http://www.youtube.com/user/GoTexanWine
WINE CONNOISSEURS GIVE TEXAS WINES HIGH MARKS AT FIRST-EVER “VIRTUAL” BLIND TASTING
AUSTIN – April 7, 2009 – Rip off the labels, click on the Internet and get ready for a whole new way of testing Texas wines. The Texas Department of Agriculture (TDA) today announced it successfully hosted its first-ever “virtual” blind wine tasting called the “Texas Two-Sip Tele-Tasting.” Taking its popular Texas Two-Sip Tasting to the Web, TDA invited a handful of journalists and wine bloggers to participate in this blind tasting of Texas wines against comparable non-Texas wines.
“The Texas wines showed beautifully against the comparable non-Texas wines,” Craig Collins, regional sales manager with Prestige Cellars said. “Our technical tasting format looked objectively at color, smell and taste of each wine, and the Texas wines certainly stood their ground against some of the best wines in the world, if not surpassing them.”
The Texas Two-Sip Tele-Tasting featured emerging signature varietals from Texas including Viognier, red Rhone blends, Sangiovese, Tempranillo and Orange Moscato. The first-ever virtual tasting is an extension of the ongoing Texas Two-Sip Tastings conducted in person around the state, where Texas wines are tasted against well-known, iconic wines from around the world.
“We host Texas Two-Sip blind tasting comparisons as a way to avoid any preconceived biases or ideas about Texas wines and to demonstrate how well Texas wines show against other highly respected wines,” Bobby Champion Jr, coordinator of the TDA wine marketing program said. “The Texas Two-Sip Tele-Tasting provides a new avenue to reach journalists and bloggers without the time and expense of travel and scheduling. We want to expose Texas wines to wine experts around the country and the Texas Two-Sip Tele-Tasting allows us to do this virtually.”
The virtual taste-test was hosted by sommeliers Devon Broglie, associate team leader in the wine department at Whole Foods Market, and Craig Collins, regional sales manager with Prestige Cellars. Broglie was named Texas’ Best Sommelier for 2006 by The Texas Sommelier Association and Collins was first runner-up behind Broglie.
The host sommeliers selected the Texas and comparable non-Texas wines to feature, choosing wines with signature varietal characteristics and similar price points. Featured wines in the March 31 Texas Two-Sip Tele-Tasting included:
•Brennan Viognier 2008 and Yalumba Eden Valley Viognier 2007
•Llano Signature Melange 2007 and La Vieille Ferme Rouge 2006
•McPherson Sangiovese 2006 and Badia Coltibuono Chianti Classico 2006
•Inwood Cornelious Tempranillo 2007 and Pesquera Tinto Ribera del Duero 2005
•Texas Hills Orange Moscato 2005 and Quady Electra Orange Muscat 2007
Participants watched a 40-minute Tele-Tasting Webcast, where Broglie and Collins provided technical analysis of each wine. During the Webcast, participants could submit questions and comments via chat. Following the Webcast, TDA hosted a teleconference, where participants asked questions and provided feedback on the wines and the Tele-Tasting.
TDA has hosted in-person Texas Two-Sip Tastings for the past two years at various events, including the Texas Sommelier Conference, the Austin360 Food and Wine Bloggers Conference at Whole Foods Market, trade tastings and during media visits.
Go to http://www.youtube.com/user/GoTexanWine to watch the Texas Two-Sip Tele-Tasting.
[...] First Texas Tele-Tasting: Wine Connoisseurs Give Texas Wines High Marks: http://vintagetexas.com/blog/?p=663 [...]
[...] VintageTexas “WineSlinger” Shoots Six Straight in Grand Tasting – http://vintagetexas.com/blog/?p=738 First Texas Tele-Tasting (Video): Wine Connoisseurs Give Texas Wines High Marks – http://vintagetexas.com/blog/?p=663 [...]
[...] 7. Need more Texas Farm to Table Menus with Texas Wine. Texas restaurateurs have realized that Texas sells. However, most do not include Texas wines. They present Texas grown foods with wines from California, Chile, Australia and French (to name but a few). This seems strange. Why does it happen? The word from the Sommeliers at Texsom and the DrinkLocalWine.com conference was the most restaurateurs and even Sommeliers have not taken the time to find out about Texas wines. Generally, their wine distributors do not promote them mainly due to their fear that they will not sell. I have been around salesmen to know that they will sell what they know and feel comfortable selling. It is a real chicken-or-the-egg scenario. The other part of the problem is that with limited acreage and wine production in Texas, it is hard for many wineries to sustain a major restaurant account. Smaller family run restaurants have more readily accepted Texas wines and they are a good fit. Farmer-to-table menus could also be a good fit for Texas wines as well. They promote local flavor, character of the foods and can also show the local terroir of Texas wines. A good example of a successful Texas farm-to-table menu that features Texas wines is at Chef Monica Pope’s restaurant T’afia in Houston (http://www.tafia.com/monica_center.html). However, Chef Pope recently got whacked by a wine blogger because who said that Chef Pope was doing a disservice to her farm-to-table menu by featuring Texas wine. [By the way, this blogger did not take the time to attend the events in Dallas last weekend]. It is incredibly shallow not to understand the concept of bringing ALL elements of local terroir to the table, including the wine. One way Texas Sommeliers are getting more comfortable with Texas wines is shown in the following link – Texas Two-Sip blind tastings of Texas wines with Sommeliers (http://vintagetexas.com/blog/?p=663) [...]