The Wine Curmudgeon

New Year’s sparkling wine 2012

Which means sparkling wine, plus a couple of other ideas -- whether for dinner on Dec. 31 or brunch on Jan. 1.

Our Champagne and sparkling wine glossary is here. This is also the place for my annual plea to drink more sparkling wine during the year. Bubbly deserves deserves more than just one post in the Wine Curmudgeon top 100 (90th place in 2012).

More, after the jump:

Christmas wine 2012

One doesn't see a lot about Christmas wine pairings; a quick Google search found years-old posts, the usual commercial sites (“Buy our wine for Christmas!”), and even a listing for food tanker trucks.

I haven’t done an annual post, either. I found a couple in the blog’s early years, but nothing in 2011 or 2010. The only thing I can think of is that I figured people didn’t associate Christmas with wine, since it’s not a food holiday like Thanksgiving. What was I thinking?

Shouldn’t every holiday be a wine occasion? My suggestions after the jump; just remember the blog’s holiday wine guidelines: "Don't buy wine you think someone should like; buy them wine they will like."

Holiday wine gift guide 2012

A few ideas for the wine drinkers on your list. Some general pointers:

• Don't forget the wine gift-giving guidelines: "Don't buy someone wine that you think they should like; buy them wine they will like."

• The Champagne and sparkling wine glossary to make sense of cava and cremant and all the rest.

• Most gadgets never get used after the first couple of times. My rule of thumb: Is the gadget worth its price in quality $10 wine; that is, is a $40 gadget worth four bottles of wine?

Suggestions after the jump:

Winebits 256: Thanksgiving wine

What others are writing about wine for Turkey Day:

• Last minute holiday wines: From no less than Eric Asimov at the New York Times, which does not seem like something he would write about – rushing to the store just before Thanksgiving. And his selections include Beaujolais (no, not the Nouveau); Macon-Village, the inexpensive white Burgundy that I like a lot as well; and zinfandel, believe it or not. And here is where things get really spooky – Asimov recommends Ridge’s Three Valleys, which I just did, and Ravenswood’s Old Vine Sonoma County, a grocery store wine (I know, I know) that I tasted a couple of weeks ago, liked, and scheduled for a review.

• Go French: Oddly enough, that seems to be a theme this year. Among those who recommend French wines are Pam Busch of Examiner.com, who notes that “It s almost impossible to go wrong with these French wines at this time of year.” She likes a Kermit Lynch producer, Domaine Dupueble, which begs the question: When is not a good time for a Kermit Lynch wine?

• An eclectic selection: The Denver Off the Wagon website has something for everyone – literally. There must be more than three dozen selections, including those from two Bouder experts, Bobby Stuckey and Arian Kara. The J pinot gris is always a good choice, as are the French choices (more French agan): the Bertrand cremant from Limoux and the Humbrecht pinot blanc from Alsace.

Thanksgiving wine 2012

Hmmm, that Gascon wine sounds like a fine choice for my turkey dinner.

The only rule when choosing Thanksgiving wine? "If Aunt Dorothy likes [insert a wine you hate here, like white zinfandel or a sweet red], who are you tell her she can't have any?"

So forget all that stuff about proper pairings and $50 bottles of 94-point wine. Thanksgiving is not about wine snobbery, but about having a good time and sharing food and wine and memories with your family and friends.

This year’s suggestions are after the jump:

Wine review: Anne Amie Cuvee A Amrita 2011

This post was going to be a wine of the week for a different wine from Oregon’s Anne Amie – the muller-thurgau, one of my all-time favorites. But bizarre fog last year did something to the grapes, and rather than make a crappy wine, Anne Amie winemaker Thomas Houseman decided not to make it at all. How often do I get to write that?

So we’ll have to settle for the Amrita ($15, sample), a white blend that is a fine wine in its own right. It's mostly chardonnay and riesling (plus eight other grapes for good measure), and is fresh and lively and without the stilted, heavy fake oak that so many wines at this price use to compensate for poor quality fruit, to cover up a winemaking flaw, or to add oak flavor because they think it makes a more popular wine.

The Amrita, like the muller-thurgau, is a food wine with enough sweetness to pair with spicy food (look for a little citrus and apricot fruit), but not enough to offend people who think sweet wine means white zinfandel. In this, it would be a huge hit at Thanksgiving, what with turkey and cornbread dressing.

Labor Day wine 2012

So why a Labor Day wine post? Because wine is suitable for every day of the year; haven’t you been paying attention? Needless to say, the Wine Curmudgeon will spend this weekend doing wine things, including my annual visit to the Kerrvile Wine & Music Festival. I'll participate in a panel discussion on Saturday about the state of Texas wine – which is quite good, by the way, despite the attempts made by the legislature to reduce it to no state at all.

Holiday picnics and back porch barbecues usually mean lighter wines, and I've offered several suggestions below. But, assuming this summer's heat wave is finally ending, Labor Day also marks the return of bigger red wines, which will pair with ribs or burgers.

These suggestions should get you started:

• Ferret Côtes de Gascogne 2011 ($10, sample): This white blend from southwestern France is a solid effort, if not quite up to the standards of the Gascon wines in the $10 Hall of Fame. It has more sauvignon blanc character and less of the Gascon grapiness that I like.

• Gloria Ferrer Sonoma Brut NV ($15, purchased): You can find this California sparkling wine for as little as $12, which makes it one of the great values of the year (or any other). Look for green apples, some minerality, and even a little yeastiness.

• Bodegas Cepa 21 2007 ($23, sample): A surprisingly nuanced red wine from Spain’s Ribero del Duero, without a lot of the shouting that so many of these wines do. It does need food, and a Labor Day steak would be perfect.

For more on Labor Day wine:
• Labor Day wine 2011
• Labor Day wine 2010
• Wine of the week: Yellow + Blue Torrontes 2011