The Wine Curmudgeon

Wine of the week: 2006 Louis Latour Macon-Lugny Les Genievres

It's not often that one can find an $18 wine that will improve with age. These days, spend less than $30, and you'd better hurry up and drink it. It's as fruity and as interesting as it's going to get.

The Latour (about $18), though, is a welcome exception. It’s white Burgundy, which means chardonnay, and since it’s Macon, it means it wasn't aged in oak.

This wine is perfectly acceptable now, and the Wine Curmudgeon drank it last weekend (with mushroom and artichoke crepes – why are crepes so little appreciated?). It's still a little tight, with some spiciness typical of young white Burgundies. But let it sit for a year or two, and it will open up, becoming a fuller, richer, more complex wine. In fact, I’ll probably buy another bottle and let it sit for 12 months to see just what happens.

Technorati Tags: white wine,chardonnay,white Burgundy,Macon,Louis Latour

Riesling: It's OK to drink sweet wine

Sweet wine is much maligned – so much so, in fact, that wine snobs don’t like to admit they drink it. Instead, when they’re forced to quaff something sweet, they call if off dry.

This not fair. Yes, some sweet wine doesn’t taste a whole lot better than Coke laced with grain alcohol, but that’s no reason ignore it. And it’s not a sign of wine weakness to drink sweet wine. German rieslings, most of which are sweet, are some of the best-made wines in the world. They can age for decades, just like red wines from France and California, and they provide a wonderful sweet, lemony, stony flavor that can be addictive. Plus, they’re a lot less costly than other high end stuff.

What to look for in a sweet wine? Stick to white, because most sweet reds aren’t very interesting. Explore German riesling, especially those with the term auslese or spatlese on the label. They denote degrees of sweetness (the latter is less sweet than the former) and are only used on the best quality German wine.

Wine review: Drylands Sauvignon Blanc 2007

Drylands is a New Zealand sauvignon blanc (about $12) for people who don’t want too much of the citrusy, grapefruit flavor that has made this style of white wine famous. The grapefruit is there, of course, but it isn’t quite as big, and there is also a welcome dollop of pineapple in the middle. Plus, it has a more interesting finish than other wines at this price, which don’t offer much more than the first burst of grapefruit.

Highly recommended for price and quality. Serve the Drylands with grilled shrimp, raw oysters or steamed mussels (using the wine to steam the mussels).

Technorati Tags: Drylands,sauvignon blanc,New Zealand wine,white wine,inexpensive wine

Wine of the week: Smoking Loon Old Vine Zinfandel 2006

Frankly, the Wine Curmudgeon didn’t think he’d like this. So what happened when I tasted it? I was quite taken with its quality – a well-made, varietally-correct zinfandel for about $8 at most grocery stores. It’s hard to beat that (and proves, once again, not to pre-judge wine).

Unlike some zinfandels, the Smoking Loon wasn’t especially fruity. I’m beginning to think that lack of fruit is a function of the 2006 vintage in California, since this wasn’t the first time I’ve noticed it. But this was not a problem, since the wine was spicy and brambly –- just the way zinfandel should be. It’s a contender for next year’s $10 Hall of Fame. Serve this with barbecue, pizza and burgers.

Technorati Tags: Smoking Loon,zinfandel,$10 wine,cheap wine

Roses: The good, the best, and the better

If it’s summer and you have $10, you can buy a pretty good rose – and sometimes even get change back. In fact, this may be the best rose season in memory. The Wine Curmudgeon can’t remember when he has seen more quality pink wine at an affordable price.

For some reason, the slowing economy and the weak dollar, which have pushed up a variety of other wine prices, haven’t done the same for rose. In addition, the “rose is hip, so let’s charge $20 a bottle” trend, which has been big the past couple of summers, seems to be running out of steam. There are still pink wines that cost that much, but the focus has returned to where it should be – quality stuff for $15 and much less.

Wine review: Rosenblum Cellars Pickett Road Vinyard Petite Sirah 2006

The Wine Curmudgeon likes petite sirah a lot. The grape isn’t well known, it usually offers lots of value (see the Bogle petite sirah), and it’s mostly a dark, interesting wine that isn’t as over the top as shiraz. It should be noted here that petite sirah and syrah and shiraz are related, but not the same grape, and that it's actually the U.S. version of a French cross called durif.

So it wasn’t difficult to enjoy this wine, made by Kent Rosenblum, the wine world’s most famous veterinarian and one of its newest millionaires. The Pickett Road has a chocolate and almost chalky finish, with big cherry fruit in the front. I prefer a little darker style of petite sirah, with less bright flavors. But these grapes come from the Napa Valley, and I suppose this is what happens when one uses luscious, rich Napa fruit to make petite sirah. I paired it with a smoked turkey breast for a July 4 barbecue, and it was quite effective.

The drawback? This is a $25 wine, which is a bit pricey for what it offers. It’s well made, certainly, but you run into all sorts of metaphysical pricing questions when a wine costs this much. Such as: Should one spend $25 for a petite sirah?

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Wine of the week: Rene Barbier Mediterranean White NV

My specialty is $10 wine, but even I'm surprised when I find quality wine for much less than $10. Below that price, producers are more concerned with profit margins than with quality, and much-sub $10 wine tastes like it. The reds are harsh and raw, and the whites are green and unripe. The alternative is sugaring the wine to mask those flavors, and that brings unpleasantness all its own.

Which is why I was stunned to find the Barbier ($4.99 at World Market) during my research for a $6 wine story that will run in the Star-Telegram in Fort Worth next week. It's terrific -- clean and crisp, with lemon, some minerality and a floral aroma. It’s made with the same grapes used in Spanish sparkling wine like Cristalino, though it tastes quite different. Serve it as a porch sipper or with anything made with garlic and parsley. It will also pair well with Fourth of July grilled chicken. One caveat: Make sure it's well chilled. The warmer the wine gets, the thinner and less interesting it tastes.

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Fourth of July wine

Wine on the Fourth of July, you ask? And the Wine Curmudgeon asks, why not? What pairs better with barbecue, grilled chicken and other July 4-style foods?

Here are three wines that will go with whatever is on your Independence Day Menu:

Wine of the week: Robert Skalli South of France Chardonnay 2006

French wine, regardless of quality, has become ridiculously expensive. (Think weak dollar.) So when I tasted this chardonnay last week at a Skalli wine lunch, I could hardly wait to write about it.

It's well-made. It combines classic French style with a touch of New World green apple fruit. And, at $18, it's not ridiculously expensive.

How does winemaker Laurent Sauvage do it? He uses grapes from a less expensive region of France, the Languedoc, and can pick and choose which grapes to use to ensure the best quality. Because he is French, he understands the proper use of oak. Combine all that with vineyard management techniques that focus on maintaining acid levels instead of getting high alcohol, and you have a winner.

How big a hit was this wine? We had eight wines to choose from for lunch, and almost everyone picked the chardonnay. We ate it with chicken breasts in a dill sauce, and it was a smash.

Technorati Tags: Robert Skalli wines,chardonnay,white wine,French wine,the Languedoc,wine reviews

Wine review: LiVeli Negroamaro Passamante 2005

Some of the best cheap wine in the world today is coming out of Italy. This is interesting for a number of reasons, not the least of which is that the Italians suffer from the same weak dollar problems that affect everyone else. It's amazing what a producer can do when they want to sell something, isn't it?

Of course, there are a couple of other reasons for the price. The LiVeli (about $12) is made with the negroamaro grape in Salento, which means it's made with a little known grape in a little known region (the boot heel of the Italy), neither of which is going to drive up the price. The Wine Curmudgeon is quite thankful.

Negroamaro makes dark, inky red wine. But there is nothing unpleasant about this, as is sometimes the case with inexpensive wine. Rather, it's full and rich and almost black raspberry-ish (with, of course, a nice shot of Italian acidity). Best yet, it's not heavy. I drank it with cappellini tossed with quartered cherry tomatoes just out of the garden, basil, chopped garlic and olive oil, and the sweetness of the tomatoes made a wonderful foil for the wine.

One note: The 2007 should arrive in the U.S. later this summer. I'd buy the 2005 and put the 2007 away for another nine months. It should just get better. How often can you say that about an inexpensive wine?

Technorati Tags: wine reviews,LiVeli Negroamaro Passamante,Italian wine,red wine