The Wine Curmudgeon

Wine of the week: McPherson Cellars La Herencia 2009

The key to success for regional wine is not so much about quality or even pricing. It's about producing wine that reflects the place where it is made. Regional wine will never be successful if it's nothing more than a knockoff of what's being done elsewhere -- and where it's being done better, as well.

That's why the best regional wine has a sense of terroir, whether it's a New York riesling, a Missouri norton, or a Virginia viognier. The top producers in those states know they have to compete with California, but they have also realized they don't have to do it on California's terms. They can do it on their terms.

That's what we've finally figured out in Texas. There has been a revolution in the past five years, with growers and winemakers embracing warm climate grapes in a way I never thought possible. Today, we have quality wines made with tempranillo, roussanne, syrah, sangiovese, blanc du bois, black Spanish, and viognier -- grapes better suited for the Texas terroir than the traditional French varietals. Even the state's biggest producers, who can sell (and need to sell) chardonnay and cabernet sauvignon because they're in grocery stores, are using these new varietals to produce fascinating wines.

One of the best examples of the revolution is McPherson's La Herencia ($14, sample), a tempranillo blend that has the Spanish grape's varietal characteristics yet retains a Texas quality. It's richer and more full than a Rioja, the best-known tempranillo from Spain, with more red fruit. But it's not too fruity or too tannic or too alcoholic, like so many California wines.

Serve this with barbecue, almost any main course with rice (like jambalaya), and even some roast or grilled chicken dishes. Availability will be limited outside of Texas.

My 47-word regional wine week essay

DrinkLocalWine is holding a 47-word essay contest to promote Regional Wine Week, which starts Sunday. My effort is below. It's not as good as Dave McIntyre's (but don't worry -- Dave, my partner in locapour, can't win any of the terrific prizes we have this year). But I think it's better than my haiku last year.

The average August temperature in Texas is in the 90s, and 100 and higher is common. The Burgundy average temperature is 68. What's more surprising: That we have so much trouble growing chardonnay and pinot noir or that it only took 20 years to figure this out?

Texas Twitter Tuesday

Yes, the Wine Curmudgeon is going to tweet live on Tuesday, part of a weekly feature used to spread the word about Texas wine. We'll start at 7 p.m. and will twitter about the Texas Wine Garden at the State Fair, Texas Wine Month in October, and DrinkLocalWine's Regional Wine Week.

Visitors are welcome, so stop by and say hello; we'll be tasting three Texas wines. If you want to follow the fun on Twitter, I'm @wine_curmudgeon, and the event's hash tag is #TXwine. Also, Russ Kane and Denise Fraser, who put this thing together, have set up a Tweetchat room for #TXwine Twitter Tuesdays at tweetchat.com/room/TXwine.

This tweeting thing should be interesting. First, I don't do it very often, so keeping my pungent witticisms to 140 characters will be a challenge. Second, I'm told the Twitter-sphere for this event can get very caustic, and that only the manliest of men and womanliest of women can survive the heckling. Will I be curmudgeonly enough?

State Fair wine update

Friday morning update: How about some video? There's a 15-second commercial in the front, but after that, the Wine Curmudgeon and Channel 11's Garry Seith talking about Texas wine. Plus, I'll be back at the Fair this afternoon for some more Channel 11.

Set those digital recorders. The Wine Curmudgeon will be on Dallas' Channel 11, sometime after 5:30 a.m. on Friday, to talk about the Texas wine garden and wine stage at the State Fair of Texas. I'm told I'll even get a chance to display my corkscrew skills.

And, no, that's not too early to drink wine.

Texas wine at the State Fair of Texas

The Texas wine garden at the State Fair of Texas, and the interviews that we do on the wine stage, is one of the Wine Curmudgeon's two or three favorite events. John Bratcher, my partner in Two Wine Guys, and I interview Texas winemakers, sommeliers, wine personalities (and even wine writers) about Texas wine: what's good, what's bad, and what still needs to be done.

It's all about bringing wine to the people, which is something that I believe in strongly and that the wine business could mostly care less about. Is it any fun being heckled by a bunch of drunks during halftime of the Texas-Oklahoma football game? Nope. But it's worth it if just one person comes away from the fair with the understanding that wine is not difficult, and that regional wine is legitimate.

Which is why this is a very difficult post to write, since this year's event looks like it will be the last one that we do. More, after the jump:

Thank you, Texas Legislature, for a job well done

Texas is facing one of the most serious crises in its history, and no, it's not the wildfires consuming the state, the years-long drought that has helped cause many of the wildfires, or even our on-going budget crisis.

It's the breakup of the Big 12 athletic conference. How does the Wine Curmudgeon know this is so serious? The Legislature, which usually approaches state government as if it needs to hurry up and get home, open a beer, and sit in front of the TV in its t-shirt, is actually concerned and threatening action. The governor and lieutenant governor even issued statements.

This is the same legislature, of course, that eliminated $4.3 million over two years in state funding for the Texas wine industry. Gone is the money spent on research, including key efforts to determine which grapes are best for Texas. Gone are the marketing dollars that helped make the Texas one of the top wine tourism destinations in the country. Gone are most of the state employees who helped make Texas the fifth biggest wine producer in the country. It was all part of the 40 percent cut to the agriculture department's budget. More, after the jump:

Kerrville Wine and Music Festival 2011

Eight things I learned while speaking at the 2011 Kerrville Wine and Music Festival:

1. The Saturday panel was introduced by Rod Kennedy to mark the festival's 20th anniversary. Being on a panel introduced by Rod Kennedy is a very, very big deal

2. Gascon wine (in this case, a pleasant $10 retail bottle from a producer called Bidalere) keeps showing up in the oddest places, even at a wine bar in Kerrville. A wine bar, by the way, where the owner sells Texas beer, but makes a point of not selling Texas wine.

More, after the jump: