Category:Red wine

Labor Day wines

by Wine Curmudgeon Posted On

This may be the most difficult holiday to pair with wine — not so much because of the food, but because of the weather. It can be cool. It can be hot. Those conditions can dictate the wine, since you really don’t want to drink a 16.5 percent zinfandel if it’s 100 degrees out, or a light white if you had to move the picnic indoors because it’s chilly and raining.

The solution? Light red wines.

Keep these in mind. (And, if you don’t mind a shameless plug, the Wine Curmudgeon will be on a panel this weekend at the Kerrville Wine & Music Festival discussing this very subject). This style of wine is versatile enough to go with most outdoor food, from barbecue to chicken and maybe even grilled shrimp, and they ?re fruity and low enough in alcohol so that you won ?t start sweating after one sip.

• Becker Vineyard Prairie Roti 2007 ($17) This Rhone blend (mourvedre, grenache, syrah, and carignan) is an excellent example of what Texas winemakers can do with grapes that aren’t cabernet sauvignon and merlot. One caveat: The roti has limited availability outside of Texas.

• Beauzeaux Red 2005 ($10). I’ve never been able to figure out why this isn’t huge. It’s fruity, it’s food friendly, and it’s cheap. Plus, it has a cute label. But it has never taken off, despite glowing reviews.

• Layer Cake Cotes du Rhone 2007 ($16). A red blend from France made by an American. It has more fruit than a French-made Cotes du Rhone, which makes it ideal for this purpose.

Wine review: Chateaux La Croix Chantecaille 2005

by Wine Curmudgeon Posted On

image Some of the most overpriced wine in the world comes from Bordeaux, thanks to the weak dollar, wine snobs, and speculators. (Yes, people speculate in wine, just like they do real estate and pork bellies). So when the Wine Curmudgeon finds a red Bordeaux that ?s more or less a value, it ?s something to write about.

I found Chateaux La Croix Chantecaille (about $29)when I was putting together a Two Wine Guys event (shameless plug alert) as a birthday present for someone who wanted to do Bordeaux. We did three wines, all terrific, but this was the only one that was worth the money.

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Wine of the week: Bogle Petite Sirah 2006

by Wine Curmudgeon Posted On

image The Wine Curmudgeon will not forget the first time he drank this, years ago, when he was just a little cranky and starting out as a professional wine drinker. I bought it by mistake, not realizing there was a difference between petite sirah and syrah. And who says mistakes don ?t pay off?

Very little has changed with this wine over the years. It ?s still cheap, about $10, and still good ? peppery, dark and fruity, but not as showy as shiraz.  It ?s like the person who shows up at work every day and does a fine job, but never gets ahead because they don ?t run around high five-ing everyone during meetings.

Drink this with end of summer barbecue, sloppy, tomatoe-y Italian food, and even something as simple as meat loaf.

Wine of the week: Yellow + Blue Malbec 2007

by Wine Curmudgeon Posted On

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The Wine Curmudgeon has been looking for a great, cheap Argentine malbec for years. The Yellow + Blue ($10 for a 1-liter box) may be it.

A couple of caveats: Availability could be limited, and there ?s no guarantee that the wine will be around after this vintage. That ?s because it ?s the project of a startup importer called J. Soif, and wine importing is a difficult business. What works one year may not work the next year.

Having said that, the Yellow + Blue is a $10 Hall of Fame candidate that delivers more than $10 worth of wine. It has well-done tannins, something that ?s rare in cheap malbec, and the fruit isn ?t so over the top that it covers everything else else up, another flaw in $10 malbec.

So what about the box? Soif boss Matthew Cain, who has worked for Kermit Lynch, one of the best importers in the world, says his focus is not only on quality wine, but on green wine. Hence organic grapes and the box, called a TetraPak, which is supposed to be less harmful to the environment than a glass bottle.

This is an interesting sales pitch, but the problem with selling wine as environmentally friendly is that most of the wine that makes that claim doesn ?t taste this good. Consumers are stuck with a tradeoff between quality and carbon footprint, and what ?s the point of that? If all I cared about was the environment, I ?d drink boxed Franzia.

The green wine discussion deserves its own post, which I ?ll get to soon. Until then, enjoy the Yellow + Blue.

Norton grape: Let us sing its praises

by Wine Curmudgeon Posted On

image I have three bottles of wine in the closet, and I ?m waiting for the right moment to share them. They ?re not red Bordeaux, Napa cabernet, or even white Burgundy. They ?re nortons.

The norton is one of the great success stories in the American regional wine business, a native American grape, probably a naturally-occurring hybrid that was first identified in Virginia in the mid-19th century. Nortons made in Virginia and Missouri are well-known and respected around the world — big, dry red wines with bright berry fruit and big tannins that can age for a decade.

So why haven ?t you heard about norton before?

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Kendall-Jackson: Solid wines, but little respect

by Wine Curmudgeon Posted On

image Talk to a reasonably well educated wine drinker ?  or even a wine professional ? and ask them what they think of Kendall-Jackson. ?Oh, it ?s OK, but. they ?ll say.

And the but? Usually something along the lines of K-J is OK for grocery store wine, or that people who like it don ?t know a lot about wine, or it ?s not my style of wine ? anything to point out the difference between themselves and people who like Kendall-Jackson.

Well, those buts are mostly wrong.

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Wine of the week: Smoking Loon Old Vine Zinfandel 2006

by Wine Curmudgeon Posted On

Frankly, the Wine Curmudgeon didn ?t think he ?d like this. So what happened when I tasted it? I was quite taken with its quality ? a well-made, varietally-correct zinfandel for about $8 at most grocery stores. It ?s hard to beat that (and proves, once again, not to pre-judge wine).

Unlike some zinfandels, the Smoking Loon wasn ?t especially fruity. I ?m beginning to think that lack of fruit is a function of the 2006 vintage in California, since this wasn ?t the first time I ?ve noticed it. But this was not a problem, since the wine was spicy and brambly ?- just the way zinfandel should be. It ?s a contender for next year ?s $10 Hall of Fame. Serve this with barbecue, pizza and burgers.