Tag Archives: Texas wine

Local wine, local food

local wineThe Wine Curmudgeon, despite his good intentions and his advocacy of all things local, is not perfect. Even the co-founder of Drink Local Wine sometimes forgets that local wine goes with local food.

Case in point: A recent dinner with pork shoulder rubbed with cumin and coriander, roasted with garlic. onions, and peppers, and served with guacamole and black beans. So, like the wine snobs and dilettantes that I spend so much time excoriating, I bought a French wine, a white from the Rhone, to drink with it.

What a maroon.

I live in Texas. I have been advocating Texas wine for Texas-style food for almost three decades. So why did I buy a French wine made with viognier when when we make some of the best viognier in the world in Texas?

Like I said, what a maroon.

It’s not so much that the white Rhone was overpriced and under-qualified. Even if it had been better made, it didn’t have the bright apricot and peach fruit to stand up to the pork the way a Texas viognier (Brennan, McPherson, and Pedernales among many others) would have. And it was heavier, as well, with an unpleasant oiliness, both qualities that didn’t complement the pork’s spiciness and something the best Texas viogniers don’t have. Ours are lighter and more crisp, which gives them an affinity for something as rich as the pork shoulder.

So the next time you opt for safe instead of local, know that you’re making the same mistake that I did. Just be willing to admit it, and do the right the next time.

12 wines for International Tempranillo Day

Tempranillo dayThese 12 wines show tempranillo in many of its 21st century styles. There’s classic tempranillo from the Rioja region of Spain; post-modern Spanish tempranillo; regional tempranillo from Texas and Colorado; a highly-regarded Oregon label; and even one from Argentina.

Tempranillo for years languished in wine’s outer orbit, though that banishment had little to do with quality. Rijoa’s wines are some of the best in the world. Rather, tempranillo wasn’t cabernet sauvignon, merlot, or pinot noir, and those are the reds that got most of the attention. Wine geeks knew about it, but the grape deserves a wider audience than that.

Enter the Internet, which has allowed tempranillo and its advocates to sidestep the Winestream Media, as with today’s fourth annual International Tempranillo Day. Also important: The discovery that tempranillo does well outside of Spain, something that no one understood before and that has revolutionized Texas wine. I’ve even had tempranillo from Idaho, about as different a region from Rioja as imaginable. No castles, for one thing.

Why is tempranillo worth drinking? First, the Spanish versions are among the best values in the world. Second, it’s a food-friendly wine that doesn’t insult the wine drinker; in fact, most tempranillo needs food, be it red meat or roast chicken. Third, it’s not the usual red wine, and anyone who wants to enjoy wine should be eager to try something that isn’t the usual.

After the jump, the wines: Continue reading →

Kerrville 2014: They really like Texas wine

texas wineRosanne Palacios rose to her feet, took a breath, and then slowly and carefully, in front of the hundred or so people in the audience, said: “I”m a recovering Texas wine snob.”

The crowd cheered and there was even a ripple of applause. “Five years ago,” said Palacios, a hospital development director in Laredo, “I thought all Texas was wine terrible. Then I came here, and I’ve been drinking Texas wine since.”

Here was the Texas wine tasting at the annual Kerrviile fall music festival, where I’ve been preaching the gospel of Texas wine for almost a decade. So you can imagine how I felt when Palacios stood up. Giddy, practically. But that wasn’t the only reason to be excited about Texas wine based on what I saw during my three days in the Hill Country:

? There was the 20-something man at the Walmart automotive center getting a flat on his pickup truck fixed. “I don’t drink much wine,” he said, talking about the Texas wineries he and his wife had visited over the weekend, “but this has been a lot of fun.”

? The chef who stood up during the Kerrville panel and said, “Thanks to the Texas industry for getting this right. I was here 20 years ago, and I really wondered if they’d ever be able to do it.”

? The middle-aged Jack Daniels drinker who made a return trip to one winery tasting room because he couldn’t believe how much he enjoyed the wine. He even bought a couple of more bottles.

This does not mean there still aren’t problems, which I saw at this year’s Lone Star judging and that cropped up a couple times over the weekend. We still have a long way to go with wine education, for one thing, though that’s not necessarily a Texas problem. What’s important is that the first step in making Texas wine work has been taken. Consumers are willing to try it. Now the onus is on the wineries to produce quality wine at an affordable price that is uniquely Texas, and not a California or French knockoff.

Because consumers like Palacios are ready, willing, and able. “I’ve got a lot of wine drinking friends who won’t drink Texas wine,” she told me when I chatted with her after the panel. “So I’m going to do a blind tasting with these wines when we do our next tasting.”

What more can any wine business ask for?

WC returns to Grapefest next week

wine curmudgeon grapefestThat’s three days of appearances at Grapefest — at 4:30 p.m. on Sept. 12, 11:30 a.m. on Sept. 13 and noon on Sept. 14. We’ll talk wine, the cheap wine book, and Texas wine as part of the People’s Choice Awards, one of the largest consumer-judged wine festivals in the country.

I’ll be at the Palace Theater in historic downtown Grapevine. In air conditioning, always a plus this time of year. Stop by, ask questions, buy books, and talk about wine.

Labor Day wine 2014

Labor Day wine 2014
Rose with that barbecue?

Labor Day weekend marks not just the end of summer, but the Wine Curmudgeon’s annual appearance at the Kerrville Fall Music Festival to talk about Texas wine (and to drive 5 mph). Whatever you do to enjoy the weekend, these wines will make it that much more interesting:

? A to Z Pinot Gris 2013 ($13, purchased, 13%): Delightful, fresh Oregon-style pinot gris with ripe melon fruit and a little citrus (lime?) that offers terrific value whether porch sipping or with food. I don’t know that I’ve had an A to Z wine that didn’t enjoy or want to buy again.

?Pedroncelli Zinfandel Mother Clone 2012 ($17, sample, 14.8%): Nicely done California zinfandel from Dry Creek in Sonoma with dark jammy fruit, lots of oomph, and some black pepper. Nice rendition of the post-modern style for those who appreciate this sort of thing, and will pair with barbecue and burgers.

? Pierre Morey Bourgogne-Aligot 2011 ($20, purchased, 11%): Not cheap, unfortunately, but this white wine from Burgundy in France that isn’t chardonnay is exceptionally well made. Look for white pepper and a bit of lemon fruit, and it’s just enough different from chardonnay so that someone who is paying attention will notice.

? Muga Rosada 2013 ($10, purchased, 13%): This Spanish rose, made with grenache, is annually one of the best roses in the world. It’s always very crisp, and this year features tart strawberry fruit. Highly recommended, and a $10 Hall of Fame wine.

Finally, the Wine Curmudgeon’s regular appeal to try your local wine. Dave McIntyre and Mike Wangbickler (the past and present of Drink Local Wine) and I went through a dozen or so Texas wines during one fine Saturday afternoon of tasting earlier this month. Almost all of them were worth drinking again — even the ones I didn’t think I would like. Thanks to Haak, Llano Estacdo, McPherson, and William Chris for supplying the wines.

I was especially impressed with the William Chris sparkling blanc du bois ($30, sample, 11%), which was bubbly, citrusy, and quite fresh. It was a bit simple for the price, but William Chris never seems to have a problem selling its wines.

For more on Labor Day wine:
? Labor Day wine 2013
? Labor Day wine 2012
? Wine of the week: Robert Hall Rose de Robles 2013

The Wine Curmudgeon’s annual Kerrville Texas wine extravaganza

Kerrville Texas wineAnd with a cheap wine book signing this year, as well.

The wine panel at the Kerrville Fall Music Festival is at 3:30 p.m. on Aug. 30, where we’ll talk about Texas red wine. No doubt the Wine Curmudgeon will get in a spirited discussion with one of the panelists about the price-value ratio of Texas cabernet sauvignon and merlot, and that we should be making reds from tempranillo, sangiovese, and Rhone grapes instead.

The winery lineup this year is as good as it gets in the state, with eight of the top producers. We’re doing reds on the panel in honor of Rod Kennedy, the Kerrville founder, Texas music impresario, and local wine guy, who died last year.

The cheap wine book signing is from 5:30-8 p.m. on Aug. 29 at Four.0, the winery tasting room on Hwy. 290 outside of Fredericksburg. Stop by and say hello, buy a book (or three), and taste some terrific Texas wine.

The Washington state lesson in drinking local

local wine trendsToday’s riddle: Which local wine was ignored, overlooked, and regarded as not real wine? The answer: Washington state wine, which got so little respect that a bartender at a Pasco restaurant once told me there was no such thing as Washington wine.

Hence the story I wrote for the Beverage Media trade magazine — that today’s best regional wine states are in much the same position that Washington was in two decades ago. Which means that retailers and restaurateurs who aren’t paying attention are missing a good thing (right, Texas?). The story ?s highlights:

? Too many still don’t understand how popular local is. It has been a “hot topic” in the National Restaurant Association ?s annual chef ?s survey since at least 2010, and local wine was the second biggest alcohol trend.

? It’s just not that wine is made in all 50 states, but the Wine America trade group reports that the number of regional wineries in the United States increased almost 12 percent between 2011 and 2014 — in the aftermath of the recession — and almost doubled since 2005 — during the recession.

? The business types who are part of the three-tier system have figured it out, which kind of surprised me. The biggest regional producers are distributed by the biggest companies in the country; in Texas, for example, the two biggest distributors in the state handle most of the state’s best-selling wineries. It used to be almost impossible, even just 10 years ago, for a local producer to get a distributor.

? Retailers who support local make money off of local. Marketview Liquor in Rochester, N.Y., carries some 800 New York wines, and that ?s not a new thing ?the store has invested in local since it opened 33 years ago. How long ago was that? Not even I was writing about regional wine then.

? Quality has improved, too, even if no one wants to believe it. Washington’s wines are among the best in the world, and so are New York rieslings, Texas viogniers, and Virginia red blends.