The Wine Curmudgeon

Memorial Day and rose, 2012

You'll drink red and white; why not rose?

The Wine Curmudgeon appreciates his readers and visitors more than they will ever know. Without you, I’d have to get a real job, where I would probably not be allowed to drink wine.

Having said that, I must bring up one of your few failings: You don’t much rose. No rose review has ever been a top 10 annual post, and they barely crack the top 50.

I especially pondered that question preparing for this post, the blog’s fifth annual rose extravaganza. And I can’t come up with a good reason. Rose is cheap. It’s better made than ever before. It’s food friendly. You can put an ice cube in it. What more do you need from a wine?

After the jump, the basics about roses and this year’s recommendations:

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: 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: Falesco Vitiano Rosato 2010

When the Wine Curmudgeon tastes this wine, he is not only enjoying one of the best $10 wines in the world, but remembering the day when he embarrassed himself in front of the legendary Riccardo Cotarella -- not just once or twice, but three times.

The first instance has been documented, and the second I'll save for another day. The third came while tasting the rose, when I asked Cotarelli if the wine shouldn't be colder. It was at red wine temperature, and I had always been taught that roses, like whites, should be chilled 10 or 12 degrees more. No, no, no, he said. Don't drink it chilled. You'll never taste all of the flavors.

This was an amazing thing to say. First, how many $10 wines have more than one flavor? Second, it's not unusual for winemakers to want critics to taste their wines chilled, since that covers up most flaws. Third, Cotarella was correcting a critic, and while many, many winemakers would like to do that, most of them figure discretion is the better part of valor. Too many wine writers, secure in the knowledge that we already know everything, don't react well to criticism.

But Cotarella, secure in his talent and the quality of his wine, said what needed to be said. And I will always be grateful for that. This vintage ($10, purchased) is as well done as always, with some bone dry strawberry fruit and the nooks and crannies of quality that define the Cotarella style. Drink it over the Labor Day weekend on its own or with burgers or barbecued chicken, and you'll know  why there is a special Falesco wing in the $10 Hall of Fame.

Labor Day wine 2011

It's OK to drink wine over the Labor Day weekend. Really. The beer police won't come and arrest you. 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 ending where you are, Labor day also marks the return of bigger red wines, like cabernet sauvignon or merlot -- not bad with ribs or burgers.

The Wine Curmudgeon will spend this weekend at the Kerrvile Wine & Music Festival, where I'll participate in a couple of panel discussions about Texas wine. It's one of my favorite wine events, and the music isn't bad, either. Stop by and say hello:

• Cortijo III Rose 2010 ($10, purchased): A solid and dependable Spanish rose, with more fruit (strawberry and watermelon) than most of its brethren but a bit of heft to remind you that it's still Spanish.

• Paul Cheneau Blanc de Blanc Brut NV ($15, purchased): This, along with a cava from Bodegas Sumarroca, were much better than the food at a Sunday lunch at a Dallas tapas restaurant. Very, very well done Spanish bubbly, with lots of tight bubbles. Highly recommended.

• Tormaresca Roycello Salento 2010 ($22, sample): This Italian white has lots of stone fruit (peaches) and a very floral aroma, similar to viognier (though it's made with fiano, a little known grape, even in its native Italy). It makes for a soft, relaxing wine that is very different from the usual sort of Italian low-fruit, acid-driven labels.

For more on Labor Day wine:
• Labor Day wine 2010
• Fourth of July wine 2011
• Wine of the week: La Fiera Montepulciano d'Abruzzo 2009
• Wine of the week: Marietta Old Vine Red Lot Number 53

Wine of the week: Pedroncelli Dry Rose of Zinfandel 2009

The Wine Curmudgeon used to eat at a Dallas restaurant where the wine list was, to put it politely, pretty sad. This is not uncommon, of course, since too many restaurant owners tend see wine as an aggravation and not a way to please customers (and yes, I know I promised to write something about this, and it's still on the agenda).

It was frustrating that the wine list had very little anyone would want to drink, since I liked the food and the prices were reasonable. Fortunately, the Pedronceilli rose was on the list, and I drank a lot of it. Like almost every time I ate at the restaurant.

And why not? The rose ($10, purchased) paired with the food that I ordered and it was cheap, especially for restaurant wine. Best yet, the wine was -- and still is -- well made, with some cranberry and currant fruit, a bit of juiciness in the middle, and even some heft. This is not a light rose, but one with body, and it's almost as if there are tannins lurking in the back to remind you this is a dry wine and not that pinkish, sweet stuff. Pedroncelli is a fourth-generation California winemaker, and the family takes great care with what it does -- quality wine at good prices. The chardonnay is worth trying, too.

Chill this (especially this summer) and drink it on its own or with any summer food -- burgers and barbecued chicken come to mind. And be glad that one long ago restaurant owner had the good sense to have one quality wine on his list.

Wine review: Hey Mambo Kinky Pink 2010

Why has the Wine Curmudgeon been writing so many reviews of wines lately that are difficult to find? After all, one of my reasons for being is that I don't write about wines that aren't generally available. But it's not my fault. Honest. Blame the the three-tier system, because each of the wines that I reviewed should be generally available.

That includes the Kinky Pink ($12, sample). It was going to be a wine of the week, because it's that well done. But the wine isn't available in the Dallas area (and no, special orders from one retailer don't count), and a wine can't be a wine of the week if it's not for sale in the ninth-largest city in the country.

But it's worth writing about, because the Kinky Pink manages to do something that few California roses do -- it's dry, it's affordable, and the packaging will get the attention of people who don't normally buy rose. Look for a bit of cranberry fruit, no off flavors, and not a hint of sweetness. It's made with pinot noir, and bears a strong resemblance to the way the Toad Hollow rose has traditionally tasted.

Don't relegate this to summer wine, because it would work all year round with lighter red wine food and most white wine foods that don't have a cream sauce. And it's too bad that it's not for sale here; I'd buy some.