Category:Regional wine

Wine of the week: Gruet Brut NV

by Wine Curmudgeon Posted On

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The Wine Curmudgeon has never understood why more people don ?t drink sparkling wine more often. One of the most fun parts of teaching my Cordon Bleu wine class was introducing the students to bubbly as something to drink with dinner (instead of, sadly, their preferred use — mimosas). Quality sparkling wine is fruity, has solid acid, and pairs with almost anything except big red meat.

And the Gruet (about $14) is an exceptional example of well-priced, well-made bubbly. That it is from New Mexico ? regional wine alert! ? makes it even better. The Brut is crisp and full of green apple fruit, without the overdone oak and toastiness that defines so many other, more expensive sparklers and Champagnes. It ?s also a little more sophisticated and softer than cava, Spanish sparkling wine.

Wine of the week: Ste. Genevieve White NV

by Wine Curmudgeon Posted On

This was one of the first wines to make the $10 Hall of Fame when I started it for Dallas ? Advocate Magazines almost 10 years ago. It was called Texas White, cost $2.99 and you could buy it at 7-Eleven.

The wine dropped off the list after a couple of price increases and a drop in quality. The winery, Texas ? largest (it also does Peregrine Hills), went through ownership changes and the fate of this kind of vin ordinaire wasn ?t high on the agenda. So when I saw it recently for $3.89 and re-labeled as an American wine, I thought I ?d try it. I didn ?t have high hopes.

Which, once again, shows why one needs to taste the wine before judging it. The Ste. Genevieve ? a blend of chenin blanc, chardonnay, French colombard and pinot grigio from Texas and California — is a bit thin on the back, but not unpleasantly so. Otherwise, it can hold on its own with any $10 wine. There is a floral nose with a hint of sweetness, some green apple, and not enough oak to bother anyone. Buy a case, keep it cool, and open it anytime you want a glass of white wine.

Availability note: If you aren ?t in Texas or surrounding states, it will be difficult to find this.

Presidential inauguration wine

by Wine Curmudgeon Posted On

The wine world has been atwitter with rumors and gossip about the wines that will be served at Barack Obama ?s various presidential inauguration festivities next week. Sad, isn ?t it, that those are the kinds of things that get us excited? Even sadder, no one asked the Wine Curmudgeon what to serve.

After the jump, a look at what will be served and my thoughts about what should be served:

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Cap*Rock Winery

by Wine Curmudgeon Posted On

image This is one of an occasional series detailing Texas wineries. The complete list is here.

What ?s noteworthy about Cap*Rock Winery is not so much the wine that it ?s making, but that it ?s making wine at all. The past couple of years have not been kind, and have included changes in ownership, marketing and distribution, and production. In all, it has not been an easy time for the Lubbock winery, one of Texas ? oldest.

Still, when I tasted the wine in September, progress had been made. The winery is still making only about a third of the total that it did at its peak about a decade ago, but several of the wines had promise and the current ownership has started an Italian wine program.

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Texas, French wines in a blind tasting

by Wine Curmudgeon Posted On

The Wine Curmudgeon likes blind tastings a lot, and it ?s not because I always get them right. It ?s because they are a humbling, necessary experience, something to remind me that I don ?t know nearly enough about wine.

Which brings us to last week ?s Texas-Beaujolais blind tasting, where I correctly identified three of the six wines. And I was happy to do that well.

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Wine of the week: Sunset Winery Moon Glow Merlot 2004

by Wine Curmudgeon Posted On

imageBruce and Birgit Anderson run Sunset Winery out of what is more or less a house in suburban Fort Worth, so the idea that their 2004 Moon Glow Merlot can win an award seems kind of fantastic. Burleson is not exactly Napa.

Nevertheless, the wine tells the story. The Moon Glow (about $20, available from the winery) won a bronze medal at the prestigious Dallas Morning News competition earlier this year. It ?s a warm, rich wine that is isn ?t as big or as jammy as most California merlots. Plus, it doesn ?t have any of the excess acid that characterizes so many poorly-made Texas merlots and cabernet sauvignons. Pair it with red meat dishes, and especially lamb.

I ?m not necessarily sold on merlot as a grape that needs to be grown in Texas. But the Andersons and grower Neal Newsom, who supplied the grapes, show what is possible.

Three Texas wines

by Wine Curmudgeon Posted On

drinklocal_small The Texas wines I picked for regional wine week and DrinkLocalWine.com have one thing in common (besides quality). They ?re excellent examples of wines that are well done in Texas, and that aren ?t made with the same grapes that everyone else uses everywhere else in the world.

That ?s a key to regional wine ? if chardonnay doesn ?t grow well where you are, then don ?t grow chardonnay. The wine world ? growers, wine makers, retailers, restaurants and wine writers ? is obsessed with cabernet sauvignon, merlot and chardonnay. Everything is measured by those three varietals, and almost always found lacking.

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