vintagetexas

A Morning in Houston with Drops of Golden Dew: Dotson-Cervantes Gotas de Oro

It was 9:30 on a weekday morning when the door bell rang. I expected this as, the evening before, I received a call from Alphonse Dotson. He said that he and his wife Martha were  going to be in Houston visiting his Mother. They were on the verge of releasing their first wine and wanted to stop by to visit with my wife Delia and me.

Alphonse and Martha arrived at our home in central Houston on a sunny, dew-laden morning.  We leisurely sat in our living room as we tasted their new wine, the first under the Wines of Dotson-Cervantes label with the fascinating name “Gotas de Oro”. The name was a contribution by Martha which translates to “Drops of Gold” from her native Spanish.

As we relaxed and talked about friends, family and common acquaintances, I poured the wine that was well described by its name. The silky yellow liquid poured from the bottle with the color of golden drops of morning dew. The initial taste was pure tropical expression with sweet, very ripe pineapple with afollow-on of apricot and nectarine. Perfumed jasmine aromatics arose from the glass. The finish included a hint of musk. This was really one complex wine; quite an accomplishment for the couple’s first commercial wine.

More at: http://vintagetexas.com/blog/?p=1229

Tags: Texas, wine, Dotson-Cervantes, Gotas de Oro, Mustcat Canelli, Certenberg Vineyards, Alphonse Dotson

Congrats to a Colorado Winemaker; A Tip of the Hat to a Colorado Restaurateur

Last week I had the occasion to travel up to and out west of Denver. With the summer of 2009 nearly over, but with lingering waves of heat still coming off our hot Houston payment, flying to Colorado was like escaping from three months held hostage in a Turkish bath. The mountains gave me a breath of crisp, clean air and a little rejuvenation of my psyche, as well.

On the return leg of my trip, I arrived at the Denver airport with some time to spare and it was approaching dinner time. Fearing what culinary delights the airline might (or might not) decide to offer, I sought a good eating spot in the airport; not fast food, but rather something that would fulfill and provide enjoyment. I finally settled on a comfortable looking place called The Timberline: Steaks and Grill (www.denverpost.com/business/ci_5840999). Thoughts of a nicely grilled steak (and dry aged beef to boot!) permeated by mind and, as I walked into the restaurant, the smells overtook  my senses. The net result was a near instantaneous desire for a glass of red wine.

After being seated, I asked the waiter for the wine list while my mind was mulling around thoughts of what kind of red wine I might order to go with my steak. When I was handed the wine list and I gave it a quick glance, in mere seconds my eyes bugged out and my head nearly exploded. What could have caused such a reaction?

What left me aghast was the sight of four Colorado wines listed at the top of red wine category on the wine list. They were four wines from Colorado’s Bonacquisti Winery (www.denverwines.com).

More details at: http://vintagetexas.com/blog/?p=1159

Tags: Texas, Colorado, wine, restaurant, local wine, Bonacquisti, Cabernet Franc, Timberline, Denver, airport

Texas Festivals and Fairs Feature Local Wine and Food

2009 5th Annual Texas FallFest and Wine Auction - October 2-4, 2009

“Sunset Stroll” with Texas Winemakers - Friday, October 2nd; Sip, savor and stroll at the 3rd Annual “Chef’s Taste-Off”.

“Cellaring the Best” Dinner and Wine Auction - Saturday, October 3rd; III Forks Executive Chef Jaimie Gutierrez and his sizzling steaks served right off the grill!
  
“Farm to Table & Wine Fair” - Sunday, October 4th
Featuring Chef Paul Petersen of Rick’s Steakhouse “Beefing it up on the Grill”.  Plan to be entertained by the lively banter of Tiffany Collins of the Texas Beef Council and “Miss Jane” Nickles of the Texas Culinary Academy as guests taste samples of Chef Petersen’s grilled beef selections on the “Fare Grounds” of Fall Creek Vineyards in Tow, Texas, on Lake Buchanan.

More information at: http://vintagetexas.com/blog/?p=1145 

Austin County Fair: First Ever Non-Commercial Winemakers Show

There’s a new event at this year’s Austin County Fair....A Winemakers Contest.The Austin County Grape Growers Committee along with the Austin County Fair Board is inviting all amateur or home wine makers to enter the inaugural Austin County Fair Non-Commercial Wine Show.  The judging and show will take place on Saturday, October, 2009, prior to the opening of the Austin County Fair.  Any non commercial or amateur winemaker is encouraged to enter.  Participants in the show are not limited to the number of entries. 

For more information on the fair, contest rules and entry form at:

http://vintagetexas.com/blog/?p=1150

Tags: Texas, wine, festival, county fair, cuisine, food, wine competition, Austin County, FallFest, Hill Country

Barbaresco and Barolo, But Don’t Forget Dolcetto, Barbera and the Whites

I could not remember my previous experience with wine made from Nebbiolo, but study and reading prepared my expectations of its dark, tannic qualities. Our drive along the Tanaro River northeast from Alba was directed at the commune of Barbaresco as a starting point.

It was apparent that the previous day’s nebbia left on cat’s feet (as Sandburg would say) during the darkness of night yielding the yellow warmth of the morning sunrise at the Hotel Langhe near the center of Alba. The winding road up the Barbaresco hillside offered picturesque vineyards holding ripening grape clusters soon to submit fruity, sweet liquid at the Producttori del Barbaresco.

We worked our way down to the commune of Castiglioni Falletto just east of Barolo during the warming early afternoon. Our next stop was at the Paolo Scavino estate where we were greeted by Eliza Scavino, granddaughter of the founder Paulo.

2005 Bric del Fiasc (Single Vineyard Barolo): The modern history of the Scavino family started with this vineyard, within the Fiasco cru, when in 1978 young Enrico Scavino convinced his father Paolo to vinify these grapes separately. This vineyard has been produced as a monopole since that time. Here the Nebbiolo grapes always seem to be the best.

More at: http://vintagetexas.com/blog/?p=1138

Tags:  Alba, Antica Torre, Arneis, Barbaresco, Barbera, Barolo, Bingham Vineyards, Castiglioni Falletto, chardonnay, Dolcetto, Hotel Langhe, Italy, Langhe, Mandola, Nebbiolo, Paolo Scavino, Piedmont, Piemonte, Producttori del Barbaresco, restaurant, Sauvignon Blanc, tasting, Texas, Viognier, winery

Wine Road through Provence and Piemonte

Looking at the World through a Glass of Rosé
Looking around this place, it has characteristics like many places on the Texas Gulf Coast: Wind-blown palm trees, blooming bougainvillea, and cadres of dogs on leash and bikini-clad beach goers. One of the most obvious differences discernible to wineophiles visiting the French Cote d’Azur is the flow of dry pink wine. It is made from sun-loving Grenache, Cinsault and Mourvedre grapes. At street side cafés, it is chilled and served by the glass complete with an outer coating of condensed moist air. More at: http://vintagetexas.com/blog/?p=1118

Barolo & Barbaresco: Where the Nebbia and Nebbiolo Hang
Our goal for the day was to reach Alba, the town at the heart of the Nebbiolo grape growing region pinned on its western and eastern flanks by Barolo and Barbaresco, respectively. A lingering mystery of the Nebbiolo grape of the Piemonte region is why this grape has not produced wines of similar characteristics and intensity in other wine regions around the world. The reason given by the locals for the success of Nebbiolo in the area around Alba are the special soils and microclimate of the region. More at: http://vintagetexas.com/blog/?p=1124

Tags: France, Italy, Texas, Rose, Barolo, Barbaresco, wine, travel, tasting, vineyard

The Judgment of Houston Redux

With all of the talk about our recent Drink Local Wine Conference and Texas Twitter Taste-Off, I have had many emails that ask about other times that Texas wines have gone head-to-head with top rated (90+) wines from other parts of the known world. About a year ago, I posted a three part blog mini-series about a wine competition that I organized in Houston in 2004 that became known as the “Judgment of Houston”. The highlights from that blog series are given below with links back to the complete articles.

In reflection, I think that Texas wines have evolved in the positive direction since 2005 when we held that taste-off. Overal quality of the wines in the Texas Twitter Taste-Off was excellent.

Tags: Texas, wine, competition, blind tasting, compare, best Texas wine, top rating

http://vintagetexas.com/blog/?p=1111

Write Off the Vine: Texas Wine News - August 24, 2009

Great Grape Stomp Off in New Braunfels, Texas and Win Free Tickets

Win Free Tickets to this event on VintageTexas.com - Send us a short description  (up to 150 words) of your favorite vineyard/winery/home grape harvesting experience. The winners will be selected to receive a set of two tickets for the Great Grape Stomp Off event. That is a $50 value - each ticket is worth $25. Two winners will be chosen (two tickets for each winner) and they will receive a winners certificate by email and their tickets will be at 'will call' at the event. Post your best grape harvest experience in the comments section of this blog. Winners will be noftified by Tuesday, September 8, 2009. Email addresses will be held in confidence and will only be used to notify the winners.

More: Texas wine grape industry continues growth, Holy Sh*t! They can make wine in Texas!, Wines.com: Purchase Top Wines from Texas priced from $20, Real Texas Wine Tour

At: http://vintagetexas.com/blog/?p=1106

Tags: Texas, wine, grape, harvest, picking, stomping, purchase, California, comments, ticket, giveaway

Last weekend I attended the GO TEXAN DrinkLocalWine.com Conference (www.drinklocalwine.com) and Twitter Taste-Off (http://vintagetexas.com/blog/?p=1083) and the Texas Sommelier Conference (www.texsom.com) in Dallas Texas. As my previous blog posts have indicated, it was a wild ride. It was hot Texas summer sun outside, but cool refreshing wines inside at both events.

Even though I was in charge of the Texas Twitter Taste-Off event, I was able still to rattle off around one hundred comments on Twitter from Friday through Sunday morning. You can search the hashtags #DLW09 and #Texsom for all the raw Twitter feed from the all the attendees. Interestingly enough, Twitter became my default notebook for the weekend with contributions from my PC (via TweetDeck - http://tweetdeck.com/beta) during the conference and taste-off, and from by phone during Texsom.

Twitter and Blogs ROCK! Twitter Search #DLW09, #Texsom and #TXwine

1. Tweets Say: Texas can be proud of its wines.
2. Organic wine in Texas? Kind Off
3. What’s new in Texas wines? Quality Wine and wine sales in dry counties
4. What does “For for sale in Texas Only” on the bottle mean? Not Texas grapes
5. If not Cabernet or Chardonnay, then what? Temrpanillo, Malbec and Viognier
6. Need more Texas grapes.  only 4000 acres
7. Need more Texas Farm to Table Menus with Texas Wine - Sommeliers need awareness 
8. Still Lots of Surprises to be Had - New wineries making damn good juice
9. Sweet Wine can be a Serious Wine - Madeira Blanc du Bois top vote getter
10. Who is Robert Parker Anyway? Do Millennials Care?

Details, winning wines and more at: http://vintagetexas.com/blog/?p=1094

Write-Off the Vine: Texas Wine News - Texas Twitter Taste-Off and More

DrinkLocalWine.com First-ever Conference Sold Out- Follow on Twitter (search #DLW09)

DrinkLocalWine.com focuses on North American wine that isn’t made in California and the Pacific Northwest. It will hold its first-ever conference and tasting on Aug. 15 in Dallas and its SOLD OUT! This year’s event the GO TEXAN DrinkLocalWine.com Conference will focus on Texas wine and feature some of the state’s best wines, top winemakers, and leading growers.

The conference will include three seminars, focusing on trends in Texas wine, the distinctive grapes that Texans are using to make those wines, and how consumers can work to get more regional wines in stores and restaurants. The final event of the day will be a Texas Twitter Tasting, moderated by Russ Kane of VintageTexas (www.vintagetexas.com), where participants will be able to taste some of the state’s top wines and blog or Twitter at the same time. Check out the schedule at:
http://www.winecurmudgeon.com/dlwtest/2009-dlw-conference-schedule.html

Can’t get in or not in Dallas, do your tasting virtually by monitoring the Twitter feed and blogs from attendees starting Friday evening at the media reception and on the Saturday. They will taste and launch their comments on the event and impressions of the wines. To findout what’s hot in Texas wines, follow this feed during or after the event on Twitter by searching on the hashtag #DLW09 at: http://search.twitter.com.

Based on tasting and voting by attendees, the Texas Twitter Taste-Off will award wines in four categories: Red wine - dry, red wine - sweet, White wine (Rose) - dry and White wine (Rose) - sweet.

More at: http://vintagetexas.com/blog/?p=1065

Tags: Texas, wine, Drinklocalwine, Twitter, VintageTexas, tasting, follow, virtual, taste-off

Time to Saddle Up for the 2009 Harvest Wine Trail

Win Tickets on This Year’s Hill Country Harvest Trail

Two Weekends Aug 14-16 & 21-23 , 2009

The verve of the wine industry in The Texas Hill Country begins each year in August with the birth of the next vintage. You are invited to savor the sight, sound, smell and taste of Harvest with the Texas Hill Country Wineries. Make your plans to join the 2009 Harvest Wine Trail, August 14-16 and 21-23, and enjoy a wealth of opportunities to immerse yourself in the experience and lifestyle of harvest.

Tell us Your Personal Wine  Experiences and Win Trail Tickets (two sets of two tickets will be given away) 

VintageTexas would like to hear more about your first grape harvest, wine making experiences, or winery visit.  A lot of you have backyard/garage wine making stories or ones about your great-grandparents. Post your comments on this blog [click the balloon icon in the upper right side of the page next to the title to go to the comments page]. To leave your comment, you will have to input your name and email address, but your email address will not appear online or otherwise be used without your permission. Deadline for submission of your Texas wine experience comments is Tuesday, August 11, 2009. The coments submitted will be reviewed the winners will be selected to receive a set of two tickets. The winners will be notified by email on August 12th. The sets of tickets will be provided from Texas Hill Country Wineries (www.texaswinetrail.com). These tickets are good for activities at all participating wineries on both weekends (See below for more event information and winery activities).

2009 Harvest Wine Trail Details at: http://vintagetexas.com/blog/?p=1055

Cowboys and Cabernet: Lone Star Wines Shine at California Conference
Mr. Parker, are you out there?

By Jane Nickles, Texas Culinary Academy – Austin, Texas
Guest Blog on VintageTexas

Howdy, y’all.  Jane Nickles here.  The toughest crowd I face is at the Annual Conference of the Society of Wine Educators (www.societyofwineeducators.org). SWE is a great organization…any of you interested in teaching wine courses at any level should check them out.  But just imagine…a room full of people who know enough about wine to teach it to other people.  Scary!  Now, take that room, populated with Master Sommeliers, Masters of Wine, and professional wine judges, and plop it in the middle of California Wine Country.  Then, take the stage and lead a tasting of Texas Wines! That’s just what I did last week.

We tasted the first Texas wine; the Brennan Vineyards (www.brennanvineyards.com) Viognier 2008 (Comanche County).  I am so proud that this wine was the first in the line-up and I think it stunned this California crowd, creating more than a few new  believers in the ways of Texas Wine.  They loved it.  Lemon, lime, green apple and apricot aromas, followed by honeysuckle, jasmine, honey, and almond flavors; all wrapped in voluptuous softness.  What’s not to love?

At the end of the session, one gentleman who at first had been ultra-resistant to the whole idea of Texas Wines summed up the feelings of the crowd by asking, “Why don’t you just get Robert Parker (www.erobertparker.com) to rate these wines?  That would get the word out, once and for all, about just how good Texas wines can be.”

See the entire line-up of twelve Texas wines at: http://vintagetexas.com/blog/?p=1058

Texas Wine News & Increase Your Wine Knowledge - A 10 Step Program

TEXSOM & Drink Local Wine Conference an Excellent wine two-fer in Dallas in mid-August

Grapevine’s Annual GrapeFest Celebrates the Best of Texas Wine Every September

Swindell Update - The adventures of newlyweds! I heard it through the grapevine

Obscure Wine Grapes: Carignan

The Future of Texas Wine

more at: http://vintagetexas.com/blog/?p=1041

Increase Your Wine Knowledge: A Ten Step Program

I recently saw an article that addressed this issue, but for beer. It was on the website www.accidentalhedonist.com. I decided to compose the following list with the necessary modifications making it applicable to people that want to increase their wine knowledge. Like many self-help activities, it’s a ten step program.

1.Get out of your comfort zone: Many highly visible wineries have common ownership and while having different names, may actually make wines that are similar. Also, if your idea of wine comes from the Wine Spectator or Wine Enthusiast you are missing about 80 of the known wine world that does not get mentioned in these publications. It’s time to get a new prespective

2.Avoid stereotypical wines: For starters, eliminate Chardonanny and Cabernet from your Lexicon for a while and seek out reds made from Tempranillo, Syrah, Grenache, and Barbera, and whites made from Viognier, Muscat, Riesling and Roussanne. Learn what qualities these wines express and you might find something really interesting.

more at: http://vintagetexas.com/blog/?p=1046

Tags: Texas, wine, news, knowledge, Texsom, Drink Local Wine, Conference, Carignan

I’m All Ears about Texas Wines and I am Giving Away Prizes

NOTE: The deadline to comment to this blog is August 2, 2009. Don’t delay.

You can win a free private tour and tasting for up to 25 people at Haak Vineyards (www.haakwine.com) or other prizes by telling me what your experience has been with Texas wines. To comment, simply click on the icon in the upper right side of this blog or go to http://vintagetexas.com/blog/?p=1022 and comment in the space provided at the bottom of the page.

Why We Get Excited about Texas Wine?

Texas is the fifth largest wine producing state and it has a long history on wine production going back to the Spanish settlers and missionaries in 17th centuries. While only one Texas winery, Val Verde Winery in Del Rio, Texas, successfully made it through the period of prohibition. It is now one of the oldest continuously operating wineries in North America.

 

Let me know what you think and become eligible to win prizes.

Examples of comments I am looking for are:

What has been your experience with Texas wines? The good or bad?
Have you walked in a Texas vineyard, tasted ripe grapes right off the vine, or helped harvest?
What do you think about the up and coming Texas wine experience?
Can you find the Texas wines you like at your favorite wine shop?
Have you tried to direct ship from a Texas winery to your home?
How do you think Texas wines compare with those from other wine regions?

Tell me what you like or what you don’t.

Grape Harvest Days are Here Again….in Texas!

It’s July, it’s Texas and again it is time to start the grape harvest. Can it be?

Compared to Texas, in most wine producing regions things happen at a much more leisurely pace. The vines push out their buds in May followed by the long slow process of grape formation and ripening through September and harvesting in October. However, here in Texas we have an impatient season.

Texas Like France?

As you may have heard, Texas is rather large being about the size of France. From north to south, it measures just about half the width of our whole contiguous lower forty-eight states. At its lower tip, Texas is farther south than Miami and in the north almost touches Colorado. Being mostly southward and generally in a warm region, vineyards start early and move at a torrid pace to harvest. The grapes being so eager for harvest here that they nearly scream at you with their lustrous ripeness saying, “Get me off the vine, darn it!”

Actually, in Texas the grape harvest starts in the southern region in early to mid-July. As you move up through Texas north and westward into somewhat less tropical surroundings in the Central Texas Hill Country the grape harvest may come slightly later during August. Only up in the high plains country around Lubbock and around the Guadalupe Mountains in the Trans-Pecos region does harvest come at a more normal pace and arrive in September.

Once the netting on the McCann’s vines was pulled back, the exposed, golden-hued Blanc du Bois grapes hung heavy in bunches mostly hiding under a shield of broad green grape leaves. The repeated harvesting process involved reaching under the bunch cradling it with one hand while drawing the blade of the knife with the other hand severing its life giving stem. However, we knew full well that where one life ended, another would begin. These clusters would have a second life as a cool quenching liquid to be enjoyed with good food, friends and family at a future time. Caroline and I continued this process while we continually leapfrogged our way down the rows past others pickers. We filled our personal bins that gained weight with our traverse. Occasionally it was necessary (maybe even mandatory) to stop and taste the crop. Of course, this was just to make sure that certain lots were meeting our own special standards for high quality fruit. Eventually, our bins were too heavy to carry so we drug them around until the tractor with a big white bin came by into which we dumped the freshly harvested grapes

More about our day in the vineyard and how to find a winery or vineyard near you to join in the fun, go to:

http://vintagetexas.com/blog/?p=985

Celebrate Texas Independence with a Glass of French Champagne

Texas history is rife with tales and legends. At times, it is hard to know the difference between historical fact and its embellishments. One such legend is of the “Yellow Rose of Texas”; but just the same, it has become ingrained in Texas lore.

April 1836 was a troublesome time for the Texians of the newly proclaimed Republic of Texas. The Alamo had fallen in San Antonio with all rebel forces killed or summarily executed, the Texian battalion in Goliad had been massacred, and the newly elected government was in flight from the Mexican forces. Sam Houston, in command of an untested volunteer army was busily conducting a strategic retreat to the east in the face of Santa Anna’s more seasoned troops, using the time to add to his forces and over extend the Mexicans line of supply.


For the rest of the story, go to: http://vintagetexas.com/blog/?p=975
 

Progressive dinner – A Taste of Salado, The Village of Salado
Tuesday night, August 4th, 2009, 5:45 pm

The businesses of Salado would like to invite you to a fantastic multi course experience that showcases the best of the best. All foods will be prepared locally and perfectly paired with outstanding Texas wines. As our guest, you will also be exposed to the arts of Salado, fabulous hospitality, and you will certainly savor the opportunity to familiarize yourself with the fabulous flavors of Salado. 

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A TEXSOM BENEFIT DINNER & AUCTION
presented by the Wine and Food Foundation of Texas

Sunday, July 19, 2009 6:00 PM – 9:00 PM at Mirabelle Restaurant - Austin, Texas
$85 Foundation Members $95 General Public

5 Celebrity Chefs, 5 Courses, 5 Mature Wines: A Special Evening Years in the Making. Featured Guest Sommeliers: Mark Sayre, Devon Broglie and Craig Collins.

More details, venue, menu and reservations at: http://vintagetexas.com/blog/?p=956

What Wine Goes with the Fourth of July?

On Saturday morning while watching our Fourth of July parade in Fredericksburg, Texas, I was wondering what wine would be appropriate for our national birthday party. In this day of modern electronic communications, what better consultant to have than www.Google.com.  Just like that, I had the obvious selection…Madeira!

One website, intowine.com (http://www.intowine.com/4th-july-wine-whats-ideal-wine-celebrate-independence-day) gave the simple justification featured below:

“There is one wine that surely must be the choice for the fourth of July – Madeira. Madeira is the wine that was used by the Founding Fathers to Toast the Declaration of Independence. Betsy Ross had a side table with a glass on it when she was sewing the flag. It was used to Toast the Constitution and George Washington drank a pint of Madeira every day for dinner. It is also very convenient because Madeira cannot be harmed by the hot sun and the July heat. I vote that Madeira be adopted as the OFFICIAL July 4th beverage. By the way, it is very important to drink TRUE Madeira from the island of Madeira and not confuse it with wines that are made in America for cooking. True Madeira is heated to simulate the voyage between Europe and America when the wine was used as ballast in the boat holds, where they discovered that the intense heat improved the wine.”

Don’t Miss Haak Vineyards Madeira

If you are interested in tasting some fine Madeira-style wines made in the same traditional Estuffa oven method of the island of Madeira while keeping your hard earned dollars in the two hundred plus year old “US of A”, I suggest another option. Aim your taste buds at Haak Vineyard and Winery (www.haakwine.com) in Santa Fe (Galveston County), Texas. In fact, there are two options: Haak Jacquez Madeira (made from the red Black Spanish grape) and Haak Blanc du Bois Madeira (made from white grape of the same name).

More details and Porsche winery touring at: http://vintagetexas.com/blog/?p=941

Comparative of Viviana, Conundrum and Alluvium Blanc

The hot days of Texas summer are upon us. What better thing to do than get your outdoor chores done by noon, get showered up and then stay inside in “air-conned” comfort. Perhaps, the only thing better is to also get in a few tastings of some cool white wines. The tasting experience that follows exposure to our summertime weather makes you appreciate wines with the ability to quench; quench the heat of summer and also the heat of our spicy regional cuisines like Tex-Mex, Southwestern, Creole/Cajun and even Pan Asian.

This was the context for my recent tasting of three premium white table wines. All were fascinating and somewhat exotic blends that prompt the near-philosophical questions as to how the blends were developed and how their names were derived.

The focus of my attention was the newly released 2008 Viviana, the Yin/Yang counterpart of the premium Mediterranean red-blend, Viviano from Llano Estacado in Lubbock, Texas (www.llanowine.com). This wine was made by Llano Estacado’s winemaker Chris Hall and is a proprietary blend of the aromatic northern European Gewurztraminer conjoined with equally perfumed Mediterranean Muscat Canelli and Viognier. Riesling and Chardonnay play their part offering wine structure, mouth feel and body. In this case, no one varietal greatly dominates in percentage.

Comparative Tasting, Pairing and Evaluation at: http://vintagetexas.com/blog/?p=920

Guest Blogger, Jane A. Nickles

It’s Tuesday night and I’m in the kitchen of Ventana Restaurant at the Texas Culinary Academy.  Forty people have assembled for the first ever “Iron Drink” beer vs. wine pairing dinner.  Three of the Culinary Academy’s finest chefs have been given full creative license to design five courses of mouth-watering original dishes…all with the goal of “stumping” the pairing prowess of the wine and beer experts at The Texas Culinary Academy.  This isn’t just dinner…its wine vs. beer in glass to glass combat!

The familiar cry of “Let’s Get Ready to Rumble!” is blasted over the sound system and I hear the first few notes of “Rocky’s Theme” blare away.  Sarah Murray of the Wine and Food Foundation calls out, “And in this corner…representing wine, Miss Jane Nickles, The Wizard of Wine, and Educator Extraordinaire!” I run out of the kitchen into the dining room to thunderous applause.  Sarah continues, “And in this corner…representing beer, Chef Jayson Reynolds, Beloved Chef Instructor and Beer Pairing Prodigy!” Chef Jayson jogs out to join me on the floor.  After a round of bantering, boxing, and bragging, we settle down and explain how the evening is to unfold.

“Texas Winegrowers” after Ten Years: Are we having fun yet!

Guest Blog by Les Constable
Texas Winegrowers List Owner
Owner/Winemaker, Brushy Creek Vineyards
www.brushycreekvineyards.com

What were you doing ten years ago?  How many wineries were there in Texas?

Shortly after I made the decision to plant grapes (1991) and start a winery, I discovered a few minor problems.

It was not constitutional to have a winery in dry areas of Texas and most of Texas was and still is dry.

It was legal to have a winery but you could not sell wine from your tasting room in dry areas. 

Later they passed a law allowing us to give wine away free [i.e. provide wine tastings], but it is still not clear to me how that business model might work.

I got mad and found people like Dr. Bobby Smith and Gabe Parker who had been fighting the good battle for a long time.

The Texas WineGrowers List on Yahoo Groups at:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Texas_Winegrowers

was initially started to help get the word out about legislative issues so that we could get people in hearing rooms to support our cause.

I think it worked!

It is wonderful to see what has evolved.  The Texas wine industry now has money for research, education, and marketing.  Do not let anyone fool you about this. The Texas Wine and Grape Growers Association (TWGGA - www.txwines.org) and our working together as a wonderful team made this happen.