The Wine Curmudgeon

Wine of the week: Zolo Viognier 2008

Argentina's best known white wine is torrontes, but the country's winemakers don't limit themselves to that grape. Some of this is market driven; why else would they make so much mediocre chardonnay and pinot grigio, other than because the sales department tells them they need those wines for the U.S. market?

But Argentina also produces interesting white wine that isn't torrontes, including and especially the Zolo (about $13, purchased). Viogner as a varietal wine isn't done much anywhere save for Texas and a couple of other regional states, and even California seems ambivalent about it. Its viogniers are either poorly made or treated like expensive, high-alcohol chardonnay, both of which seem counterproductive.

The Zolo, though, tastes like viognier is supposed to taste, and the Californians could learn a thing or two. It isn't as fruity or as bright as most Texas viogniers, but that's not a problem -- just a different approach in style. Look for a balance between acid and peach fruit, a floral aroma, and a decent finish. Drink this when you would drink chardonnay, and appreciate the difference.

wine reviews, wine of the week, Zolo viognier, Argentina

Winebits 123: Women in wine business, drinking age, Bordeaux

• Forbes picks Crane: The business magazine says Eileen Crane of Domaine Carneros is the most powerful woman in the California wine business. Crane is the company's founding winemaker and president, where she started in 1987. Crane says it has been a lot of fun, though the piece doesn't go into that much depth. And I wonder how Gina Gallo, the winemaker for several brands of her $2 billion family company, feels about this.

• Safeway cards everyone: And that apparently means everyone, in a California test program where customers who buy alcohol have to produce ID that the company scans into its system. Safeway says the program is designed to cut down on underage alcohol purchases, but customers who are in their 70s wonder why they need to show ID. Turns out that the stores doing the test are among those who have been fined by California alcohol regulators for license violations in 2006 and 2008.

• Bordeaux and En Primeur week: The Wine Curmudgeon, of course, is not in Bordeaux this week to write about wine most of us will never taste, let alone ever see a bottle of (though some of us are almost giddy about it). En Primeur is the Super Bowl of the Bordeaux wine business, and the wine magazines cover it the way the U.S. media covers the Super Bowl. So, if you want to find out what's going on, check out Decanter: blogs, articles and even coverage in Chinese.

Eileen Crane, women in wine, underage drinking, En Primeur

Cowboys-Saints wine feud

The Wine Curmudgeon has had to fill many roles over the years, but I never thought I'd have to offer my services as a mediator in a wine dispute -- and between two NFL big shots, to boot.

But my good offices are available to settle the feud between Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones and New Orleans Saints coach Sean Payton. Charean Williams, who covers the Cowboys for the Star-Telegram newspaper in Fort Worth (where I do some wine writing) reports that Jones and Payton have been trying to one-up each other in the matter of Caymus Special Selection, a high-end Napa cult wine than runs $100 or so a bottle.

Each is trying to buy a magnum of the wine so the other can't buy it in a complicated restaurant wine waltz that I don't pretend to understand but that has played itself out in two states. A magnum, by the way, is two bottles, and since the two men are paying restaurant prices, each is spending as much as $500 per magnum.

But I do know that it's not a good thing to be arguing over Napa cult wine, since it makes wine drinkers look silly. Besides, unless the restaurant puts the Caymus through a blender to open it up, it's not ready to drink yet and won't be for another couple of years.

So, because I know wine and because I covered both teams during my newspaper days, I have a suggestion. Let's meet in a neutral spot (I know a wine bar in East Dallas) to work this thing out. There's no need for either man to be so consumed with proving their wine manhood over the Caymus. I have a better -- and much cheaper -- idea: the Avalon Napa cabernet, which costs $12.

Please, gentlemen, before it's too late.

Dallas Cowboys, New Orleans Saints, Caymus Speical Selection, cult wine

Mini-reviews 12: Morgan, Blackburn, Rodney Strong, Quinta de Roriz

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.

• Morgan Metallico Chardonnay 2008 ($20, purchased): One of my favorite white wines, which I stumbled on in a restaurant with an otherwise undistinguished wine list. It's unoaked, so there is lots of green apple fruit and no vanilla. Highly recommended.

• Blackburn Cabernet Sauvignon 2007 ($15, sample): If you like fruity, over-the-top California red wines, then this is for you. It needs food, though -- it's almost too much to drink on its own.

• Rodney Strong Knotty Vines Zinfandel 2007 ($15, sample): Zinfandel for those of us who like zinfandel and not the too alcoholic stuff that passes for zinfandel these days. It has jammy berry fruit and black pepper, just like zinfandel is supposed to have.

• Quinta de Roriz Douro Prazo de Roriz 2007 ($15, sample): A Portugese red with lots of raisiny fruit and quite rich, and a nice food wine. But not appreciably better than the $10 Portuguese wines I've had.

wine reviews, Morgan Metallico, Blackburn, Rodney Strong, Quinta de Roriz, Portugese wine, California wine

What are we drinking? The IRI hot brands

How much were we drinking less expensive wine in 2009? A lot, according to a report from IRI, which tracks wine sales in the U.S. in grocery, drug and convenience stores (but not liquor stores). Its 2009 Momentum Report identified what the company called the 30 hottest wine brands in the U.S. last year. And the big surprise? Only four of the labels cost more than $10, and 12 cost $5 or less a bottle.

A couple of caveats: These are not the best-selling brands in 2009; rather, says IRI, these are the top performers, as measured by dollar and volume sales, sales growth, market share and a couple of things. Also, IRI data doesn't include sales from Walmart and its affiliated stores, which might skew the information given Walmart's position as the largest retailer in the world. Still, the report effectively outlines what's going on in the wine marketplace.

The study's highlights, the list, and what it means, after the jump:

Wine of the week: Oro de Castilla Verdejo Rueda 2008

One of the difficulties in writing about wine is comparisons. When someone describes a wine, and I'm guilty of this as well, they too often look for something to compare it to. This happens because wine writers, and especially in the U.S., have to find a way to adjust the wine they're writing about to a U.S. drinker's frame of reference. Hence you'll see wines that taste nothing like cabernet sauvignon being compared to cabernet, since that's all we know in this country.

This approach does a tremendous disservice to wines made with unfamiliar grapes from less familiar parts of the world. Case in point is the Castilla (about $14, purchased), with is a Spanish wine made with the verdejo grape. The wine is usually compared to sauvignon blanc, when it actually has very little in common with sauvignon blanc.

Yes, each has a citrus flavor, but that's about it. The Castilla is a much richer, fuller wine, and the finish is almost oak-like (though it doesn't have any oak aging). The citrus is just one part of its appeal; for most inexpensive sauvignon blancs, citrus is the only appeal. The Castilla is far more complex than most sauvignon blanc at this price, and it pairs with a wider variety of food. In this, it's an incredible food wine, as all true Spanish wines appear to be.

Oro de Castilla, Spanish wine, white wine, wine reviews, wine of the week, verdejo

Winebits 122: Baboons, failed wineries, Oregon wine glut

• Unique grape pest: Decanter reports that baboons have been "terrorising" wine growers in the Franschhoek Valley region of South Africa, eating their grapes. One grower reports that he has lost nearly 40 percent of his crop. The baboons seem especially fond of pinot noir, which leads me to wonder: Have they been watching Sideways?

• Winemakers and the recession: What happens to wineries that don't make it? This article from the Los Angeles Times tells the story, including the tale of the highly-regarded Sauvignon Republic. Says one winemaker whose company went under: "It's a great relief not to be selling wine in this market right now."

• Too much Oregon wine? Oregon grape production rose 16 percent in 2009, while sales fell five percent. And, believe it or not, a ton of pinot noir grapes, Oregon's signature grape, has dropped $1,000 -- or one-third -- in price. That's almost impossible to believe, given the way Oregon pinot has skyrocketed in cost the past several years. The solution? "When in doubt, rip it out," said one expert.

Grape pests, wine recession, Oregon wine