Category:Regional wine

Even the big shots want us to drink local

by Wine Curmudgeon Posted On

A couple of very odd wine articles this week, in which two of the most important wine writers in the United States take restaurants to task for not serving local wine:

The New York Times' Eric Asimov writes that "Nobody goes out to dinner in the San Francisco Bay Area to eat food flown in from Europe."

Jon Bonne in the San Francisco Chronicle asks: "Do our wine lists ignore California?"

Why odd? First, because Asimov and Bonne have not always been at the forefront of the Drink Local movement. Second, of course, because drinking local in this case means drinking California, which isn't very local for the rest of us. Obviously, it would be better if Asimov criticized New York City restaurants for not serving New York state wine, and if Bonne criticized Washington state restaurants for serving California wine.

Still, we'll take any help we can get. Because, if Mainstream Media types like Asimov and Bonne are starting to understand Drink Local, it means we've made progress. And, to paraphrase Paul Henreid in Casablanca (shameless plug here), "Welcome back to the fight. This time our side will win." Which also gives me the chance to include this video, courtesy of cyberperson53 at You Tube, that includes Henreid's line.

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Winecast 13: Bruce Anderson, Sunset Winery

by Wine Curmudgeon Posted On

Bruce and Birgit Anderson of Sunset Winery are typical of the second wave of Texas winemakers, the group that came into the business over the last decade. For many in this group, running a winery was not their first career — Bruce was a sociology professor; Birgit was a tax preparer.

In addition, they are part of the group of the 60-plus wineries in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, which means they buy grapes from growers in west Texas. This adds another layer of complication to winemaking, especially if you're a former sociology professor. Bruce says he thought he  knew what he needed to know to be a winemaker, but learned quickly that that wasn't the case. "They were a lot of surprises," he says.

The podcast is about 6 1/2 minutes and 9 megabytes. Click here to listen to it.

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Texas wine: What’s right, what’s wrong, and what still needs to be done

by Wine Curmudgeon Posted On

The quality of Texas wine is better than it has ever been. There are fewer flawed wines, the best wineries are more consistent from vintage to vintage, and there are more wineries that can be described as being among the best. In fact, there are probably a dozen or 15 wineries whose products you can buy without hesitation, in the same way you would buy California or French wines.

But just saying Texas wine is better is like saying that a company where sales went from one to two items saw a 100 percent increase. That’s an impressive number, but the company wasn’t starting from much of a base. And that’s the case with Texas wine. Until this decade, Texas wines were uneven at best — so to say that they’re better now is almost damning with faint praise.

The difference this time, as we celebrate Regional Wine Week, is that Texas wines continue to get better, and that hasn’t always been the case. What this means, and what remains to be done, is after the jump:

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Wine of the week: Red Caboose Tempranillo-Syrah 2007

by Wine Curmudgeon Posted On

This wine is an example of what Texas winemakers can do with grapes that are better suited for this hot and dry climate than cabernet sauvignon and merlot are During our DrinkLocalWine.com conference in August, I had dinner with Gil Kulers, the wine columnist for the Journal Constitution newspaper in Atlanta. We wanted to try something new from Texas, and we ended up with this.

I'll be honest. I knew nothing about Red Caboose, which is one of Texas' newest wineries. It had won a couple of awards at this year's Lone Star International competition, but I didn't remember it. But the Wine Curmudgeon is nothing if not adventurous when it comes to wine lists, and Gil is a good enough guy that he would have kept the ribbing to a minimum if the wine had been poorly made.

But it wasn't poorly made. In fact, the red blend ($28, purchased) is a terrific example of what Texas winemakers can do with grapes that are better suited for this hot and dry climate than cabernet sauvignon and merlot. It's an excellent wine for DLW's regional wine week.

The Red Caboose was balanced, not overly fruity and paired well with our dinner, which was mostly red meat. It had a bit too much oak, which got in the way of the freshness of the fruit, and $28 is a lot of money for an unproven wine. But most wineries should have those problems with their first couple of vintages.

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Winebits 99: Regional wine

by Wine Curmudgeon Posted On

Oprah passes on Texas wine: We tried to get the talk show goddess to try Texas wine during her visit to the State Fair of Texas over the weekend, but no luck. Oprah ate a corny dog (at least) and sampled Deep Fried Peaches & Cream and Deep Fried Butter, but no wine. Frankly, the Wine Curmudgeon thinks she was scared to try it. No doubt she was afraid it was better than the California labels that she probably drinks.

Virginia program escapes budget cuts: Virginia's wine board, which promotes the state's wineries, was spared from the extensive budget cuts that hit the state this year in the wake of the recession. Not every state program has been as fortunate. How did the wine programs survive? Virginia officials note that the wine board is self-funded from a tax on wine.

Regional wine destinations: When North Americans visit wine country, where do they like to go? The obvious choices top the list in a survey conducted by the TripAdvisor Web site, but the second half of the top 10? They're all regional — the Okanagan Valley in British Columbia, New York's Finger Lakes and Long Island, the Traverse City area in Michigan and Oak Grove, Va.

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Winecast 12: Russ Kane, Vintage Texas

by Wine Curmudgeon Posted On

Russ Kane of Vintage TexasThe Wine Curmudgeon kicks off DrinkLocalWine.com's Regional Wine Week with a podcast with Russ Kane, who is perhaps the premier blogger about Texas wine. We discuses what's new in Texas, why Texas wines have improved so much, and what still needs to be done to make them even better.

The podcast is about 6 megabytes and 13 minutes long. To download or stream it, click here.

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Regional wine week starts Monday

by Wine Curmudgeon Posted On

Next week, I ?ll have a bevy of Texas-related posts on the blog, part of DrinkLocalWine.com ?s second annual Regional Wine Week. I have a podcast or two lined up, reviews of Texas wines, and maybe even an Oprah Winfrey spotting, in which she tastes Texas wine.

We have a nifty lineup of wine bloggers and writers lined up for regional wine week, including a post about Hawaiian wine. It ?s worth checking out, starting Monday.