Vintage Texas Wine Blog

Austin Food & Wine Festival April 27, 2013: Texas Wines – Ready for the Main Stage

Apr 012013

Austin Food & Wine Festival April 27, 2013: Texas Wines – Ready for the Main Stage

The 2013 Austin Food & Wine Festival is coming up fast and on Saturday morning April 27, 2013, a distinguished panel, a selection of gold medal wines and over a hundred participants will come together for a guided tasting at this year’s festival.

I will curate this tasting of Lone Star vino alongside premiere wine talent from the Lone Star state and beyond. This talent will include Austin’s advanced and master sommeliers Devon Broglie, Craig Collins and June Rodil, and FOOD & WINE Magazine’s Executive Wine Editor, Ray Isle. They will lend their expertise to this delicious discussion.

Devon Broglie, Craig Collins, June Rodil and Ray Isle

When commenting on his participation in this panel Ray Isle said, “As an expat Texan stuck in the wilds of New York City, the opportunity to come back to Austin and taste & talk about six great wines from my home state is one I look forward to pretty much all year long. The fact that I can run off with the leftover bottles and drink them with some worthwhile barbecue afterward doesn’t hurt either….Not that I’d ever break the rules and do that, of course.”

My return quip was, “Ray, my bet is that with the crowd of Texas tasters we will draw at this event, I’d be surprised if there will be any wine left. Last year our Texas wine tasting was on Sunday morning, a less than optimal time slot; however, we filled the tent with over a hundred people. Many more were relegated to standing room only and could only watch us sip and savor the fine Texas wines.”

Want to know more about last year’s performance of Texas wines at the 2012 Austin Food & Wine Festival? Click here.

Like last year, the real stars of the show in our guided tasting are the wines. All are Texas bred, made from Texas-grown grapes. There will be no imposters; all are Texas appellation wines. The Texas wines in the tasting are all recently announced gold medal winners from this year’s prestigious Dallas Morning News – Texsom Wine Competition:

Brennan Vineyards 2011 Lily (White Rhone-style blend)
Pedernales Cellars Viognier 2012
Llano Estacado Winery Cellar Reserve 2011 Tempranillo
KE Cellars (Kiepersol Estates) 2010 Stainless (No Oak) Cabernet Sauvignon
Bending Branch Winery 2010 Texas Tannat
Messina Hof Winery Tribute to Heritage, Father and Son Cuvee, Riesling 2012

As you can see, Texas does not produce the standard California set of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. Many of the wines in Texas are made from grapes that originate from the climes of Mediterranean countries (sometimes). These include smoky Tempranillo from Spain, inky-dark Tannat from the extremes of the French Pyrenees, and floral white wines and blends made from Viognier, Grenache Blanc and Roussanne from the south of France.

But wait, there’s more.

The extreme flexibility of Texas wine production is highlighted by a Cabernet Sauvignon made with alternative techniques perfected by South American winemakers involving cold soaking and extended maceration that extract pure fruit essences and natural grape tannins without the need for oak aging. Finally, our tasting with finish with a real surprise: a quality Texas Riesling with a crisp, off-dry expression of citrus and honey. It’s going to be like a global wine tour and bypassing California. So, get ready.

As the festival’s promo says “Everything is bigger in Texas, even the wine scene!” So, get registered for the Austin Food & Wine Festival (click here), then mosey on down to the Cedar Tent at Auditorium Shores & Republic Square Park to enjoy a celebration of Texas’s best wines that can now share the main stage with the finest foods and wines around.

Our panelists at the 2012 Austin Food & Wine Fest – Texas wine panel

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Also, don’t forget to check out the Festival’s Instagram contest (click here).

Duchman Winery Dinner at Houston’s L’Olivier Restaurant: High Time for Texas Wines on the Gourmet Scene

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Mar 292013

Chef Olivier Ciesielski (photo via L’Olivier Restaurant)

Duchman Winery Dinner at Houston’s L’Olivier Restaurant: High Time for Texas Wines on the Gourmet Scene

A splash of Vermentino on a knee and hearty conversation around well-matched gourmet food and excellent wines made for a lovely evening this week at Houston’s French-inspired, Montrose-area L’Olivier Restaurant. But what if I told you this wasn’t a French wine affair, but rather a Texas wine dinner would you think any different of it?

Well, the consensus if those in attendance was you shouldn’t. It was a delight. Famed Chef Olivier Ciesielski did his usual best; taking the finest of European cuisine and pairing it with the wine flair from a quite different part of the universe – the world of Texas wines.

More specifically, the wines were provided by Duchman Family Winery in Driftwood, Texas. Winery owners and fellow Houstonians Stan and Lisa Duchman attended and dined and conversed with friends, associates and the restaurant’s faithful patrons, some of which kept asking if their first wine was a Chardonnay.

OK, after hearing this, I had to take the bait and resurrected the comments I made previously in another winery’s tasting room who was pouring their Texas Viognier to another California Chardonnay drinker.

While on the restaurant’s patio during the reception, I said, “Try it, you’ll like it. It IS Texas Chardonnay! It just happens to be made from Viognier, a grape that does as well here in Texas as Chardonnay does in California.” With that, I saw a cringe from Duchman winemaker Dave Reilly. However, in a flash and with a shared wink, we both smiled knowing that this is how Texas wines will gain new followers…one California Chardonnay drinker at a time.

Winemaker, Dave Reilly (photo via Duchman Family Winery)

During the evening, the Duchmans and Reilly provided point-by-point commentary on their wines along side Chef Olivier’s impeccable gourmet cuisine. On the patio,tThe hand-passed Hors D’Oeuvres accompanied the 2011 Duchman Viognier that showed a lighter, less aggressive style than found in many other Viogniers. Dave used one simple word to describe what he was after in this wine: “finesse”. Implicit in this statement is his working with properly harvested fruit (not over-ripe) and his personal style of providing a light hand in the winery, just as his mentor Mark Penna taught.

We settled into our seats in the dim light of the restaurant. The serious food and wine pairing began with the Chef’s English Pea Ravioli teamed with the Duchman 2011 Vermentino, pairing herbal characteristics of both while also playing on the counterpoint of fatty pancetta and the white wine’s crisp acidity. Vermentino is a grape widely planted in Sardinia and in the Liguria region of Italy, but this slow ripening white grape has found a new home in Texas. This has mainly come through the initial efforts from Duchman Winery and Texas high plains winegrowers whose efforts have gained critical acclaim at international wine competitions and even from Oz Clarke during his wine sipping trip to Texas.

Next came a new Duchman release: the 2011 Tempranillo accompanied with a sliced veal chop, potato cake and morel sauce. Each was absurdly good separately and also incredibly fine together. Borrowing from Dave’s initial one word statement, this pairing could be characterized simply by the description: finesse on the plate, in the glass and in the mouth.

I motioned to Dave to come over and have a seat beside me while I was concentrating on his Tempranillo (this being my first taste of this wine).

I said, “Dave, you know…I find that the people that pointlessly bad-mouth Texas wines the worst are Pinot Noir drinkers. They typically can’t find any Texas wines that satisfy their need for a light/medium bodied, red-fruit dominant wine with crisp acidity escorted with hints of smoke and earthy characteristics.”

I followed this with, “Dave, this Tempranillo’s got it all: red fruit, medium body, crisp acidity, and a light earthy smokiness on the finish. It could score big with that group of yet unsatisfied and potential Texas wine drinkers.”

Over hearing this, Stan Duchman said, “We had our Dolcetto (another well-awarded Duchman red wine) in a blind tasting with one of our tasting groups that was pouring high end Pinots one night. Our wine showed amazingly well, something that later surprised everybody at the tasting when the wines were revealed. Interestingly, the only person that correctly identified our wine out of the cast of high end wines featured that night was my wife Lisa.”

Finishing off the evening of fine dining were a Roquefort terrine and berry compote paired with the Duchman Canto Felice, a mildly sweet red wine. Who said, sweet red wines, can’t be serious? Nobody here. The pairing teamed up sweet red fruit characteristics on the plate and in the glass. The fifth and final course was the Chef’s strawberry soup with a personal favorite, Duchman 2009 Muscat, both of which were bright, lively, tart yet sweet.

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Stan and Lisa Duchman (photo via Duchman Family Winery)

For more information on tours, tastings and events at the Duchman Family Winery in Driftwood TX, click here.

For menu and reservations for Chef Olivier Ciesielski’s L’Olivier Restaurant in the Montrose-area near city center Houston, click here.

Eden Hill Vineyard: 2013 Dallas Morning News – Texsom Wine Competition Gold Medal from Where?

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Mar 242013

Eden Hill Vineyard: 2013 Dallas Morning News – Texsom Wine Competition Gold Medal from Where?

You haven’t heard of this award winning Texas winery either?

I will admit that my knowledge of Eden Hill Vineyard started once I got the just released gold medal results from this year’s Dallas Morning News – Texsom Wine Competition. After perusing the results and noting the gold medal for their 2012 white blend of 50% Albarino and 50% Viognier (grapes harvested from Smith Estate Vineyard…yep, that’s the vineyard that belongs to Texas wine pioneer Dr. Bobby Smith near Ft. Worth), I realized that Eden Hill was a winery that was not on my recent Texas rural travel itinerary, but definitely should have been.

Well, to make up for my oversight, I quickly searched to find their contact information and talked to Linda Hornbaker, owner of Eden Hill Farm and Vineyard to get me some of their award winning wine. She gave the credit for this wine to Chris Hornbaker, a recent graduate of Grayson College’s viticulture and enology program (click here for more info). I also got the details on this new, but already high flying boutique winery in North Texas:

Eden Hill’s winery is located in Celina, Texas, just 30 minutes north of Dallas, and 20 minutes west of McKinney.
If you want to taste (or buy) some of their good juice, they are open every Sunday.
All of their wines are made in Texas from Texas-grown grapes.

After getting a bottle of their Albarino-Viognier blend, I decided first to taste it and then pair it with an appropriate dish. Upon opening the wine and pouring the first glass, I realized that I was in store for something special. It had a fun effervescence (a light sparkle or frazzante) as it hit the glass followed by a tropical rush of citrus and pineapple overlaid on tart apple with a hanging hint of floral on the finish. I could see why the DMN-Texsom wine competition judges were attracted to this wine and scored it well. It is fun, pleasing and well made.

Then, I set off to prepare just the right dish to complement the wine. I started by keying on something common to the Spanish roots of the Albarino and the Rhone Valley of France where Viognier originates: garlic. I whipped up a course of curly, vegetable pasta intermixed with garlic, mushrooms, clams and a squeeze of Meyer lemon, and topped with a shake of crushed Aleppo pepper and grated cheese.

I finished the meal with a cool pour of Eden Hill Vineyard 2012 Orange Muscat that uses grapes from their vineyard in Celina, Texas, paired with a scoop of butter pecan ice cream. Ooooooh!

There is more information about Eden Hill Vineyard on their website at: http://edenhill.com.

Texas Grape Growers Committee to host Blanc Du Bois Symposium: May 10, 2013

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Mar 122013

Harvesting Blanc Du Bois in Texas

Texas Grape Growers Committee to host Blanc Du Bois Symposium: May 10, 2013

I’ve had some pretty good comments back (many by direct email rather than comments on the blog) from my recent post about Messina Hof Winery‘s new white wine offering of Blanc Du Bois (click here). It is reflective of how far this grape has come in Texas to the point where Texas is the top producer of wines from Blanc Du Bois with more than 20 wineries making commercial wines, and even a top-rated Texas winery like Messina Hof has accepted it into their portfolio of wines.

There is still more action to be reported on the Blanc Du Bois front in Texas. I recevied a recent mailing from the Austin County Ag News indicating that the Austin County Grape Growers Committee, Texas A&M Agrilife Extension and the Texas Wine and Grape Growers Association will be sponsoring a symposium specifically on Blanc Du Bois on Friday, May 10th, at the Cat Spring Agricultural Society Hall (Cat Spring, TX).

This event will feature growers and wine makers from all over the southeastern United States interested in Blanc Du Bois, a hybrid bunch grape that was crossed in 1968 by John Mortensen at the University of Florida. Since its release, Blanc Du Bois hsa found its way into commercial production in southeatern states, but currently Texas is the leader in Blanc Du Bois production with more than 150 acres in production. Austin county alone has over 30 acres planted in this grape.

The morning session on May 10th will involve presentations about growing Blanc Du Bois and will concentrate on the experience in south central Texas with Fritz Westover, Texas Agrilife Extension Program Specialist and Chris Brundrett, Viticultural Consultant, co-owner of William Chris Vineyards, as featured speakers. The afternoon sessions will focus on making wine with Blanc Du Bois and include presentations by Raymond Haak, Owner of Haak Vineyards & Winery in Santa Fe, who has long championed this grape and had his Blanc Du Bois wines medal in international wine competitions; Jim Evans, Enologist (Lost Oak Winery); Genie Burgess, Vice President of Lakeridge Winery in Florida.

Haak Blanc Du Bois

The program is scheduled to begin with registration from 8:30 to 9:00 am and the sessions to begin thereafter and last until about 4 pm. The registration fee is $65 per person that will be charged at the door. This fee will include all handouts, break refreshments and a catered lunchtime meal.

Anyone interested in registration for this program is asked to contact the Texas Agrilife Extension Service office in Austin County at 979-865-2072 or by email at: austin-tx@tamu.edu

Vertical Tasting of Blanc Du Bois

Manifesto: Time for Texas Wineries to Ask Wine Consumers to Taste & Tweet #TXwine

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Mar 092013

Manifesto: Time for Texas Wineries to Ask Wine Consumers to Tastes & Tweet #TXwine

A few weeks ago, I though about an idea about how to better utilize the Twitter to spread the word about Texas wines.

Some wineries print their names on their corks. But, they also print all sorts of crazy stuff on their corks, too; like the words “Love” and “Peace”, or include line drawings of winged angels or it might be tangles of grapevine tendrils. My though was why don’t Texas wineries print #TXwine” on their labels. Additionally, they could print a request to their wine consumers, “Like Texas wine? Tweet #TXwine”. Such an effort could effectively utilize and could even expand further the network of Texas wine lovers on Twitter, all working to promote the wines from Texas that they love. It could even promote wine quality as a side benefit…as with visibility, comes an even greater need for quality.

Why did I have this idea? See below (for the rest of the story):

While the number of Texas wineries has increased to over 200 wineries across the states and Texas wines are garnering awards at both national and international competitions, Texas wines have been largely ignored by the mainstream wine media. I can rationalize this situation by the fact that Texas, while being the fifth largest wine producing state, it is also the fourth largest wine consuming state. Therefore, not much of our good juice makes it out of the state. Current estimates are that 95% of Texas wine is sold and consumed right here in Texas. This is contrary to the situation in the larger wine producing states (such as California, Washington and Oregon) and all major wine producing regions around the world that depend on an export model for wine sales.

Why does this matter? Well, because Texas wineries do not export their wines to any great degree, consumers across the nation can’t easily get Texas wines. Also, Texas wineries don’t have large national advertising contracts with major wine publications like the Wine Spectator, Wine Enthusiast, Food & Wine, etc. Therefore, on two counts, there are no incentives for these “journals of mass evaluation” to include Texas wines in their reviews. However, social media like following #TXwine on Twitter, Texas Wine Drinkers Group on Facebook, and the increasing number of Texas wine blogs available online have filled in the void in the coverage of Texas wines left by the major publications.

Several years ago, the Texas state government had a program to support its fledgling wine industry through the Texas Department of Agriculture’s Texas Wine Marketing Program, which has since succumbed to the heavy handed budget cutting in Austin (but hey, since the Texas legislature cut $5 billion from the education budget, can we really complain that they nuked a Texas wine marketing program).

During the time period under the Texas wine marketing assistance program, Texas Twitter events started to pop up which help people to follow and share Texas wine experiences even if some of the people could not easily get the wine. To help these follow and track the tasting action in these Twitter events (like TXwine Twitter Tuesday coming up this March 12th 7-8 pm CT) and more generally the day-to-day Texas wine action, several of us bloggers started using the hashtag #TXwine.

If you’re not on Twitter or Tweet regularly, you are probably saying…”What the hell is a hashtag and why do I care!”

Well, over the past 3 or 4 years, a Twitter community has arisen that enjoys and supports the Texas wines they like. These people share their Texas wine experiences and use #TXwine (called a hashtag) to follow, search, tag tweets on Texas wine activities.

The volume of tweeter activity using #TXwine-tagged tweets has steady grown. On an average day, 20-30,000 Tweeter impressions roam about the Twitterverse on Texas wines with #TXwine and incompass about 10,000 followers. On days when there is TXwine Twitter Tasting scheduled (click here for details on the upcoming March 12th event), the activity on #TXwine increases to around 500,000 impressions on Twitter and with 90 to 80,000 followers. The January 2013 TXwine Twitter Tuesday (click here) hit a new record of over 1,000,000 media impressions and 300,000 followers when the event linked people at wine bars around Texas and several at Whole Food Market locations all tasting Texas wines and using #TXwine. In fact, that evening #TXwine was a trending hashtag on Twitter (meaning that it was one of the most active anywhere at the time).

OK, it’s your turn…What do you think?

Texas on the Plate Bodacious Red Wine: Bodacious Is as Bodacious Does!

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Mar 062013

Texas on the Plate Bodacious Red Wine: Bodacious Is as Bodacious Does!

Recently Chef Terry Thompson-Anderson posted on her Facebook page:

“Calling all Texas wine lovers! This Friday, March 1, Bodacious Red Wine, a Cabernet/Barbera blend, will be released at an HEB Cooking Connection near you. I developed this wine in conjunction with Greg Bruni, winemaker at Llano Estacado Winery in Lubbock, Texas. The wine was created to pair perfectly with any dish prepared using the Bodacious Red Soppin’ Sauce from my Texas on the Plate Food Product line. Quantities are limited, so get your supply early.”

It took some doing at my local HEB (Houston Montrose Store), talking with their wine manager, floor manager, general manager and cooking connection manager. But, day later, I finally got a call from my HEB store saying that they received Terry’s wine and that they were doing cooking/tasting demos with it in combination with her Texas on the Plate Bodacious Soppin’ Sauce. I also found out that the nearby HEB Buffalo Speedway store also received their allocation of wine and sauce for cooking/tasting demos.

If you know Terry, she is a person that likes her flavors with a capital “F”. No, come to think of it, they better be “FLAVORS” in all caps.

Her Bodacious Red Soppin’ Sauce is a “Full Monty” of flavors made to wake up your palate with savory and a big dose of umami. The list of ingredients on the back made my head spin. I don’t know how she came up with the mixture.

When Terry told me about her new wine creation, I just couldn’t imagine how she would get the wine to work with this sauce; it was so big and multifaceted. However, after doing blending trials with winemaker (and wine blending magician) Greg Bruni, they nailed it and rightly called it Bodacious Texas Red: Cabernet Sauvignon with some Barbera and I am sure a few more hidden red varietals, as well.

Bodacious Red is a fruit forward and approachable. It could be my new sippin’ Cabernet. Just imagine me a sippin’ and a soppin’! It’s warm and friendly on the palate yet food-friendly and quite interesting. It’s a 2010 vintage and fully a Texas appellation wine.

The wine has a dominance of blackberry and plum laid over a mid-palate with earthy mushroom and soy elements, then finishes with a medium, yet firm, tannic structure ending in a refreshing dryness. This wine is savory and umami just like Terry’s soppin’ sauce, but adds enough pleasant grape acidity to keep everything fresh bite after bite and sip after sip.

I opened my Bodacious Red wine after marinating my lamb chops in the soppin’ sauce overnight. The sauce, lamb and wine were great together, all melding admirably. My salute to Terry, Greg and their Texas on the Plate collaboration.

Stop by the Cooking Connection at your nearest HEB store to sample and you too can do some soppin’ and some Texas inw sippin’.

Got My Wine Shipment for TXwine Twitter Tuesday – March 12, 2013

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Mar 062013

Got My Wine Shipment for TXwine Twitter Tuesday – March 12, 2013

Just in case you haven’t heard, this month’s TXwine Twitter Tuesday (a regularly scheduled Tweet/Taste-up of Texas wine aficionados) is happening Tuesday, March 12th from 7-8 pm Central Time. The March issue of Imbibe magazine is devoted to Texas wine, food and spirits and our own Jessica Dupuy (@JDewps) has written an article about Texas wine. This is great exposure for the Texas wine industry in a national magazine!

So, to celebrate, TXwine Twitter Tuesday organizers Jeff Cope (@TXwinelover) and Denise Fraser (@DeniseFraserTX) have asked Jessica to lead the March Twitter Tasting and are featuring three of Jessica’s favorite Texas wines:

Duchman Family Winery Aglianico
McPherson Cellars Dry Chenin (which Jessica helped make; in lieu of the McPherson Les Copains, featured in the article but which is sold out)
Pedernales Cellars Texas Tempranillo

To make it really interesting this month, they have changed things up and rather than having to go out and find the Texas wines from wine shops for the tasting, this month’s wines can be shipped directly to your front door or designated drop ship location (with adult signature). I just received my shipment (see photo above). If I can wait long enough to not open the wines until next Tuesday’s Twitter tasting, I will be set to go.

If you want to get your wines shipped to you, the wineries are graciously offering all three wines for $36 plus shipping. Go to www.pedernalescellars.com and click on Buy and then Online Store and look for the special TXWine Twitter Tuesday 3 Bottle Set. That’s what I did. If I can navigate it successfully with my rapidly depleting set of neurons, so can you. However, you have to act fast like tomorrow (Thursday) at the latest.

For more information on joining in on the TXwine Twitter Tuesday taste and tweeting action, go to:

http://txwinelover.com/2013/02/march-2013-txwine-twitter-tuesday/

I look forward to tasting and tweeting with you next Tuesday night. Even if you miss the event, these three wines at $36 plus shipping are a steal.

Hopefully, this will be the first of many more TXwine Twitter Tuesdays (with a little more notice too) where we can get the wines shipped directly to us. I’d particularly like to have a TXwine Twitter Tuesday with wines from the piney woods of east Texas. I just don’t seem to get their often enough and can’t generally find their wines locally.

Sitting Here Sipping On Some Messina Hof Private Reserve 2011 Blanc Du Bois

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Feb 222013

Sitting Here Sipping On Some Messina Hof Private Reserve 2011 Blanc Du Bois

As I’m sitting down to write this piece, I’m sipping on a white wine from Texas. It’s not a Texas high plains vinifera with Mediterranean origins. Rather, it’s a grape grown in vineyards residing in the hot humid, rolling hills of the southeast Texas post oak belt. Additionally, this wine’s been made by one of the top-selling, mainstream Texas brands: Messina Hof Winery. It’s made from a grape that can claim to be a Texas original, almost.

It’s Blanc Du Bois, pronounced “Blahnk-Du-Bwah”, a Florida hybrid bunch grape with characteristics for wine production, early ripening and importantly Pierce’s Disease resistance. Blanc Du Bois originated from the grape breeding program at the Central Florida Research and Education Center. being one of 19 selections from a 1968 cross between Florida D6-148 and Cardinal. Despite Florida D6-148 being a PD-resistant selection with purple fruit Blanc Du Bois ended up being a white grape that was transplanted to the vineyard in 1970, and first fruited in 1973.

From the start, it was noticed that Blanc Du Bois made a spicy white wine which rated very good in formal wine taste panels, better than many other hybrid grapes. It had a delicate sugar/acid balance plus the presence of muscat-like flavor its juice gaining Blanc DuBois a prominent place among Florida’s wines: Bronze medal in the 1986 Eastern International Wine Competition held in New York and a gold medal at the 1986 North Florida Fair Wine Competition.

The Messina Hof Private Reserve Blanc Du Bois would have no problems sharing the table with any white vinifera, bar none. This wine is light-bodied/colored yet nicely perfumed in the glass and shows its lineage with a hint of Muscat on the nose (check out the Golden Muscat in the family tree – above). It’s also, dry and mouth-wateringly crisp with a pear-citrus character on the palate finishing with a “bite” of green apple. Interesting by itself? Complex? Food compatible? You bet! On all counts, it’s a mighty fine wine. Taste it blind with friends or associates and I will guarantee you that everyone will call it vinifera.

Back to this grapes story line…

Over time, Floridians appear to have lost interest in Blanc Du Bois as a wine grape. However, Florida’s loss has been a gain for Texas. According to Texas Agrilife viticulture program specialist Fritz Westover, “Since the release of Blanc Du Bois, the variety has found its way into commercial production in southeastern states such as Florida, Louisiana and Texas. Currently, Texas is leading the industry in production of Blanc Du Bois with more than 150 acres in production (in 2012) in the eastern and southeastern parts of the state (over 30 acres in Austin County alone) and more than 20 commercial wines.”

Thanks to the persistence of growers and winemakers like Raymond Haak and Jerry Watson, Blanc Du Bois has been producing wines in Texas since the 1980s and commercially since the late 1990’s, and winning medals in and outside Texas in a myriad wine styles from dry to off-dry to sweet

Messina Hof Winery has only recently embraced Blanc Du Bois after their careful evaluation of its merchantability and acceptance by consumers. Messina Hof is now the only one of the top-selling Texas brands having added it in their new wine offerings last November. I’m going to bet that the other large Texas wineries will follow Messina Hof’s lead.

According to Paul V. Bonarrigo, co-owner and winemakers at Messina Hof, “Our 2011 Messina Hof Private Reserve Blanc Du Bois came from grapes grown at Grandview Vineyards, located in Richards, Texas, located just North of Houston and South of our winery in Bryan. It was planted in 2008 and 2009. We’ve been looking for a great grower and location for the past 5 years and Grandview Vineyard fulfilled our requirements.”

Bonarrigo continued, “Blanc Du Bois is different than many wines. It has acidity, a great up front pallet, but a low mid-pallet and low after taste. That’s the reason we blended in about 10% Texas Chardonnay from the high plains. It filled in the mid-pallet and bumped up the after taste. But, it’s still varietally Blanc Du Bois.

As a side note, Blanc Du Bois [note the use of capitalization on all words as J.A. Mortensen intended] was named in honor of Emile DuBois, who came to Florida from France in 1882. An accomplished grape grower and winemaker in the Tallahassee area, DuBois spearheaded efforts in the state for 20 years. He planted over 150 varieties of grapes and made a wide variety of Florida wines, receiving numerous medals at the Paris Exposition in 1900. In his honor the name ‘Blanc Du Bois’ was suggested by Lafayette Vineyards & Winery. Blanc Du Bois is also spelling of this grape’s name recognized by the U.S. federal government that writes the wine labeling regulations. However, some still persist in using “Blanc du Bois” with a small “d”.

We can tip the brim of our Cowboy hats to Mortensen for originating this grape. But, as of this moment, Texas appears to own the rights to it and Texas is making Blanc Du Bois it’s very own wine grape variety; kind of like what Sauvignon Blanc has become to New Zealand.

Bonarrigo finished by saying, “As one of the largest wineries in the state, at Messina Hof, we believe Blanc Du Bois is a GREAT WINE not just a GREAT TEXAS WINE!”

The bottle price of the Messina Hof Private Reserve Blanc Du Bois is $18.99 and is available in the Messina Hof Winery tasting rooms in Bryan and Fredericksburg while supplies last. Don’t be caught without a bottle of this wine.

References:

J.A. Mortensen, “Blanc Du Bois”, Circular S-340, Agriculatural Experimental Station, University of Florida, Gainesville FL, August 1987.

F. Westover, “Blanc Du Bois Takes Root: A winegrape found in Texas and the southeast is tolerant of Pierce’s disease, Wines & Vines, February 2012.

Houston Uncorking Some Good Rodeo Wines with a Few Best Bites, Too

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Feb 192013

Houston Uncorking Some Good Rodeo Wines with a Few Best Bites, Too

For the past several years now, come mid-February, the best ticket in H-town has proven to be the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo’s, Rodeo Uncorked! Roundup and Best Bites Competition. This year’s event was equal to that billing. It was held this past Sunday evening and included thousands of wine and foodie revelers at Reliant Center assembled to sample the top wines from the 2013 Rodeo Uncorked! International Wine Competition and to taste and vote on food from some of the area’s best restaurants and caterers.

When my wife and I walked into the hall, the spread was breathtaking in its expanse. I think that I even said….”Wow!” Many of this year’s over two thousand medal-winning wines were present for sampling having been submitted for judging by 943 wineries in Texas, across the United States and around the world. If that wasn’t enough, attendees went from table-to-table tasting and voting on their favorite eats for the Best Bites Competition.

The grand magnitude of this event made it necessary for me to focus. I reviewed the program, circled my intended stops. My attention was primarily on the award-winning Texas wines from the competition. As I have already written (click here), the Texas winners included 246 medals, 178 of which were made with Texas grapes with eight double gold medals and 32 gold medals for Texas wineries. Even focusing on just the medal-winning Texas wines at Sunday’s Best Bites event, it was impossible to sample all of them while trying to make a reasonable attempt to taste a hefty sampling of the bites.

Texas stars of the evening were The Bonarrigo family (Paul and Merrill Bonarrigo and son Paul Mitchell and his wife Karen) whose Messina Hof Winery (in Bryan, TX, and an outpost tasting room and B&B in the hill country) took the 2013 Best Winery Award in the Rodeo’s international wine competition. This gave Messina Hof a grand total of eight saddles garnered over about a decade of Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo’s annual wine competitions. This is a remarkable record for a Texas winery playing on an international stage.

After grabbing a taste of the Messina Hof Paulo Cabernet Franc, we moseyed around a bit to sample more bites. The range of offerings included ceviche, Cajun cuisine, prime rib, beef bourguignon, BBQ, short rib sliders, smoked meats and oysters, and not to forget many cookies and pies. Winners of the best bites competition were:

Popular Choice Award

First Place – Royer’s Round Top Café

Second Place – Jonathan’s The Rub

Two-Stepping Bread/Cheese/Dessert Award

First Place – Mango Caramel from Cacao & Cardamom Chocolates

Second Place – Bread Pudding from Joyce’s Seafood and Steaks

Trailblazing Appetizer/Entrée Award

First Place – Barbecue Short Ribs from Killen’s BBB

Second Place – Mini Pork Crispy Tacos from Molina’s Cantina

Third Place – Short Rib Sliders with Shaved Ham and Debris from Frank’s Americana Revival

Showmanship Award

Catering to Your Tastebuds

Rookie Award

Mango Caramel from Cacao & Cardamom Chocolates

Tasty Traditions Award

Bread Pudding from Joyce’s Seafood and Steaks

Another Texas star in the 2013 Rodeo wine competition was the hill country’s Pedernales Cellars for their 2012 Viognier (the Best Texas Wine judged in the Rodeo wine competition). Equally impressive was the double gold awarded to Range Rider (a multi-vintage blend of Tempranillo, Syrah and Cabernet from 2008 and 2009 harvests) made by Red Caboose Winery in Meridian, TX. Range Rider has been a favorite of mine since I stopped by there last summer.

These were two of my many stops. Even with that, I unfortunately missed an opportunity to taste wines from Perissos Vineyards near Burnet, TX, another of my favorites. I hear that they poured a great sampling of their Syrah, Petite, Viognier and Roussanne.

I also had a chance met up with Rick Nabor pouring his Flat Creek Estate Pinot Blanc with his typical flair.

The most interesting observation of the evening was comparing the wine offerings from Texas wineries with those of the large contingent of west coast American wineries (from California, Oregon and Washington) and those from international wineries. Most of the wines poured from California, Oregon and Washington were the standard set: Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Pinot Noir. As mentioned above, the Texas offerings were lacking in Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. These are cool weather grapes that are very hard to grow here. What I did find were varietal offerings of Viognier, Roussanne and Muscat for the whites and Tempranillo and a host of red blends leading the way for Texas. In this regard, the Texas wineries were more like Mediterranean wineries present in the event like those from Spain, Portugal, Italy and southern France.

Shanken News Daily Reports: Texas Wines Are Showing Rapid Growth

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Jan 212013

Shanken News Daily Reports: Texas Wines Are Showing Rapid Growth

It’s not the first place that comes to mind when one refers to “wine country,” but Texas is the fifth-ranked state by wine production—after California, Washington, New York and Oregon—and retailers say the trend toward local food and wine is helping to galvanize consumer interest. According to the Texas Wine & Grape Growers trade group, the Lone Star State currently has more than 245 bonded wineries, up 50% since 2007, while production rose 35% to 1.35 million cases between 2007-2011.

Texas retail giant Spec’s tells Shanken News Daily that sales of locally-sourced wines are jumping lately. Across Spec’s 100-plus locations—spanning the Houston, Dallas, Austin, San Antonio and El Paso markets—volume of Texas-made wines rose 23% to 27,000 cases in 2012. By value, Spec’s saw Texas-sourced wines crest $3 million in sales on 29% growth last year.

For more, link to Shanken News Daily, at:

http://www.shankennewsdaily.com/index.php/2013/01/18/4900/retailers-say-texas-wines-are-showing-rapid-growth/

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