Wine Life - Houston

On Tuesday  night, I attended the  Michael~David Wine Dinner at Max's Wine Dive. The daughter/niece of the two winemakers, Melissa Phillips Stroud, was there to meet and greet and answer any questions dinner go-ers had about the various wines. The menu courses prepared by Chef Michael Pellegrino:   1 st A goat cheese and grape skewer with chocolate reduction sauce paired with Petite Petit which is 85% Petite Sirah and 15% Petit Verdot.   2 nd Venison tartare on crackers with fig served with the new Sloth Zinfandel.   3 rd A wild boar filled pasta square with cherry sauce, a wild boar stuffed baby bella mushroom with raspberry sauce and, my favorite part of this course, shredded wild boar surrounded with masa and fried with a plum sauce served with Gluttony Old Vine Zinfandel.   4 th Lamb Osso Bucco with roasted pumpkin risotto was perfectly paired with the Rapture Cabernet.   5 th Dessert was ch...

The Houston Wine Fest Media Party was held last night at Cork Soakers  wine bar located in downtown Houston's east side. Cork Soakers opened in March and has been a great addition to the area with its diverse wine list with many options by the glass. There was a good turn out and an enjoyable time was had by all at this comfortable and relaxed venue. Complimentary wine and prize drawings added to the fun. The party was held to kick-off the inaugural  Houston Wine Fest  weekend which starts tomorrow at noon at historic Sam Houston Park located in downtown Houston at 1100 Bagby. The event goes through Sunday evening and benefits Texas Children's Hospital. There will be 200 wines from around the world, food pairings from local restaurants, other specialty food, novelty and accessory merchants with live jazz and salsa music. Come out this weekend and enjoy some wine under the park's shady trees, a great time is promised and it is all for a good caus...

I went to a  Darioush wine tasting last Friday. What a delight! I found every bottle we tasted to be exceptional. Darioush is well-known for their Bordeaux styled wines so I was already familiar with both the Darioush "Signature" and the Estate Caravan Cabernet Sauvignon from Napa Valley. They are both highly rated and consistently good. The Caravan is the lower priced of the two and is something that I keep in stock at home. The wines in the line up for the evening were all from Napa Valley and included: 2008 Signature Viognier, 2005 Signature Chardonnay, 2005 Signature Merlot, 2007 Signature Shiraz, 2007 Estate Caravan Cabernet Sauvignon, and both the 2006 & 2007 Signature Cabernet Sauvignon. The 2007 was opened by mistake which was a bonus to all who were present. The Viognier varietal has been hit and miss for me at tastings in the past but this offering was an absolute stand out. It was very fragrant with floral notes of jasmine and or...

A friend brought this bottle back for us after an Oregon vacation. It was put away and forgotten about until last night. I was making a corn chowder with crabmeat. I had gotten a great deal on the crab so I had bought extra. I decided to harvest the last of my jalapenos from my garden and stuff them. The soup was simmering, the cornbread (my stuffing base) was baking and the dipping sauce was made and chilling which left me with 20 minutes. I went to check to see what kinds of whites were available in our cellar. I decided it was time to open this bottle of 2008 Hellfire , a white wine blend from Columbia Gorge. It had mild floral aromas of honeysuckle and jasmine with freshly sliced pear and a bit of slate. It was crisply refreshing, I knew it was going to work well with my spicy stuffed jalapenos. Flavor-wise, it had more of the pear with granny smith apples and hints of honey. It had a very dry, medium length finish. It is a blend of pinot gris, c...

We went to Pappas Grill  last night for the Beringer Vineyards  wine dinner. The food was spectacular as always and I got to try several wonderful wines. Chef Michael Gaspard began our evening with pieces of rolled tuna/avocado sushi and artichoke fritters which were paired with 2007 Alluvium Blanc from Knights Valley. This white blend is predominantly sauvignon blanc and semillon with some chardonnay and viognier. It was very fragrant with aromas of toasted nuts and baked pineapple. It was crisply acidic but also had a honeyed creaminess with flavors of pineapple and citrus which I really enjoyed. Spicy crab salad on top of chilled english pea bisque with lemon and herbs was served next. This was so delicious, I could have eaten several bowls. This course was paired with two Napa Valley chardonnays, the 2006 "Limited Release Sbragia" and the 2005 "Private Reserve". They were both full-bodied with a long finish. I wo...

We went to brunch yesterday morning at The Tasting Room  at Uptown Park in Houston. They serve this from 10:00 am to 3:00 pm on Sundays. The last time that we brunched there, they were trying out a buffet but had now gone to a menu with a new chef. There was a good variety of choices ranging from omelets to sandwiches, salads, a hamburger and pizza. We started with some $2.00 mimosas made with fresh-squeezed grapefruit juice. I prefer this to the orange juice option which is also available. They also make a peach/basil sangria which I did not try. I ordered the "Carolina Shrimp and Grits". It was on the appetizer portion of the menu for $9.00. It was delicious. It came in a normal-sized bowl which was filled to the middle point with grits which were cooked with small bits of ham and peppers and topped with 4 nice-sized grilled shrimp. I also had a side of fresh fruit for $3.00, this was a little over a cup of blueberries, stawberries, honeydew melon and grapes; it was very...

For 6 years now, California Wine Month has been celebrated in September. In addition to it being a beautiful time of year, harvest and crush are imminent. Three years ago, I visited Napa Valley right at this same time. The weather was perfect for spending the days outside touring the vineyards. If you wanted to escape the sun for a bit then you could head inside to a tasting room or out onto a winery's covered patio for a tasting. Sitting outside and enjoying a glass of a favorite new wine in the sunshine was the ideal way to spend the day, just California dreaming.  Wherever you may be, September is the time to fill your glass with some of the best that California has to offer and give a toast to the 3000 wineries that make 90% of all U.S. wine, making California, and therefore, the U.S., the 4th largest producer of wine in the world. Cheers to you, California, enjoy wine month!

In case you have not heard, today is Cabernet Day. This is the brain-child of Rick Bakas at St. Supery Vineyards. Worldwide, across four continents, there are over 50 wineries, 600 wine drinkers and 100 restaurants participating both on-line and with on-site events today. Early indications suggest that it will be the biggest on-line wine tasting ever held. Anyone can participate by using the #Cabernet tag on social network sites. Information is being shared while both virtual and real tastings are happening. Everyone is invited to critique their favorite Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc wines. I celebrated Cabernet Day early this year. We had friends over for dinner last Friday and, for the main course, I cooked a 5 lb beef tenderloin with twice baked potatoes. We shared 3 different Napa Cabernet Sauvignon that night. I enjoyed it all too much to make tasting notes but I assure you that they were all excellent. Our line-up included  2006 ...

I served the  2009 Yealands Sauvignon Blanc when a friend and her children came by to swim, my own teen-aged daughter was there to lifeguard. I am typically a fan of New Zealand sauvignon blanc, particularly from Marlborough, as I really like the higher acidity levels that they can obtain there. I picked this bottle up at the grocery store for about $11, the "carbon zero" label attracted me to it. The menu was simple: cold-boiled shrimp, guacamole with chips, lots of fresh fruit (with ham & cheese sandwiches for the kids). I felt that this was a really good wine for the price point when we tasted it. It was a pale straw-color in the glass. Although it called itself intensely aromatic on the bottle label, I felt that it was a more lightly-scented sauvignon blanc. Aromatically, the lime hit first and a minerality that I would call wet stone. I could also pick up black current, fresh cut grass with hints of jalapeno. On the palate, the flavors were more inten...