The Wine Curmudgeon

Wine of the week: Massamier La Mignarde Cuvee des Oliviers 2010

The name of this wine is a very long and very French way of saying that this is exactly the kind of rose that makes the Wine Curmudgeon smile. It’s cheap and it’s dry, but more importantly, it”s full of summer and backyards and porches and barbecues.

The des Oliviers ($10, purchased) is from southern France and is mostly made with cinsault. In this, it’s firmly in the French style – some fruit (in this case, cranberry), but not the big dollops that give the impression of sweetness and so confuse so many wine drinkers into thinking pink wine means white zinfandel. This wine is about as far from white zinfandel as possible.

Also impressive: The des Oliviers is a bit floral on the nose, and its clean, crisp finish leaves you ready to take another sip.

Serve this chilled on its own, or with any summer activity. Highly recommended, and a candidate for the 2013 $10 Hall of Fame.

Wine of the week: Luc Pirlet Pinot Noir Barriques Reserve 2010

The Wine Curmudgeon's winning streak with cheap pinot noir from the Languedoc region of France continues. First, there was the Tortoise Creek, and now there is the Luc Pirlet ($10, purchased). Who'd have thought this was possible, given the region's problems with pinot noir?

Frankly, this was much, much better than I expected (being the curmudgeon that I am). It has moderate black fruit, plus some pepper and earthiness. What's missing is what I expected to find -- that New World kind of fruitiness that makes cheap pinot taste like it could have been made anywhere in the world. But this is 100 percent pinot noir, so the flabby fruit that comes from adding syrah or grenache is missing.

It's not quite as well done as the Tortoise Creek, but it's still a stunningly well-made $10 bottle of pinot noir -- let alone from a region where pinot has such a sorry history. This is a candidate for the $10 Hall of Fame, and yes, Mom, would appreciate it over the weekend. Drink this on its own, or with burgers, barbecue or meatloaf. Who knew pinot, normally so expensive and often overpriced, could turn into a midweek dinner kind of wine?

Wine of the week: Dauvergne Ranvier Vin Gourmand 2010

Total Wine, a large regional chain, is supposed to open in Dallas shortly. Throw in Trader Joe's, which is supposed to open this fall, and Spec's, Texas' largest chain, which opened at the end of last year (as well as all of the current retailers), and we have an abundance of wine choices -- not just more than we've ever had, but lots and lots more.

Which will not only drive the retailers crazy (and probably put a couple out of business), but give consumers more choice and lower prices. How can the Wine Curmudgeon argue with that?

Case in point is the Vin Gourmand ($13, purchased), a white Rhone blend. It's a style of wine not much sold here; Dallas is an oaky California chardonnay kind of town. And, when you do find a white Rhone, it's usually a couple of dollars more than in the rest of the country. So, when I saw the Gourmand and for less than elsewhere, you can imagine how quickly I scooped it up.

My enthusiasm was amply rewarded. This is quality wine at a terrific price -- a blend of grenache, roussane and viognier that is fresh and clean, with lime and apricot fruit (the latter from the viognier). It's not overly complex, but it's not lacking in a middle or finish, either, and even has a bit of stoniness on the end. This is perfect warm weather wine that will pair with almost any kind of summer food. Given that we've already been in the 90s here, this is a a welcome addition. Highly recommended. 

Mini-reviews 34: Chateau Malescot, Hess, LangeTwins, Henri Perrusset

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:

• Château Malescot St. Exupéry 2005 ($28, purchased): This cabernet sauvingon blend from Bordeaux is exceedingly capable wine, and given that it comes from one of the vintages of the century, it's practically a steal. Having said that, it doesn't taste especially French, but more California -- a plummy, peppery aroma, lots of red fruit, chalky tannins and a long finish. My brother, who sometimes contributes his thoughts on pricier wines for the blog, would probably enjoy this as a birthday present.

• Hess Collection Sauvignon Blanc Allomi Vineyard ($18, sample): Interesting and solid white wine from Napa Valley, which doesn't taste like too many other sauvignon blancs. That means a touch of oak that gives the wine a little more richness to go with with California grassiness and some citrus.

• LangeTwins Moscato 2010 ($13, sample): This sweet white California wine is clean and fresh, with aromas of orange blossoms and lime. But there isn't much in the middle, and the finish is short -- it leaves a sweet aftertaste without any acid to compensate.

• Domaine Henri Perrusset Mâcon-Villages ($20, purchased): Yes, $20 is a lot to pay for a French villages wine, but this comes with the Kermit Lynch imprimatur. So it's worth it. This chardonnay from the Macon region of Burgundy is almost elegant, which is very surprising for a basic level bottle. It has lots of apple and citrus zest, but also an underlying layer of richness that is not often seen on villages wines.

Wine of the week: Jean-Louis Trocard Bordeaux Blanc 2009

Where does the Wine Curmudgeon begin to praise the Trocard ($10, purchased)? Cheap wine does not get much better than this:

• It's a previous vintage, and it's still yummy.

• Classic white Bordeaux, made with sauvignon blanc. That means not much fruit and certainly none of that New World grapefruit stuff. That's something one doesn't see enough anymore because too many French producers are on a misguided quest to make their wine taste like it came from somewhere else.

• Clean, crisp, grassy and fresh. Just enough of everything to make it stand out, from aroma to finish, but not too much of anything. And only 12 1/2 percent alcohol.

• A simple wine that proves the adage that simple does not have to mean inadequate.

Serve this chilled on its own, or with almost anything that goes with white wine, whether seafood, chicken. or salads. And it's probably a good match with an uncomplicated cream-style sauce (chicken fried steak or chicken pot pie, for example). Highly recommended and almost certainly in the 2013 $10 Hall of Fame.

Wine of the week: Le Cirque 2010

The Wine Curmudgeon has finally figured out why Americans don't drink more rose, and it's not what I thought -- that we confuse rose with sweet pink wines like white zinfandel. The real reason? It doesn't taste like red wine.

How else to account for the odd reviews for the Le Cirque ($11, purchased) on CellarTracker, the blog's unoffical wine inventory tracking software? Several of the writers complained that the wine was too light, and they were exactly right -- if they were reviewing cabernet sauvignon. But since the Le Cirque is rose, that's a good thing. Roses are supposed to be light and refreshing.

In fact, my only complaint about this rose, which is from southern France, was price -- I thought it was $9 and not $11 when I bought it. Having said that, it was very nicely done: Bone dry, with lots of cranberry fruit that gave it a pleasant acidity to balance the fruitiness. In this, it is a good example of what a grape like grenache can do for a rose. Pair this with salads and even lightly spicy foods, since there's enough fruit to handle the spice.

And yes, chill it and drink it on its own and ponder the metaphysical question of why more Americans don't appreciate rose.

Wine review: Chateau des Romains 2009

My friend The Big Guy is very demanding about his wine. If he can't drink expensive white Burgundy, he prefers $10 red Bordeaux, and he wants to try as many different $10 red Bordeauxs as possible. Which, given our location in the middle of the country, is not always easy -- most of the retailers here have a limited selection, and this makes him cranky.

The Romains ($10, purchased) is the kind of red Bordeaux that The Big Guy would appreciate. It's a simple, sturdy, red blend with a fair amount of tannins, some red fruit, and just 13 percent alcohol, but not much else. This is the kind of wine to have for dinner in the middle of the week when all you want to do is to open something without fretting about pairings or the quality of what you're opening, and it would probably go with almost anything that doesn't have a cream sauce.

In this, the Romains seems to be descended from the red Bordeauxs of my beginning wine days, which choked you with their rough tannins and unripe fruit and made you wonder if wine was really such a good idea after all. It doesn't have those, of course, and is much better made than those wines from 20 and 30 years ago. But there is something about it that reminds me of the old days, and no doubt The Big Guy will notice it, too.

One wine geek note, since that seems to be the theme in recent wine reviews: The Romains' appellation is Bordeaux Superieur, which is different from plain old Bordeaux. In the old days, wines from Bordeaux Superieur were higher in alcohol (hence the superieur), and there are still several other production requirements differentiating it from regular Bordeaux. But in terms of quality and cost, it's not appreciably different from Bordeaux, especially for this kind of wine.