The Wine Curmudgeon

Minireviews 10: Kim Crawford, J Brut Rose, Willm Gentil, Two Hands

Reviews of wines that don’t need their own post, but are worth noting for one reason or another. Look for it on the final Friday of each month.

• Kim Crawford Sauvignon Blanc 2009 ($19, sample): This remains quality wine, with telltale New Zealand grapefruit and a round, full, tropical fruit middle. But it's not $12 any more, and I have trouble wrapping my head around that.

• J Brut Rose NV ($25, sample): Very nice California sparkling wine, soft with lots of strawberry fruit and clean tight bubbles.The question that the consumer has to answer: Is it twice as good as something like Gruet, which is half the price?

• Willim Gentil 2007 ($13, purchased): This Alsatian white blend offers value. More importantly, though, it's a wine for people who don't drink much wine, with honeysuckle flavors, some oiliness, and a bit of sweetness.

• Two Hands Angels Share Shiraz 2008 ($25, sample): I don't drink much traditional, over-the-top, Aussie shiraz. But when I do, the Two Hands wines are the ones I prefer. Always well made and interesting.

wine reviews, Kim Crawford, J sparkling wine, Willim, Alsatian wine, shiraz, sauvignon blanc, Two Hands

Direct shipping loses a big one

Nationwide direct shipping is not just around the corner and the maze of liquor laws known as the three-tier system that limits what wines we can buy and how we can buy them is not going to go away anytime soon -- if ever.

That's the bad news from a federal appeals court decision this week that upheld a Texas law that allowed the state to forbid non-Texas retailers from selling in Texas. The Fifth Circuit decision, Siesta Market, said that not only does the 21st Amendment, which repealed Prohibition, give the states almost unlimited leeway in regulating liquor sales, but that the 2005 Supreme Court Granholm decision that allowed winery direct shipping is very limited in its scope. Wrote the court: "Regulating alcoholic beverage retailing is largely a State's prerogative."

Or, as attorney Andy Siegel (no relation), who deals in alcoholic control issues, told me today: "I'm only a little bit surprised there has been been such a swing against Granholm. This is a sweeping, unequivocal response against Granholm."

After jump, background and more about what happened:

Wine of the week: Anne Amie Müller-Thurgau Cuvée A 2008

Not much is known about the muller-thurgau grape, which is planted mostly in Europe. The inestimable Winegrape Glossary says it might be a one thing or it might be another, and the experts contend this and contend that. It's amazing how little attention the wine world pays to white grapes that aren't chardonnay, isn't it?

Fortunately, all we need to know is that muller-thurgau can make amazing wine, especially in this version from Oregon's Anne Amie Vineyards (about $14, purchased). In style, it's somewhere between an off-dry German riesling and an old-style gewurtztraminer -- sweetish but also spicy. You'll also find fresh acid and green apple in addition to the spice. Sweetish and spicy used to be a quite common combination, producing some peppery, clove-like flavors in the finish. But you don't see it much any more, even in European wines, as producers opt for more straight-forward styles.

Serve this chilled with shellfish, oysters and anything remotely similar. I wouldn't be surprised if it would pair with sausages, white beans and braised cabbage as well.

wine reviews, white wine, Oregon wine, wine of the week, muller-thurgau, Anne Amie

Dan Berger: The day cabernet sauvignon died

The great Dan Berger has written the obituary for California cabernet sauvignon -- an elegant and timely piece that everyone who cares about wine should read:

"Cabernet has undergone a makeover that has, probably forever, made it little more than a parody of itself, entering a realm that 20 years ago I never would have believed. Today, California cabernet is a virtual wine, made to be consumed as an aperitif and as young as possible. ... The most telling — and damaging — aspect of today’s cabernets is what I hear from wine makers, and always off the record. The phrasing may differ, but the sentiment is the same: 'I may make cabernet, but I don’t drink it any more.' "

Dan Berger, cabernet sauvignon

Winebits 114: CellarTracker, celebrity wine, wine sales

• More plaudits for CellarTracker: Big-time praise for the Wine Curmudgeon's favorite wine inventory software from the Winestream Media. Jon Bonne' in the San Francisco Chronicle says it may be "wine's new killer app." Of course, this comes after he says he always viewed the system with skepticism, apparently because it didn't allow for a way for users to efficiently track critics' views. Not quite sure why that should make a difference, but I respect Bonne to give him the benefit of the doubt. CellarTracker has many strengths, not the least of which is that it's free and that it works. The data base includes almost every wine in the world, including the obscure cheap ones that I drink. Plus, creator Eric LeVine is in the middle of several snazzy upgrades.

• Mariah Carey gets her own bubbly: The Wine Curmudgeon may have to institute a ban on celebrity wine, much as he did for wine health news, if this keeps up. But it looks like Carey has some sort of licensing deal with a Champagne house for something called Angel. Pretty good piece in the Wine Spectator about what's going on. And do you like how I resisted the urge to call Carey a pop diva?

• The new normal: I'm going to write more on this later, but a quick note about the latest report from the Wine Marketing Council, which keeps an eye on sales trends for the California wine business. Or, as industry trade Wines & Vines put it: "Fragile consumers ... are less interested in spending their money than in repairing their balance sheets. For the wine industry, that translates into slow growth, lower prices and younger fans who are drinking more at home than at fancy restaurants." That's not news, of course, to regular visitors here, but it is an interesting perspective from an industry that has not especially focused on any of those things over the past decade.

CellarTracker, celebrity wine, Mariah Carey, wine sales, the new normal, Wine Marketing Council

Viognier smackdown: K Vintners vs. McPherson Cellars

The Wine Curmudgeon is a big fan of Charles Smith and his various winemaking efforts, which includes K Vintners and the House Wines. So when I was eating dinner at a Dallas restaurant recently, the group opted for a bottle of the K viognier (about $20 retail, purchased). Fine wine -- nothing wrong with it, featuring classic viognier peachiness and a decent peach pit finish. We were more than happy with the wine, and it paired nicely with the table-full of appetizers and side dishes that we ordered.

So what to do when we finished the K? How about a bottle of Texas viognier from McPherson Cellars (about $15 retail, purchased) for a comparison? (And a tip of the Wine Curmudgeon's fedora to Hector Garcia, whose Hector's on Henderson regularly carries Texas wine.)

I'll be honest -- and winemaker Kim McPherson will never let me forget this -- but I didn't expect the McPherson to match up to the K. Smith is one of the best winemakers in the country, and he was working with Washington state fruit. McPherson, as talented as he is, was working with Texas fruit. Even someone who believes in regional wine as much as I do figured that was an insurmountable obstacle.

Shows how much I know, and it also proves -- once again -- the Wine Curmudgeon's only rule about wine: Taste if before you judge it. Everyone at the table agreed: The McPherson was a better wine -- richer and more interesting, with fuller peach flavor, a more recognizable middle palate, and a longer, more lingering finish.

Again, there was nothing wrong with the K. The only thing wrong was my assumption.

Restaurants, chefs and local wine

The announcement this week that American chefs have identified local wine as one of the top restaurant trends in 2010 is not only good news for regional wine, but should be welcomed by all of the wine business -- especially at a time when there hasn't been much good news.

But the Wine Curmudgeon, with his usual penchant for seeing the glass as half full (and probably leaking badly) isn't quite ready to proclaim victory in regional wine's battle for acceptance. Yes, this is welcome news, but it's just another step in getting consumers and the Winestream Media to accept local wine as something more than a novelty -- and a novelty they too often turn their noses up at. And it remains to be seen if the chefs who have taken up regional wine in the survey will do so in their restaurants, as my pal Richard Leahy has noted.