The Wine Curmudgeon

DrinkLocalWine.com conference headed to Virginia

First, the Winestream Media started to notice regional wine. Then, the country's top chefs said they appreciated regional wine. So what better time to announce our second annual DrinkLocalWine.com conference?

We're going to hold it in Loudoun County, Va., on April 24-26, and focus on Virginia wine (and, hopefully, work in some Maryland wine, which may be the best wine in the country no one knows about). Details are here. The conference will be even bigger and better than the first one in 2009 in Dallas, which did Texas wine. We're going to invite more wine bloggers and writers (send me an email if you're a blogger who wants to come) and we have a bigger venue, which means more consumers can attend. So if you're in the metro DC area at the end of April, save the date.

We have some big-name panelists lined up for the seminars, while the Twitter Taste-off should be even more amazing than last year. Our Twitting experts said that in 2009, by the time all was said and done, some 2 million taste-off tweets were floating around the cyber-ether. We should easily pass that this year.

Frankly, I'm excited about this. Which, for anyone who knows the Wine Curmudgeon, means this must be a big deal. How often do I get excited? The Virginia wine business has been incredibly co-operative. I'd start naming all of the people who have helped so far, but then this post would never end.

DrinkLocalWine.com, regional wine, Virginia wine

Viognier smackdown: K Vintners vs. McPherson Cellars

The Wine Curmudgeon is a big fan of Charles Smith and his various winemaking efforts, which includes K Vintners and the House Wines. So when I was eating dinner at a Dallas restaurant recently, the group opted for a bottle of the K viognier (about $20 retail, purchased). Fine wine -- nothing wrong with it, featuring classic viognier peachiness and a decent peach pit finish. We were more than happy with the wine, and it paired nicely with the table-full of appetizers and side dishes that we ordered.

So what to do when we finished the K? How about a bottle of Texas viognier from McPherson Cellars (about $15 retail, purchased) for a comparison? (And a tip of the Wine Curmudgeon's fedora to Hector Garcia, whose Hector's on Henderson regularly carries Texas wine.)

I'll be honest -- and winemaker Kim McPherson will never let me forget this -- but I didn't expect the McPherson to match up to the K. Smith is one of the best winemakers in the country, and he was working with Washington state fruit. McPherson, as talented as he is, was working with Texas fruit. Even someone who believes in regional wine as much as I do figured that was an insurmountable obstacle.

Shows how much I know, and it also proves -- once again -- the Wine Curmudgeon's only rule about wine: Taste if before you judge it. Everyone at the table agreed: The McPherson was a better wine -- richer and more interesting, with fuller peach flavor, a more recognizable middle palate, and a longer, more lingering finish.

Again, there was nothing wrong with the K. The only thing wrong was my assumption.

Messina Hof Twitter tasting

Two things struck me during Sunday's blind tasting and Twitter extravaganza at the Messina Hof winery in Bryan. Messina Hof remains among the pre-eminent producers in Texas, and the winery's Paul Bonarrigo understands the Texas palate, the regional wine business, and quality in a way that not enough people do.

The 10 or so of us who did it had a good time, and twittering (tweeting?) reminded me of my days as a newspaper sports writer. Then, I wrote down play-by-play of what happened on the field. Yesterday, I did play-by-play of the wines we were tasting. I prefer wine play-by-play (though, to be honest, Twitter still seems kind of silly).

I was also reminded that blind tasting is the best possible way to taste wine. I got about half of the wines correct, which was pretty good. And I should have had more. I missed the German ice wine that Paul paired with his late harvest riesling, and I am a bit of an ice wine expert. He also slipped in quite a few ringers, including some high-end California labels.

The Messina Hof late harvest, by the way, was an exceptional wine -- sweet as it should have been, with enough acid to balance the sweetness. One of the other highlights was the Paulo shiraz we had at dinner on Saturday night, which shows how well Texas does syrah.

I'm told you can check out all of the twits by searching #messina_hof at Twitter. And Russ Kane, who put the event together, wrote about it here.

Messina Hof, twitter tasting, blind tasting, Texas wine, regional wine

The Wine Curmudgeon, Twitter and a blind tasting

I'll be in Bryan, Texas, over the weekend, trying to figure out how this social networking thing works. Messina Hof Winery has organized the event, which will combine Twitter and blind tastings. Twitter tastings are all the rage in the wine business these days, where one tastes the wine and then social networks about it. (And forgive me, Mrs. Kramsky, wherever you are, for using "social networks" as a verb.)

Blind tastings, of course, are common. We taste the wine and the only thing we know about it is the varietal -- we don't know who made it or where it is from.

The idea is to taste wines from Messina Hof, one of Texas' leading producers, against similar wines from around the world without knowing which is which. The Wine Curmudgeon is a firm believer in blind tasting, which eliminates most of the preconceived notions people have about wine. And we all know how many we have of those.

Event organizer Russ Kane reports that you can follow the Twitter part of the event by going to Twitter and then searching using the hashtag #Messina_Hof. I, of course, have no idea what this means. Hopefully, I will be able to figure it out by tomorrow.And I will have a report on Monday.

Texas wine, regional wine, Messina Hof, Twitter tasting, blind tasting

Mini-reviews 7: le Freynelle, White Hall, Rex Goliath, Beaujolais

· Chateau la Freynelle 2007 ($15, purchased): This white Bordeaux has a bit more citrus than in the old days, but the minerality is there, and the semillion adds a nice, rich touch.

· White Hall Vineyards Viognier 2008 ($17, sample): Virginia winemakers continue to impress with viognier, and this wine explains why. It's much closer to a French Rhone than California, with a bit of oiliness and not too much oak.

· Rex Goliath Pinot Noir NV ($9, purchased): The Wine Curmudgeon has always been ambivalent about Rex Goliath as a brand, so I was surprised to find this pinot to be as pleasant as it was. It's not red Burgundy, but it's not $60, either. Note: Rex Goliath does two pinots: a California and this, which is from southern France.

· Louis Jadot Beaujolais Villages 2008 ($10, purchased): I have been drinking this wine for about as long as I have been drinking wine, and it remains more or less the same -- cheap, grapey, and dependable.

wine reviews, cheap wine, inexpensive wine, Virginia wine, white Bordeaux, pinot noir, Beaujolais