The Wine Curmudgeon

Why blind tasting is the most important thing in the world

The Wine Curmudgeon writes a lot about blind tasting and why it matters. Nothing demonstrates this more than what happened when I judged The Dallas Morning News competition earlier this month, where I was able to put my foot firmly in my mouth.

I can't tell you the wine involved here; the results are embargoed until April 15. But I can tell you that my panel gave a gold medal to an absolutely lovely pinot gris. It was easily one of the best wines we tasted over two days and 200 entries -- fresh, crisp and balanced. It tasted much more expensive than it actually is.

So imagine my surprise when I found out what the wine was. That's because I had tasted this wine last fall, as a winery sample, and I was not impressed. I wrote in my notes (on CellarTracker, the unofficial wine inventory software of the Wine Curmudgeon): "It's OK, though it would offer more value at a lower price. Bright fruit and some acid, but it tastes almost manipulated to get it to a certain flavor profile."

That's why blind tasting is essential. I don't know that I had made up my mind before I tasted the sample that I wasn't going to like it, but I do remember looking for flaws more intensely than usual. Maybe I was more cranky than normal, maybe I was suspicious of the brand. Who knows? But the price I paid was to dismiss a quality wine, and that's my loss. Life is too short, and there isn't enough good wine, to throw one away just because you're having a bad tasting day.

The photo is from Jeremy Doorten of Alberta, Saskatchewan, via stock.xchng, using a Creative Commons license

blind tasting

Wine tasting season, 2010

This is wine tasting season, when winemakers, wine publicists, and wine sales people hit the road to show retailers, writers and bloggers their new products. I have done a couple of these things already, but the fun really gets underway this week and will last through the end of spring.

On Thursday, the Wine Curmudgeon gets to taste Penfolds Grange, the Aussie cult wine -- and will the earth stop rotating when that happens? The next two weeks are already mostly booked, including a very spiffy red Burgundy event. Don't worry, though. There is plenty of cheap wine on tour as well, and I tasted one recently that I will be writing about next week.

Wine Curmudgeon, wine tasting season

The French pinot noir scandal

A French court has sentenced 12 members of the country's wine trade for selling pinot noir that wasn't pinot noir, and which was bought by industry heavyweight Gallo for its Red Bicyclette brand.

The reaction around the world has been fascinating -- one of the guilty French blamed U.S. consumers for the crime, while the British press has also been laughing at our wine ineptitude. And in the U.S.? Hardly a murmur. Which, of course, isn't surprising, since so few wine writers in this country bother themselves with writing about wines that people actually drink.

Gallo, as has been noted, was as much a victim as anyone who bought its wine, and was not implicated in the crime. The company says the fake pinot has been pulled from shelves. After the jump, a few thoughts about the scandal:

The final bottle of Solaz

The weather in Dallas was quite unseasonable last week -- some 12 inches of snow in a 24-hour period Thursday and Friday, or about the same amount of snow that we get in five normal winters. That would have been bad enough, but the Wine Curmudgeon lost power from about mid-afternoon on Thursday until mid-afternoon on Friday.

Needless to say, I was crankier than usual (and lucky, since many parts of Dallas were without power through this morning). Making me even crankier? No heat, and I was quite cold, despite two heavy shirts, two pairs of socks, sweatpants, a bulky sweater and a scarf.

When the power returned on Friday, just in time for dinner, I knew what had to be done. It was time to drink my final bottle of Solaz. More, after the jump:

Darryl Beeson, the Wine Guy

One of the great moments of the Wine Curmudgeon's career came during my semi-regular appearances on Darryl Beeson's all too short-lived Dallas radio show. Every Sunday afternoon, Darryl would lead travel expert Kevin Kalley and myself through two hours of wine, food and travel.  Darryl actually made me sound knowledgeable.

Darryl died last week at 54, after complications following a car accident. He will be much missed.

One of the best things about this business is that there are so many good people in it. When I started writing about wine, Darryl was one of the leading wine experts in Dallas. He had worked for many of the top restaurants in town, and his work had appeared in a variety of prestigious publications. He knew everyone, and everyone knew Darryl. He was The Wine Guy, always nattily attired in sport coat and bow tie.

But Darryl always had time for people like me, then and now. I called him once when I was starting out to ask him if Beaujolais was a part of Burgundy. It's a simple question, but Darryl was happy to answer it, and he explained the differences to me without getting annoyed. I'm grateful we chatted on the phone about a month ago, and he was as generous as always with his kind words and advice.

His old pal Jim White, who runs the Savor Dallas wine festival and gave Darryl his start on radio in the 1990s, said it best: Darryl was a good soul, and there weren't many like him.

Darryl Beeson