The Wine Curmudgeon

Are wine corks fashionable again? Part I

Tina Caputo, the editor at Vineyard & Winery Management magazine, had an interesting assignment for me: Has the media perception of corks changed over the past several years?

Her point, and it was a good one, was that the Winestream Media was quick to hop on the anti-cork bandwagon, and that its efforts played a key role in detailing the problems that cork had with the industry and with consumers. But now that cork has improved, is the media reporting that?

It's not news that cork wine closures had quality problems. Failure rates were as high as 10 percent, according to some studies. If 1 out of 10 bottles of ketchup were off because the closure failed, there'd be a federal investigation. But it wasn't until the mainstream wine media picked up the failure story that the cork industry started to fix things. Now that the quality of corks has improved -- and even its harshest critics think it has -- has the media covered that?

The answer, which appeared in my story in the May/June issue of VWM? Not really. The story isn't available online, so I'll hit the highlights today and Friday. Today, after the jump, cork's problems and the improvement in quality. Friday, why so few people are writing about it.

Wine of the week: McPherson Cellars Sangiovese 2008

It's easy to champion regional wine when there are regional winemakers like Kim McPherson, whose self-named winery in Lubbock produces some of the best wines in Texas. Best yet, McPherson's wines are reasonably priced; he understands that you can't ask consumers to pay $25 for a bottle of wine for no other reason than it's a regional wine.

McPherson has three great strengths as a winemaker. First, he has never once said that Texas should be Napa, which is something the Wine Curmudgeon hears all too often from regional winemakers. Second, because he understands that Texas isn't Napa, he makes wine with grapes that are suited to the hot, dry climate. That means Spanish, Italian and southern French varietals -- viognier instead of chardonnay and sangiovese instead of merlot (and if I could only get him to make chenin blanc, the world would be that much closer to perfection). Third, he makes wines that are enjoyable, a concept that too many winemakers (are you listening, California?) don't understand.

The sangiovese (about $16, purchased) is one of the best examples of what regional wine should be. It tastes like sangiovese, with cherry fruit, balanced acid, and soft tannins. But it is not Chianti, the sangiovese from Tuscany, and it is not sangiovese from California. McPherson takes what Texas gives him instead of forcing the wine to taste like what he thinks it should taste like.

Serve this with anything with red sauce, roasted chicken, or even barbecue. Availability outside of Texas may be limited.

Texas wine, regional wine, McPherson Cellars, wine reviews, wine of the week, sangiovese

Winebits 129: Pinot noir rules, wine blackmail, Mondavi estate

• Feds clamp down on fake pinot noir: U.S. liquor authorities will require that importers get a French government declaration if they want to bring Languedoc pinot noir into the country. The declaration must say that the wine has been produced in accordance with appellation rules and French law. Decanter reports that the ruling, from the federal Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau, comes in the wake of the Languedoc pinot scandals, where French companies sold millions of bottles of fake pinot to Gallo for its Red Bicyclette brand, and also sold it to other U.S. companies, including Constellation.

• French wine crime: A French blackmailer attempted to extort €1 million (about US$1.3 million) from Romanée-Conti, the Burgundian producer that makes some of the4 world's most expensive wine. His plan? To poison the vines. The blackmailer, who was arrested when he tried to collect the ransom, sent two letters to winery officials, and one included a map of the Romanee-Conti vineyards. "It was written that if we didn't hand over a million euros he would quite simply poison the vine stumps," said a Romanee-Conti official. A bottle of Romanee-Conti, by the way, can sell for as much as $30,000. A tip of the Wine Curmudgeon's fedora to Tom Johnson at Louisville Juice, who first noticed this.

•  Have a spare $25 million? That's the asking price for the 56-acre Napa estate of the late Robert Mondavi, the icon of California wine. What do you get for your money? An 11,500-square-foot main house with 36-degree views of Napa, two bedrooms, a 50-foot-long pool in the living room that Mondavi regularly used, a roof that opens up over the pool. Also, an underground wine cellar, a guest house and two tennis courts. My pal, the late Darryl Beeson, had dinner with Mondavi shortly before the latter died at the home. He said the pool was really quite impressive.

fake pinot noir, pinot noir scandal, Romanee-Conti, wine backmail, Robert Mondavi

Wine blogging and ethics 2010

Time for the Wine Curmudgeon's annual full disclosure post. I operate the blog based on the eGullet Society for Culinary Arts & Letters’ code of ethics for online writers. Much of this is obvious – giving credit to others when you use their material, linking to the appropriate items, and detailing potential conflicts of interest. And I want to explain a few other things, per the code:

• I accept wine samples paid for by the wineries, but I don’t guarantee a review from the samples. In fact, about half the wine I review I pay for myself. And I turn down samples for wines that I know don’t fit what I’m trying to do here. Each wine review says whether the wine is a sample or purchased, and links to my policy.

• I write about wines and events that involve people who are my friends and who I do business with. When that happens, I mention it in the post.

• I accept travel paid for by wineries and trade groups promoting wine regions of the world. But there is no quid pro quo.

For more on wine blogging and ethics:
• Robert Parker, Dr. Vino and paying for wine
• What's wrong with wine writing: Views from around the web
• Wine writing, and what's wrong with it

wine writing, wine blogging, ethics

Paul Bonarrigo has the courage of his clothing convictions

Paul Bonarrigo of Texas' Messina Hof Winery is famous for his appearance -- call it Winemaker Red. If Paul is at an event, he's probably wearing his red cap and his red suit. Paul also favors purple and blue, and there is even some sort of white outfit with white pants, white vest, and white sport coat decorated with black illustrations. His look is even more distinctive than the Wine Curmudgeon's fedora, and that's saying something.

So imagine my surprise when I was browsing the Texas wine section at Kroger the other day and saw the picture posted to the left. It's called a neck hanger (since it hangs from the neck of a bottle of wine), and wineries do them to highlight a favorable review or to make special offers.

This one was on several Messina Hof labels, describing a charity promotion. My surprise, of course, was not the special offer, but Paul's appearance. Let's be honest -- how many Kroger shoppers expect to see something like that when they buy a bottle of wine?

Which, of course, is probably the point. Messina Hof, like other Texas and regional wineries, doesn't have huge multi-national wine marketing budgets. But it does have Paul. So why not use him? Who is ever going to forget that picture?

Messina Hof, Texas wine, Paul Bonnarigo

Wine of the week update

In case you missed one, here’s a look at the previous half dozen:

• Acrobat Pinot Gris 2008: A Mother’s Day treat.

• La Mano Mencia Roble 2007: Spanish value and tradition.

• Aldi private labels: Budget wines that offer quality.

• Château de la Ragotière Muscadet de Sèvre-et-Maine 2007: An old standby worth trying again.

• Down Under Shiraz 2008: Aussie Two Buck Chuck.

• Zolo Viognier 2008: Argentine white wine that isn't Torrontes.

wine reviews, wine of the week

Wine aerators, America's Test Kitchen, and why more people don't drink wine

America's Test Kitchen, the cooking show run by the people who do Cook's Illustrated magazine, does a fine job explaining why recipes work and demonstrating how to successfully make a dish.

The program's mantra is: "Use quality ingredients, think about what you're doing, and don't be confused by shiny objects." This is especially true when the show reviews products and kitchen gadgets, and host Christopher Kimball is famous for his cheap, Down East approach when it comes to spending money for overpriced olive oil or frou-frou accessories.

Given all this, why did America's Test Kitchen review wine aerators -- and suggest that one can't enjoy wine unless one spends $50 for an aerator? Chris, $50? $50?

More, after the jump.