Tasting Celebrity Wines

Gary: 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 I’m very excited to have the Pop-eater boys with me today. Is that right? Can I call you the Pop Eater Boys? Pop Eater Boys: You can call us the Pop Eater Boys. Absolutely. Whatever. Well, whatever works. Gary: These guys are serious wine fans. They have wrist bands. They have Wine Library TV wristbands that I didn’t just give to them. These guys are real maniacs. They love the Vinot. And they’re in the Pop-Eater world. Why don’t you tell the Vayner Nation who you guys are and what Pop-Eater is. And please, excuse my hoarse voice. I am still hoarse from the dominant New York Jett’s victory. Pop Eater Boys: You could call us that. Jason: I’m Jason Calfman, Editor of Pop Eater.com. We are AOL news entertainment of Pop culture site. And we pretty much come in the morning and look at every single celebrity and Pop Culture story that’s going on out there. What we try to convey immediately is get a sense of how to evolve in around the internet. Really try to convey to the reader the excitement that we feel when we’re coming in so. So, every bell and whistle, every single major stores we work with, bringing all together. Throw it out there and just. We DJ it, exactly. We DJ, we curate. Gary: So you like follow Mott on his trip to North Carolina since he’s a huge star. Jason: This is what paparazzi is. You found this man— Gary: You should’ve seen what happened to the lobby when people saw Mott. It was insane. Jason: I heard he was approached. Jason: Coming out of the limo. They’re going low. Gary: Yeah. And stuff like that. Mike: Yeah. I’m Mike Hest. I’m Managing Editor of Pop Eater and like Jason said, we just take everything celebrity, condense it, put on a little spin on it, and then even have you in sometimes Gary: Yep! Mike: Doing some videos for us. Gary: Are always fun! Mike: Always welcome. Gary: The theme giving that is a little bit of a celebrity play today. We’ve done celebrity wines in the past. And this is really shaped up to be Little John or Little Jonathan as he’s known in the wine world versus Dan Akroyd. Gary: I’m excited about this. Jason: Dan Akroyd or Doctor Detroit. So, he’s got some streak right there. Gary: These guys are going to go head to head with their shard and then with the merlot and versus the cab from Akroyd. So, we’re going to get into these wines in one second. Mott, I just want to link up the Crusher Cruise while I’m here because the Crusher Cruise is going to be phenomenal. Let’s do that, and let’s get the first wine. Mott, get your zoom skills ready. You know you’ve been off the camera for a little bit. Little Jonathan 2006 Chardonnay closing on a suggested retail of 18 Bones Central Coast. Little John, you know I don’t see any crank cups but we’re just going to go with normal wine glasses. I didn’t quite get in here, huh? Alright, so, boys, let’s do this. Let’s sniffy sniff it up. What are you guys getting in your nose? Jason: I’m getting a little grass. A little grass, a hint for me of green apple - hint. Gary: Hint? Jason: Hint. Gary: A little hinty hint. Jason: Hinty hint. Mike: I’m getting some pineapple. Peach. Gary: I’m getting a little more pineapple, as well. I’m going a little bit with more on your nose on this one. Jason: That’s all right. I’ll take it. I’ll take it. Gary: But listen, everybody’s got their own palette, listen to yours. You’re getting the grassiness, it’s fine. I get a little bit more creamy buttered action on the back end as well. So, I do get a pineapple component, but almost like somebody took a scoop of like buttered cream and put it on top of it. And little, maybe like, woody chunks. There’s definitely oak treatment on this wine which has me slightly concerned because over-oaked chardonnay scare me. Jason: No butter bombing. Gary: Yes. Now, let’s give it a whirl and see what’s going on here. Mike: I’m good. Jason: I’ll take it down. Gary: You’re going to make fun of me? Talk to me Jason: It’s a little hot on the end. It’s finishing a little hot, like I get the hot butter. It seems like I’m taking out of the pan with the popcorn. It sticks in there. A little stingy from there. Mike: It’s not too hot, but definitely the oak coming up a little bit on the end. Gary: Do you like this? Jason: I’m not a huge fan because again, I’m feeling the hot wash on the back right now. Gary: Little John’s entourage is right over here, so you need to be careful. Mike: I don’t mind it. I don’t think it’s terrible, but it’s not killing me. Gary: So, let me break this wine down for you in my opinion. It’s got some actually decent acid on the mid palette. I agree there’s a heat component on the back end that’s obvious to me, but it’s also mixed in with a little bit of an acid so you might be feeling acid, you might be feeling heat. Together, it’s a little bit uncomfortable. You know, it’s just kind of thin too, for me. I think the wine’s a little bit more thin than I would expect from a chardonnay. At the end of the day, it’s not awful. I do like this almost almond taste flavor that I get on the mid-palette transition to the finish. It’s got a little hint of kind of star fruit. A little bit of like a star fruit component as like, the main flavor. It does get tropical at point as well. But at the end of the day, you just don’t feel that it’s that good. You know, and that’s really the problem. You know, I would go 84—83—84 points on this wine. And that’s probably only because I’m trying to be nice because it’s a beautiful set and I’m feeling good. It’s a very nice atmosphere… Light, Mat! It’s just— Jason: We rolled it out for you, Gary. Gary: It’s just way too high class, Ross. Jason: Special guest for you. Mike: We don’t have any script, we’ll have an 85, in case there is one, though. Gary: Very—woah! I told you. These guys watch. Alright let’s move on. That was very good - a little Wesley Walker reference. I love it. : Alright, let’s move on to the Dan Akroyd Chardonnay. Let’s give it a little bit of a rinse. Matt, you got to zoom in good here. This label’s pretty interesting. So, what we have here is the Dan Akroyd discovery series Chardonnay from Sonoma; 2007 – a little hologram kind of microphone. A lot of twenty US bones. Jason: I think Dan Akroyd is a big old radio collector, too. That microphone on the label probably makes big sense for him. I believe. I remember. I believe. I remember. Gary: That’s a good… That’s a very good fun facts. Now, here’s the big question that I have: Why do you and I have these glasses? And— Jason: Mike. Mike was nice. Mike: His confidence seemed. Gary: He did? Mike: Yeah. Gary: I’m impressed. Jason: I’m surprised that you got a big glass. Mike : It’s not the size of the glass, Gary. Gary: I respect that. Twenty bones. Danny A. Let’s see what’s going on here. A little Ghost Buster action. Sniffy sniff. : Now this is bottled in Deloche, by Deloche – which is avery nice producer of Chardonnay 06:47 in California. Sonoma Appellation. The nose I found… Jason: a much fainter nose. Mike: I’m not getting much. Jason: Yeah. Gary: Yeah. I mean this nose disappears quicker than one of those ghosts in one of his great movies. And then this brings nothing to the table. It’s aromatically challenged. It’s really quite awful from the stand point of the fact that it’s giving us zipped zero is shocking. Jason: Yeah. Nothing. Mike: No. I mean, Yeah. Like that. Gary: Rubber Parish Mike: Yeah. Gary: Double zero. Let’s give it a whirl. : Boys? Mike: I’ll give it one more try. I’m getting just butter. Jason: It’s very one note. There isn’t really a start or finish. It’s just very there. Gary: One thing. Jason: Yeah. One thing. Mike: Yeah, same as the nose. It’s just— Gary: I agree. This is one thing and that one thing is suck ass. This wine really brings absolutely nothing to the table. It’s even worse than the Little John – very thin. Twenty bones is a ripped off. 2.99,might be a rip off. This is a very uninspiring juice. Really, I’m being a little silly but this is a 78 dollar-type wine. Bogal, you know, easily competes with this wine and it’s probably a little bit better. This wine rolls into the low 70’s with a score point of 71 points. I do not like this wine at all. Jason: We’ll give it to Dan Akroyd Marry Donna Dixon. And booze and body, she’s beautiful. So, a man knows what he’s doing. Gary: Okay. Jason: He knows what he’s doing. Gary: But he clearly makes not a sign of luck. Jason: I’m just trying to find the positive, Gary. Gary: Well, that’s good. I can see what you really need to do. Jason: I’m trying to find it. Gary: I respect that. Not good. Jason: That’s upsetting. Gary: Mike, what do you think? Mike: That’s upsetting. I was hoping. Gary: Did you hate it? Mike: Yeah. Gary: You didn’t love it? Mike: It—I wouldn’t spit it out. Gary: He needs a strong word. Mike: I wouldn’t spit it out, but I won’t buy it. Gary: Right. Would you buy it for ten bones? Mike: Probably not. Jason: No, I’m not. Gary: That’s all I need to say. Alright. Let’s rinse. Let’s see if the red wines are any better because really, we came all the way here to this beautiful set. We got all these awesome people. Well one guy has won the greatest Darth Vader T-shirt I’ve ever seen Jason: That is great. Gary: Get over here for a second. Come on. Come on. Mott, catch us, absolutely. Show the world the shirt because this is phenomenal. This is phenomenal. Jason: All the light from the set is coming from that shirt. Gary: That is an unbelievable shirt. Thank you so much, my friend. Thank you. An unbelievable shirt. I’m in a great mood. I was excited and now, these two wines came out here and just killed the mojo dramatically. Jason: Don’t let him ruin your time. Please. Gary: Okay. Okay. I won’t. Let’s rinse. Rinse. Mike: Here’s the G.I. Joe guys to cheer you up. Gary: Yeah. Like Storm Shadow is here. Jason: A little Shia LaBeouf is somewhere. Gary; A little Shia is on my glass. Jason: On your glass. You’re a big Transformers fan, right? Gary: I am but, I like the old school stuff. The new movies, I mean Megan Fox is never going to get that. You know. This is the Little Jonathan 2006 Merlot. Rolls in at 16 US dollars and let’s see what going on here - from Monterey which transepts an interesting Merlot, must to be sometimes even a little bit more over breath or something. Mike: Oh boy. Gary: Did you say, “Oh boy”? Mike: Get ready. Gary: Okay. Jason: Well, coming at the last one, it’s refreshing to smell something. And there’s a lot of it. Gary: You don’t like this nose. Mike: I don’t mind it, just compared to the last one. It’s… Gary: At least it had something. Jason: It’s not. Gary: So, this has a kind of a creamy kind of aspect to the nose. It’s a little bit of a Black cherry, you know. The nose is not fantastic. It’s not awful, but there’s a little dark chocolate. I’m finding some nice subtleties in those. Jason: Kind of a berry. And again, it’s refreshing, coming off the last one. Gary: Yes, the last one is aromatically zero. Jason: So, they’re kind of hard to work for. So… Gary: Alright. Let’s give it some whirl. Mike: Dark. Gary: It is dark. Jason: It is dark. There’s a weird like I almost got like a peppermint. The variant ones is going to the center. It’s some kind of… Gary: Yeah. You know what it is? It’s a little eucalyptus, believe it or not. There’s like a little hint of eucalyptus on the back end. Jason: A little curve ball. Really nice. Gary: What do you guys think of this wine? Jason: I like it much more. I mean, it’s not blowing me away, but it’s also, it’s not over okay, which is what I like. Gary: I agree. I’m surprised by the lack of over oak on this. What do you think? Mike: It’s just a tone of fruit. Gary: I agree. Mike: Jammy. I get a lot of jam. Gary: If there was black tea candy, I think this is what it would taste like. So, it’s almost like this black tea candy meeting with this like kind of cherished cherry strawberry thing. It’s lacking a little complexity, but nothing for nothing. This is a solid bottle of Merlot at 16 bones suggested retail, so you might be able to find 12 or 13.99. I would score this wine 86 plus 87 points. Jason: Not bad. Gary: I don’t hate it and for Tuesday night, you know, watching TV and pouring this, it might be a hair-high, but if you’re rolling like Little John and you can afford it, this is a very solid Merlot. I like it. It’s not bad. Jason: And I like it. Gary: You like the booze? Jason: I like that surprise at the end too which is nice. Gary: I agree. It gives you an added dimension. This is not bad at all. And definitely rivals, you know, - Franciscan SIMMEY, alexander Values, Sebastiane, these type of 13 to 20 dollar Merlots, so I figured very much unlike the white placing its category, it doesn’t over excel, but it definitely clearly plays in the category of probably lasting for another 3-5 years, open up for thirty minutes, pizza, chicken wings, burger, barbecue, easy foods, very not over thought cuisine and just really probably a solid pairing. Jason: Go for the Little John. Mike: You’ve done the little ones before you said. Gary: Yes. Jason: Because have you ever had a wine from a celebrity that is really just rocky and knock yourself. Gary: We’ll there are some people in that are really in the business, you know Maynard from Tool is really in the business. Jason: Yup. Mike: Sure. Gary: You know, he really tries to make great wines. He’s making really good wines from Arizona, right? Obviously, for instance, for ___ really, really in the business. Peggy Fleming, you know, the skater, has some really good wines. You know Robin Williams’s brother, and I guess him at some level or maybe just his brother but, the Frank family, is in the wine business – very seriously, they make sensationals up in Dallas. So, yeah, there are people in the mix for sure and I think we’re going to see more and more. There’s Skywalker Ranch, handsome T-shirt, so, there’s definitely people in the business that are making some good wines and Tom Sever has a good bottle of Nabacab, little over-priced, but very good. So, we’re seeing things. Mike: Sponge golfers, too. Craig Norman. Gary: Absolutely or the Elles, absolutely. Dan Akroyd 2007 Carbernet Sauvignon, 20 bones. And Dan has a great rock up Mike: Yeah. Jason: What’s that? Crystal head, crystal skull, something? Gary: Yes. That’s right. I mean, so his skies sells into the alcohol business. Let’s sniffy sniff it up. What are you, guys getting? Mike: A little chocolatey. Gary: I agree. I think it’s a lot chocolatey. Jason: I get some black berry. Gary: Okay. Jason: It comes from getting the hotness actually, from the nose of it. it kind of feeds out. Gary: Heat? Jason: Yeah. Gary: Are you guys getting any green aspects? Meaning kind of like a celery, kind of come on and settle because it gets very cherry on the back end. Right? Do you smell like it very berry-like on the back end but I get like dusted chocolate. Jason: I can see where it’s coming a little fade. Gary: A little greenness and then lots of berries. It’s a pretty good nose. I like it. Though a little fake, a little too make-up, doc, it’s still a pretty good nose. Alright, let’s give it a whirl. Mike: Not my thing. Gary: Not your thing? Mike: No. Gary: You’ve been pretty reserved in this episode. So why don’t you tell the Vayner Nation what you feel here? Take the call. Mike: Maybe it’s just coming off the last one. This is sweet to me. Gary: Sweet? Mike: Yeah. Gary: Which would be very confusing to a lot of people why a Cabarnet would be sweeter than Merlot, it’s not what they normally think. But this comes across sweet to you. Mike: Maybe it’s a combination of sweetness and tart almost like cranberry-ish. Gary: Yup. Mike: So, maybe I’m just kind of blending the two. Gary: But you just don’t like it? Mike: No. Jason: Kind of coming out as like a wall. There doesn’t seem to be a lot of focus, it just kind of—like I’m getting a little bit of that tartness. It’s kind of exploding at the back of my cheeks. Gary: I can taste a lot like sweet tarts. Mike: Yeah. Jason: Yeah. Yeah, it’s great. It’s like when you’ve had too many and anything you eat is just the wall in it. Gary: He found it not inspiring. Jason: There’s not a lot of inspiration here. Mike: Yeah, like sweet tarts and red ball. Gary: It really feels as though you just walked into the first day of school and your Science teacher came in and started talking like Charlie Brown. Like you knew you were in for a very boring nine months – lack of personality kind of thing. This wine is like a blank piece of paper. You all have that, friend. You know you do. That’s just like really? Like “Wow!” like just brings nothing charismatic to the table – that’s this wine. It’s not awful. That friend’s probably a really good guy or girl, but when it comes to charisma, nothing. And this wine lacks it. It’s very bland. It’s got some oak. Yeah, there is some blackberry juice kind of thing going on, but at the end of the day, there’s nothing going on here that gets you excited in any way. It’s kind of almost, and this doesn’t maybe make sense, but almost like drinking water. Like you just don’t feel, it’s not that thin or it’s got flavors. It’s just very boring. It’s like, here’s some blackberry fruit, here’s a little too much oak. You know, it’s not great. Ironically, we’re taking some stabs of it, it’s not awful either. Jason: No. Gary: It’s not atrocious. It’s not as bad as the first two white wines. Jason: I’m going to say it’s better than his Chardonnay. So, I mean there’s a bit more going on in this one than Akroyd’s Chardonnay that we had I thought. Gary: I agree. I agree. What about for you. You like to say that Chardonnay is better. Jason: Yeah. Mike: Yeah. Than this. But that’s just my preference like you always say. Gary: Everybody’s. Jason: It’s Elle Wood we’re talking about. Heart Gary: You love this guy. Jason: I do. Gary: You’ve done the same to it out. Jason: I am. Gary: You walked in… Jason: I wanted more. Gary: You walked in giving this guy one or two more points than he deserves. Jason: Probably. Gary: No matter what. And now, what just happened, you may never recover. Jason: It’s crushing. Gary: Yeah, I understand. Jason: Great outdoors. Childhood favorite. Gary: Really? Jason: Yeah. Jaw candy. Gary: No, it’s a classic. I’m going to score this wine 81 points. I don’t think it’s an awfully bad wine, but I think it’s better than Chardonnay, actually, in a lot of ways. I just don’t think it’s that good. And again, when I think of the things you can buy for 6-12 dollars from Portugal, even California, definitely Spain and in other places, I just can’t rub my hand around why you would pay twenty bones for this wine. So, at the end of the day, it’s kind of “Meh!” I have a great question there. You, guys, get to ask the question today. We’re going to have three questions today, maniacs. So, fire away. Mike: What is your favorite Bill Murray Movie? Because Dan Akroyd didn’t do well today. Gary: Classic. Jason: What celebrity would you love to see create or produce a wine and why? Gary; Awesome, and since you’re loading up a whole page of comments, just to give you all and the opportunity to answer. Who is your favorite celebrity? Extra points if you say Mott.. You, with a little bit of me, thanks guys. Mike: Thank you. Pleasure. Great to have you in. Gray: Thanks, man. Jason: Thank you. Gary: We are changing the wine world.