by Wine Curmudgeon Posted On
The blog is mostly off today — the Wine Curmudgeon has spent the holiday weekend recuperating from judging in the International Eastern Wine Competition. For your entertainment, this video (courtesy of littlesuzie89 at YouTube), the English comedy duo Fry and Laurie doing some wine tasting. "You won't show this, will you — I'm a wine merchant."
by Wine Curmudgeon Posted On
The Wine Curmudgeon is in New York’s Finger Lakes this week to judge one of my favorite events. It’s the International Eastern Wine Competition, run by my pal Richard Leahy of Vineyard & Winery Management magazine. It’s one of my favorites because the wines we judge are so Wine Curmudgeonly — mostly regional wines, and many made with grapes that aren’t chardonnay, cabernet sauvignon, or merlot.
Plus I get to wear a lab coat and look like I know what I’m doing. Look for my report next week, plus the annual picture of me in my lab coat. This year, I haven’t spilled nearly as much red wine on it as I did last year.
by Wine Curmudgeon Posted On
Time for the Wine Curmudgeon's annual full disclosure post. I operate the blog based on the eGullet
Society for Culinary Arts & Letters ? code of ethics for online
writers. Much of this is obvious ? giving credit to others when you
use their material, linking to the appropriate items, and detailing
potential conflicts of interest. And I want to explain a few other things, per the code:
? I accept wine
samples paid for by the wineries, but I don ?t guarantee a review from
the samples. In fact, about half the wine I review I pay for myself. And
I turn down samples for wines that I know don ?t fit what I ?m trying to
do here. Each wine review says whether the wine is a sample or purchased, and links to my policy.
? I write about wines and events that involve people who
are my friends and who I do business with. When that happens, I mention it in the post.
? I accept travel paid for by wineries and trade groups promoting
wine regions of the world. But there is no quid pro
quo.
For more on wine blogging and ethics:
? Robert Parker, Dr. Vino and paying for wine
? What's wrong with wine writing: Views from around the web
? Wine writing, and what's wrong with it
by Wine Curmudgeon Posted On
America’s Test Kitchen, the cooking show run by the people who do Cook’s Illustrated magazine, does a fine job explaining why recipes work and demonstrating how to successfully make a dish.
The program’s mantra is: “Use quality ingredients, think about what you’re doing, and don’t be confused by shiny objects.” This is especially true when the show reviews products and kitchen gadgets, and host Christopher Kimball is famous for his cheap, Down East approach when it comes to spending money for overpriced olive oil or frou-frou accessories.
Given all this, why did America’s Test Kitchen review wine aerators — and suggest that one can’t enjoy wine unless one spends $50 for an aerator? Chris, $50? $50?
The Wine Curmudgeon’s attitude towards these sorts of things is well documented. If you’re going to buy a gadget, ask yourself if it’s worth buying instead of a similar amount of wine. Most of the time, it’s not, and it’s especially not when it comes to aerators.
Yes, wine needs to breathe. But most wine — and almost all wine that we drink on a regular basis — doesn’t need anything more than some glass swirling and to sit for a couple of minutes after it’s opened. That’s it.
Even if you don’t believe me, you still don’t need to spend $50 on an aerator. Go to a discount store and buy a glass pitcher. It will cost a couple of bucks. Pour the wine into the glass pitcher. This process, called decanting, will do the same thing as the aerator. And you’ll have $45 left to spend on wine.
The idea that one needs an aerator is yet another example of how the industry makes it difficult for people to drink wine. What would the reaction be if a non-wine drinker saw the Test Kitchen bit? “That’s too complicated.” “I don’t want to spend the money.” “I’ll drink beer or Dr Pepper instead — they’re easier.”
The other thing that has always bothered me about aerators is that their devotees, who are incredibly passionate and send me nasty emails when I write stuff like this, insist aerators are easy to use and are quicker than letting the wine sit in the bottle. I have never found either to be the case. I’m convinced that much of their enthusiasm is from the placebo effect; that is, they paid $50 for the thing, and by God, it’s going to make the wine taste better.
One final note for America’s Test Kitchen: The wine that was used to test the aerator in the clip I saw on TV was Chateau Bonnet Rouge, one of the Wine Curmudgeon’s favorites (there’s also a Bonnet Blanc). It’s a $10 or $12 red Bordeaux blend, and if it needs to be aerated, then I’m going to start giving scores and writing about why California chardonnay needs more oak.
So, Chris, seriously — the next time you do a wine gadget on the show, throw your weight around. Most of them serve the exact same function as those $100 olive oils you don’t like. And if you have any questions, call me.
by Wine Curmudgeon Posted On
The Wine Curmudgeon was not always a supporter of regional wine. When I started doing this almost 25 years ago, I assumed — as almost everyone else did then, and as too many people still do — that if North American wine didn't come from California, it wasn't worth anything.
My education was a gradual process, starting with Washington and Oregon, and then moving to the rest of the country. But I learned something, and I'm glad I did. One of the first wine stories I sold as a freelancer, when I was still working in the newspaper business, was about regional wine. Travelers on American Airlines in 1989 read a story by a novice wine writer named Jeff Siegel that said — lo and behold — that wine was made in odd and strange places like Missouri, Virginia, Michigan and Texas. I still remember the thrill of selling that story, and wherever the editor is who bought it (my memory for names has never been good), thank you.
Which brings us to this weekend, when DrinkLocalWine.com holds it second annual conference. We're in Loudoun County, Va., where we're focusing on Virginia wine. The details are here; we still have some spots available for people in the Washington, D.C. area who want to attend. The Twitter Taste-off, with 25 wineries, should be worth the price of admission alone.
These days, regional wine is thriving, and it has become something more than wine made in odd places. There are top-notch wines being made by top-notch winemakers using top-notch grapes. The catch? That not enough people know about the quality of regional wine. But that's changing, and I like to think that my efforts. along with Dave McIntyre, for DrinkLocalWine.com are part of that change.
All wine doesn't have to taste like it came from California. The sooner the wine world realizes that, the better off we'll all be. It's not that life is too short to drink bad wine; it's that life is too short to drink the same kind of wine..
by Wine Curmudgeon Posted On
We think we've found out what's going on, and thanks to TypePad for pursuing this. Turns out that the problem is being caused by the incredible success of the blog. Really.
Some of the ads that are running in the left and right hand columns are so complicated and so sophisticated, because the blog's visitors are so in demand by advertisers, that the code used for the ads is confusing some browsers. Which is mostly Microsoft's Internet Explorer products.
What can you do if you're having these problems? I recommend switching to the Firefox browser, which is safer and easier to use than Explorer. It's a free download, simple to set up, and offers add-ons — ways you can customize Firefox for your particular needs, also free.
And, if the problem continues, I'll consider taking the offending ads off. I'd rather people be able to read the blog. If they can't, what's the point of doing it?
by Wine Curmudgeon Posted On
Trust me. There's a link here.
Oswald Mosley was a British Fascist leader and pal of Adolf Hitler, and Hitler attended Mosley's wedding in 1936. One of Costello's fine early songs was the reggae-tinged "Less than Zero," which was about Mosley: "They're gonna take a little break and they'll be back after a while/Well, I hear that South America is coming into style."
The Wine Curmudgeon saw Elvis for the first time at the Uptown Theater in Chicago in 1981. Squeeze opened, in what was a New Wave fan's delight, and I even found a girl to go with me — quite an accomplishment for the Wine Curmudgeon in those days. I've been an Elvis fan for more than 30 years, though I do wonder what he is doing appearing at events like the Academy Awards.
And Mosley, it turns out, collected wine. Bonhams, the English auction house, is offering 10 bottles from Mosley's collection next month. They include Cheval Blanc and Mouton Rothschild, and the Cheval Blancs are apparently quite interesting. All of which means that Mosley's taste in wine was much better than his politics.
Plus, after the jump, a video of Elvis doing "Less than Zero" and "Mystery Dance," from a benefit concert in 2007 with Clover, the band that backed him on his first album, My Aim is True. The video is from rdshp at YouTube.
