ties and Michael J. Fox… Randall: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Gary: Played this character Alex Piki, and he was like 9, but he was like this big republican, and he wore ties in school. Randall: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Gary: Since second grade. That’s how I kinda look at those wines. You can tell they’re youthful and like, it’s a new area and it’s warm climate, but there’s a complexity and maturity to the wines that you’ve never expect. And that’s what making me so fascinated about them. And I think there’s still feeling out their way. You know, it was a very interesting area a hundred years ago, there’s a big, believe it or not, which is my heritage, a Russian community that went down there, started doing like the, you know, the dessert wines and some of that, you know, Ukrainian – Georgian kind of love down there. They have a pretty interesting, you know, long lasting tradition there and so, I’m gonna actually check them out this year. So… Randall: By the way, are you doing anything about Georgian wines? Gary: We do sell some, you know, it, you know, for me, they, they’re interesting, I mean I just haven’t done enough homework, to be honest with you. I mean, I’ve drank them, you know, I’m probably suade by the fact that all, you know, when I go to this Russian parties and, and everybody just gets hammered by them and like, the ceramic bottles, they just like smash them over their heads when they’re done. It’s a little wild. So, you know, they mix them on their grape juice. Randall: It’s great. Great. Great. Gary: It gets really interesting. Let’s talk about this. This is something I also have never had. And the, what is it right here, we got. Randall: This is… Gary: 30 US dollars. Randall: Yeah. This is a dessert wine called Le Vol Des Anges, and it’s from the… Gary: What is it a blend of, I don’t see it back here. Randall: It’s hundred percent rousan. Gary: Really. Randall: Betratis rousan. Naturally, naturally occurring… Gary: Hence the 30 dollar price point. Coz rousan gets more expensive than, you know. Randall: Well, betratis is kinda expensive. Gary: Sure. Randall: Compositionally. Gary: Sure. Sure. Randall: You know, we have to pick it 4 to 5 times to get the concentration of the betratis, we need… Gary: I’m, you know, you, you’ve, you’ve really done some serious damage through the years in the dessert wine field. Randall: Yeah. Gary: I mean, there was that one time where you’re, you know, dessert wine, the 13 dollar one, you know, was the only thing we sold in the store. Randall: Great. Gary: I mean, that was a big, that was a big brand for you at one time, huh. Randall: Yeah. Muskat Venegacia. Gary: Yeah. I mean that was insanity. People are addicted. Randall: It was eubictiuous. Gary: It was a little crack coccainish. Randall: Yeah. Gary: Yeah. Randall: Great. Good for us. Gary: Nice. So, tell me the process here. Randall: So the different… Gary: Obviously your own head. You want to get into this kind of action a little bit. Randall: Right. So in other words, I wanna make a Rhone, I wanna make a dessert wine from Rhone grapes, and, so what am I gonna do, I thought maybe I, initially I thought, vandepaie. Gary: Sure. Randall: Which is, which is a classic. Gary: Classic. Randall: Yeah. But Gary: Oh. Randall: When I was out at the vineyard, and notice there was like a ton of betratis, actually about 20 tons of betratis, and I though well, I don’t need to dry this grapes, but their naturally doing it themselves, so… Gary: Sure. Randall: We went with it, and, I adore this wine, I adore it. Gary: This does say bees wax vineyard? Randall: Bees wax is the name of the vineyard. Yeah. Gary: What’s the back story behind that? Randall: I’ve no idea. Gary: No clue. Randall: No, but, the wine smells like bees wax. Rousan smells like bees wax to me, there’s a honey character. Gary: Tons of honey. Randall: Not just from the betratis, but from the grape itself. There’s, there’s a honey… Gary: It also has a like a smoked apricot thing. Randall: Uh hmm. Gary: Like I started picking up smoked apricots years ago and so, then a couple of times, you know, I have like a bonfire or like a tailgate or something, I throw some apricots on there, and just like, started like trying really get that down. So if you’ve never barbecued apricots, huge opportunity to pick up a sense that you find in lot of different dessert wines. And really kinda sweet experience. Randall: Well apricot, apricot is definitely a betratis character. Gary: Yeah. No question. Randall: Definitely. Gary: There’s a little peach fuzz action going on here as well. Randall: Actually barb, barbecued peaches, I think is the way to go. Gary: There’s definitely a peach in… I’ve never done that. You’ve done that? Randall: Killer. Gary: Yeah? I got to, we’ll do that at the Jets – Chiefs game. Are you a football fan? Randall: No. Gary: That’s a mistake. Let’s give this a whirl. Randall: I’m good. Gary: Yeah, I figured. Dessert wine is, you know, the viewers know I think is by far the hardest thing to score. Everybody over scores them, coz we all have a sweet tooth. Randall: Sure. Gary: At some level. What I, you know, I like this. You know, it’s not too sticky, which is appreciate on the palette. I think a lot of people over do and you almost like loose the sense, you might as well just go, you know, add a little vodka to some honey, and just drink that. Randall: Yeah. Gary: You know, and so to me, there’s a, a solid balance on this. I got a lot of pears, actually on the back end flavor which is kinda neat. Randall: Pear and quints are really good. Gary: Quints. Yeah. Randall: Description. Gary: Quints are delicious by the way, do you just scoop with your finger? Randall: No. I cut… Gary: I’m all about it. Randall: I do quints paste, I love quints. Gary: And then you put on the cheese. Randall: Yeah. Gary: You know, classic. No finger. Randall: Yeah. Gary: I understand. Okay. What else do you get on this? What really attracts you to this wine? Anything specific? Randall: Well, I agree, it’s sweet, but it’s not, it’s not trickly, it’s not over sweet. Not coying. I like the astringency Gary: The whole. Randall: The astringency is a nice foil to the… Gary: You know, I got to tell you. You know what’s kina ironic about this wine. It gives me, there’s, it gives me Phaturn like feeling at some level. I don’t know exactly why I feel that so much. Obviously different grapes, but I feel, just an, I guess maybe its weight and texture my mouth. Less on the flavor, because obviously I’m getting different characteristics that I usually get from semione, or sauvignon blanc. But, there’s a Phaturn like feel to this. Randall: Yeah, I don’t get that… Gary: Why? Randall: I don’t get the amount of… well, betratis and… Gary: Sure. Randall: A kind of lowish acid. Gary: Yeah. It’s the low acid probably, right. yeah. Randall: For me it’s not as volatile as phaturn, what kills me phaturn is the sulfur levels. The sulfur levels are murder and we really try to keep that under, under control. Gary: In the wraps. Randall: That’s one of the things I really like about this wine is the sulfur is like very… Gary: Chill. Randall: Yeah. Yeah. Gary: This is a very good wine. I mean to me, the syrah is stole the show, I was completely blown away by the syrah. Obviously this stuff is something everybody’s gonna like at some level. I think the albarinio is a very interesting play. If you really understand what you know or like about albarinio, and you know the acid hits you a little high, very, one of the, very interesting. I, to me, this is something I gotta wrap my head around, I’m gonna cut and take a bottle to myself and dissect it, because, I wanna see, it’s very curious, to me. Randall: Yeah. Might as. Gary: Yeah. Randall: Might as just like… Gary: Oh listen. Randall: Chilling. Just like put in the fridge… Gary: Yup. I understand. Randall: For about 45 minutes. And give it a whirl. Gary: This is awesome. Randall: Good. Gary: You wanna have anything. What’s that? Randall: Oh, right, thank you. One of the things is very, forgot to… Gary: The brains of the operation save the day. Randall: Yeah, the brains of the operation save the day. Gary: Go ahead. Randall: One of the things that, one of the initiative we took was to indicate the ingredients on the label, this is it, we’re doing this on all our wines, we’re actually… Gary: Oh, you’re really like… Randall: Disclosing like… Gary: You’re really looking to screw people up. Randall: Oh yeah. Gary: I love it. I love where you’re going with this. No but I mean it. This is something that I believe everybody should be doing, nobody wants to do, I understand. Randall: Yup. Gary: I’m not confused white. There’s no secret, you know, don’t get scared, keep drinking wine, it’s not like there’s poison in it, but… Randall: Generally not. Generally we don’t Gary: Occasionally. Really. I did not notice that. Randall: Yeah. So, we kinda created the… Gary: Right here. Randall: Somewhat arbitrary, arbitrary distinction between ingredients and materials that are used in the production of the wines. So, in other words ingredients are things that actually stay in the wine after the wine is made. Things that have touched the wine, like oak chips… Gary: Is this, now you haven’t done in the other wines, is this where you’re going? Randall: Well, this are older vintages, so. Gary: I know. So I’m asking, are you going there? Randall: We’re going there with all of our wines. So everything after ’07, everything will have ingredients on the label. Gary: You will become very popular once again my friend. Randall: I hope so. Gary: Question of the day, every guest that’s on Wine Library TV gets to ask the vayniacs the question of the day, this can be about anything in the world. Music. Life. Wine. Sports. Whatever you want, fire away Randall. What is the question of the day. Randall: My god. Gary: On the spot is so delicious. It’s like drinking beautiful dessert wine from the bottle. Randall: Oh my gosh. You know, everything I wanna know I just google it, and call it a day. Gary: You know, here you have, tens of thousands of wine fans watching this show. Randall: Yeah. Gary: You know, get a sense of a pulse, of the people that watch video blog wine shows in the internet. What would you like to ask them. Maybe you can ask them, you know, how awesome I am, you know, what’s their favorite bird. You can ask them what’s the worst wine they’ve ever have. What do they think of you before the show, have they ever had one of your wine. Randall: Oh yeah, I mean I guess, you know, one of the problems is you never see yourself clearly, I mean, you always have this illusion about who you are… Gary: Which is always like you’re the greatest. Randall: You’re the greatest, or the worst, or whatever. But, you never, you never really know who you are and, I’m really, I’m really interested in knowing how many people really understand what has happened to Boony, whether there’s really been significant change. What is their image of Boony, do they think it’s kind of this marketing schtick, sort of, sort of factory, or, or do they get the really truly committed to making serious wines and, soulful wines, I just don’t know, if that’s, if that’s the case. Gary: And also please check out their ad in the next wine spectator it is one of the more awesome things I’ve seen on the winishing in a long time. Randall: It’s pretty funny. It’s pretty great. Gary: I think that’s going to be really, really worth your time. This was a sincere pleasure of mine. Randall: My pleasure. Gary: Thanks for being here. Randall: Thanks Gary. Gary: You, with a little bit of me, we’re changing the wine world. Hopefully as much, even if we’re a hair as much as this guy change it.