An expert view of new rock wines

Wines That Rock is a line of vino inspired by classic albums. We asked winelibrarytv.com star Gary Vaynerchuk to blind-taste-test them and guess which records they’re supposed to go with. (Here’s a clue: None of them are by Moby Grape. Or the Vines!)

Wine No. 1
Tastes Like: ”Big nose. Very aromatically appealing,” says Vaynerchuk, who’s a big fan of both the Beatles and Bone Thugs-N-Harmony. ”It’s really dark. A lot of people would like this.”
Gary’s Guess: ”It’s very Hall & Oates-y. Private Eyes?” Not exactly, but he was on the ”Money” about it being dark and popular. The label of this cabernet sauvignon bears the image of Pink Floyd’s The Dark Side of the Moon.

Wine No. 2
Tastes Like: ”It’s very good. This tastes purple and very complex.”
Gary’s Guess: ”If I had to hang my hat on one of these, this would be it. Prince’s Purple Rain.” Not quite: The merlot was inspired by the Rolling Stones’ brown-and-sugary comp Forty Licks.

Wine No. 3
Tastes Like: ”This is very fresh and has a simplistic, chardonnay-type taste,” says Vaynerchuk. ”I like the finish. If this were an album, its last four or five songs would be better than the first.”
Gary’s Guess: ”This is like Boyz II Men’s ‘End of the Road’ album [Cooleyhighharmony].” He was right about it being a chardonnay, but this was actually inspired by the Woodstock soundtrack. Presumably Vaynerchuk missed the mud, bad acid, and Joe Cocker-waving-his-arms-around-as-if-he’s-having-a-fit tasting notes.