Category:Wine Curmudgeon

Cordon Bleu cookoff: “We wuz robbed”

by Wine Curmudgeon Posted On

Professional chefs are professionals for a reason: They know what they're doing.The Wine Curmudgeon knows how to be a good loser. I am, after all, Chicago Cubs fan, so if I had not learned how to lose I would have long ago run screaming into the darkness. But I am not taking my team’s second-place finish in last night’s Le Cordon Bleu Challenge well.

Apparently, we finished second by one vote, and we finished second by one vote to the team that included former Dallas Cowboy Everson Walls. Which leads to the question: If the winners had not had Walls, would they have won? I think not. I suppose there is something Dallas residents love more than the Cowboys, but I don’t know what it is. Or, as I told our very disappointed (and talented) team leader, chef Nikki Bodamer of the Dallas Cordon Bleu, the loss was probably my fault. She needed a more famous guest chef than the Wine Curmudgeon.

Because our effort — chicken breasts stuffed with goat cheese, pecans, shallots and garlic, with fried spaghetti squash garnish, couscous with dried fruit, grilled asparagus, and a stunning red wine demi-glace — was damn good. And I say that as someone who is not particularly fond of stuffed chicken breasts or goat cheese.

After the jump, a few thoughts about my experience in a professional kitchen with professional chefs, preparing dinner for 20 in an hour.

Continue reading →

Robert Parker, Dr. Vino and paying for wine

by Wine Curmudgeon Posted On

This has, once again, turned into a big stink among the wine types who hang out in the cyber ether. Blogger Tyler Colman, whose Dr. Vino is among the top-visited wine blogs on the Internet, has taken Robert Parker to task for allegedly not paying for all of the wines that Parker's empire reviews. Parker, of course, runs the Wine Advocate and is the most important person in the wine world.

Does Parker buy the wine he and his tasters write about? Parker says yes, mostly. Colman says no, and wonders why Parker isn't more forthright about sampling. The Wine Curmudgeon says: "Who cares?"

Should Parker be upfront about which wine is purchased and which is sampled (the practice where producers give wines to writers to review). Yes. Is it the most important problem facing the wine world? No, and I truly don't understand why this keeps coming up. Has Dr. Vino written about critic Jancis Robinson, the anti-Parker, and how she uses samples? I couldn't find any evidence that he has.

Criticize Parker for having too much influence. Criticize Parker for inventing the 100-point scoring system. Criticize Parker for his palate, which prefers powerful, fruity, high-alcohol, oaky wines. Criticize Parker because the Italians, French and Spanish make wine that tastes like it came from California's Central Coast in order to play to his palate. Criticize Parker because companies now exist to help winemakers manipulate grapes to make wines that play to his palate.

Those are the problems facing the wine world, not whether Robert Parker hedges about samples. Yes, taking on Parker generates lots of comments and repeat visits to a blog or Web site. But it doesn't help anyone make better wine.

, ,

Wine Curmudgeon takes knife in hand as guest chef

by Wine Curmudgeon Posted On

That headline conjures up all sorts of scary images, doesn't it? But it's the truth, nonetheless — I'll be competing in the Le Cordon Bleu Challenge at 7 p.m. Thursday in Dallas. I'll be on one of three teams, featuring professionals who know a lot more about cooking than I do, as part of a nation-wide event that the Cordon Bleu is hosting to celebrate adopting the Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts name (yes, the one in France).

Tickets are $25, and proceeds go to the Ronald McDonald House. You can sign up at the previous link. Among those competing will be Dallas chefs Dana Cox, Nikki Bodamer and Jeramy Kunkel, as well as former Dallas Cowboy Everson Walls and the Dallas fire chief, Eddie Burns. Who'd have thought that a cranky ex-newspaperman like me could be in the same competition with a Dallas Cowboy?

,

The Wine Curmudgeon, Twitter and a blind tasting

by Wine Curmudgeon Posted On

I’ll be in Bryan, Texas, over the weekend, trying to figure out how this social networking thing works. Messina Hof Winery has organized the event, which will combine Twitter and blind tastings. Twitter tastings are all the rage in the wine business these days, where one tastes the wine and then social networks about it. (And forgive me, Mrs. Kramsky, wherever you are, for using “social networks” as a verb.)

Blind tastings, of course, are common. We taste the wine and the only thing we know about it is the varietal — we don’t know who made it or where it is from.

The idea is to taste wines from Messina Hof, one of Texas’ leading producers, against similar wines from around the world without knowing which is which. The Wine Curmudgeon is a firm believer in blind tasting, which eliminates most of the preconceived notions people have about wine. And we all know how many we have of those.

Event organizer Russ Kane reports that you can follow the Twitter part of the event by going to Twitter and then searching using the hashtag #Messina_Hof. I, of course, have no idea what this means. Hopefully, I will be able to figure it out by tomorrow.And I will have a report on Monday.

, , , ,

Housekeeping, visitors, and ratings at the Wine Curmudgeon

by Wine Curmudgeon Posted On

A couple of items as we start the new year:

? Final tally on visitors for 2009 — we had a 114 percent increase from the beginning of the year. Thank you so much for coming to the blog, as well as for the kind emails and comments.

? The blog's Technorati ranking is 28,906 out of the 100 million or so that the company tracks, which is pretty impressive for a one-man operation like mine. But that's not all. The Wine Curmudgeon is tied for 1,652nd place among food and wine blogs, with luminaries like Napa Valley Wine Radio. That impresses even a crank like me.

? I'm thinking about making some minor design changes, like dropping the "You might also like" items that are automatically generated for each post. They don't seem to add much. My goal is to streamline the way the blog looks and to make it easier to use. Any thoughts are welcome, either in the comments here or by sending me an email.

,

The 2010 $10 Wine Hall of Fame

by Wine Curmudgeon Posted On

Four wines made the 2010 $10 Wine Hall of Fame and a fifth was an honorable mention, the most since the Wine Curmudgeon started the Hall almost a decade ago. Details are here. The wines are:

? A California chenin blanc from Vinum Cellars called CNW, for Chard-No-Way.

? Notorius, a white wine from Sicily.

? La Ferme de Gicon, a red blend from the Rhone that may take the place of the Solaz as my favorite red wine for $10 or less.

? vini merlot from Bulgaria, which may be the best cheap merlot I've ever tasted.

The honorable mention is the 2007 Bota Box cabernet sauvingon. Its price works out to $5 a bottle, which is a steal. However, it's not a full-fledged member of the Hall because I can't vouch for any newer vintages, and I'm not sure how long this vintage will be available.

In fact, despite the weak dollar, 2009 was a banner year for cheap wine. Besides the five inductees, we have an honorable mention and only two wines dropped out — the legendary Osborne Solaz red blend, which is being phased out, and the Falesco Vitiano wines, which cost more than $10 because of the weak dollar.

For previous $10 Wine Hall of Fames:

, , ,

$10 Hall of Fame preview

by Wine Curmudgeon Posted On

The Wine Curmudgeon is checking notes, re-tasting wine, and getting ready for the appearance of the eighth annual $10 Wine Hall of Fame. I'll post it on Jan. 4.

But there is already one piece of sad news. Osborne Solaz, the Spanish red blend that has been a mainstay of the Hall since its inception, is being phased out. The corporate term is ?selectively distributed in stores throughout the U.S., ? but the reality is that the wine won't be for sale in the retailers where you used to buy it. (Osborne is replacing the Solaz with a brand called TempraTantrum; hopefully, it tastes better than the name.)

And since it won't be readily available, Solaz is dropping out of the Hall; being readily available is one of the requirements for membership.

Otherwise, despite the weak dollar, 2009 looks like it was a banner year for cheap wine. The only other bottles to drop out did so because the weak dollar pushed their price above $10 ? the Falesco Vitiano wines: A solid rose, an even more solid white blend, and a stunning red blend made of sangiovese, cabernet and merlot. The wine is still as good as ever. It just costs $12.

, , ,