The Wine Curmudgeon

Wine review: Nobilo Sauvignon Blanc 2007

There are many reasons why the Wine Curmudgeon is so fond of this wine. The Nobilo is cheap, still around $10 despite the horribly weak U.S. dollar. It's well-made, displaying all the aromas and flavors that New Zealand sauvignon blanc should have.

And, perhaps most importantly, it's tremendous fun to taste with people who aren't familiar with this kind of wine. That's because New Zealand sauvignon blanc has a tell-tale red grapefruit smell and taste. Which means half the people who taste it for the first time hate it, and half of them think it's as good a wine as they've ever had. This difference of opinion is one of the things I love most about wine. Each of us is different, and what one person wants no part of another wants a case of. If only the wine snobs, with their scores and magazines, understood this.

Serve this wine chilled with anything remotely resembling seafood, from crab cakes to boiled shrimp to tuna salad. It's also terrific with anything cooked with olive oil, garlic and rosemary or parsley.

Technorati Tags: Nobilo sauvignon blanc,$10 wine,white wine,New Zealand wine

Tuesday tidbits 27

• Baseball wine: How does Chipper Chardonnay sound? Or Cabernet Glavignon? They're from a company called Charity Hop, which produces wines for charity using sports figures as the leverage. Chipper is Chipper Jones of the Atlanta Braves; the second wine is named after his teammate, Tom Glavine. Even Ernie Banks, Mr. Cub, has his own wine -- 512 Chardonnay.

• Genetics and wine palates: The always erudite Dan Berger writes that genes may have as much to do with how we taste wine and what we like as anything else. For instance, do some people prefer sweet wine to dry wine because it's part of their DNA, or is sweet vs. dry a learned behavior? It's a fascinating essay -- highly recommended.

• Aussies line up for Grange: This is one of the best known wines down under, a darling with the Wine Magazines and a label that always gets big scores. At the beginning of May, the winery sold all of its 2003 -- about 9,000 cases -- in one day. Asking price? About US $500 a bottle. The sale reportedly attracted a fair number of speculators, buying the wine to sell later at a profit.

Technorati Tags: Baseball wine,wine and genetics,Dan Berger,Penfolds Grange

Robert Mondavi: 1913-2008

I was tasting wine on Friday with Joe Briggs of Napa's August Briggs Wines when we heard that Robert Mondavi had died. "It's the end of an era," said Briggs. I nodded, and said: "Let me ask you something. Would we even be here now if wasn't for Mondavi? Not just us tasting, but this place" -- and I gestured at the wine bar where I meet visiting winemakers -- "and everyone here?"

Briggs didn't have to wait to answer. "No," he said. "None of this -- us, the other people, this place -- would be here if it hadn't been for Robert Mondavi."

$70 wine: When is it really worth it?

I was drinking wine with a couple of friends last weekend and mentioned that they would enjoy the sparkling wine. One of them took a sip and said, yes, that was pretty good. But it doesn't taste like one of your $10 wines, she said. (Now I know how actors feel when they get stereotyped.)

The wine, of course, was not $10. It was Ruinart, perhaps my favorite bubbly and not cheap at all at $70. And, to add insult to injury to my reputation, the other bottle of wine that night was Domaine Borgeot Puligny-Montrachet Les Charmes 1999, which cost around $65.

Which raises the question: Is there something to these wines that makes them worth that much money? The answer is yes, but the point is not how much they cost, but what they deliver.

Wine of the week: Raats Original Chenin Blanc 2007

South African wine doesn't get a lot of respect, and sometimes deservedly so. So when the Wine Curmudgeon finds one that is well-made, inexpensive and food friendly, it's a reason to write about it.

The Original uses a grape that is too often mishandled in South Africa, producing sweet, uninteresting wines. Raats, on the other hand, treats the grape seriously, and turns out a dry, refreshing wine that is fruity (think pineapple and orange) and even has some minerality on the finish. It's a lot to expect from a $12 wine.

Serve this chilled with salads, Thai food (though it's not sweet, it's fruity enough to stand up to spice) or on its own.

Technorati Tags: Raats Family Wines,chenin blanc,wine reviews,white wine,South African wine

Cordon Bleu students turn wine critics

We do two tastings in my Cordon Bleu wine class -- 10 or so red wines and 10 or so white wines. We talk about the flavors of the wines, about pairing them with food, and the differences in varietals across countries and regions.

So why not let them write about what they taste? (And a tip 'o the wine glass to Ruth Reynard, with Cordon Bleu's corporate parent, who jostled the Wine Curmudgeon into the Digital Age on this one.)

Hence LCB Anti-Wine Snobs, where the students blog about the wines. They picked the name, they designed the site, and they did the writing. I did a bit of editing and offered some technical advice. Otherwise, it's all theirs.

And nicely done, too.

Technorati Tags: Cordon Bleu,wine education,wine students,wine reviews

Tuesday tidbits 26

• The Wine Establishment strikes back:  Last week, I noted Alice Feiring's criticisms of California wine, in which she called much of it "over-alcoholed, over-oaked, overpriced and over-manipulated." Turns out she is a borderline Luddite and an ultra-conservative, says Matthew DeBord, formerly of the Wine Spectator. DeBord's rebuttal is worth reading, if only because he lumps every single person who disagrees with him into the category of un-young, uncool and unhip. It's such an over the top performance that I actually feel sorry for him. DeBord also uses the word prelapsarian and the word sucks in the same essay, which is not an easy thing to do.

• Sommeliers as sex symbols: Not quite as silly as wine writers as sex symbols, but sill enough. (We'll pause now for a giggle, thinking of the Wine Curmudgeon with a stubbled face and an $800 Italian blazer). Nevertheless, I will pass this on from a Los Angeles publicist, plugging a forthcoming wine event: "They’re hot. They’re smart. They work for Batali, Fraser and Myers. They can tell the difference between an Austrian or Washington Riesling with a sniff. They’re all under 35. ... Wine & Spirits magazine will introduce 10 of the city’s brightest young wine experts to a Gen Y group of wine lovers. " Thank God, because we know no one who isn't Gen Y can know anything about wine.

• Another example of why our liquor laws are crazy: The California liquor cops have told a home wine event organizer that they will raid his festival if he holds it. The details are complicated, but what it comes down is that amateurs aren't allowed to hold wine competitions in California, though professionals are. Says one home winemaker: ""If that's the case, then just about every county fair and club across the state is breaking the law."

Technorati Tags: sommeliers,California wine,wine controversies,wine laws,wine regulations