Category:Regional wine

American sangiovese: Better than ever

by Wine Curmudgeon Posted On

Sangiovese isn't just about Italy any more. Sangiovese is the only Italian red wine grape most Americans know, and even then we don ?t know it by its name. Instead, we know it as Chianti, which is the region where the best-known sangiovese is produced. (And those of us of a certain age will always remember Chianti for the wicker basket on the bottle, which meant hip and trendy way back when.)

So it ?s probably not surprising to find out that American sangiovese has, over the years, been mostly ordinary. There were a couple of producers whose wine was OK, but the grape never caught on here.

That has changed dramatically over the past decade, and it ?s not because American winemakers are trying to knock off sangiovese like a badly-made dress. Rather, it ?s because they understand the grape and its relationship with terroir in a way they hadn ?t before. We don ?t have to make sangiovese that tastes like Chianti. We can make it to taste like sangivoese from California — or even Texas or Arizona.

What ?s going on and why it ?s good news for wine drinkers, after the jump:

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Toast of Taos and Southwestern Wine Competition

by Wine Curmudgeon Posted On

This isn ?t the biggest competition that the Wine Curmudgeon judges, but it is one of the most interesting. Only wines from the Southwest are eligible, and this year that meant entries from Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado and Oklahoma. No Texas, unfortunately.

The other five judges and I were impressed with the quality of the wine, which can be problematic in a competition like this. The cabernet francs from Colorado were nice, as were many of the rieslings from several states. After all, we ?re not judging California and France. But the wines were mostly professionally made and showed just how far regional wine has come in the U.S. More, after the jump:

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Southwest Wine Competition update

by Wine Curmudgeon Posted On

Getting ready to judge the best of show wines at the Southwest Wine Competition in Taos, N.M., part of next month's Taste of Taos. I'll have more on this later, but so far, so good. These are mostly wines from states that don't have much of a wine reputation, and the quality has been better this year than last.

We had a terrific red hybrid, some fine dessert wines, and a riesling that was quite medal worthy. Plus, the judging has been much fun.

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Register now for DrinkLocalWine.com conference

by Wine Curmudgeon Posted On

image Yes, we ?re taking your cash for the Aug. 15 event in Dallas ? and we can do it over the Internet, with credit cards. That ?s actually quite amazing, given I ?m the one in charge of technology.

The details are here. Your $35 gets you into three seminars, pays for lunch prepared by the chefs at the world-famous Cordon Bleu, and allows those of you older than 21 to participate in the Texas Twitter Taste-off. You ?ll taste about 40 wines, and then Twitter or blog about your favorites.

Winecast 10: Texas wine trends

by Wine Curmudgeon Posted On

My pal John Bratcher and Alfonso Cevola, the Italian wine guy, joined me for a discussion about what ?s new and interesting in Texas wine. (The podcast was originally recorded for Advocate magazines in Dallas, where I do the wine writing.) And, it turns out, quite a bit is new and interesting, including a number of wineries in Dallas – ? urban wineries, no less — that do quality work. The podcast is about 15 megabytes and 16 minutes. To download or stream it, click here.

Lone Star International Competition results

by Wine Curmudgeon Posted On

There were some surprises when we finished the 26th annual judging on Tuesday, and pleasant ones at that. Several wineries that usually don ?t get high medals did, and I was especially impressed with the efforts of wineries from places like Pennsylvania and South Dakota. The complete results are here. Among the highlights:

? A gold medal for McPherson Cellars ? grenache-mouvedre blend. This wine will go a long way to show what Texas can do with red grapes that aren ?t cabernet sauvignon and merlot.

? San Martino Winery in suburban Dallas won a gold for a tempranillo. This was an interesting wine, with a fruity, New World style appeal. I ?m not sure it tasted exactly like tempranillo, but it impressed the judges.

? Of course, just to show how little I know, Kiepersol Estates in East Texas (East Texas, of all places) won a gold medal for a merlot. Kiepersol winemaker Marnelle de Wet Durrett does a terrific job and is too often overlooked when we discuss Texas wines.Driftwood Estates won two golds for cabernets, and Red Caboose, a new one to me that is southwest of Fort Worth, also got a gold for a cabernet.

Special International Lone Star Wine Competition award

by Wine Curmudgeon Posted On

The Wine Curmudgeon is judging the 26th International Lone Star Wine Competition in Grapevine, Texas, today and tomorrow, where a new category has been added — the Texas Vintner's Rising Star Award, sponsored by Paul Bonarrigo, the long-time owner and winemaker at Messina Hof Winery in Bryan.

The award will recognize the best Texas wine made by new winemakers; six wineries are eligible this year. They ?ll compete against each other for red and white wines. This is exactly the kind of progressive approach and attitude that regional wine needs, and I'm very glad to see it in Texas. Bonarrigo is to be congratulated.

I ?ll have a post later this week on the competition, which has attracted more than 500 wines this year from around the world.