The Wine Curmudgeon

Expensive wine 25: King Estate Pinot Noir Signature 2008

What's better than an expensive wine that deserves a review? An expensive wine that is marked down from its suggested list price.

The Wine Curmudgeon is a fan of Oregon's King Estate, which makes more expensive wines but almost always does so with value in mind. Its pinot noirs are an excellent example of this. They're not quite as pricey as their California and Oregon counterparts, but always seem to deliver just as much quality. And their Acrobat line is about as close as you'll get to top-notch discounted pinot noir and pinot gris.

The Signature ($29, sample) is no exception. It's classic Oregon pinot noir -- some cherry fruit, minimal tannins, enough acid to offset the fruit, and only 13 percent alcohol. In this, it's the way pinot noir should be -- lighter and more delicate than cabernet sauvignon and merlot, which is something that too many pinot producers have lost sight of.

And the price? This is a previous vintage, and when it arrived at the end of last year, the wine cost $34. Today, it's listed on the King web site for $29, and a quick Wine-Searcher check found it for as little as $20. Considering the awful, tannic and harsh pinots that cost $20, this is a steal.

Regional wine, and what comes next

Those of us who pay attention to regional wine know two things: First, that most consumers aren’t aware of regional wine, and those that are know that it stinks -- and they don’t even have to taste it to tell you so. Second, that the regional wine business is, for practical purposes, just two decades old, and yet it is being held to quality standards set in places like California, with some 100 years of experience, and France, with 500 years. So of course it’s going to suffer in comparison.

Yet there it is, this feisty little scrapper, which has somehow rooted itself in all 50 states -- even though it often uses grapes that hardly anyone has ever heard of, and even though it's made quite often by people who are just a couple of years removed from crushing grapes in their garage.

The question, then, should not be, "Why isn’t regional wine better?" It should be, “How did this happen, and what does it mean for the wine business?" More, after the jump:

Wine of the week: Cline Cellars Zinfandel 2009

The Wine Curmudgeon, as regular visitors here know, is quite skeptical about what he likes to call post-modern zinfandel. Those are the ones with higher alcohol, that feature way over the top fruit, and bear little resemblance to what passed for zinfandel in the old days (in this case, five or six years ago).

What's worse is that these wines often move middle-aged men to wear baseball caps backward, call each other dude, and offer high-fives to everyone they see when they drink them. And then they say things, when asked about the wine, like "sweee-eet."

That will not happen with the Cline ($11, sample), which is about as traditional a zinfandel as you're going to find these days -- and especially at this price. The alcohol is just 14 percent, which is not much at all in these days of 15 and 16 percent wines. There is cherry fruit, but it's not sweet or gloppy like it is in so many other entry level zinfandels. Plus, the Cline actually has black pepper, which used to be a tell-tale zinfandel character but has mostly disappeared in the rush to add alcohol, sweet fruit and tannins.

Best yet, the Cline is food friendly, something else that many of the high alcohol zinfandels don't bother with anymore. Drink with this with barbecue or burgers, spaghetti and meatballs, or even chili (which I did) and be glad someone making zinfandel still respects the varietal.

Winebits 175: Wine smuggling, ancient wine bottles, Bordeaux ratings

• Protesting Canadian liquor laws: A former Mountie and broadcaster will launch a Canadian-wide convoy around May 4, in which he will carry wine across provincial lines, to protest what he says are his country's archaic liquor laws. The Vancouver Sun reports that Terry David Mulligan says he is even willing to go to jail to overturn the 83-year-old Importation of Intoxicating Liquors Act, which makes it illegal for anyone to bring wine (or beer or spirits, for that matter) into another province. As someone who knows a bit about these kinds of liquor laws, the Wine Curmudgeon would like to warn Mulligan to be very careful. Those liquor cops mean business.

• Letting wine age: Or any of a thousand other bad jokes (many of which seem be in the story from Britain's Daily Mail). Two Chinese bronze containers, made to hold wine some 3,000 years ago, valued for an auction next month at almost £2 million, or about US$3.25 million. And, in the finest tradition of this sort of story, the bottles cost their owners about £1,000 each when they bought them in the 1960s. Though this probably doesn't mean that it's time to start saving your wine bottles on the off chance something might develop.

• New French vintage is great: Just in case anyone is wondering, but the 2010 Bordeauxs are a "great vintage…a lucky continuation of a stunning succession, 2001, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2009." And the best wines? Chateau Margaux, Latour, Lafite and Cheval Blanc -- which, for those of you who don't follow these things, are pretty much always among the best wines. If anyone has a couple of 3,000-year-old Chinese wine bottles, we can sell them and probably afford to buy a bottle or two of the 2010s.

Shocking news: We're buying less expensive wine

This just in from the Los Angeles Times: People are spending less money on a bottle of wine!

Patrick J. Comiskey, a big deal in the Winestream Media (he's a former sommelier and writes for Wine & Spirits magazine) reports in the Times that consumers aren't spending $40 for a bottle of wine anymore. They aren't even spending $25. They're -- wait for it -- spending $15.

Writes Comiskey: "For many, $15 to $20 might be the new $25."

Sigh. More, after the jump.

Donald Trump likes wine; why not the Texas Legislature?

The Texas Legislature, despite my thoughtful and incisive analysis, seems hell-bent on destroying the Texas wine business. Everyone I've talked to over the past six weeks says the Legislature will almost certainly eliminate the $4.3 million in state funding for wine marketing and research to plug Texas' $27 billion budget gap.

The Wine Curmudgeon has no one to blame for this but himself. I didn't heed the wisdom of the late and much missed Molly Ivins, and treated the members of the Legislature like responsible adults. I will not let that happen again. Hence four reasons why the Legislature should restore the wine money, in terms its members will understand.

1. Famous people who aren't French like wine. Donald Trump just bought a winery in Virginia. And boasted about what a good deal he got.

2. New York cut its budget, but restored state wine funding. Yes, New York, home of painted women, godless intellectuals, and the New York Times. If New York -- the source of all evil for so many Texans -- can do this, why can't Texas?

3. Football players like wine. Joe Montana has made wine. So has Charles Woodson. Granted, neither are Dallas Cowboys, but if that's what it takes, I'll try to put something together. I know Drew Pearson slightly, and Roger Staubach's marketing person has returned my phone calls.

4. Rock stars like wine. I realize most members of the legislature don't know Lady Gaga from Baba O'Reily, but their kids do. And what parent doesn't want to be a hero to their kids? So how about Dave Matthews? Or Tool?

Wine and Tax Day

Monday is April 18, the deadline this year for Americans to pay their state and federal income taxes. Which we are famous for whining about (pun fully intended). So, as a public service, here are a few thoughts about wine and how it can improve tax day.

• Drink a bottle of regional wine. Most U.S. states are suffering horrendous budget crises -- New York had to close a $10 billion gap. Illinois' was $4.9 billion. Texas' is $27 billion. So if you buy a bottle of local wine, you're supporting local jobs. Each of us can help reduce those deficits, one bottle at time, and it's a lot more pleasant than listening to the complaining and bellyaching that goes on this time of year.

• Visit Michael Franz's annual Tax Day wine column at Wine Reports Online, which he has done for almost 20 years. As someone who specializes in cheap wine, the Wine Curmudgeon applauds Franz's perseverance. Plus, he and colleague Paul Lukacs wade through more than 1,000 wines to make their recommendations.

• Try a cheap wine you've never tried before. Don't worry about reviews or scores or what other people will think. Go to the store, buy it, and taste it. If you like it, you've found a new wine. If you don't, throw it out. I promise not to tell anyone.

• My wine recommendation? Anything from the $10 Hall of Fame would do nicely, but I'd also suggest Cuvee Cep d'Or 2010 ($10, purchased), a rose from Provence. Availability may be limited, but it's a beautiful wine that is well worth looking for. There is just a touch of fruit (watermelon?), and it's bone dry with a long mineral finish. This is everything a Provencal rose should be, and is one of the best-made $10 wines I've had in a long while.