Hello, everybody and welcome to Wine Library TV. I’m your host, Gary Vaynerchuk and this, my friends, is the Thunder show a.k.a. the internet’s most passionate wine program.
I’m here with my favorite cameraman of all time, Chris Mott, and I’m in a very good mood because it’s Thanksgiving, Wednesday and I’m taping this episode and I’m about to tape your Thanksgiving pack episode, so we’re going to air it early tomorrow, so all of you who bought the Thanksgiving pack, congratulations. I’m excited about that. I’m really looking forward to enjoying and sharing Thanksgiving with you tomorrow. We’re going to try and air it around 11:00 a.m., Mott, because people do Thanksgiving. There are some people out there that do it like at noon so I didn’t want to take away from that. Some people would want to do it before hand.
So we’re looking at that kind of time zone for tomorrow’s episode airing and today is a very special episode as well because we’re looking at two very serious Colty, collectible holiday. These are two wines that get searched a lot on our website during this time of year, two of the big brands out there, so few wine brands, that I get excited about brands, and the first one is really, Mott, you’d almost call this iconic on the Thunder show right, I mean, 03, 04, 05, this will be the fourth vintage of a wine that I reviewed. There’s nothing like this on the show. There’s a New Zealand wine I think I’ve done three or four years in a row but there is no wine I think that I’ve done four vintages of. You can totally check out my last three reviews on this on the Gary scores, the SS Chris Stanisi spreadsheets so Mott, link that up, SS Chris loves when you have to link up his action.
So you can see the prior scores to this on there, just control F and search Clio. We’ve got the 06 Clio in the house, the bottle just came in. I actually saw the stuff, sent out an e-mail today to our customer list and, it’s just flying out the stores of the wall. Let me grab a bottle, get it on the Thunder show before I miss the kind of like the tradition.
It’s also a very special wine for the fact that Mott, zoom in here a little, it was wine number 73, in my book, but what is important to understand about the difference from this to what is on the table is that this was more of a barrel sample. I tasted this almost a year ago. Now, it’s the final bottle product, $45.00 in the book. We’re actually at $34.00, suggested retail, the classic blend that they love which is 70% Monastrell, 30% Cabernet Sauvignon. This its from Jumilla which is really one of the hot up and coming areas in Spain, making very hedonistic over the top fruit balm wines, but if you look at my prior scores, the ’03, 94 to 95 points, the ’04, 94 plus, the ’05, 91 points, I’ve scored this fruit balm quite well traditionally and it’s one of the few superstar monster explosive fruit driven wines that I tend to like because there’s a lot more complexities and balance in this wine.
It’s kind of a different and let’s say an Orin Swift Prisoner, which I think is a very delicious wine but has kind of the lack of complexities and second to your fruit, second to your spices, second to your structure that I’ve always traditionally liked in Clio and so that’s what separates maybe those two cool wines that a lot of people have been talking about.
And then we’re going to get into Dolce which is Far Niente’s well actually now, Nickel and Nickels Dolce 2005 late harvest which is a $70.00 dessert wine that always gets big scores. A lot of people call up Decamp of California, 90% Semillon, 10% Sauvignon Blanc, one of the great dessert wines domestically that is made if not the top domestic dessert wine and I’m summing and jumping to those two wines today as well.
The beard is still very much intact, Mott. I did clean it up a little here, did you notice? Yeah it gets a little itchy. I just had it cleaned up. I had to tape something for television so I’ve got my, maybe my mom, trying to appease her. Otherwise, things are very good, love your fam, you know, a lot of people get a little testy with their family in this time of year, big mistake, you should embrace those moments. They’re far and few between.
Let’s get into the wine, so we do Clio, 2006 Jumilla, 70% Monastrell, 30% Cabernet, you already zoomed it in so; thirty four bones. Somebody texted me, a good friend of mine, Josh Shay Brimson, who is one of the founders of College Schummer, just text me and said, “Yo, do you like to ’06 Clio, because I just saw it at a ridiculous price.” So, a sharp price on thirty-four to fifty dollars is what you’re going to see for around the country. A great color, I mean just absolutely, just gorgeousness, just beautiful dark, black, red, dark purple pink-like colors coming through. Let’s get a sniffy sniff, just like hedonistic fruit coming across already, like just classic candy bar meets fruit, right? I mean just like chocolate candy bars with raspberries, just beautiful fruit coming through our nose. I get like that over the top vanilla spice that I sometimes get a little bit too much oak coming through our nose for me now, just here, but very deep black berry jam flavors, pomegranate, very exotic, very rich, very thick, very viscous on the nose. Let’s give it a whirl.
Question of the day, “Who was cooler, He-man or Thunder Cats?” Everybody has the answer; you’ve got an answer even if you didn’t play with them. I mean, bombastic, it’s what I think. Look, this wine makes me think of Beyonce. Like just “Butt out!” Put a ring up, you know I mean, just butt out! That’s what this wine makes me think, so much fruit, so much complexity, dark cedar box flavor, silk for days, a hedonistic fruit bomb that doesn’t overdo it and show some class. You know just like a polished elegant forty-seven year old lady. You know just like, maybe she was a swimsuit model when she was twenty-four, now just it’s elegance, refinement. There’s just something about that polish, that’s when it gets you, it’s bombastic.
It’s still got maybe like an aging quarterback, you know he might not whip the ball just as fast anymore and he might have some gray hairs on the spirit of his head and he might be playing for a new team that he’s never played for before, but still got it. And that’s kind of what this has, I mean even when it’s a youthful vibrant wine, it’s got the elegance of Bordeaux. It’s got the fruit bombness of a Napa Cab or a Barossa Shiraz, it really walks this tight rope, whereas up of the ’05 had come over board, where the ’03 and ’04 did a better job balancing it, I think the ’06 is a throwback, definitely why it made my list. It’s kind of hazelnut, tail end flavor that I just can’t wrap around my head right now. I’m like, “Did I eat Nutella this morning?” because I’m tasting it, it’s just really interesting stuff.
The raspberry fruit cannot be denied, the black cream finish, the beautiful tannins, do you like them, Mott? You enjoyed it? Was it a delicious factor? Yeah, I mean this has it. It’s delicious factor guys. I like this wine quite a bit. I’m going to go 93 points on this wine. I think it’s excellent, definitely better than the 2005 for me. I mean, just the 2005 started, I was really worried if that 2005 was starting a trend of the way this wine was going to be going.
Clearly, Bodegas El Nido, which is the producer of Clio is going in the right direction once again, with its 2006 separate, 93 points, 34 to 50 bones find it, drink it, love it, cuddle it, pet it, send it, lovely texts. Do whatever you have to do to make sue it’s part of your rotation in 2008 and 2009.
You know what, following up that Zinfandel’s show, and actually this show I did with Kristen, too. It was kind of a wow! I’m drinking like 8 wines in a row like bomb. That was kind of a lot of fun for me.
Alright, let’s see what’s going on here. Dolce 2005, Napa Valley late harvest wine, 90% Semillon, 10%, Sauvignon Blanc, 34 bricks at harvest, 12 bricks residual sugar and rolls in at 70 US dollars. So, this wine does not fool around in price point. It’s a half bottle so almost at 500. It’s a half bottle, right? Yes, this is kind of got to be a 375, right? So, 140 bucks for full bottle. That kind of price point, really coppery, coppery yellow, Mott, you’re getting that color across from the camera, really?
It’s more of a copper, yes, it’s copper style really, it’s a copper brownish apricot, and it’s a color approach more so than yellow or orange but it’s tinted orange, even without the cloth so let’s give it a sniffy sniff. And you’re getting baked apricots right of the top, yes, put that apricot in like cookies, pull them out, baked apricots, that’s what I’m getting on the nose here, little brown sugar action coming through as well. I get a little mango fruit as well, little tropical papaya for the kids, let’s give it a whirl.
You’re going to love this, very peachy, almost got blimey kind of like, kind of thing going on, really good apricots, great little brown sugar action. Peaches, apricots, mangoes, that style the whole way just like a classic sorbet like residually, like, melted sorbet, mango sorbet topped with like peachy cream, little viscous, very thick, what do you think, Mott? It’s good; I mean it’s a pretty tasting wine.
Now, let’s push the envelope of price point in my opinion because we’ve had Tokays in the 30’s, isn’t it? I like this wine. It’s very delicate. I like the floral components that I pick up actually on the back end of this wine. I almost get a little pumpkin kind of thing going on. I give you some, Mott because you give the natural, little pumpkin action, believe it or not, just coming across in this wine so, you get this beautiful orangey kind of fruit thing going on, even tangerine pumpkin, definitely peaches and apricot for sure, brown sugar. It’s delicious, my problem really is that I think I can replicate this for 30 to 60 in Tokay so that’s one thing that runs through my mind, but we’re going to score on a barrel, I think it’s a 91 plus point dessert wine. It’s lacking acid for me and that bothers me a little bit. I’d like to see a little bit more acid but I think it’s a very beautiful dessert wine, one that a lot of people seek outdoor in this time of year, very popular stuff.
We roll through it. We’ve gone through it, a lot of those you know people that want to drink Cake Bread and Jordan and Caymus go for the names. They look for this; this is kind of like the California, Decamp. To me, it’s a past because the price point is not right to think that I could drink two bottles of this for a half bottle of this and I know they’re very different but it’s very nice stuff, nothing wrong with it, 91 points I think is a fair score for it. I just would not go out and run and buy it. I even think of the $18.00 Tokay that we have in stock that sort of, whatever Three Petunias that I think kind of rivals a little less sweet but definitely rivals it.
Good wine, not great, great branding, and a great business but not great, great, great wine, but delicious, nonetheless. Geared up, pumped up for tomorrow, thrilled I covered these two wines because thousands of you, tens of thousands of you will be searching for a brand for the holidays. I hope this video will help you, hope you kiss all your uncles and aunts even if you don’t love them that much because you should and 15-5 alcohol, by the way I just notice on this wine, did not even remotely feel it. You know how I talked about 13-5’s talking about heating the back end, not a peep about heating the finish wine, interesting wine, got to give them a lot of credit for the product they produce year in and year out.
And it’s coming from somebody who does nutrition, love the fruit balms as you know my palate leans a little bit more towards vegetal Old World action, end of the day, keep trying new things. A lot of you are going to be hitting wine stores over the next six weeks, four weeks, please pick up two or three bottles of things you’ve never had, oh a Tenet, oh a Teperdaux, oh, a Chino, Verdicchio, Vernaccia, Ribolla Gialla, whatever it is, if you’ve never had it, that’s what you buy. You with the little bit of me, we’re changing the wine world. I will never shave.
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