We tried 3 different wines this past week of interesting finds that we could recommend to just about anyone.  Of course, these were in addition to our usual standbys that we share with our friends.

First, we had a white Chateaneuf from Alain Jaume, Chateauneuf-du-Pape Vieux Terron 2009.  The wine is 40% Roussane and 60% Clairette.  At 14 % alcohol, the ’09 is larger than most.  In the glass, the wine is light straw in color and showing white pear and stone fruit.  We love the mouth-feel of this wine - medium-full bodied with a long finish.  We have seen this wine on close out for around $25.  For a Chateauneuf-du-Pape white, this is a steal and for an easier drinker like this, it is a felony.

Second, the Chateau Marjosse 2009 Bordeaux also sports14% alcohol but seems to support it well.  The ’09 displays a nose of dried fruit and herbs.  The wine has fine tannins and a med-long finish.  We would pair this wine with dark sauces, ’shrooms, and grilled meat.

Last but not least, Anthilia Donna Fugata 2010 Sicily.  Made from Catarratto (51%) and other sicilian grapes, this wine had the lowest alcohol content of the three, 12.5%.  In the glass the wine was a golden color, showing pears and mineral notes.  The ’10 is a medium bodied wine with a medium finish.  A hint more acid would bring a more food friendly balance to this nice summer white wine.

 Cheers!

Since Neil is writing a book on The History of Texas Wine we’ve been conducting some background research, so we went on a fact finding mission a couple of weeks ago.  We chose the Hill Country Wine Trail, frankly, because it is closest to our house out of all the wine regions in Texas.

 We began our journey at the famous Becker Vineyards outside of Fredericksburg, Texas.  Dr. Becker and his wife, Bunny, began this vineyard some 20 years ago.   Becker Vineyards is one of the most established and well-liked wineries in Texas and they have won critical acclaim over the years.

 Their tasting consists of 6 pours for $10.00 including a lovely wine glass with their logo.  We began the tasting with a 2012 Viognier retailing for $14.95 a bottle.  The wine showed nice balance and mouth feel with white peach flavors and nice acid (14.3% alcohol).  The next wine was a 2010 Roussane Reserve retailing for $18.95.  This wine had an herbal tea taste to it with a hint of white flowers and pears.  The third wine was a lovely 2011 rosé they called Provencal that retails for $9.95.  The pear and strawberry overtones coupled with a lightly floral nose and good price made this a winner in my book.

 The last three tastes were red wines.  The first was a 2011 Prairie Rotie, a Rhone style blend with essence of herbs, coffee and dark fruit flavors which retailed at $16.95.  The next was a 2010 Reserve Cabernet Syrah retailing for $21.95 with an alcohol content of 13.8%.  This bottle was made from a 60% Cabernet Sauvignon and a 40% Syrah.  The wine had an awesome aroma of chocolate, spice, cassis and dried fruit.  The last, but not least, was their 2010 Raven, the “Flagship Wine” and retails for $40.00.  The essence of chocolate, toffee, dates, and espresso oozed from this incredibly rich wine.  After 6 tastes at Becker Vineyards on a hot summer day in Texas, it was time to hit the road back to the casa for some R&R.

 Salud!

I have been working on a book about the history of Texas wine for what seems like an eternity (even longer according to my publisher).  There were lots of reasons for the delay: I had a very large project at my day job; we had some family issues that needed tending; and I am working on a small business venture with a couple of tech guys.  But the real reason for my trepidation - I was convinced that I did not like Texas wine.

Living in Austin, I am geographically close to some of the major wineries in Texas and over the years I had tasted lots of Texas wine.  Some of them were okay, some were even good, but most were early efforts that needed work.  Quality aside there was the price.  The bottles that were good tended to cost a lot of money.  A $40 bottle of wine that is just okay gets left on the shelf when I am shopping and lots of the “good” wines from Texas cost at least that.  Given my attitude it was a wonder that I was able to keep going, but then something unexpected happened, I began to find wine that I liked that came from Texas.  Not all at once mind you, but here and there.  Many of the wines were made from warm weather grapes such as Tannat, Viognier, Vermentino, Sangiovese, and Orange Muscat.  I do not remember the order but within the last couple of months there was the Vermentino from Duchman, the Tannat from Bending Branch, a Viognier from Becker, Orange Muscat from Fredericksburg Winery and one from Duchman, and a Sangiovese blend from Alamosa.  All of these wines were good and the majority were under $20, most well under.  Good solid drinking wine makes a wine industry.  Expensive, special occasions are, well, for special occasions but they do not create a wine culture.  A wine culture comes from producing good, solid wines that you can drink on Tuesday night without it being a birthday or an anniversary.  And now some Texas winemakers are doing just that. Don’t get me wrong there is still a lot of work to be done, but make no mistake about it progress is being made in the Texas wine industry and just in time for me so I can finish my book.

Cheers!

I never drink this wine without flashing back to the scene in Silence of the Lambs where Hannibal Lecter tells Clarise that he “…ate his liver with some fava beans and a fine chianti.”  I mean that scene conjures up some fairly grotesque images in the mind; therefore, I rarely drink Chianti, but I do love it despite the scene from the movie.  Since they weren’t serving fava beans or liver at the restaurant we had chosen, I decided we were safe and could go ahead and order a bottle of Chianti.

This particular bottle was a 2009 Chianti Classico (DOCG), Borgo Salcetino, Radda in Chianti, Siena, Italy.  This particular vineyard lies in a small part of Tuscany between Florence and Siena.  The wine had a dark chewy fruitiness with dark cherries and raspberries along with a cigar box finish.  The wine is 95% Sangiovese and 5% Canaiolo Nero with an alcohol content of 13% which seemed a little on the big side for a pizza at noon, but was a great way to start out our Sunday.  This wine retails for $16.99 and tastes like a classic Sangiovese which always goes great with pizza.  I highly recommend this wine with or without fava beans and well….

Salud!

The Israeli restaurant, Zahav, was not the only culinary adventure we had while in Philadelphia.  The first day we arrived, we walked to Rittenhouse Park and had the pleasure of dining at Parc – Restaurant, Bistro & Café on the square.  As I am sure you can surmise it was a nice French restaurant adjacent to the park.  The weather was absolutely glorious so we dined on their outdoor patio.

We began our lunch with a bottle of 2007 Trimbach Pinot Gris Reserve.  It was medium bodied with a little residual sugar that was nicely balanced by a firm acidity.  The wine showed some tropical fruit and spice and paired well with our Petit Plateau, a combination of fruits de mer consisting of oysters, clams, boiled shrimp, and tuna tartare.  Next, we splurged on a bottle of 2006 E. Guigal Condrieu.   It was lightly golden with a floral nose and highlighted with mineral and fruit.  It was a very well balanced wine and was spectacular with our spring pea soup, morels and béarnaise as well as mussels and pommes frites.  A basket of freshly baked bread was an additional pleasure and is sold daily to the public.

We wrapped up our meal with an apple tarte tatin and a late harvest 2004 Kanu Chenin Blanc from Stellenbosch in South Africa.  The 2004 Kanu was Wine Magazine’s Chenin Blanc challenge and this bottle certainly tasted like a winner – caramel, lime and orange in a glass.  This wine had a wonderful texture and finish that went on and on.  Of course, we finished off the meal with a cappuccino followed by a long stroll throughout the city to walk off some of those calories.  All and all it was a very pleasant culinary experience.  Stay tuned for additional posts on wining and dining in Philly.

Salud!

We had an interesting and unusual wining and dining experience last night.  We were visiting our wonderful friend and webmaster, Michael Waring, and had reservations at Zahav, a really hot Israeli restaurant on Society Hill in the Old Center City of Philadelphia.  A super friendly chap was the sommelier and recommended an old world style French Chardonnay aptly named Clos de Gat.  Gat is ancient Hebrew for winepress.  The vintage was 2006 and came from the Judean Hills outside of Jerusalem.  The wine had a nice nose of delicious mineral and honeysuckle.  It went really well with the hummus and flatbread as well as the Salatima, an array of salads and pickled vegetables.  For the rest of the meal, we shared another bottle of Israeli wine called Petit Castel.  It was a 2007 vintage and similar to French Bordeaux in style and complexity.  The wine showed currant and cherry with smooth tannins.  It was a nice accompaniment to the family style meal served consisting of kibbe naya (lamb tartare), grilled duck hearts with a carrot-turnip salad and onion puree, lamb kofte, duck kebob, beef cheeks and fried cauliflower.  It was truly an unforgettable experience and one we would highly recommend.  If you make your way to Philadelphia, try out the food at Zahav in addition to the ubiquitous Philly Cheesesteak.

 Salud!

After gardening all morning, we decided to kick back at The Grove and have a flight and some appetizers for lunch.  It was spectacular!  Here’s a recap of our lovely lunch.

 2009 Etz Gruner Veltliner

Kamptal, Austria

This wine was cool and clean with a spicy finish – just enough.  It went well with the oyster appetizer and aioli sauce.

 2010 Araldica Gavi “La Luciana”

Piedmont, Italy

This was a light to medium bodied white wine that exuded green apples and grapefruit with a nice refreshingly dry finish.  A bowl of mussels cooked in a spicy coconut broth was a nice accompaniment to the wine.

 2010 Vietti Roero Arneis

Piedmont, Italy

This lovely Arneis had a nice balance of apple, pear and fennel with a slightly honeyed finish.  The Arneis went beautifully with a sesame tuna tartar and the warm overcast winter day.

 All in all it was a fabulous afternoon at one of our favorite spots in town!

Happy New Year,

Kathy

A couple of months ago, I came home to a nice surprise from UPS.  It was a package from the famous Biltmore Estate Winery in Asheville, North Carolina.  They had shipped WineEnabler a bottle of their bubbly and a bottle of their white table wine.  Recently, we decided to indulge in the bottle of the Biltmore Estate Methode Champenoise.  (As you may know, only wines produced in a certain region in France may be called Champagne, so wines of this type produced in America are always called “sparkling wines” rather than “champagne.”  This particular bottle of Blanc de Blancs was s Brut sparkling wine which tends to be on the drier side rather than the sweet wide.  It had overtones of apple and pear with a hint of a lemon finish.  One of our tasters compared it to a Sweetart.  Be that as it may, we all loved the inviting bottle of sparking wine and can’t wait to actually make a trip to the Biltmore Estate Winery so we can taste some more of their delicious varietals.

Happy New Year!

Recently, a friend of ours brought a nice little bottle of white wine over to the house and, lo and behold, it was from Texas.  Lucky for us, the winery was only 27 miles from our house, so we hopped in the truck and headed out there last Sunday.

The Duchman Family Winery was founded by Drs. Lisa and Stan Duchman in 2004.  Their love for Italian wine has influenced the style of the wine that they produce as well as the architecture of the tasting room.  They have a beautiful Tuscan style tasting room that is spacious and unpretentious.  When we got there, the winery was offering 5 wines to taste for $5.00 from their 2009 crop.  However, we opted for a sixth wine because we wanted to try their Montepulciano that was not on the featured tasting.

The first was a Bianco made from Vermentino grapes and retails for $9.00.  This was a light white wine that would be a good appertif.  The second wine was a Dolcetto and sells for $15.   The third was a subtle Montepulciano that would be great with chicken or veal.  The fourth wine was a Sangiovese that would go nicely with a good old-fashioned pizza.  The fifth wine was a robust Zinfindel and would pair well with a hearty lamb shank.  The last one we tried was a dessert wine and was actually one of my favorites.   It was a Moscato that had a hint of orange zest and was lovely with a local Brie and jalapeño jelly.  All of the wines were solid, showed good varietal character and were very reasonably priced.  So if you happen to be out near Driftwood, stop in and give the Duchman Family wines a try, I think you will be surprised.

Salud & Bon Appetit!

Kathy

Another summer favorite has resurfaced this year and we couldn’t be more delighted.  I am talking about a beautiful Muscadet from the Loire Valley produced by Domaine de la Quilla.  The winemakers, Laurence and Gerard Vinet, “mature their wine on the lees and bottle it in the spring following the harvest.”  The time spent on the lees give the wine a little extra richness and body that we just love. The grape varietal, Melon de Bourgogne or Melon for short, is one you might not have tried, but it is high time you did. The ’09 Quilla is light and refreshing with flavors of melon and peach.  It is absolutely wonderful with seafood however; the 12% alcohol lends itself to having a glass all by itself.  At a case price of $8.95 per bottle you can certainly afford to enjoy this wine all summer.  So much for the technicalities, just open a bottle and enjoy!

Salud & Bon Appetit!

Neil