The Wine Curmudgeon

DrinkLocalWine.com

Our regional wine site is ready to go. When U.S. regional wine week kicks off on Monday, we’ll have more than two dozen reports from across North America, covering everything from Canadian fruit wine to Texas reds. I'll have three of my favorite Texas wines for the site, as well as some regional wine-related coverage on the blog all week.

So the next time you’re in a supermarket, liquor store, or restaurant, drink local wine.

Technorati Tags: regional wine,DrinkLocalWine.com

Change those bookmarks!

The address for this site has changed – it’s now www.winecurmudgeon.com, just like a real web feature. You can still access it using the old address, or so I’m told. But better safe than sorry.

5 1/2 days in Bordeaux in photos

The Wine Curmudgeon’s photography skills are severely limited, kind of like asking one of my dogs to do a stint as a nuclear physicist. Hence a tip o’ the wine glass to the great Louise Jordan, DWS, who took these terrific shots during our trip to Bordeaux.

For the rest of my Bordeaux adventure, go here.

Technorati Tags: French wine,Bordeaux

Wine review: Le Coq Rouge 2006

This is the red wine bookend to Sacha Lachine’s La Poule Blanche – a blend of syrah, cabernet sauvignon, merlot and grenache, It, too, is a fine value, though I liked the cleaner, crisper lines of the white a little more than I did the red.

The Le Coq Rouge (about $12) is fruity, more Spanish than French (probably from the grenache). And it’s much easier to drink than more tannic wines from Australia and California. Drink it with barbecue, meatloaf and and just about any mid-week red wine meal you can think of.

Technorati Tags: wine reviews,Le Coq Rouge,Lachine,French wine,red wine blends

Wine of the week: Black Box Cabernet Sauvignon 2006

The Wine Curmudgeon is not a big fan of boxed wines, but not for the usual reasons. My problem is convenience. Do you know how difficult it is to pour wine from a 3-liter box at the dinner table?

Having said that, this year’s version of Black Box’s cabernet (about $21, or the equivalent of four bottles) provides fine value. You get fruity California cabernet with decent tannins and even a bit of vanilla oakiness. It’s a big wine, yet still reasonably balanced. In fact, I served it with spaghetti and red sauce, and the wine was almost too much for the dish. That means it’s a beef and smelly cheese wine.