Comments on: "Training Your Palate" a.k.a. "Make Conan O'Brien Eat Crap"

By: Member Profile: cocktailnerd.com | The Mixoloseum

Member Profile: cocktailnerd.com | The Mixoloseum — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 18:20:12 +0000

[...] and somewhat venomous wit that has often been unleashed on those topics that he considers absurd, annoying, or [...]

By: Gabriel

Gabriel — Mon, 06 Aug 2007 15:13:51 +0000

Word.

By: Mark Parry

Mark Parry — Mon, 06 Aug 2007 15:10:17 +0000

I don’t care if he can tell a wine from 100 paces. If his goal is to demystify wine and wine tasting through licking rocks and eating dirt he out of his mind. I don’t know anyone since my college days who would do any of that.

By: Jess Sand

Jess Sand — Fri, 03 Aug 2007 19:12:55 +0000

Eh. Gary’s a personality and I think this is a great example of why style over substance is a horrible approach. Conan’s reaction was spot-on.

By: Marleigh

Marleigh — Fri, 03 Aug 2007 17:55:53 +0000

This is the second time in two days Domaine Carneros has come up in conversation. Odd.

I agree with you about the over-the-top approach. He certainly wins more people over with his Jets spit bucket than he does with weird adventures in tobacco-tasting. (Coincidentally, a flavor profile I can’t abide. Ugh.)

By: Gabriel

Gabriel — Fri, 03 Aug 2007 17:52:06 +0000

I certainly understand the concept; I just disagree with the approach and think it’s misguided. The dude knows his stuff; there’s absolutely no doubt about that, and I think he brings a great approach to making people comfortable with wine, but this struck me as the wrong way to meet that goal.

I would rather see a guided approach to trying 3-4 different wines of the same varietal and then identifying the common characteristics of each along with those root flavors (e.g. your raspberry preserve idea) and/or a sort of scratch-and-sniff version of what he does since the nose has so much to do with it.

And, also in his defense, his 90 pt. wines under $15 (episode #286) is spot-on; the ‘Marques de Casa Concha’ Concha y Toro and Domaine Carneros products are almost all top-notch.

By: Marleigh

Marleigh — Fri, 03 Aug 2007 17:42:11 +0000

To be fair, Gary seemed super nervous and not his usual self. I agree with you about the smell thing; the first time I saw his palate-training episode on Wine Library TV (the origin of the rock-licking, dirt-eating and sock-sucking), I became unsure if he was actually the proletariat wine savior that he wants to be…or just a complete lunatic with a big wine store. I do like the concept of having a tasting party though—it’s rare that you’d just sit down and eat, say, a spoonful of black raspberry preserves, just to get that flavor into your repertoire.

And, in Gary’s defense, the dude kills at a blind tasting.