The Wine Curmudgeon

Dallas Morning News/Texsom wine competition winners

The link is here -- you can search the medals by category or download a PDF. My post, after judging the competition, noted: "Also impressive this year: The qualifications of the judges, which made the Wine Curmudgeon feel like a high school student at post-graduate seminar on particle physics."

One quick recommendation: The Ken Forrester Petit Chenin Blanc from South Africa, which retails for about $12. My panel gave it a silver medal -- crisp, clean, refreshing and throughly well-made, with lots of green apple. If I can find it for $10, it's in the Hall of Fame.

Wine on TV and in movies

Hollywood, whether in TV or movies, has never really been able to figure out wine. Of the two movies best associated with wine, Bottle Shock is uneven at best and Sideways is an acquired taste that the Wine Curmudgeon has never acquired. Most of the time, producers and directors can't even do a scene where all of the characters hold a wine glass correctly -- by the stem or foot, and not by the bowl.

There are many reasons for this, but it's mostly because the U.S. is not a wine drinking country in the way that France and Italy are wine drinking countries. Despite the recent news that we drink more wine than anyone else in the world, and despite the advances we've made over the past decade in wine education, wine is still seen as something special, and not something to drink regularly.

But that doesn't mean there haven't been some memorable wine moments on TV and in the movies. After the jump, six that I like (though in no particular order):

Wine of the week: Notorius 2009

The Wine Curmudgeon has found a flaw with this wine. It doesn't have a screwcap. Otherwise, it's pretty close to a perfect $10 wine.

Some two years ago, the Notorius was the first great, cheap Sicilian wine that I tasted, and it led to even more great, cheap Sicilian wines. The 2009 vintage of the Notorius ($10, purchased) has much of what the 2007 did: a richness not usually associated with wines at this price; a clean, long finish, and subdued lemon fruit. There's also some spiciness I don't remember from the 2007, as well as new, well-done, U.S. consumer friendly packaging.

Don't be intimidated if you don't recognize grillo, the grape used in the wine. It's native to Sicily and has been around for centuries as a grape in marsala, but only recently has been successfully turned into table wine. It's a seafood and grilled chicken kind of grape, and would also pair with vegetarian main courses. I drank it with couscous flavored with onions, mushrooms, and saffron, and it did quite nicely.

• Notorius 2007 review: "More complexity than the usual cheap Italian wine."

Winebits 171: Jess Jackson, U.S. wine consumption, alcohol laws

• Has Jess Jackson retired? Apparently so, reports Forbes magazine. Jackson's wine empire, which includes Kendall-Jackson and more than a dozen other brands, is making do without its founder. The Press Democrat of Santa Rosa fills in the story: "Jackson, 81, the only resident of Sonoma County to make the Forbes list of billionaires, was missing from its latest roster ... for the first time in a decade. Jackson's family informed Forbes in January that the self-made billionaire no longer owns a stake in Kendall-Jackson or its parent company, Jackson Family Wines, said Clare O'Connor, a reporter with Forbes." Jackson, said the paper, is reportedly battling cancer.

• U.S. drinks the most wine: We passed France as the world's most prodigious wine drinking country in 2010, says the Wine Institute. Americans downed almost 330 million cases of wine, up two percent from 2009. Impressive? Depends on how you look at it. The French, with 63 million people, drank about 321 million cases last year, so their per capita consumption is still about four times ours. On the other hand, considering that only about one-third of Americans say they drink wine regularly, those of us do drink wine are more even with the French -- 3 1/2 cases per person for U.S. drinkers compared to 5 for the French.

• No coupons in Massachusetts: The Bay State's liquor cops say the state's bars and restaurants can't use popular Internet coupons like Groupon. They're in violation of the several state regulations, and the Massachusetts Alcoholic Beverages Control Commission ios going to go after establishments that honored the coupons. The coupon process, says the ABCC, “unlawfully transfers” an interest in the restaurant’s liquor license. For its part, Groupon was circumspect (instead of reaching for a lawsuit). Said a spokesman: "Since we are pioneering a new industry, issues arise within our space that we must evaluate in the best interest of our merchants and customers."

What we're drinking: 2010's 30 hottest brands

And it should come as no surprise to regular visitors here that almost all of the 30 brands in the Symphony IRI Group study are cheap, that almost none of them get big scores from the Wine Magazines, and that the wines are mostly ignored by the Winestream Media.

The sixth annual study measures not necessarily the best-selling brands, but what it calls 2010's hottest performers, as measured by 10 factors like dollar and volume sales, sales growth, and market share. The top brand using those criteria was Cupcake, which replaced Menage a Trois in the No. 1 spot. The latter dropped to No. 2. E&J Gallo's Barefoot, long popular with blog readers, was third, while Rex Goliath was fourth, and Bogle, long popular with the Wine Curmudgeon, was fifth. All, of course, cost $10 or less. In all, 23 of the hot 30 cost $10.99 or less, and 14 of the 30 cost $8 or less.

Doug Goodwin, Symphony IRI vice president of client insights for beer, wine and spirits, said turnover from year to year, given the nature of the study, is not unusual. But if one thing stood out in 2010, it was that consumers were looking for value, and that producers were willing to discount on price to give consumers that value. More, after the jump:

Wine review: Souverain Sauvignon Blanc 2009

The Wine Curmudgeon has never felt comfortable with sauvignon blanc that has been aged in oak. Too often, the oak covers up the varietal character and the sauvignon blanc ends up tasting like chardonnay. Which seems to be defeating the purpose of sauvignon blanc.

Plus, Souverain inhabits one of those gray areas in the wine business that often makes it difficult to figure out what its wine will taste like. It's a grocery store brand owned by one of the multi-nationals scrambling to shed expenses, so one never knows what the bosses will tell the winemaker about how much he can spend.

So I was not expecting much. But the Souverain ($14, sample) reminded me, as wines so often do, not to judge them before I drink them. It was much better than I thought it would be, with a bit of richness missing from most California sauvignon blanc. In addition, the oak doesn't obscure the Bordeaux-like sauvignon blanc fruit (less citrus and more citrus zest). Nicely done; serve it chilled on its own or with white meat dishes that have light sauces.

Peirano Estates: Quality wine that offers value

Lodi's reputation in California is such that even people from the parts of the state that everyone else makes fun of make fun of Lodi (see Creedence Clearwater Revival's Lodi, written by John Fogerty, who grew up on the wrong side of the San Francisco Bay).

Which means it's time to cue winemaker Lance Randolph (left), the fourth generation of his family to run Lodi's Peirano Estates.

"Yes, I was tired of hearing Lodi bashed as a jug wine area," says Randolph. "You name it, all of the major wineries have their roots in Lodi. There have been successful winemakers here. We can put quality in the bottle."

As Peirano does consistently, whether with its higher-priced varietals like cabernet sauvignon and petite sirah, or with its less expensive blends -- the cleverly named and labeled Red Shorts Red and The Other. In this, Peirano does something that a lot of wineries from more prestigious appellations have trouble doing. More, after the jump.