The Wine Curmudgeon

Wine of the week: Llano Estacado Signature Melange 2007

One of the signs of a top-flight wine industry, whether in an established region or a new one, is that it has a large, commercial producer that makes quality, affordable wine. These wineries make the entry level wines that are widely available and that introduce consumers to that region’s wines.

Bordeaux, for years, had Mouton Cadet, which sold cheap, decent wine and gave Americans a glimpse of what the region’s wines tasted like. More recently, Chateau Ste. Michelle in Washington state has done an even better job of that. Consumers who try its $8 and $10 wines, like the dry riesling, get a quality product and then often want to learn more about Washington state’s wines. In the long run, that $8 riesling sells a lot of $30 and $40 cabernet.

In Texas, we have Llano Estacado. (What, did you think I wasn’t going to write about regional wine with the DrinkLocalWine.com conference in town?)

Llano produces around 150,000 cases a year, is in almost every retail outlet in the state, and makes consistent, dependable wines. Case in point is the Signature Melange (about $11, and yes, I know – just overlook the name). It’s a red blend made with the Rhone grapes, including syrah, mouvedre, and grenache, that are becoming more popular in the state. These grapes are better suited to Texas’ climate and soils than cabernet and merlot.

The Melange is a dry, fruity wine with soft tannins that will pair with typical red wine foods, as well as roast chicken and Tex-Mex food. We gave it a gold medal at the San Antonio competition this year, and I don’t give out gold medals lightly. Highly recommended.

Technorati Tags: wine reviews,wine of the week,Llano Estacado,Signature Melange,red wine,Texas wines,regional wine

Winebits 90: European wine labels, new Bronco wine, direct shipping update

• Putting the grape on the label: It’s now legal for European wine producers to put the name of the grape on the label, thanks to a series of laws that went into effect at the beginning of the month. Most of the rest of the changes won’t mean much to U.S. consumers, but it will be a shock to see sangiovese on a bottle of Chianti or pinot noir on a bottle of red Burgundy. The new laws, incidentally, are part of a group of reforms to modernize and standardize the European wine industry. This is a response to the growing popularity of New World wines, which have better looking and easier to read labels.

• Another generation of Franzias: The Franzia family, which gave the world Two Buck Chuck, has expanded. The family’s fourth generation has put together Panther Rock Wine Company. It will also, apparently, focus on inexpensive wine; its first three labels are $9.99, $8.99, and $6.99. No word yet on where they will be sold.

• Virginia cracks down on direct shipping: Liquor regulators in the Old Dominion have said they will more closely watch how retailers and wineries ship their wine. The details are fairly complicated (unless you’re a supply chain geek, which, sadly, I am), but the outline isn’t. If shippers use any kind of shortcut, including a practice common in most states in which wineries hire a third party to store and ship their wine, the Virginia wine cops will come after them. Third-party shippers are common because most small wineries don’t have the resources to do their own shipping.

Technorati Tags: European Union,wine laws,direct shipping,Bronco Wine Company,Two Buck Chuck

Study: Restaurants charge too much for wine

Yes, not exactly earth-shattering news for those of us who aren’t in the restaurant business. But for those who are, Mike Lynn, a professor of consumer behavior at Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y., has the study results:

Consumers would buy more wine in restaurants if wine cost less.

“Yes, I know, it seems like pretty common sense economics to me, too,” says Lynn, who studied 270 wine lists from restaurants in several major cities in the U.S., using sales data supplied by a major U.S. alcohol distributor.

Says the report: “All other things being equal, casual-dining restaurants seem to have downward-sloping demand curves, implying that their consumers are price sensitive and less apt to buy wines as the price per bottle increases. As a result, casual-dining restaurants may boost wine sales by offering a greater number of lower cost wines.”

More, after the jump:

DrinkLocalWine.com: The conference

The conference is just a week away, and the Wine Curmudgeon is excited. Even a little giddy, actually. And how often does that happen?

But I have good reason to be. The conference looks like it will be a huge success, much bigger than we had hoped. Registration has been beyond my expectations, and there is a chance we will sell out. Frankly, for a first-year event about regional wine in the worst recession since I was in high school, that’s amazing. Plus, we’re getting terrific media attention (you can see some of it here, here, and here), and even the Wall Street Journal inquired about the conference -- and used something.

Maybe there is something to this regional wine thing after all. A few more thoughts, after the jump.

Wine review: Matua Valley Pinot Noir 2008

What a run of luck – two pinot noirs in a week that are less than $15 and worth drinking.

In fact, the Matua (about $14) is a bit more impressive than the Cycles Gladiator, and ranks among the best-made $15 and under pinots I have ever tasted. It's barely New World in style at all, with very little of the berry lushness that distinguishes Santa Barbara or even some Oregon pinots. It is much more Burgundy in character -- low alcohol, earthy undertone, and light berry flavors. It’s so unlike New World pinot noirs that I’ve seen comments from people who think the wine is poorly made: “Perhaps I'm just not used to a pinot in this light of a style,” wrote one drinker on Cellar Tracker. Another wrote the words “cheap pinot” with such distaste that I could almost hear the snarl.

Once again, remember: If a wine doesn’t taste the way you expect it to, don’t assume it’s poorly made. Try and figure out why it tastes that way. It just might be exactly what it’s supposed to be.

Technorati Tags: wine reviews,red wine,pinot noir,New Zealand wine,Matua Valley

Wine of the week: Cycles Gladiator Pinot Noir

One of the questions that the Wine Curmudgeon gets asked all the time is “What’s a good, cheap pinot noir?” To which I answer, “Hardly any.” Pinot noir is too costly and too difficult to grow for there to be much quality wine for less than $15, and especially for $10.

There are decent wines that say pinot on the label for $12 or so, like Mark West and several pinots from from the south of France. There’s nothing wrong with these wines, and I have recommended quite a few of them. But they’re less pinot-tasting than more expensive wines, and they’re riper and juicer than the best from Oregon and Burgundy.

Which is why I was so surprised to taste – and enjoy – the Cycles Gladiator (about $11 – and yes, it’s the one with the banned label). In this, it may well be the most pinot noir-tasting of the $12-and-under-class. It certainly has the most pinot character, and it's less jammy and less fruity, with more earthiness, than the other wines at this price.

It’s light enough to drink on its own, and will pair with almost anything from salmon to chicken to takeout pizza. I drank it with roasted eggplant topped with herbs, garlic and breadcrumbs, and it did the job.

One note on the vintage: I tasted the 2006, which I got as a sample earlier this year. The current vintage is the 2008, so there may be some vintage difference.

Technorati Tags: wine reviews,wine of the week,Cycles Gladiator,pinot noir,California wine,red wine

Wine Curmudgeon edict: No more wine and health stories

The Wine Curmudgeon doesn’t much believe in rules when it comes to wine, other than the only one: If you like a wine, then it’s good and it doesn’t matter what anyone else thinks.

But I have finally had enough of wine and health stories. It was OK, all those years ago, when the first news of the French paradox reached these shores. But since then, the stories and studies and research findings have gotten sillier and sillier. Just today, I saw three more – red wine fights inflammation (whatever that is), too much alcohol could lead to cancer (no kidding), and that red wine may lead to improved sexual function in women (big surprise). What’s next, that spammers will push wine instead of foreign lotteries and Viagra?

So here it is – no more wine and health stories. Ever. If you want wine and health news, go here. But you won’t find any on my blog.

Technorati Tags: Wine Curmudgeon,wine and health