Denise Reynolds, Sip & Savor Columnist

Extreme Wine.

Dirt-eating Gary Vaynerchuk unearths this year’s wine winners.

GARY VAYNERCHUK’s

101 WINES Guaranteed to Inspire, Delight, and Bring Thunder to Your World

Gary Vaynerchuk is a man possessed.  With a galactic palate and a brash sensibility, the 32-year-old kid from New Jersey is changing the wine world, whether they like it or not.  He gets down and dirty—convincing Conan O’Brien to lick salted rocks and sharing samples of dirt and grass with Ellen Degeneres, all in the name of “expanding one’s palate.”  Gary’s Internet show on www.WineLibrary.tv has attracted a cult-like following of more than 80,000 viewers a day.  His irreverent online wine reviews have given birth to Vaynerchuk’s first book.  Wonder if the thunder rolls between the pages?

It not only rolls, it rocks.

Studded with wines made from lesser-known regions like Israel, Greece, and Lebanon, Vaynerchuk’s tasting notes grab you by the scruff of the neck and shake you to the core.  Popular favorites like Aussie Shiraz get a makeover: “It’s fake, but not overly fake. It’s sort of like a really good boob job, where you don’t have the scary face-lift and bleached hair and January tan.” Describing an Oregon Pinot Noir, Vaynerchuk says, “This wine has some burnt tire aromas.  Remember when you were a kid and you would have a skidding contest on your BMX bike to see who could lay out the longest skid mark on the street?  That smell is in here.”

Strewn throughout are Vaynercabulary words that Gary uses to redefine wine.  Workman’s wine, he says, “shows structure, strength, and power…matches well with hearty foods; it’s the type of wine you enjoy after a day on the tractor.”  Bonus boxes highlight Palate Primers—including Raisinets and Jolt Cola—used to convey the essence of flavor components for Amarone and Chianti.

Heavy on good quality to price ratio (QPR) wines like a $9 Tempranillo from Spain that he would ”pair with chicken wings, pizza, Italian subs, or an In-N-Out burger,” Vaynerchuk’s picks also include some hard to find big ticket items like a $215 Rioja, which he rationalizes by saying, “if there was ever a reason to miss a car payment, this is it.”  Bubblies and dessert wines, often underrepresented minorities, are given their due.  “These wines are so over-the-top with sugar, you throw a few into your daily wine tasting and suddenly it’s like going to Mardi Gras instead of happy hour, like the fifty-yard line at the Super Bowl instead of Monday night on the couch.”

Then there’s Vaynerchuk’s description of a Picolit from Friuli, Italy.  “This wine makes you want to put on the Barry White and lap it off someone’s belly.  It’s that good, and that gorgeous, and that memorable, and you need to find it.”  Find it, indeed.  Vaynerchuk’s book is a worthy addition to your wine library.

Denise Reynolds writes about wine, South Florida destinations, luxury travel and spas. She can be reached at Goddessofwine@globalfoodie. Visit her other sites at: www.denisereynolds.com, www.completelyfabulous.com.