The Wine Curmudgeon

Time magazine knows almost nothing about regional wine

The Wine Curmudgeon loves regional wine. It’s one of my reasons for being. So, when I saw that Time magazine had done a major regional wine article, I was excited. Overwhelmed. And really thrilled,

Which was my mistake.

I rarely call out other writers and other articles. Everyone is entitled to their opinion – after all, some people might even object to me. But the Time piece is flawed -- factual errors and so much damning by faint praise that I have to say something.

Regional wine should be taken seriously. If it’s good, say so. If it’s crappy, say so. But the author, Joel Stein, seems more concerned with being flip and hip and other clever things than he does talking about wine. If he had used this tone for an article about California wine, the Wine Magazines would have skewered him. And deservedly so.

And you know the worst part? He liked most of the wines he tasted. But that doesn’t excuse being lazy or wrong or both.

Wine of the week: Tortoise Creek chardonnay/viognier 2006

Screw top. No oak. Lots of viognier peach fruit. Less than $10.

Excuse me while I catch my breath. I couldn’t believe how much I liked this wine, since cheap chardonnay, even from respected cheap wine producers like Tortoise Creek, is rarely worth writing about. It’s either too oak-y (or too fake oak-y) and the lesser quality grapes that are used are often bitter or not quite ripe.

But that’s not the case with this French wine, which is 70 percent chardonnay and 30 percent viognier. I drank it with takeout Indian -- spiced lentils included – and it was one of those pairings that made me think I actually know what I’m doing.

Technorati Tags: Tortoise Creek,wine reviews,white wine,French wine

Tuesday tidbits 42

• Kerrville wines: The Wine Curmudgeon had a terrific time at the 17th annual Kerrville Wine & Music Festival over the weekend, where I talked about Texas warm weather red wines with Llano Estacado’s Mark Hyman, my pal John Bratcher, and an enthusiastic and knowledgeable audience. We featured Homestead Red ($13), a blend of ruby cabernet, merlot and pinot noir, from Homestead Winery in Ivanhoe; and three Rhone-style blends: Llano’s Melange ($11 – it used to be called Signature Rhone Red), Becker Vineyard’s Prairie Roti ($17), and McPherson Cellar’s Tre Colore ($13).

• More on the fake wine award: An astute letter writer tells the San Francisco Chronicle: “If I said I had invented the world's fastest computer and told fake details about it without ever having to prove it existed, would I deserve to get a high-tech innovation award for inventing the world's fastest computer?” The comment is astute and should answer all questions about this dustup.

• Free wine: Wineries send me samples to taste, which I have noted. Rodney Strong has changed the rules of this game for bloggers, and this has caused a bit of cyber commotion. Some of it is of the “Are bloggers really critics” argument, which I’m quite tired of. I write for the mainstream media and I do this, and as long as someone does the work, their platform doesn’t matter. Some of it is the conditions Rodney Strong placed on the bloggers, which don’t seem onerous. This controversy strikes me as something else for wine people to argue about that no one else is interested in. We like to do that.

Technorati Tags: wine samples,wine writing,Texas wine,Kerrville wine and folk festival

Labor Day wine and music

The Wine Curmudgeon appreciates skill of any kind, no matter how obscure. So sip a glass, listen to Beethoven’s Fifth (courtesy of roberttiso at YouTube), and enjoy the day off.