I am continuing my slow walk toward membership in the De Long Wine Century Club. This weekend, I shared a bottle of 2006 Statti Calabria Gaglioppo ($23) outdoors at Mandola’s Italian Market in Austin. This wine is made from the Gaglioppo grape, which was light and refreshing, with plenty of fruit and a little spicy mint to boot. Modest acid and 12.5% alcohol make this a perfect drink for a fall Sunday afternoon.

My wife was so impressed that I am going to buy a few bottles to keep at the house. Once again, the De Long challenge has led me to try a grape varietal that would not necessarily have made its way into my glass, and I am a happier wine drinker for it. [click to continue…]

As the holidays approach, WineEnabler.com is making every effort to keep you up to date on the best wine values available in Austin. In a previous post, we listed wine suggestions from the Austin-area experts from The Austin Wine Merchant, Grapevine Market, and Central Market.

This week we have wine selections from Molly Sheehan at Twin Liquors on Balcones and Jen Powell from Whole Foods on Lamar. Molly offers three white and red wine suggestions, and Jen offers three red. [click to continue…]

I keep a close eye on my wine prices. That doesn’t mean that I won’t pay for good wine, but I want to be sure that I know a bargain or a rip-off when I see one. Unfortunately, these days, bargains are harder to find. It seems that all the wine that was ordered when the Euro was worth more than $1.50 is making its way to America just in time for the Holidays.

My shopping survey suggests that the price increases are steepest for Italian and Spanish wines. From Spain for example, Constano’s 2004 Hecula is a good drink that was $9.99 this summer but is now $12.50 or more. Another Spanish wine that has been under $10 forever that is taking a big jump is Marques de Caceres 2004 Rioja Crianza Red, which is now $12.50 or more. From Italy, I bought Tomaresca’s 2006 Puglia for $9.99 about one month ago, and this weekend it was $12.99. And Inama’s 2007 Vin Soave Classico has increased from $14.25 to $16.25. I could go on and on, but I think you get the point. [click to continue…]

When Neil and Michael proposed writing a wine blog about a year ago, my inner hillbilly reared her head. I found the term “beer snob” a delightful oxymoron, and “wine snob” just plain redundant.

As a proud member of the beer drinking class, whenever I was asked to pick up wine on the way to a friend’s house for dinner, I was happy to spend just enough time in the wine aisle to locate the Rosemount Shiraz and move on. Once in the state-run liquor store nearest the University of Utah, an effete graphic design student from the East Coast had tutored me in its pronunciation and informed me that it was “marginally drinkable”.

And indeed, it was nectar compared to the ubiquitous Rolling Rock beer stashed into the sock drawers of every other non-Mormon on that dry campus. I already felt classy enough drinking out of a glass instead of a green bottle or a Nalgene, and to my mind, fussing any further about the subject of wine was suspiciously Yankee. [click to continue…]

The 2nd Annual Texas Wine and Song Festival will be held this Sunday at the Copper Tank on the corner of Fifth Street and Trinity. The Festival features presentations about Texas viticulture, wine making and wine pairing all to a background of live music. The party starts at 3 pm and the live music kicks off at 4:30 with Suzanna Choffel followed by Carolyn Wonderland and the evening will finish with The Gourds.

Texas wines will be provided by Llano Estacado, Fall Creek, Peregrine Hill Vineyards, Sister Creek, Messina Hof Winery, Becker Vineyards, Cap*Rock, Spicewood Vineyards, and Virtuoso Selections.

The food that goes with all this wine will be provided by Fleming’s Prime Steakhouse, Roaring Fork, Zax Restaurant, The Screaming Goat, Sugar Mama’s Bake Shop, The Woodland, Fogo de Chao and Tiff’s Treats.

Admission to the festival is $30 in advance and $35 at the door. Admission includes 10 food and wine samplings. Proceeds will go to the SIMs foundation providing access to mental health and addiction recovery services for area musicians and the Texas Wine & Song Foundation, which offers scholarships and grants to further Texas enology and viticulture.

As someone who is against the large-scale corporate take over of anything, in particular wine, I find myself on thin ice. I have been to CostCo three times. The first two were part business – I wanted to see what they charged for wine, and part personal – I wanted to save money on my food bill. I didn’t notice their house brand wine on my first visit, and I intentionally overlooked it on my second trip.

On my third visit, however, I decided to give one a try. The placard beside the wine said that the Wine Enthusiast Magazine had scored the wine a 90. I normally have reservations about the reliability of most mass-produced wine review services and mass-produced wines, but curiosity was guiding my hand. [click to continue…]

The 2008 Austin City Limits (ACL) Music Festival at our lovely and dusty Zilker Park is about two months away. It’s on September 26-28th to be precise, and we thought you might like to know the best way to incorporate some good wine into your festival time.

There is a wine tent at ACL. That is to say, there is a tent and they serve fermented grape juice in it – the likes of which are a closer relative to box wine than anything else. I’d recommend just using it as a place to meet up with your friends in the sea of crowds. (You can, however, buy a bottle of wine that they will dump into a sports bottle for you, if you’re just looking for a good wine buzz with your music.) [click to continue…]

As a part of our ongoing effort to find the best wine at the best price, I recently purchased a CostCo membership to check out their wine prices. This weekend, I stopped by and, I must say, these are amazing stores.

If you are not familiar with CostCo, they are kind of like a high-end Sam’s Club. They sell big lots and overstocked items they buy in bulk. They also have a house label, Kirkland Signature. [click to continue…]

I recently made a trip to San Francisco, and I had the good fortune to eat out at several fine dining establishments. When the wine list appeared at the first restaurant, I noticed that the wine prices were much less than I would pay in Austin, TX. At first, I thought it was just for Californian wines, but prices for imports were also lower then I had seen in Austin.

So I dropped by K & L Wine Merchants in San Francisco and got the local retail prices for several bottles of wine and took the information with me when I went out to eat. [click to continue…]

About a month ago, I posted a bit of a rant about Masi wine prices. You see, they had increased their prices by about 25% across the board for vintages that were already on the shelf.

It sure struck me the wrong way. I thought it was insulting to their current customers, and they put the wine shops that sell their wine in a bad spot. If the merchants increased their retail price, folks like me might not buy the wine. If merchants keep the price the same, they do not make any money on the vintage on their shelves.

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