What makes a great tasting room experience?
Conversely, what diminishes a tasting room visit and can that be avoided?
Name names of the best tasting rooms.
Does tasting room quality vary by region?
Craziest tasting room visit anecdote.
Most unusual or clever tasting room concept/experience.

Cheers!

Find a winery that had one or more of their bottlings recently reviewed by Parker or Spectator for the first time. Take us through the whole suspensful ordeal; deciding what wine to send, how to send it, what it’s like waiting for the score, how and when you find out the score and ultimately, what effect (if any) the score has on the future sales of your wine.

I’ve always respected the critics and learn a lot from reading them, but I have never believed they could single-handedly make or break a wine (any more than I believed that Frank Rich could close a Broadway show on opening night). I would love to hear a show about an unknown winery who went 12 rounds with one of the major critics, and lived to tell about it!

Suggested topics: Madeira; Oregon Pinot Noir; an introduction to wine-making.

More generally: More broad topics (like the above) on the learning curve of a beginning to midlevel wine enthusiast. Perhaps fewer shows hyper-specific topics like a particular winery or small AVA.

I would like to hear from someone involved with Coro Mendocino.

That is group of Mendocino wine makers have formed a
collaborative that all produce wines under the group guidelines. They don’t have to
do all their wines under the guidelines, but the wines that are, all share the same base
label designation. It is patterned after regional wines instead of varietal designations.
Kind of like a Bordeaux is a regional blend. Some of the rules for the wine are
that all wines are made in the region from only grapes in the region. They must be
at least 40% percent Zin but no more than 70%, other constituents can make up
no more of a percentage that the Zin percentage.
1 year minimum in barrel, 6 mo min in bottle. 2 year min before release and 3 year
maximum. Barrel wood must be a min of 25% new and max of 75%.
Reviewed by a panel of 5 for conformance and bottle price of $35.

I think is is very cool. A cooperative like this could be very good for the industry
as a whole if these types of things catch on.

The group is called Coro or Coro Mendocino

Here is a link to the groups website:
http://www.coromendocino.com/

Another suggested guest is actually one of the wine makers from that group
Sally Ottoson, Wine maker at Pacific Star Winery.

Pacific star is, I guess, the farthest westerly winery in the 48 contiguous US.
A great little winery north of fort Bragg;

A very interesting thing about the winery is they actually age their wine in the
barrel OUTSIDE. If you you to their website, there is a great shot of all the barrels
outside. http://www.pacificstarwinery.com

Just my suggestions.

Tim Beauchamp

- Explain the practice of clones and clippings and planting root stock vs whatever other methods there are.

- Technical terms/concepts like Brix or how minerals in the soil affect taste.

- Interview a wine maker and have them walk through the life of a wine from grapes on the vine to the time when the bottle is fully aged and at its peak, or even past that point. Talk about how the tastes and aromas evolve or change over time.

- Food and wine pairing ideas are always great to hear. Plan a couple imaginary meals and match the wine with the courses. Talk about what flavors you are trying to bring out from the food and the wine.

Thanks for the great show.

Another idea would be to inteview someone like Bob Wolfe who is an Oregon wine internet sales guy who has intimate connections to what is hot in Oregon wines (little known producers etc..,)

A harder nut to crack might be being able to speak to the folks at A. Rafanelli. A wonderful family, excellent wine, and reasonable prices (unlike some other cult wines out there).

Cheers!

* I would love to hear a show on Brunello di Montalcino (my favorite of the Italian wines)
* Regional evolutions (Willamette, Upstate NY, Colorado!)
* Repeat of a recommendation I made before – a show Miles would NEVER listen to – Great Merlot. Talk to a panel of great Merlot producers and discuss the effect of the Sideways backlash and how it has affected their business for this varietal.

- I think we heard about cork a while back, but also would love to hear from makers of other things necessary for wine production: bottles, winemaking equipment (presses and other)

- Perhaps a discussion with wine label artists to discuss the artistic & marketing merits of label design

- Also, Spain, Chile, and Argentina have some great affordable stuff: would like to hear some profiles form these regions

During every visit to home in the U.S., I am envious to see the many wine shops and the large variety of wines available even in supermarkets. I wish prices in Japan were closer to those in the U.S. Maybe my modest stock of wine would be larger if prices here were lower.

Throughly enjoy your shows. I must take the longer ones in segments, though, as I listen during my commute when subway/train noises force me to pause frequently.

Monterey which has lots of wineries and producers and vineyards.

As far as other ideas I think a show focused on drinking windows ( stay with the recent Pinot themed shows ) would be nice. How does a winemaker/critic evaluate this…how can you as a consumer?

I would also like to hear more programs about Oregon, Washington and British Columbia wines and wine growers. In the vein of wines that pair well with food I’d appreciate a program focusing on the wines of the Loire, Alsace.

I really enjoy the shows with more informal discussion like the ones about rituals, tasting notes and touring w/Eric. My favorites have to be the Santa Rita Hills Roundtable discussions. They were so informative and the enthusiasm about the AVA was contagious. I had already loved SRH Pinots, but hearing Wes, Rick & Peter really opened my eyes to how special the terroir really is. I also dug Wes’s one-liners and analogies … very funny.

In future shows, it would be great to showcase other AVA’s in a roundtable. I’d like to learn more about Santa Lucia Highlands, Paso Robles, the sub appellations of Sonoma … etc.

2) Wine as Exit Strategy – Would love to hear an interview from people who didn’t necessarily go straight to UC Davis at a young age, but rather found themselves among the vines later in life in search of something more — the whys, the wheretos, the hows, etc. of their journey — Including winemakers, sommeliers, wine merchants, importers, writers, critics, etc.

He paints a compelling picture in his second book of wealthy, egotistical executives from outside the wine industry coming to Napa and bulldozing hillsides for their wine caves and their McMansions and creating havoc to the valley ecology.

This would likely be a contoversial show, and may offend past and future winemakers and winery owners whom you’ve had on your show.

It’s a great show but it would benefit from being more international and more systematic about coverage of topics (e.g. annual coverage of different wine regions, as I mention above). Thanks!

Jay

Jay