Check out This Year’s Texas Wine and Wildflower Pairings

Check out This Year’s Texas Wine and Wildflower Pairings

This year’s weather has been a godsend for Texas’s thirst vineyards and ribbons of wildflower colors that line the hill country highways. Both are doing very well with recent rains after the heat and drought of the 2011 vintage.

This weekend seems to be picture perfect for wildflower gazing and photographing and also for visiting  Texas wineries that also line the highways and byways. Thus, this post is focused on pairing Texas wine and wildflowers. I’ve chosen only a few pairings, but there are literally hundreds of combinations. I hope that you will explore and find your own favorites, and let me know what they are. Here are mine:

Buttercups and Brennan Vineyards Viognier 2010

Buttercups are a signature wildflower for Texas and Viognier is a signature grape for Texas, as well. This wine is made for sipping by the pool on a springtime afternoon or as a companion for a serious dinner affair by night. Crisp with citrus and white peach, this wine is a classic to be enjoyed with seafood, fowl or even fruit.

Yellow Star and Dotson-Cervantes Gotas del Oro (Muscat Canelli Blend 2010)

Gotas del Oro (drops of gold) offers its pleasing yellow color just as does the Texas Yellow Star. The wine is sweet with ginger and tropical aromatics, but not too sweet, and is balanced with crisp acidity to keep it fresh on the palate. The Dotson-Cervantes wine operation is not yet open to visitors. However, this weekend you can stop by and visit with Alphonse and Martha, tasting their Gotas del Oro, and meet up the Doc Russ, Texas Wineslinger at the Wildseed Farms on Saturday, April 7th from 11 am to 2 pm.

Pink Coreopsis and Messina Hof Winery Sophia Marie Rosé

Pink with a crimson hue, this Rosé displays a pleasurable take on what’s now available from Texas Gulf Coast wine growing. This wine is young, excitingly crisp, and presents a nearly imperceptible hint of sweetness, similar to the delicate presence of the Pink Coreopsis. The wine is made from hand-harvested Lenoir, a grape with a 150-year heritage in south and east Texas. Bright red fruits, cherry and cranberry, will titillate your palate one-on-one and also complement summertime seafood, cheeses, pasta and fruit.

Winecup and Duchman Family Winery Dolcetto 2009

The Winecup and the Duchman Dolcetto are nearly the same color and intensity. This Dolcetto is a seriously fine wine with medium body and aromatic red berry and smokey  notes that waft from the glass. Texas might not be able to do justice to Pinot Noir, but after tasting the 2009 Duchman Dolcetto, it won’t make any difference any more. This IS our “Texas Pinot”!

Indian Paintbrush and Becker Vineyards Reserve Grenache

This wine and wildflower pairing needs a red wine that is carried by delicious red fruit to match the intensity of the breathtaking red color of the Indian Paintbrushs that are so common on Texas roadsides. This medium bodied red wine has it all. It’s fruit-driven, savory with nuances of spice, old world earth, and espresso. It is quite a mouth full of flavor to accompany wild game or red meat preparations.

Bluebonnets and William Chris Vineyards Emotion 2010

This wine has a lot packed into it with grapes from the Lost Draw Vineyard (Brownfield, TX) and Brennan Vineyards (Comanche, TX) that include Merlot, Syrah, Sangiovese, Tempranillo, and Mourvedre. What I love about this wine (and generally about all the reds made at William Chris) is its aromatic presence in the glass. This is a red wine that truly can accompany the sight of a beautiful patch of Texas Bluebonnets.

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Acknowledgement: The Texas wildflower photos used in this post were from the website of the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center (www.wildflowers.org).

Also, to find you way around Texas wine country, you need a good smartphone app that can guide your wine travels. Check out: http://txwinegeek.com/texas-wine-traveller/