Category:Regional wine

Wine review: McPherson Cellars Roussanne 2010

by Wine Curmudgeon Posted On

The on-going debate in the Texas wine business is about whether to make wine from grapes that consumers recognize, or to make wine from grapes that are suited to the Texas terroir. It's a debate that has pitted winemakers against winemakers, growers against winemakers, and critics against winemakers.

The first group argues that consumers won't buy wine from a Texas winery unless it says chardonnay, cabernet sauvignon, or merlot on the label — and that if they have to buy grapes from California to make those wines, so be it. Otherwise, there would be no Texas wine industry.

The second group, to which the Wine Curmudgeon belongs, disagrees. Our approach: What's the point of making Texas wine that tastes like California wine? Texas wine (or New York or Virginia or other regional wine, for that matter) should reflect the state's unique characteristics — the soil, the climate, and the like.

I'm going to write more about this next week, and specifically the labeling controversy in the regional wine business — how too many regional wineries try to convince consumers that wine made with California grapes came from their state. Today, though, it's enough to note that this roussanne ($14, sample) is a white wine that firmly, boldly and unequivocally makes the argument for terroir-driven wines. More, after the jump:

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AWS Colorado Winemaking Competiton 2011

by Wine Curmudgeon Posted On

Two things to note about this competition, which was held in Denver last week: I got to assess the quality of Colorado wine with DrinkLocalWine.com visiting Colorado next year, and the event takes the recent criticism of wine judging quite seriously, using some sophisticated math to try to make the results less arbitrary.

And what did I learn? That Colorado wine has taken a step up since I judged this event last year, and has made significant strides since I first tasted it it a decade ago. Usually, when you judge a competition, there are some very good wines and some horrible wines. The key in assessing the quality of a region: How much professionally made, retail competent wine is there? That's the hardest thing for any new wine region to do, and it was as true in California 50 years ago as it is most regional wine states today.

And, in this competition, most of the wine I tasted was in that middle category. Which means consumers can go to the store, buy a bottle of Colorado wine, and know it will taste like wine. That progress is huge in establishing a region's credibility.

The best of show wines: Cottonwood Cellars Classic Blend 2005 ($16) for red, and Whitewater Hills Riesling 2009 ($12), for white. Both showed Colorado terroir, which meant they were varietally correct but didn't taste like they came from California, and both offered value for money.

Finally, a word about Colorado enologist Steve Menke and his much appreciated efforts to take the variables out of wine judging. There were three panels of five judges each for the 200 or so wines, and each wine was judged by at least two panels to get a wider perspective. That's rarely done, as is the statistical analysis of the results to eliminate any bias or bad judging. I tease Steve when he says things like "perceptual and visual scaling," but he's on the right track.

Regional wine and the Wine Curmudgeon in Palate Press

by Wine Curmudgeon Posted On

The Wine Curmudgeon's take on what's going on with regional wine and what it all means is currently the lead feature in Palate Press, the on-line wine magazine. The article is the magazine story version of a regional wine blog post I wrote about six weeks ago.

One quick quote from the article, from the great Glenn Bardgett at Annie Gunn's restaurant in St. Louis on the growth of regional wine: "Twenty years ago, this would have seemed impossible. But the wine business isn ?t going to be able to ignore what has happened forever. They ?re going to have to start paying attention."

Virginia wine business to Texas: Drop dead

by Wine Curmudgeon Posted On

Russ Kane at the Vintage Texas blog has the details — the Virginia wine business has called out the Texas wine business, and the latter is nowhere to be seen. The Virginia agriculture secretary doesn’t mince words:

Two of our closest competitors in the U.S., New York State and Texas, are actually cutting their wine marketing and education budgets and cutting back the things they are doing to support their industry. It doesn ?t make any sense to us but we ?re not arguing. If they want to take those steps backwards, that ?s all for the better of Virginia. We are committed to growing this industry.

There is even video (courtesy of the great Todd Godbout at VirginiaWineTV). Frankly, if this challenge doesn’t move the Texas Legislature to restore marketing and research funding for the Texas wine industry, what will? I’ve tried being reasonable, and I’ve tried being funny. Neither, apparently, made much difference.

Now, the Virginia agriculture secretary is questioning their manhood. It’s High Noon, fellows, Frank Miller is getting off the train, and Grace Kelly isn’t around to help. (Video courtesy of TheWesternReview via YouTube.)

English wine and the royal wedding

by Wine Curmudgeon Posted On

Sunday update: Eric Asimov, that leading proponent of regional wine, has a well-done piece in the New York Times about why English bubbly would be appropriate: "The notion of fine English wine may seem as absurd as the thought of fine English food once did. Yet, just as London has become a dining destination, southern England has become a source of excellent sparkling wines, made in the illustrious mode of Champagne."

Apparently, the Windsors aren't going to serve any English wine at next week's royal nuptials. Decanter, in its wonderfully English way, reports that the official bubbly will be Pol Roget (which seemed to annoy the writer, who was pushing for Bollinger).

More shocking, though, was one of the threads in the comments. One woman wanted to know why English bubbly wasn't being served. She was immediately shouted down: English wine tastes like a dentist's visit, it's of poor quality and so on — the usual sort of comments about regional wine, regardless of where it's from.

I'm surprised the English were so mean about this. I thought they were supposed to be more polite than those of us in the colonies. Because there are a couple of nice English sparklers, including Nyetimber. The Wine Curmdugeon has tasted it, and it's more than acceptable. It's more expensive that it needs to be, but that can be said about most Champagne.

Regional wine, and what comes next

by Wine Curmudgeon Posted On

Those of us who pay attention to regional wine know two things: First, that most consumers aren ?t aware of regional wine, and those that are know that it stinks — and they don ?t even have to taste it to tell you so. Second, that the regional wine business is, for practical purposes, just two decades old, and yet it is being held to quality standards set in places like California, with some 100 years of experience, and France, with 500 years. So of course it ?s going to suffer in comparison.

Yet there it is, this feisty little scrapper, which has somehow rooted itself in all 50 states — even though it often uses grapes that hardly anyone has ever heard of, and even though it's made quite often by people who are just a couple of years removed from crushing grapes in their garage.

The question, then, should not be, "Why isn ?t regional wine better?" It should be, ?How did this happen, and what does it mean for the wine business?" More, after the jump:

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Donald Trump likes wine; why not the Texas Legislature?

by Wine Curmudgeon Posted On

image from i.telegraph.co.uk The Texas Legislature, despite my thoughtful and incisive analysis, seems hell-bent on destroying the Texas wine business. Everyone I've talked to over the past six weeks says the Legislature will almost certainly eliminate the $4.3 million in state funding for wine marketing and research to plug Texas' $27 billion budget gap.

The Wine Curmudgeon has no one to blame for this but himself. I didn't heed the wisdom of the late and much missed Molly Ivins, and treated the members of the Legislature like responsible adults. I will not let that happen again. Hence four reasons why the Legislature should restore the wine money, in terms its members will understand.

1. Famous people who aren't French like wine. Donald Trump just bought a winery in Virginia. And boasted about what a good deal he got.

2. New York cut its budget, but restored state wine funding. Yes, New York, home of painted women, godless intellectuals, and the New York Times. If New York — the source of all evil for so many Texans — can do this, why can't Texas?

3. Football players like wine. Joe Montana has made wine. So has Charles Woodson. Granted, neither are Dallas Cowboys, but if that's what it takes, I'll try to put something together. I know Drew Pearson slightly, and Roger Staubach's marketing person has returned my phone calls.

4. Rock stars like wine. I realize most members of the legislature don't know Lady Gaga from Baba O'Reily, but their kids do. And what parent doesn't want to be a hero to their kids? So how about Dave Matthews? Or Tool?