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Tuesday, January 31, 2023

WIYG: What In Your Glass? Here’s Our Latest

WIYG? That’s a question we are often asked. Here’s a look at what's in our glass.

Naked Wine Company “Oh! Orgasmic” 2014 Tempranillo

This is an excellent wine. The name is one reason it remained buried in the cellar. You can’t really open this bottle with a group of friends or family. Things could get really weird!

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The good news is the wine is delicious and still in its prime drinking window. Plenty of dark, thick, fruit notes.

It comes from a wine region that is trending with us – the Columbia Gorge. A scant 550 bottles were produced. Although the winery is now called Evoke, they still offer the Oh! Orgasmic line and the current vintage has a list price of $80.

Whether it delivers on its name is for you to decide!

Hillinger Secco NV

Hillinger has become my favorite Austrian winery. Mostly I enjoy their unique red blends that include Blaufränkisch, St. Laurent, and Zweigelt.

I was delighted to see this bottle of rosé nestled on a shelf of a local wine shop. The wine is made from Pinot Noir in the same method as Prosecco.

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Upon opening a tidal wave of froth filled the flutes, just perfect for an unseasonably warm afternoon on the patio. Light strawberry notes match the gorgeous pink color. A touch of kiwi is perfect for this young and fresh wine. A mere $19.

A portion of the sales benefits the fight against breast cancer.

Bennet Lane 2014 Maximus

The Napa Valley blend is labeled as a “red feasting” wine. We popped it open during an evening of appetizers and games with our friends.

Maximus delivered maximum enjoyment! This is a plump, lush wine with a cherry bowl aroma. On the palate, there are dark flavors of chocolate, fig, and dried cherries.

At a $55 price point, it has already leaped onto my list of top red blends to savor. The blend is 86% Cabernet Sauvignon, 7% Syrah, and 7% Merlot.

The winery is home to more than 65 90+ point wines. Maximus is insanely good. Get some for your next feast.

 

Doña Paula 2021 Velvet Blend Blue Edition


This blend from Mendoza, Argentina, features Malbec, Pinot Noir, and Bonarda. You won’t find many blends with Pinot Noir in them. Now I know why.

This wine didn’t have the expected richness of Malbec, but rather an earthy undertone with a slight cherry. The body is nice and silky. There were tannins and some spices, but overall, I didn’t get it. I have enjoyed other Doña Paula wines, but this one wasn’t a cohesive, enjoyable sip.

Argentina, I love you, but this bottle fell short.

Thursday, January 19, 2023

Roundup Event Captures The Best of Premium Texas Wine


Cactus, cowboys, and tumbleweeds? If that is your vision of Texas, get ready to expand your mind.

Roots Of Texas Wine

The first vineyard in North America, it is said, was established in Texas by Spanish missionaries in 1662. Today Texas has more than 500 wineries and the wine industry contributes more than $13 billion in economic value annually. It is the fifth-largest wine-producing state in the US, and boy are those wines good!

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The state of Texas is actually bigger than France with plenty of geographic diversity to grow grapes. To explore more deeply the Lone Star State winemaking tradition, we created a food and wine experience. The Texas Wine Roundup featured a selection of fine Texas wines paired with artfully prepared small dishes.

Texas Roundup Wineries

Here’s a capsule on the four Texas wineries showcased at our roundup:

Wedding Oak Winery has its main winery in San Saba. It specializes in Mediterranean-style wines with heavy influences from the Rhone Valley. The winemaker, Seth Urbanek has worked at wineries in Champagne, Australia, and New York’s Finger Lakes before moving back to his home state. His talent has elevated Wedding Oak to recognition as one of the top wineries in the country.

  


Texas Heritage Vineyard, located in Fredericksburg, just celebrated its fourth anniversary and is already racking up lofty awards. For two years in a row, their tasting room has been voted by the Fredericksburg Standard as the Reader’s Choice Best Winery Tasting Room. They are gaining national notoriety for impressive wines made with Portuguese varieties such as Souzao, and Italian grapes like Barbera and Sangiovese.

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Kerrville Hills Winery is located just north of Kerrville. Texas wine industry icon John Rivenburgh purchased the winery in 2019 and has put in a significant effort into building a portfolio of top-notch Texas wines. He is well known for his impressive Semillon, Mourvèdre, and is widely recognized as a leading evangelist of Tannat.

Fall Creek Vineyards is the closest winery to Austin. It is one of the oldest and most storied wineries in the state with incredible wines that have graced the table of presidential inaugurations. Winemaker Sergio Cuadra was recruited to move to Texas from a prestigious winery in his home country of Chile 10 years ago and has made a big imprint on the Texas wine industry.

Food And Wine Lone Star State Style

We invited four other couples to join us for the wine dinner and only one had tasted Texas wine before. Our guests created dishes to reflect Texas and match with a Texas bottle. The result – combining friendship, delicious food, and premium Texas wine – was a smashing success.

We opened with Cowboy Caviar bites and shrimp & avocado bites. This was paired with the Fall Creek 2021 Sauvignon Blanc and Wedding Oak 2021 Terre Blanc, a blend of Roussanne and Marsanne. The spritely Sauvignon Blanc carves its own path with lemon and white peach and a nice soft finish. The full-bodied Terre Blanc is golden yellow and barrel-aged with plenty of green apples and pear flavor.

The Rivenburgh 2021 High Plains Vermentino by Kerrville Hills Winery was light and crisp with a kiss of fresh apple. This was paired with Southwestern Fish Tacos with Apple Fennell Slaw & chipotle dressing artfully prepared by Arthur (merlot2muscadine.com).

The amazing Texas Heritage Vineyard 2019 Merlot was a silky intro to the reds. Its cherry notes are unified with the organic chicken thighs with porcini and cherries. This is a robust Merlot with beautifully extracted red fruit flavors.

A pinnacle for the evening was the limited 2021 "Alamo" Cabernet Sauvignon. Some of the grapes came from Fall Creek’s Oxbow Vineyard, which was land originally owned by Alamo hero William B. Travis. A portion of the sales of the wine will go to help operate and maintain the Alamo. This Cab has rich, deep, cherry and plum notes with a touch of light oak. It blended deliciously with Smoked Beef Brisket & BBQ Sauce with skillet-fried potatoes.

I had thought about having a palate cleanser at this point (five wines consumed) in the dinner. However, my wife, who had slaved for days to set everything up, protested. I decided that cornbread would be a great Texas-style “sorbet.” Our friends made tasty Borracha (drunken) Beans over cornbread, which accompanied the inky Texas Heritage 2019 Petite Sirah, which has blueberry and chocolate notes.

The grand finale was Wild Boar Ragù Pappardelle matched with the decanted Wedding Oak  2020 Tannat The wild boar was shipped in from Texas by D’Artagnian Gourment Meats. We also tasted the Kerrville Hills Winery Tannat as well. Texas Tannat is the most elegant expression of this grape I've tasted. Deep, powerful plum flavors and dark fruit tamed the raging bull (which had been simmering for 5 hours).

Although most were unfamiliar with Texas wines, everyone came away dazzled by the range and quality of these great wines. Thanks to the wineries for making this extravaganza possible. A tip of the Stetson to our posse of guests, who also helped prepare the meal: Phyllis The Filly and Bronco Bud, Ambush Arthur and Maverick Mary, Tombstone Tony and Alamo Amy, Lawless Laurie and Jedidiah Jeff. The hosts had to have outlaw names too – Wild Dave and Calamity Kathy.

Even if we all can’t be Texans, we can at least savor these brilliant Lone Star wines.

Full disclosure: The wines were received as marketing samples.

Monday, January 9, 2023

German Pet-Net And Rosé Bring Thrills In The New Year


The year 2023 is off to a great start. We celebrated the advent of the new year with two great German wines. 

We really love pétillant naturel wines. Roughly translated as “naturally sparkling,” these wines are bottled during initial fermentation whereas most wines are bottled after fermentation. Instead pet-nat wines use the carbon dioxide that is a byproduct of fermentation to create blessedly delightful bubbles.

Brothers Daniel and Jonas Brand create certified organic and vegan wines using wild yeast in the Pfalz region of Germany. We started our celebrating with their funky Weingut Brand 2019 Pet-Nat. Made organically with a Silvaner and Pinot Blanc, this was an explosion of mineral and zesty citrus flavor. In the glass it was foamy and hazy. It is one of the best sparkling wines we've had. Hats off, Brand brothers.

We followed this with the 2020 Pinot Noir Rosé from Meyer Näkel. The wine comes from the Ahr region. The Romans began cultivating grapes in this area more than 1,000 years ago. The region has been focused on Pinot Noir since the 1700s.

Meyer-Näkel is a fifth-generation family. When Willibald Näkel established the vineyard with his wife Paula Meyer, they focused on dry red wine, something quite unusual for the time. Today the estate is run by his son Werner, his wife, and daughters. The winery produces about 10,000 cases per year, mostly Spätburgunder, which is what Pinot Noir is called in Germany.

The Pinot we tasted is a beautiful coral pink rosé. It's dry and smooth with an explosion of berries. If you haven’t yet tried German Pinot Noir, you are missing out. We suggest you start with this bottle, which costs $28 and is available at Wine.com.

These wines were received as a marketing sample.