The Wine Curmudgeon

Wine of the week: French Maid Pinot Noir 2007

Reasons not to like this wine: First, the label, which makes the young woman on the Lulu B. wines look matronly. The Wine Curmudgeon has nothing against sex, but on a wine label? Second, it’s cheap pinot noir from the Languedoc region of France, which means there’s a decent chance it won’t taste like pinot noir. (In fact, so many negociants are producing Languedoc pinots these days that the region has an identifiable style.) Third, I never trust cheap wine that says things about itself like “richly textured palate” and “velvety tannins and well-integrated oak.”

Which is why one should always taste the wine before one judges it, because the French Maid (about $12) is quality wine. It’s fruity and berry-ish, but a little fresher and not as fruity or berry-ish as other pinot noirs from the Languedoc. Plus, it has a touch of pinot character that most cheap Languedoc and New World pinots don’t have.

It’s light enough to drink as a New Year’s aperitif or with almost any sort of New Year’s meal. It’s also a fine barbecue wine as spring approaches, with everything from hamburgers to smoked chicken.

For more on inexpensive pinot noir:

• $10 pinot noir
• Wine review: Argyle Nuthouse Pinot Noir 2004

Technorati Tags: French Maid,pinor noir,wine of the week,wine reviews,French wine,red wine

Bubbly, one more time

A roundup of suggestions for the New Year’s holiday from some of the leading authorities in the cyber-ether:

• Gil Kulers spares no expense when discussing champagne, which means the real stuff from the Champagne region of France.

• Less expensive sparkling wine from the San Francisco Chronicle.

• Budget bubbly from Good Wine Under $20, where Wine Curmudgeon favorite Gruet shows up.

• My take on champagne and sparkling wine for the holidays, as well as that of my pal Dave McIntyre: finding bargains among the most expensive bubbly and a look at some less expensive wines.

Technorati Tags: champagne,sparkling wine,holiday wine,New Year's Eve wine

Tuesday tidbits 58: Wine.com top 100, Randall Grahm, wine pairing widget

• Cheap wine galore: The Wine Curmudgeon was impressed with the good taste displayed by Wine.com’s customers. The Internet retailer released its 100 most popular wines, based on sales, and four of the top 10 cost $10 or less, including Wine Curmudgeon favorite Cristalino. The best selling wine was the $10 Chilean Veramonte cabernet sauvignon, and only two of the top 10 cost more than $15. One question, though: Why buy Cristalino and pay shipping when it’s in most discount wine stores?

• Because one can never get too much Randall Grahm: Our old pal Dan Berger reports that the iconoclastic master of Bonny Doon is up to his usual tricks, which is good for the wine business and for those of us who care about quality and not scores. Writes Berger: “All this internalized angst is nothing new for Grahm, who I once described as the James Joyce of wine, only to have him suggest it might be best to use the term James Juice.”

• Wine and food: I’m not sure if this is the be all and end all, but it is clever. The Wine Market Council has developed a wine and food pairing gizmo that lets you pick a wine and to pair with good or a food to pair with wine. It’s still simple (pick fish, and there are only a handful of dishes), and it doesn’t take a computer to come up with pairing chardonnay with smoked trout. But it’s a nice start.

Technorati Tags: cheap wine,wine.com,Randall Grahm,Bonny Doon,wine and food pairings,wine widgets

Wine terms: Good and bad and why they don't matter

Regular visitors here may have noticed that the Wine Curmudgeon doesn’t label wines as good or bad. Instead, I try to describe the flavors and suggest pairings. The adjectives I use, like well-made or professionally made or classic, are objective -– they should be accurate regardless of who is writing them.

This doesn’t mean that I don’t have opinions, of course (in what may be the wine understatement of the year). Rather, it’s that good and bad are subjective, and don’t help anyone understand wine. What I think of as good –- a subtle yet powerful Puligny Montrachet from Sauzet, for example -– others might consider bad. They might prefer the oak and vanilla flavors of classic Napa chardonnay, which I think tastes like drinking a baseball bat.

This is also why scores are so useless; they’re just extensions of good and bad. The writer who gives an octopus inky, 16.5 percent alcohol shiraz a 93 says more about his or her palate than the quality of the wine. If I did scores, the same wine could get a 78 for the same reasons.

After the jump, a look at why good and bad don’t apply to wine, using one of the best-made wines I’ve ever had as an example.

$10 Hall of Fame: 10 days away

The Wine Curmudgeon has the 2009 edition mostly ready to go, though I’ll probably do some final sniffing, tasting and spitting. It looks like 2008 was a great year for cheap wine.

Until then, while I take the rest of the holiday weekend off, enjoy this. It's from the 2007 Canadian ice wine harvest. This helps explain why ice wine is so expensive, and makes normal grape harvesting look easy.

Happy Holidays from the Wine Curmudgeon

The blog is mostly off the next couple of days. Enjoy the holiday with people you care about and your favorite wine.

And take a listen to this, from Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band (courtesy vinylman86 on YouTube). With apologies to Bing Crosby and White Christmas, this is the greatest version of a Christmas song ever. I still have the single -- vinyl, of course, the B side of My Hometown -- and I play it every year.

Happy Holidays.

Wine of the week: St. Supery Oak Free Chardonnay 2007

St. Supery has long been one of my favorite wineries. It delivers value and quality, especially for a Napa producer. Winemaker Michael Beaulac is forthright and open minded, and Michaela Rodeno, who runs the place, is about as sharp as they come.

So, if you feel like a splurge this holiday season, try the oak free chardonnay (about $25). Though it wasn’t aged in oak, it isn’t as steely and crisp as other unoaked chardonnays. Rather, there is a richness and depth that’s impressive, and might even satisfy people who like oak. Look for green apples and a spicy, mineral finish. Pair this with most holiday dinners that don’t involve red meat, and especially seafood. Oysters would be terrific.

Technorati Tags: chardonnay,white wine,holiday wine,St. Supery,California wine,wine reviews