Write Off the Vine – Texas Wine News

Write Off the Vine – Texas Wine News from VintageTexas.com

Rodeo Houston Wine and Food Events Info

Mark you calendars! The Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo will kick off its wine and food events on February 8, 2009.

Here is info for all events, dates, and tickets:

Rodeo Uncorked! Roundup and Best Bites Competition:
Sunday, Feb. 8, 2009
6:30 p.m. in Halls B and C of Reliant Center

This event features the tasting of award-winning wines, including the Grand Champion and Reserve Grand Champion, from the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo™ International Wine Competition, and signature dishes of regional culinary institutions and restaurants. Prizes are awarded to the culinary institutions and restaurants for the Best Bite, as voted on by the guests. There will be musical entertainment for the evening as well as the saddle and chap presentations to the top 10 winners.

Tickets are available for $100 per guest in advance or $125 at the door. Reserved tables of 10 are available for $1,800. (early entry at 6 p.m. for table buyers)

For more information:
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/574986

Tomorrow’s Texas Tea

San Francisco Wine Writer, Nikitas Magel, Interviews Texas Wine Writer, Russell Kane, PhD

I first met Russ Kane during the first North American Wine Blogger’s Conference held in Sonoma, California in October 2008.  Immediately, Russ struck me as different from much of the pack of attendees in that he was visiting from an unlikely wine-producing region: Texas. 

In and of itself it might have not elicited much more than a raised eyebrow and a mild, though fleeting, sense of curiosity on my part.  But because of his avid involvement with the local industry, coupled with a deep sense of pride for his home state, Russ readily demonstrated a great deal of knowledge about the wines of Texas that instantly caught and held my interest.  I spoke with the writer and publisher of wine blog http://VintageTexas.com to get a deeper sense of his perspective on how the Texas wine industry has progressed in the last few years, where he sees it going, and what it all means for the wine consumer.

For more information:
http://www.vinikitas.com/media/reviews/207-tomorrows-texas-tea

Visit Fredericksburg Texas – History, Outdoor Adventure, and Food & Wine in Texas Hill Country

In this quiet little town the quality of life is so exceptional that actresses Madeline Stowe and Sandra Bullock have called it home, and it is often thought of as the unofficial capital of Texas Hill Country. Hiking/mountain biking trails and fly-fishing streams are only minutes from downtown, along with nearly two-dozen wineries in the surrounding countryside, and plenty of places to stay, eat, drink, shop, and exercise under an hour from both San Antonio and Austin.

For more information:
http://texas-travel.suite101.com/article.cfm/visit_fredericksburg_texas

Texas’ Best Wines of 2008 from VintageTexas.com – For the Holiday Season

It’s time to start seriously thinking….wine selection.

Thanksgiving Day and other holiday festivities are just around the corner. Don’t be caught empty handed and even worse, don’t be caught without a few Texas wines that can amply compliment your best holiday fare and please your friends and family.

For more information:
https://vintagetexas.com/?p=214

Wine your way to the Texas Bowl

Messina Hof is the Official Winery and Resort of the 2008 Texas Bowl. To celebrate, the winery is giving you a chance to win a Texas Bowl prize package!

The grand prize winner receives two tickets to the Texas Bowl on Dec. 30 at Houston’s Reliant Stadium, two passes to the Texfest tailgate party, plus a night for two at Messina Hof Winery and Resort’s Villa in Bryan.

For more information: http://blogs.mysanantonio.com/weblogs/wine/2008/11/wine_your_way_to_the_texas_bow_1.html

Texas Hill Country: Intersection of cowboy and urbane

The Texas Hill Country, where tiny towns dot a landscape of wildflowers and cedar trees, is the kind of place where cowboys and sommeliers meet. Sometimes literally.

Dude ranches and country dance halls sit alongside wineries and haute cuisine. A hard morning on horseback can be followed by an afternoon of wine and cheese. And nobody minds a bit.
 
Ask Brandon Stowe. The 24-year-old in cowboy boots was swirling and sipping samples of wine here recently while in town for a wedding, but he and his hunting buddies often stop at a winery to pick up their favorite vintage at the end a day of hunting in the Hill Country.

“It’s hard to imagine six guys who have been hunting all day going to a winery, but we do,” he said, glass in hand in the cellar-like tasting room of the Torre di Pietra winery.

For more information:
http://www.ajc.com/travel/content/travel/otherdestinations/us_stories/2008/11/04/Travel_Texas_Hillcountry.html?imw=Y

Munson biographer receives international book award

More than 120 years ago, Texas horticulturalist and grape grower T.V. Munson saved the European wine industry from its last great phylloxera plague. His accomplishments are again receiving laurels from Europeans thanks to his biographer, Dr. Roy E. Renfro Jr., executive director of Grayson County College’s T.V. Munson Viticulture Enology Center.

Renfro, a scholar of Texas viticultural history, and co-author Sherrie S. McLeRoy won the international Best of the Best Award in Drinks History Books at the Gourmand World Cookbooks Awards.

For more information:
http://www.ntxe-news.com/artman/publish/article_50226.shtml