The Wine Curmudgeon

Wine of the week: Times Ten Cellars Carignane 2007

Carignane is an odd little red grape. It’s used mostly for blending -- in California to produce jug and inexpensive red blends, and in the Rhone region of France, where it’s the poor cousin of syrah, grenache and mouvedre.

This single-varietal carignane, from Dallas’ Time Ten Cellars ($15), shows the grape off to nice advantage. It has a funky, Rhone-like aroma (wine types call it bacon fat), but plenty of New World style fruitiness, including a big dose of cranberry (something to keep in mind come Thanksgiving). It’s not especially tannic, and the alcohol is a well-done 13.8 percent. This makes it an ideal red wine for hot summer days and good barbecue, be it pork or smoked chicken.

And don’t be confused about the grape’s spelling. It’s carignan in France and carignane in the U.S.

Technorati Tags: wine reviews,Times Ten Cellars,carignane

A 100-point wine

The wine is Chambers Rare Tokay NV, an Australian fortified dessert wine made in in the sherry style. Robert Parker has given it 100 points on his 100-point scale for years – I found references dating to 1999.

I don’t know that Parker waxes quite as poetic about this as he does his red Bordeauxs, but he is effusive: “Australian treasure,” “almost unbelievable in its richness and aromatic complexity,” and “he wines are so special they almost defy accurate description” among many, many accolades.

Which is the Wine Curmudgeon’s polite way of saying that point systems are irrelevant, and do more harm than good. I’m not denying that the Chambers (about $200 for a half bottle, if you can find it) is an exceptional wine. I’m also not criticizing Parker, who does what he does better than almost anyone else. It’s just not the way I would do it.

Tuesday tidbits 37

• The next big wine movie? Bottle Shock, the cinematic adaptation of the Judgement of Paris, in which California’s best wines beat France’s best wines in a blind tasting in 1976, debuted over the weekend. The esteemed Paul Franson of Wine Business News seemed less than impressed. The talk at the premier, he reported, was whether Bottle Shock would give the wine business as big a boost as Sideways did. The movie opens in the rest of the country on Aug. 6.

• Do you want to be a winemaker? The Wine Curmudgeon hopes not, but if so, PBS will give you a chance. It’s looking for potential winemakers for the second season of its reality show, The Wine Makers. The series will hold a casting call Sept. 7-12 at locations around the country. The first season of the series will air at the beginning of next year. And am I the only who figures the end is near when PBS does reality series?

• Beer vs. wine: We’ve heard a lot of PR hoo-haw the past couple of years about wine’s emergence as the alcoholic beverage of choice among Americans. Yes, wine’s popularity has increased, but nowhere near the level that a selective reading of the numbers has given us in breathless press releases. This has been reinforced by a Gallup Poll that says more Americans aged 30-49 prefer beer to wine, and the gap has increased the past couple of years. Those of us 50 and older prefer wine to beer, but that gap has narrowed as well. The survey doesn’t note any reasons, but I’d guess it has to do with the economic slowdown. And could there also be a backlash against the increasing amount of wine snobbiness we’ve seen over the past couple of years?

Technorati Tags: wine news,The Wine Makers,beer drinking,wine drinking,Bottle Shock

Wine review: Domaine des Malandes Petit Chablis 2006

Dallas is not known for its reasonably priced restaurant bottles of wine. There are exceptions, of course, but for the most part, everyone marks up bottles and glasses three times retail. That’s the way it is, and if you don’t like it, tough.

That’s why the Wine Curmudgeon is always happy to find a restaurant where the wine isn’t quite so outrageous. At Kitchen 1924 in the city’s Lakewood neighborhood, the prices are a bit more fair and the selection is interesting (and the food is more than acceptable, as well).

Owner Shawn Horne has an eclectic palate and a nice touch with white Burgundy (chardonnay from France), including the Malandes. For a couple of years, his restaurant was the only place in town to find chablis from Olivier Savary, one of my favorites.

The Malandes (about $22 retail, and $48 at the restaurant) is not a complicated, sophisticated wine, but it’s not supposed to be. The wine has good acid, as a chablis should, and is more fruit forward than many white Burgundies, with a pleasant pear flavor. It’s fresh and lively, something you don’t often see in white Burgundy that is this young. We drank it with a table full of appetizers and salads, and it was an excellent pairing.

Technorati Tags: Domaine des Malandes,white Burgundy,chardonnay,wine reviews

Home wine tastings: Easier than you think

One of the most common questions that the Wine Curmudgeon gets is about home wine tastings. Are they difficult to do? Are they worthwhile? Are they fun?

No, yes, and very yes.

Wine of the week: Trimbach Riesling 2005

I had to buy a bottle of wine that my mother would enjoy, but that I would have to drink as well. Which meant no fancy, hip and with it selections; rather, a tried and true wine that offered value and quality. Hence, the Trimbach (about $18), another solid effort from one of my favorite producers. Yes, it's a bit more than I'd like to spend (thank the weak dollar for that), but it's friendly enough for my mother and serious enough for me. What else can one ask for from a wine?

We drank it with a Salad Nicoise (which the Wine Curmudgeon whipped up, being a dutiful son). The wine has just enough sweetness to match the dark flavors in the salad from the olives and tuna, but it's not so sweet as to overpower the food. It's also got enough lemony acid and a minerally finish to pair well. The Trimcach family (for it is still family-owned) has learned a thing or two in the almost 400 years it has been making wine.

Regional wine: The Rodney Dangerfield of the business

I'm in Illinois, so that means I'm going to try and buy some Illinois wine. It's one of those things that the Wine Curmudgeon does. So I go to one high-end grocery store in a high-end suburb. Nope, no Illinois wine (and the guy behind the counter is even a little surly about it, so the Wine Curmudgeon gives him the evil eye). I got to another high-end grocery store in another high-end suburb. Nope, no Illinois wine.

Is Illinois wine any good? I don't know. I can't find any to buy so I can taste it.