Wine Life - Houston

I got interested in doing a bit of a wines of Italy review because I was considering taking the Italian Specialist Exam. That class was cancelled so I won't be doing that but I did enjoy the process. My husband and I both really enjoyed the Tenuta Lodola Nuova Vino Nobile di Montepulciano 2007 by Ruffino last night with dinner. It was a ruby red in the glass with primarily fruity aromas of ripe cherries, blackberries, plums with some dried leaves. It was medium+ body with smooth ripe medium tannins, medium+ acidity and alcohol. It had the same fruity flavors as the aromas with a black tea addition to the taste with a long fruity finish.  As we are trying to cut back a bit on our meat intake this week after overdoing it last weekend, I served it with a Caprese type salad, potato and onion soup and pepperoni pizza. It was fantastic with each course of our meal. Vino Nobile di Montepulciano must be made with at least 70% Sangiovese from the clone known as ...

2011 Ruffino Orvieto Classico approximately $11 Clear, pale straw color with a watery rim. Clean, fresh aromas of mixed herbs, natural almonds and pear. Dry, medium- body, mouth watering high acidity, medium alcohol with a pear flavor and a medium length lemon citrus finish. This wine comes from the historical growing zone around the medieval town of Orvieto in Umbria located in Central Italy. It is a blend based primarily on Grechetto and Trebbiano (aka Procanico). I served it with grilled sea bass and grilled zucchini, yellow squash and red bell peppers. I had weeded my herb garden shortly after I woke up that day and when I first opened the bottle that evening, I thought it smelled remarkably like my herb garden did in the early morning sunshine. Recommended. 2011 Barone Fini Valdadige Pinot Grigio approximately $13 Clear, pale straw color with a watery rim. Clean, fresh aroma of apple. Dry, light body, ...

Three weeks ago, we had the 2007 Two Hands "Zippy's Block" Roennfeldt Road Single Vineyard Marananga, Barossa Valley Shiraz with a ribe-eye steak dinner at home. I was flipping through my notebook of tasting notes that sits on my kitchen counter when I realized that I had forgotten to post on it. It had been a busy time: the Friday before labor day, school had just started and we had just gotten our kids and our nephew settled.  We had purchased a couple of bottles of this last Fall at The Tasting Room at Uptown Park after trying it at one of their tasings, I am not sure if it is still available there. I believe that is was priced around $75. After drinking lighter weight wines for most of the summer, this was our ode to the advent of Fall. As we are still having afternoon temperature in the low 90's here in Houston, it was more symbolic than having anything to do with an actual change in the weather. Anyway, we both really enjoyed it. It was big and bold an...

2011 Touraine Millesime Sauvignon Blanc from The Loire Valley by Alfed Pery Nose: Clean, medium intense aromas of lemongrass, melon, wetstone and celery. Palate: Dry, medium body, medium+ acidity, medium alcohol with flavors of grapefruit and melon with a medium length finish. Recommended. I served this before dinner out by the pool and it was very well recieved. Purchased at Whole Foods.         2011 Domaines Ott Cotes de Provence Nose: Clean, medium intense aromas of apricot and red fruit. Palate: Dry, medium body, medium+ acidity, medium alcohol with flavors mirroring the aromas with a medium length mineral tinged finish. Recommended. I have had this twice this month. I purchased a bottle at Top Shelf Wine and Spirits in Sugar Land for $22 to bring to a friend's Labor Day party on Galveston Island where it was a big hit. Then, my husband and I had it again last Friday at Aura French Restaurant in Missouri City with t...

I was a guest last month for the Clos du Bois Rouge launch at Cirque du Soleil-Kooza where I met Katie Lee , cook book author and ambassador for Clos du Bois Wines. In addition to talking about the show, our mutual love of Ros é wine in the summer and the new release of the 2010 Clos du Bois Rouge, she shared with me that she had paired some of her recipes with this new wine.     As I am always looking for something new to cook to change up our at-home dining, I was interested to hear that one of her favorite dishes with the wine was her BBQ chicken. If that wasn't intriguing enough, she also offered up a cookie recipe to go with the wine as well. As a native Texan, I am pretty sure that I know BBQ so I was curious to see what her recipe would be like as she is from West Virginia but now lives in The Hamptons. The marketing team was kind enough to send me a bottle of the wine and the dinner plan was on. I had most of the ingredients alre...

I don't shop at Costco so I was not that familiar with the Cameron Hughes brand. Costco was the first major retailer to carry these wines. I just met Cameron last week at The Tasting Room at City Centre where they were hosting both a wine tasting and a wine dinner featuring his selections. Cameron grew up in California and worked for a short time as a cellar rat before deciding to go into the sales side of the business. His business strategy has been to buy up excess wine from well regarded wine regions and producers who have a surplus. He then bottles it as his own and sells it for a significantly reduced price. The key thing being that he does not disclose his sources only the vineyard location. He buys small high end lots that he numbers rather than names due to the often one-off buying opportunities. Two days after this event, I saw a display of his wine set up at my local Kroger grocery store. His wines are becoming more available as he is now moving...

The Wines of Germany and the Guild of Sommeliers hosted a Master Class at Pappas Bros Steakhouse taught by Master Sommeliers Matt Stamp and Laura Williamson.  I was excited to attend this class because I think this is probably my weakest area of knowledge when considering the major wine producing countries. I am happy to report that this was a fantastic class with a great tasting. The first flight was a grouping of wines made from the Sylvaner grape from Franken. Sylvaner is a natural cross between Traminer and Osterreichisch Weiss. Its higher acidity makes it a good food wine particularly with salty foods- cured meat, smoked cheese, fish and asparagus. Franken, in Bavaria, is called the spiritual home of Sylvaner. Franken Sylvaner typically has a fuller body with more texture and light floral and fruity aromas. The wines we tasted were: Juliusspital Kabinett Trocken 2010 - the softest of the three with more floral and saffron notes. Wirsching "D...