Wine review: Les Jamelles Sauvignon Blanc 2006

The French, who once supplied the world with quality cheap wine, have been mostly supplanted by the Australians and the Chileans over the past decade. This has caused not just consternation within the French wine industry, but serious financial difficulty.

Some producers, realizing the crisis, have made significant changes to their products. They use better quality grapes, have upgraded their production techniques, and have adjusted their pricing to compete with $7 bottles of Yellow Tail. They understand that consumers will not pay a 10 or 20 percent premium because the wine label has some French on it.

Case in point is the Les Jamelles, one of the finest $10 sauvignon blancs — one of the finest sauvignon blancs at any price — that I have tasted in a long while. This is French sauvignon blanc the way it used to be — cheap, tasty and complete. There’s hardly any citrus, because Les Jamelles understands that French wine is not supposed to taste like New Zealand wine. It does have some tropical flavor,  mostly pineapple, as well as the minerality that French sauvignon blancs are supposed to have. A tip of the hat to Glenn Verk at Central Market for telling me about this.

Drink this, chilled, on its own, or with seafood, salads or grilled chicken.

Who knew that $295,385 seems like less than $295,000 when it comes to home pricing?

Selling or buying a home in today’s supposedly turbulent market? Check out this recent story in the Wall Street Journal, which offers a few interesting tips about pricing a home from a strategic standpoint. For example, which is a better price for your $300,000 home: $295,000 or $295,385? You might be surprised to know that $295,000, according to the story, conveys "quality" while $295,385 might indicate a "bargain," meaning that the higher number might actually be the more effective one in a competitive market. That’s just one of the conclusions in the story, which contains some ideas that would work just as easily at Saturday’s garage sale, too…

DISD trustees rally behind upcoming $1.3 billion bond package

Lacking a commitment from just one of the nine trustees, the DISD school board is expected at its Thursday meeting to approve placing a $1.3 billion school bond package before voters May 10. As late as a couple of weeks ago, a couple of trustees were wavering on approving the bond package until completion of a district-wide financial audit. The audit results haven’t been released, and may not be available for a couple of months according to Wednesday’s DMN story, but there was concern that likely negative conclusions regarding DISD’s financial stewardship — if released during the run-up to the bond vote — might be embarrassing for DISD and, by extension, trustees pushing for the vote. But some behind-the-scenes discussion apparently assured trustees that no criminal activities are going to exposed in the audit; just indications that DISD should tighten its financial reporting procedures. Only trustee Carla Ranger is holding back on endorsing the bond package, according to the News, but Rangel said she expected to have her decision ready to Thursday. Former Mayor Ron Kirk is one of the campaign’s chairmen; the package includes funds for 15 new or replacement schools, 12 additions to existing schools, and renovations to other campuses.

It’s official: Cell-phone ban in school zones is approved by council

Perhaps not surprisingly, the city council today approved a ban on hand-held cell phone use in school zones and authorized spending $144,000 to erect 2,623 signs in the 651 city school zones, according to a DMN article. (The money is expected to be generated from $200 fines for violating the law; simple math says police probably will initially feel some city-induced pressure to write 720 tickets to make sure the policy is budget-neutral. That’s about one violation per school zone.)

If you think about it, voting against this measure would have been like voting against mom and apple pie (I guess Chevrolet probably isn’t appropriate here anymore). The News article says Mayor Tom Leppert acknowledged research that indicates cellphone bans don’t really work and can even waste government resources; he said it’s worth giving the policy a chance and that the council may review the policy later to see if it’s working. (Too bad he didn’t follow that thought process before gutting the city’s Verified Alarm System policy a few months ago.)

Somehow, I don’t see any council members — now or in the future — willing to fall on their swords and vote out the policy. This is a policy that will never go away, no matter how effective or ineffective it eventually becomes — it will be just too politically charged to disappear. Anyway, the ban doesn’t include the wired-in Bluetooth phones or behind-the-ear models, just the hand-held ones.

Question DISD’s chief reformer at Thursday’s Public School People meeting

Arnold Viramontes, DISD’s chief transformation officer, will be talking about DISD plans Thursday from 11:30-12:30 p.m. Among his duties: overseeing maintenance, missing books, not enough supplies, and the like. He’ll speak briefly and then answer questions from the come-as-you-are crowd. The meeting ends promptly at 12:30 p.m.; you’re welcome to bring lunch. Meeting place is the North Dallas Chamber, Preston and Royal, behind the banks. The meetings are free, and everyone is welcome.

Hair o’ the dog and crust of the quiche

Ever wake up on a Sunday at the crack of noon with a fuzzy head and a grumbling gut? If so, Kitchen 1924 (1924 Abrams Road) has just the thing for you. (If not, give yourself a pat on the back and keep reading because this is a good deal.)

A rebate rant

On this morning’s local news, I caught the tail end of a piece on rebate gimmicks. I have an intense aversion to the REBATE, which to me equals hassle, frustration and commercial deviousness. I used to be mercifully naive regarding the whole rebate process – until last Christmas when I bought two T-mobile cell phones at a “steal after the $50 rebates” (according to the clerk at my friendly Gaston Avenue T-Mobile store).

An inside look at Trader Joe’s

We’ve had a lot of interest in Trader Joe’s here, so I thought I would link to this Business Week article. The company does not usually discuss itself, so the tidbits here are quite interesting. Note, too, that there is nothing in the piece about expansion.

Immediately impound vehicles driven by the uninsured? That’s Rasansky’s plan for Dallas.

Here’s a good idea that’s sure to be dragged behind the figurative car for a bit before it’s resolved: According to the Morning News and WFAA-TV, councilman Mitch Rasansky has suggested in writing to Mayor Tom Leppert that Dallas police be empowered to immediately impound cars found to be driven by people who can’t produce proof of insurance. Fellow councilmen signing the memo were Jerry Allen, Sheffie Kadane, Linda Koop and Ron Natinsky — enough signatories that the News says automatically requires council discussion of the idea.

"We need to send a message that this is not acceptable," Rasansky told the News.

Starbucks closing early tonight

If you’re anticipating an after-work Starbucks fix … you better leave the office early. At 5:30 p.m. all Starbucks locations around the globe will close for 3 hours of barista training. Luckily we have plenty of great coffee shops around East Dallas (i.e Legal Grounds, 2015 Abrams) to keep us sufficiently caffinated.