Wine Life - Houston

Gruner Veltliner is the most widely planted white grape variety in Austria. Lower Austria is the largest of the four main appellations. 2009 Fred Loimer LOIS Gruner Veltliner  - Lower Austria  $17 Clear, pale lemon yellow color. Clean, medium intense youthful aromas of apricot and lime. Dry, Medium+ acidity, medium alcohol and medium- body with a medium grapefruit, white pepper finish. Good/drink now. Kamptal and Wachau are  renowned areas for Gruner in Lower Austria due to the sun exposure on the terraced vineyards helping to achieve maximum ripening. 2009 Gruner by ETZ Kamptal Clear, pale straw color. Clean, medium intense youthful aromas of grapefruit and pineapple. Dry, medium acidity and alcohol with a medium- body and a medium length pineapple, grapefruit finish. Good/drink now. Burgenland is a wine region is eastern Austria along the Hungarian border. In addition to making sweet wines, they produce some of the best Austrian dry red wine. Zwiegelt is the main black grape

Yesterday, I had the opportunity to taste some of Estancia's current releases at Up restaurant with Estancia General Manager & Director of Winemaking, Scott Kelley.   We started with the Pinnacles Ranches Monterey Chardonnay 2009 with the tuna tartar and ceviche. As Kelley had started with Estancia in 2007, this wine was overseen by him from start to finish. As a Monterey County native, he is passionate about the local terroir and making wines that reflect this sense of place.  The Pinnacles Vineyard is on the east side of the Salinas Valley on the lower slopes of the Gabilan Mountains, this area is ideal for slowly and evenly ripening the grapes and bringing out the pineapple character. 50% of the grapes were fermented in stainless steel and 50% in oak of which 25% was new. The end result in my glass was a nicely balanced, full flavored, medium+ body, medium acidity wine with a medium+ length pina colada finish. A nice wine retailing for about $14. Next, we tasted the Es

My sister lived in Budapest for over a decade so I feel like I should know a little more about Hungarian wines than I do. She brought wine back on her twice yearly visits but we knew less about wine then than we do now so often times we were surprised by whatever may be inside, sometimes it was good and sometimes it was just scary. The grape varieties were usually something that we were unfamiliar with and wine styles seemed to vary quite a bit as well. It was definitely always interesting. When studying the wines of Hungary, there is always a focus on two of their historically famous wines. The first is the red wine Egri Bikaver or "Bulls Blood" from Eger which is located north east of Lake Balaton. Traditionally, it was a full-bodied wine from the Kekfrankos and Kadarka grapes but newer more modern versions are also being made in a lighter style for both body and tannins and are less expensive in price. These newer versions are often made from the traditional Kekfrankos

Together, Languedoc and Roussillon, make up the largest wine region in Southern France. Long considered France's bulk wine region, an emphasis on identifying terroir and on quality production has been changing that image. 2009 Rives-Blanques Sauvageon Pay d'Oc    $11 Clear, pale golden color. Clean medium youthful aromas of peach and lime. Dry, medium+ acidity, medium alcohol and body, medium- finish. Good/ drink now-not intended for aging. The Vin de Pays des Côtes Catalanes is in the western part of the Vin De Pays D'Oc region. Located within the Pyrénees, the area has a strong Spanish influence. The red wines are typically Grenache-based.   2005 Domaine Gilles Troullier VdP des Cotes Catalanes $12 Clear deep ruby. A bit of volatile acidity that dissapated fairly quickly, Medium intense developed aromas of cigar box, pencil box and cherry medicine. Dry, medium+ body, alcohol, acidity and finish with high tannins. Good (a bit overextracted)/ drink now. The large area

The Southern Rhone extends from Montelimar to Nimes. The climate is Mediterranean. The vineyards are not all flanking the river as in the north, some spread out close to 50 miles. The wines are typically blended. The Cotes du Rhone AOC is regional, the grapes may be sourced from anywhere in the designated zone which includes both the Northern and Southern sub-regions, although 95% of the production is in the south. For this review, I am looking at the red wine which is 95% of their production. Grenache must make up a minimum of 40% of the blend, Syrah and/or Mourvedre up to 60% and up to 30% Carignan, Cinsault and the many other approved grapes. They are looking to make a wine that can be consumed upon release. 2009 Ferraton Pere & Fils Samorens Cote du Rhone    $10 Clear deep ruby color with clean medium- intense youthful aromas of red fruit and lavender. Dry, medium+ acidity, medium tannins, body and alcohol with cassis and a cherry syrup character. Simple, good, drink now.

As a native Houstonian, I have eaten a lot of Gulf Coast seafood over the years without putting too much thought into it (aside from when I was watching oil flooding the Gulf, courtesy of BP). When I was young, my family spent time in Galveston every summer fishing and crabbing and eating whatever was caught. As an adult I sent my kids to Seacamp in Galveston where they went out on an oyster trawler at 10 years old to haul in oysters, learn to shuck them and then have oyster eating contests on board; this was construed as fun not as child labor, by the way. The first time I had oysters from elsewhere, I was surprised at how small, flat and briny they were by comparison but again I had not really thought about why they were different other than the water was colder than it was here. I also hadn't really considered location mattering within the Gulf. Well, all that has changed now after attending the "Merroir Experience" yesterday at the Oceanaire restaurant in the Galler