Wine Life - Houston

Cépage is the elegant new restaurant inside of the recently refurbished Paris Valley Road Estate & Winery Tasting Room. Cépage opened in 2022 and currently serves lunch and weekend brunch. Paris Valley Estate is a fairly new brand that is named after the two lane road in Monterey County where the owners, the Stoller family, planted their first vineyard over 20 years ago. The new name inspired them to renovate the former Arciero Winery in the opulent style of French Grand Cru domaines they had previously visited, explained winemaker, Doug Hidinger. I was visiting on a rainy day so I did not get to tour the grounds or take many outside pictures, unfortunately. The table was set and ready upon arrival. Hidinger was at lunch to present both the Paris Valley Road Sparkling Wine 2019 and the Sextant Edna Valley Sparkling Wine 2012 from a sister property of Paris Valley Road. Owner/Winemaker of Vino Vargas , Pedro Vargas, was also there to present his three sparkling wines. All...

Located in a small industrial warehouse district, 3 miles south of downtown Paso Robles, is an easily walkable zone of contemporary industrial-style tin buildings called Tin City which is home to an innovative beverage scene. Tin City has several small-production wineries such as Anarchy Wine Co., Benom, Cordant Winery, and Giornata along with somewhat larger producers like Field Recordings . It is not unusual to be greeted by the winemakers in these modern tasting rooms and find them ready to share both their wines and their stories with their guests. Superfly Zinfandel blended with Cabernet and Petite Sirah At Anarchy Wine Co , expect to find a wide range of wines which includes a Bordeaux-Style Blend, Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Grenache, Grenache Blanc, Mourvèdre, Petit Verdot, Petite Sirah, a Red Rhône-Style Blend, Syrah, Tempranillo, and Zinfandel all deliciously served with a rebel yell in a rock and roll environment. Les Deux Freres means The Two Brothers and is unique...

Welcome to Wine Country - Baggage Claim at the airport. I am looking forward to more wine travel this year. My first trip for 2023 is to Paso Robles, California. Before I share my favorites from this foray, I have compiled posts where I shared some of my favorite past experiences in this dynamic region. I will be seeing a few of the same winemakers again along with tastings planned at several new for me wineries. Paso Robles has been experiencing some unusual weather lately. They had snowfall and enough rainfall to move them out of their drought. I am interested to hear how this might affect the 2023 vintage. I will be posting heavily on Paso Robles as soon as I return to Houston. In the meantime, catch up on all my previous Paso Robles adventures here: Visiting Paso Robles - Ancient Peaks Winery and the Santa Margarita Ranch AVA Visiting Paso Robles - Halter Ranch Vineyard Visiting Paso Robles - Vina Robles Vineyards & Winery Visiting Paso Robles - J. Lohr Vineyards Visiting Paso ...

Jean Trimbach at The Texas Wine School Originally established in 1626, the Trimbach family is now on their 13th generation of ownership in Alsace. Twelfth generation Jean Trimbach, who runs the winery Maison Trimbach with his brother Pierre, was in Houston last week to taste with local wine professionals in the Houston Sommelier Association at the Art of Cellaring/Texas Wine School. Although, Trimbach is not the largest producer in Alsace, they produce under 100,000 cases a year, it has lead the region in cases sold to the United States since 1978. A very early adopter of sustainability, Maison Trimbach stopped all chemical use in both the vineyard and the winery in 1972. The Reserves, Gold label, Grand Crus, and Prestige wines are all produced organically. Forty percent of the Trimbach production is Riesling. Jean Trimbach shared that the family vision for their wines has always been "purist". He stated that the Trimbach style is characterized as dry with no malolactic ferme...

 As seen in the March 2023 issue of Galveston Monthly magazine. This month, I recommend wines that are bottled under screw cap that can be found on the island right now to make this month's spring festivities easier to enjoy.