http://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=7698
--- Comment #142 from th th@zirkonium.net 2008-09-24 23:33:32 --- Yes, it's not exactly "stable" patch since you have to change it for every Steam game (identifier as HL2MP for hl2 for example...).
However since this is really fatal bug with high-profile family of games, Wine developers should try to do a proper patch for this already.
I understand fixing this right is hard though as (if i got it right) this originates from a bug in the Source engine/Windows font library and Freetype guys are not really interested in replicating Windows bugs... :-)