The Wine Curmudgeon

Mini-reviews 18: Torino rose, Grgich merlot, Carobelle, Jaja de Jau

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.

• Michel Torino Malbec Rosé 2009 ($12, sample): Surprisingly disappointing, given how well-made so many Argentine wines are at this price. There's nothing especially wrong with it; rather, it doesn't deliver anything that most $8 or $10 roses don't.

• Grgich Hills Estate Grown Merlot 2006 ($42, sample): The kind of red wine that helped California establish its reputation as one of the world's great wine regions -- and, best yet, it's not overpriced. Holiday gift? It's still young, with cherry fruit in the middle, but a mushroomy nose and lots of finish. Should improve with age.

• Domaine de Carobelle Gigondas 2008 ($20, purchased): A terrific value at $15 and an excellent example of the Rhone's Gigondas region, with dark fruit and pepper. But the weak dollar (or a greedy retailer?) has done this red wine in, given that one can buy really nice wine for $20.

• Le Jaja de Jau 2007 ($11, purchased): This red is New World-style wine wine in Old World clothing, with a lot of fruit and not much subtlety. It's not bad, just not what it was when it was one of the world's great cheap wines (and it's also twice the price).

Anyone can write a wine review 3

One of the tenets of the Wine Curmudgeon's faith is that wine writing is not rocket science, and that anyone can write a wine review. Like this. Or this. This comes from regular visitor Karen Kimbrough, about the Portuguese Fado Rosé 2009:

"A glass of Fado Rosé 2009 from Portugal, about $10 a bottle, is refreshing and dry with no sharp edges, and soft with hints of berries."

Wine of the week: Becker Provençal Dry Rose 2009

Rose is one of the glories of French winemaking, even though it's overshadowed by red Bordeaux, Burgundy and Champagne. The best French roses, which usually come from in and around Provence, are subtle, complex wines that have about as much in common with the American concept of pink wine as the Wine Curmudgeon has in common with $100 wine. Any rose that has Tavel on the label is well worth sampling, even at some of the prices you'll find.

So what does that have to do with the Becker Vineyard 2009 Provençal Dry Rose (about $10, purchased)? It's a mostly successful attempt by one of Texas' leading wineries to make a Provencal-style rose without being in Provence. The grapes, in fact, come from Mason, about 40 miles north of Fredericksburg in the Texas Hill Country.

This is no easy feat, but no less than Russ Kane, perhaps the most knowledgeable Texas wine writer, sings its praises. Russ, in fact (shameless plug alert!), will appear at our Texas wine talks at this year's State Fair.

What does Provencal-style mean? Very dry, low in alcohol, and with less fruit than New World roses. Don't expect to find the big dollop of strawberry or watermelon that the latter have. Instead, these wines have much less intense red fruit. Drink this with any fall harvest kind of meal or while you are football tailgating. And don't worry about drinking rose if it isn't summer; this is the kind of wine that you can enjoy all year round. Availability is limited outside of Texas, but you can order it from the winery.

 

Labor Day wine 2010

Yes, Labor Day is a wine drinking holiday. Call it a picnic holiday, like the Fourth of July or Memorial Day. That means lighter wines that pair with picnic food and barbecue. This week's wine of the week works, too. And, assuming the forecast isn't 100 degrees, it may even be time to pull some cabernet sauvignon or merlot out of the wine closet.

Here are a few suggestions:

• Riondo Pink Prosecco NV ($13, sample): Technically, this isn't a rose, since Italian law says a rose can't be called prosecco (thanks, Alfonso). Having said that, this sparkling wine sure looks and tastes like rose. And, though the Wine Curmudgeon isn't a big fan of prosecco, this is an exception. It's light and fresh, with a hint of strawberry fruit, and not as 7-Up-ish as many are. Serve it well chilled to make up for the lack of bubbles, and use a corkscrew to open it. Really.

• Llano Estacado Viviana 2009 ($23, sample): Texas wine has been getting a lot of national cyber-love lately, and this white blend is one reason why. This is its second vintage, and it has more structure and less residual sugar than the first. In this, it seems to have morphed from a Conundrum knockoff into a very well done white French-style wine, with a long mineral finish. Availability will be limited outside of Texas.

• King Estate Acrobat Pinot Noir 2009 ($18, sample): I took some flak the other day for saying that an $8 pinot noir didn't taste like pinot noir. This is not an $8 wine, but it does taste like pinot, and is about as close to a value pinot as exists -- classic berry fruit, low alcohol and minimal tannins.

For more on Labor Day wine:
• Labor Day wine 2008
• Labor Day wine 2009
• Wine of the week: Tormaresco Neprica 2008

holiday wine, Labor Day wine, prosecco, pinot noir

Wine of the week: Château l'Ermitage Rosé 2009

The Wine Curmudgeon was drinking rose the other day, and a question came up. Why, if so many roses are supposed to be dry, do some California roses seem sweet?

Two reasons. One is the idea of perception of sweetness, in which our brains assume that something that tastes fruity is going to be sweet. Hence, a rose with a lot of strawberry fruit is going to seem sweeter than it is, since our brains associate strawberry flavor with sweetness. (Thanks to the great James Tidwell, who told me about this and explains it much more eloquently than I do.) The other follows from the first, and is part of the difference between New World and Old World styles. New World wines, like those from California, are fruitier than Old World wines, and the extra fruit flavor implies a sweetness that isn't there.

Which, in a roundabout way, is where the l'Ermitage ($10, purchased) fits in. It's the opposite of a New World rose -- a classic French blend of syrah, grenache and mouvedre that makes a surprisingly complex $10 wine. It has a very stony finish, a dazzling light pink color, and a touch of red berry fruit without any perception of sweetness. In this, it's one of the best-made roses I've ever had, and is as enjoyable as many, more expensive ones. Don't be surprised if it shows up in the 2011 $10 Hall of Fame.

Chill the l'Ermitage, and drink it over the Labor Day weekend on its own or with whatever picnic or barbecue you have planned.

cheap wine, $10 wine, inexpensive wine, Old World wine, rose wine, French wine, Château l'Ermitage, wine reviews, wine of the week

Wine of the week: Marqués de Cáceras Rose 2008

People always ask: "How do you pick wines to review?" The Wine Curmudgeon has a couple of criteria. First, it has to be an interesting, well-made bottle of wine. What's the point of wasting my time telling you what not to drink? Second, it has to be available. What's the point of wasting your time by telling you about a wine you can't buy?

In this, it doesn't much matter whether the wine comes from a struggling artisan producer whose fingernails are dirty or a huge multi-national whose idea of terroir is a country-specific marketing campaign. In the end, wine is about what is in the bottle.

And what's in the de Caceras ($9, purchased) is worth writing about. It's a Spanish rose, made with garnacha, and you can find it almost anywhere wine is sold. I took this to a barbecue a couple of weeks ago, where there several people who like wine but who were intimidated by it. They're the kind of people who never want to tell me what they like, because they're afraid I'll belittle their choice. "You're the expert," they say. "You tell us what to drink."

Which makes me crazy, because everyone should drink what they want to drink. So I bring pink wine like the de Caceres in situations like this, because no one believes I drink white zinfandel. And pink wine still means white zinfandel to too many Americans.

Then, they taste the wine, and discover that it's full of strawberry fruit, is bone dry, offers great value, and is barbecue friendly on a 100-degree Texas afternoon. So I've accomplished two things: First, they've learned something about a new style of wine. Second, they've learned not to judge the wine before they drink it. What more can the Wine Curmudgeon ask for?

wine reviews, wine of the week, Spanish wine, $10 wine, cheap wine, inexpensive wine, Marques de Caceras, rose

Memorial Day wine and rose

Memorial Day traditionally marks the beginning of summer, so what better time to discourse on rose -- one of the Wine Curmudgeon's favorites and a style of wine that is too often overlooked?

The quality of rose has improved dramatically over the last decade. I don’t know that I have actually tasted a poorly made rose in the past couple of years. Some of them have been too expensive, but that’s another story. Usually, you can buy quality rose for $10, and often less.

The most important thing to know about rose is that it isn’t white zinfandel (or white merlot or whatever); roses are pink wines made with red grapes, and roses aren’t sweet. Why are they pink? Because the red grape skins are left in the fermenting grape juice just long enough to color the wine. That's how all wine gets its color, in fact. White wine is white because the skins aren't used to color the wine.

More, after the jump: