The Wine Curmudgeon

Wine review: Mandolin Syrah 2009

This is a good news and bad news wine. The good news is that it's a tremendous value, another Mandolin wine that is much better than its price. The bad news? Availability, of course. It's not sold in the Dallas area, and its Texas distributor is small with limited capabilities. And, given the way the wine world works, if that happens in a market as important as this one, that means the Mandolin is likely to be difficult to find elsewhere.

Which is wrong. The syrah ($10, sample) is a wine that deserves to be in lots and lots of stores. It's impressive -- balanced and varietally correct, with just enough berry fruit to be fruity but not to be annoying. In this, there is acid to balance the fruit, which almost never happens with this style of wine, as well as a touch of oak and even some tannins, both of which provide even more balance.

Which, again, are two items that are rarely done well in wine from this part of California that costs $10. There is either way too much oak, to cover up a flaw or to give it a fake-y chocolate taste, or no tannins, to make the wine "smooth" and to appeal to people who don't like red wine. In fact, one reason why I don't drink much of this kind of wine is that it doesn't taste like wine, but something designed by a focus group.

Serve this wine on its own or with a weekend or holiday meal featuring beef or roast chicken (and yes, even for the holiday that must not be named). Highly recommended, and a candidate for the 2013 $10 Hall of Fame.

Valentine's Day Wine 2012

The Wine Curmudgeon does not like the holiday that must not be named. The reasons aren't important; chalk it up to my natural crankiness, and leave it at that. Because of this, I have traditionally vacillated about whether to do a post for this holiday.

This year, you get one. Yes, I know, the last thing one expects from me is inconsistency, but that's the effect that the holiday that must not be named has on me. More, after the jump:

Expensive wine 36: Two Hands Gnarly Dudes Shiraz 2008

What's this? Has the Wine Curmudgeon gone soft on us? Two favorable reviews of Australian shiraz in the past month?

Indeed. Because, if nothing else, the Wine Curmudgeon believes in tasting the wine before judging it. And, even more than the Layer Cake wine of the week, the Two Hands ($30, sample) is an exemplary wine. Yes, I'm not a huge fan of this style, with its huge burst of fruit and high alcohol, and yes, wines made this way usually drive me crazy.

But you know what? This vintage of the Two Hands is full of rich, deep red fruit -- but it's less overwhelming than it would have been a year ago. Plus, the tannins show a little more and most of the ashiness (the odd flavor that many of these kinds of wines have in the back) is gone. And the alcohol, for whatever reason, is more integrated into the wine and less annoying. All of this, I'm assuming, comes from letting the bottle age since I got it in 2009.

Highly recommended, especially as a gift for next week's holiday that must not be named. This is a beef wine, but it's a beef wine that will appeal to more people than you would think.

Wine review: Tres Picos Garnacha 2010

The Wine Curmudgeon will say this right out front: I don't like this style of Spanish garnacha. There's nothing traditional about it, and it's certainly not about nuance and subtlety like a great Rioja. Rather, it's about cramming as much ripe, red fruit and alcohol into the wine as possible, producing a jammy, concentrated effort with very little in the way of tannins.

Having said that, this style of wine is immensely popular. Robert Parker adores it, and has defended it against all comers -- even insisting that it is Spanish not only in name, but in terroir. It does very well in the marketplace, too; brands like Las Rocas and Evodia sell well and show up on best-of-lists all the time.

The Tres Picos ($13, sample) is firmly part of this post-modern Spanish wine philosophy. It's dark, heavy, alcoholic (14 1/2 percent), rich and fruity, with minimal tannins and with an almost ashy aftertaste. It's not as well made as the Evodia, which came close to getting into the 2012 $10 Hall of Fame, but it is more approachable than the Las Rocas (which, frankly, has always bored me).

The Tres Picos needs food -- red meat preferably -- to balance all that fruit and alcohol. Again, it's not for everyone, but for people who prefer this style, it's a solid effort.

Mini-reviews 32: Antinori, Marques de Caceres, Souverain, Parlay

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:

• Antinori Pèppoli 2008 ($27, sample): Modern style of Chianti, with more red fruit in the middle. But still a fine wine -- balanced and fresh. The price is problematic, though.

• Marqués de Cáceres Rioja Blanco 2009 ($8, purchased): Traditional style, so not much fruit a little more rustic than California. Offers more than than $8 worth of wine, and more than suitable for a weeknight dinner.

• Souverain Cabernet Sauvignon 2005 ($22, sample): Grocery store quality -- thin, flat and uninteresting, with little terroir. Seem to remember this producer being much better than this.

• Parlay The Bookmaker 2005 ($20, sample): Lots of sweet black fruit in the middle of this red blend, but very well made with a long chalky finish and sturdy tannins. Not my style of wine, but well done nonetheless.

Wine of the week: Layer Cake Shiraz 2009

The Wine Curmudgeon has always been ambivalent about the Layer Cake wines, which have always seemed to focus more on the chocolate cake label than what was in the bottle. It's not that some of them weren't eminently drinkable, and I have reviewed them favorably (and those that weren't elicited a reply from the producer). Rather, they always made me wonder if they would have been better with a more ordinary label and if had they cost a couple of bucks less.

Not this time, though. This version of the Layer Cake shiraz ($13, sample) is less expensive and isn't as over the top as some of the other vintages. There's less sweet fruit, the tannins are much more integrated, the 14.9 percent alcohol isn't overbearing, and the wine shows some unexpected polish, especially on the finish. Having said that, it's still a very Australian-style wine, with lots of cherry cola-ish fruit that practically explodes on your nose and in your mouth.

It's a big wine that even those of us who aren't all that fond of big wines can enjoy. Drink this with barbecue (beef, pork or chicken) or burgers and enjoy the label. Which is quite clever, especially when it doesn't get in the way of the wine.

Expensive wine 35: Beaulieu Georges de Latour Private Reserve 2006

Beaulieu Vineyard is one of the most important wine producers in California history, and Georges de Latour is one of the most important figures in that history. Without the winery and the work de Latour did there before World War II, the wine business in the U.S. would not be what it is.

Hence, any wine from Beaulieu that carres de Latour's name should be special. Sadly, the winery suffered through a series of problems in the late 1990s and early part of this century -- ordinary wines, scathing reviews, and even wines infected with cork taint. It was as sad as it was surprising.

The good news is that Beaulieu's corporate parent saw that something needed to be done, and invested millions of dollars to do so. The efforts have worked, and Beaulieu's wines are once again, as wine geeks say, showing well. The de Latour ($125, sample) is a well-made and surprisingly traditional style of Napa cabernet sauvignon, which made the Wine Curmudgeon quite happy.

It's a long, long wine from first sniff to finish, with aromas of cedar and dark fruit, more dark fruit in front, a solid middle, some rich oak on the finish and much welcome tannins to balance all. It's not hot despite being 14.8 percent alcohol, though it does need food -- lots of red meat -- to show its best. I had it with prime rib and Yorkshire pudding, a classic pairing.

Decant this wine for an hour or so to get the most out of it. And be glad that someone went to the trouble to save a historic brand. A price note: When I got the sample two years, it was listed at $80; the increase, even during the recession, shows how much Beaulieu has improved.