Wine Tastings

Wine Bats of Austin offer blind tastings every Wednesday night at Green Pastures (by reservation only). Tastings include 6 wines and 6 cheeses for $25 per person. A three course meal is available for another $25. Upcoming blind tastings include: wine of Italy September 3; wine of Napa Valley September 10; and the wine of Sonoma on September 17.
http://www.winebat.com/

The Austin Wine Merchant serves-up a wine tasting every Saturday from Noon until 3:00 pm. Upcoming tastings include Chateau Montelena on September 6 and Pedroncelli on September 13.
http://www.theaustinwinemerchant.com/

Grapevine Market has two current tasting programs. The first is called Friday Night Flights (FNF). FNF is a blind tasting featuring four wines selected from a rotating list of eight wines. Participants try the wines blind and vote on the top two wines. On Saturdays, Grapevine offers open tastings from wines selected from in store offerings.
http://www.grapevinemarket.com/

Wine Dinners

Jasper’s of Austin offers wine dinners once or twice each month on either a Monday or a Wednesday. Upcoming dinners include: Domain Darioush which will take place at Chef Kent’s home September 10 at 6:30 PM with Khaledi and Dan de Polo of Darioush; Hook and Ladder Wine Dinner with Michael Deloache on September 22 at 6:30 PM; Patz and Hall Wine Dinner with Donald Patz on October 6 at 6:30 PM; and Miner Family Wine Dinner with Dave Miner on November 5 at 6:30 PM.
http://www.kentrathbun.com/winedinners.php

III Forks Restaurant periodically offers wine dinners. Dinners scheduled so far include: Nickel & Nickel Wine Dinner on Wednesday, September 10, 2008 featuring a five course dinner paired with the new releases of Nickel & Nickel and Dolce wines; and Krupp Brothers Estates Wine Dinner on Saturday, January 24, 2009.
http://www.3forks.com/special_events.php

Mirabelle is the grandfather of wine dinners in Austin and is still going strong. Their next wine dinner is scheduled for September 8 and will feature the wines of D’Arenberg.
http://www.mirabellerestaurant.com

Wine Bar Deals

Cork & Co. offers 25% off all wine flights on Wednesdays nights for September and October.
http://www.corkandco.com/5/Events_and_Classes.htm

Special Wine Events

Field of Dreams Wine Tasting and Auction at the Dell Diamond in Round Rock. The Field of Dreams will include a tasting of wines from Francis Ford Coppola’s winery, and a barbeque cook-off between baseball’s Nolan Ryan and his beef and UT’s Earl Campbell and his sausage.
http://www.roundrockexpress.com/

22nd Annual Grapefest in Grapevine Texas held in Grapevine, Texas September 11th through 14th. This festival features over 50 different Texas wineries and their wines.
http://www.grapevinetexasusa.com/

Our rating:

Malaga Wine and Tapas Bar is one of Austin’s original wine bars. Located near the Warehouse District, Malaga has been serving up wine and Spanish appetizers for almost a decade. We stopped by Malaga for their happy hour, which was hopping and fun.

According to their web site, for happy hour they offer a limited selection of white and red wines for $4.00 and some tapas for an additional $3.50. When we got our menus, the happy hour actually features a choice of two white wines, three reds and one rosé for $4.50, not $4. The tapas were still available for an additional $3.50 each. Not that $.50 is any big deal, but if you look at Austin City Guide the wine is listed as costing $3.00. It’s time to clean up some stale data.

We ordered a couple of glasses of 2007 Crios de Susana Balboa Rosé de Malbec, and our friend ordered a Don Miguel Gascón 2007 Malbec. The red wine was a great pour. The rosés had less wine in the glass and could have been a little colder, but we still enjoyed them a lot. To pair with our wines, we ordered Pincho Moruno (marinated grilled pork bites), Gambas al Ajillo (garlic shrimp), and Almogrote de Alcachofas (artichoke and spinach dip). The pork and the shrimp were great, and the dip was okay, but nothing special.

Our second round of reds included two glasses of old, oxidized wine. When we told our server, the glasses were removed immediately and replaced.

We appreciated the prompt replacement of the old wine, but we really wish all wine bars would check their wines with a quick-and-easy sniff test before service. We are starting to suspect that many wine bars don’t bother, because people either don’t notice or people don’t say anything and just think that they don’t like that particular wine. In our opinion it doesn’t matter — serving wine that is corked, old, or spoiled in any way just isn’t cool.

In addition to their happy hour wines by the glass, Malaga is currently offering 10 whites, 15 reds, and 4 sparklers by the glass. Malaga also has an excellent selection of wines by the bottle. In fact, they’ve received an Award of Excellence from the Wine Spectator on three occasions. In addition to having plenty of wines to select from, Malaga’s 2x retail mark-up will let your wallet off a little easier than some other wine bars in town.

I like Malaga. The atmosphere is pleasing, and I think that their happy hour wine and tapas combination is one of the best deals in town. I suggest you stop by and check it out.

Our rating:

Uncorked Tasting Room and Wine Bar is the newest wine bar in Austin. Located at 900 East 7th Street, it is the second wine bar to open east of IH 35 as the entertainment district continues to expand in downtown Austin. We stopped by after work on a Tuesday night to see how things are coming along.

Uncorked is a remodeled house (formerly Angie’s) giving it some cozy rooms for friends to gather and drink wine. When it is cooler, Uncorked also offers a nice outdoor seating area. Inside, the décor is rather sparse, but I am sure that the owners will be adding details as they settle into their new spot. (more…)

308 Congress Ave
(512) 474-2675
Website: Cork & Co.
Hours: M-F, 3pm-midnight; Sat., noon-midnight; Sun., 5pm-midnight
Happy Hour: Everyday, 3 to 7pm

Our rating:

The other day, we visited Cork & Co. (or Cork and Company… I’ve seen them use both spellings), one of the last wine bars in downtown Austin that we needed to review.

(more…)

Our rating:

At a recent wine tasting, one of my fellow tasters mentioned a wine bar at Aquarelle Restaurant Français. He was quite enthusiastic about the place and the wines they were pouring. I have had several fine meals at Aquarelle, and I decided to give their wine bar a try.

(more…)

Our rating:

One of the newest wine bars in Austin is Tierra del Fuego, located near the convention center on east 2nd. Fuego opened for business about 6 weeks ago, but they are still preparing for their official grand opening. We stopped by on a Monday evening to see how things are shaping up.

(more…)

Our rating:

As we are making rounds of the wine bars in Austin, we found ourselves on East 11th Street, at Primizie Osteria Italian Café Wine & Bar, which is located next door to Ms. B’s Authentic Creole Restaurant. Word around town is that the food is good and reasonably priced.

(more…)

Neil and his wife attended on Saturday, which was the first day of the festival. The gates opened at 3pm, by which time the Texas sun was beating down on the Festival grounds located at the site of the new Whole Foods Market at the Domain. Michael attended on Monday, the last day of the festival, and the gates opened a little earlier at 1pm. The sun was, however, also beating down on Monday.

(more…)

We’ll be there. Come out and show your support of Texas wines.

Our rating:

Reed Clemons (of the restaurants Granite Café, Mezzaluna, Reed’s Jazz, and Supper Club, etc.) has opened a new wine bar and restaurant, The Grove Wine Bar and Kitchen. The Grove is located on Bee Caves Rd. just north of 360, making it a great place to stop on your way home from work if you live in that area.

(more…)