To Blend or Not to Blend

I’ve heard passionate wine drinkers extoll the virtues of blending grapes, as if a blend is always a better wine. Likewise, I’ve heard wine fans lament when winemakers won’t just stick to one grape. Let’s explore why some wines are blended and some not, and whether one is better than the other. I learned by experience when visiting Sonoma, California that blending wine well is HARD.

Why blend?

• Taste:  Grape varieties are often blended to balance out the characteristics of a wine. For instance, a grape with low tannin might be blended with a high-tannin grape to create something more well-rounded.
• Vineyard Insurance:  Blending can provide insurance in the vineyard. Different grapes are more or less susceptible to weather or pest problems. If you plant more than one grape and something goes wrong with one of them, you might avoid losing your whole harvest. Your blend may taste different from one year to the next with a different ratio of grapes, but at least you’ll have a product.
• Business/commercial reasons:  Maybe you don’t grow enough of one grape variety to produce it as a varietal wine. You might blend it with a second (or third) grape, to have a larger production of a blended wine instead of a smaller production of two varietal wines.

Bordeaux makes the most famous blended wines in the world, but lots of wines can be blended without having to mention it on the label. The rules in most wine regions allow a producer to list a single grape on the label, even if they've added 10% or 15% of another grape into the blend.

Blended wines are made in two ways. The most common way is to ferment each grape into wine separately, and then blend the wines together. Another way is to create a "field blend," which means that the different varieties of grapes are planted mixed together in the vineyard. In this case, the grapes are all harvested together and made into wine in whatever proportion they were growing in the field.

I tried my hand at blending wine when I visited the Clos du Bois winery in Sonoma, California. Clos du Bois makes a "meritage" wine, a fancy marketing name for a Bordeaux-style blend, called Marlstone. If you visit the tasting room, you can reserve a spot in their "Marlstone Experience," where you can use the same varietal wines that Clos du Bois uses to try to imitate their Marlstone blend or create your own. Just as in Bordeaux, you choose from base wines of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Malbec, and Petit Verdot.

Left to right:  Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Malbec, Petit Verdot, Cabernet Franc, "Your blend," and Marlstone

First, I tasted all the wines and blended equal parts of my favorites. It tasted terrible. Then I tried a more typical Bordeaux-style blend: mostly Cabernet Sauvignon with a little Merlot and Cabernet Franc. Better. In the end, the best results came from letting one grape take center stage with small amounts of others playing supporting roles. After at least an hour of trying, I still hadn't created anything I really liked. Blending is hard, but this counts as one of my favorite wine experiences ever.

  

A blended wine is not necessarily good or bad. It's the result of trying to create a better wine, ensure a stable harvest, or navigate a competitive marketplace. If you're still skeptical of blended wines, just remember: 9000 years ago, Neolithic people were making alcoholic beverages out of grains, fruit, and honey mixed together, basically combining beer, wine, and mead. It makes blending together a few different grapes sound like much less of a big deal.

Bordeaux Trip - Free Info Session and Wine Tasting

Regular readers know that I'm acting as the wine educator on a river cruise through Bordeaux in October 2017.

If you're interested in learning more about the trip, join us at a free info session and wine tasting in February in Houston.

Check out the Facebook event here.

For location details or questions, RSVP to:  ClearLakeWineTasting@gmail.com

More information about the trip here.

Moravia in Texas

Last weekend we went to the Houston Slavic Heritage Festival, as we do most years. This year it celebrated the food, music, and crafts of the Ukraine, Czech Republic, Croatia, and Poland. I drink beer at the Slavic Fest (it goes perfectly with sausage and sauerkraut!), but being there reminded me to drink my bottles of wine from the Moravia Winery in central Texas.

The Moravia Vineyard and Winery is named (I assume) after the town in which the vineyard resides, Moravia, Texas (though the winery's address is in nearby Schulenburg). Moravia, Texas was founded in 1881 by Czech and Moravian settlers, who named the town after the Moravian region of the Czech Republic (or do we call it Czechia now?). This region of the Czech Republic produces more than 90% of the wine in that country, so it makes perfect sense to name the winery after the town named after the region.

The Moravia Winery grows Blanc du Bois (white) and Black Spanish/Lenoir (red) grapes, which it produces in a dry style. It also makes a sweet rosé. These lesser-known grapes flourish in regions near the Texas gulf coast where humidity and Pierce's disease wreak havoc on other grape varieties. (For more information, check out "Introduction to the Grapes of Texas" or "Profile of the Black Spanish Grape." Disclaimer: the link to the Black Spanish profile leads to an article I wrote for Home Brew Talk, and it contains a few errors introduced by their editors, which is why I no longer write for the site.)

Earlier this year I bought a bottle of Moravia's 2014 "Red Wine Cervené Vino Rosso" at the Urban Harvest Eastside Farmers Market and a bottle of 2014 Blanc du Bois at the downtown Houston Spec's. Both were around $20. (Google translate says that cervené means red in Czech.) I stuck the bottles in the wine fridge and nearly forgot about them until I saw the Moravia region of the Czech Republic mentioned at the Slavic Fest.

Beer Infographic: Map of Houston-Area Craft Breweries

I've had a list of Houston craft breweries that I've been updating for a quite a while, but I decided we needed a map. Here's the map with the list below it.

I count 29 30 31 38 craft breweries in the Houston area, either currently open or planning to open soon.  Did I miss any?

To see the map full size…
…in Internet Explorer, right click on it and select “open in new tab.”
…in Chrome, right click on it and select “open link in new tab.”
…in Firefox, right click on it and select “view image.”  

And here's the list with links:

11 Below Brewing (Houston)
8th Wonder Brewery (Houston) 
Apogee Brewing (Houston) 
B-52 Brewing (Conroe)
Baa Baa Brewhouse (Brookshire)
Back Pew Brewing (Porter)
Bakfish Brewing Co (Pearland)
Bearded Fox Brewing (Tomball)
Brash Beer (Houston)
Buffalo Bayou Brewing (Houston) 
City Acre Brewing (Houston)
Copperhead Brewery (Conroe)
Cranky Britches Brewing (Friendswood)
Cyclers Brewing (Montgomery) 
Eureka Heights Brew Co (Houston)
Fetching Lab Brewery (Alvin)
Fire Ant Brewing (Tomball)
Fort Bend Brewing (Missouri City) 
Galactic Coast Brewing (Dickinson) 
Galveston Bay Beer Company (Dickinson)
Galveston Island Brewing (Galveston)
Great Heights Brewing (Houston)
Holler Brewing Co (Houston)
Ingenious Brewing (Humble)
Karbach Brewing (Houston) 
Lone Pint Brewery (Magnolia) 
No Label Brewing (Katy) 
Platypus Brewing (Houston)
Running Walker Brewery (Richmond)
Saint Arnold Brewing (Houston) 
Saloon Door Brewing (Webster)
Sigma Brewing Co (Houston)
Southern Star Brewing (Conroe)
Spindletap Brewery (NW Houston)
Texas Beer Refinery (Dickinson) 
Texian Brewing (Richmond) 
Town In City Brewing (Houston Heights)   
Under the Radar Brewery (Houston)

Visit Granbury, taste great Texas wine.

Recently I wrote about the grapes that are thriving in Texas (Introduction to the Grapes of Texas). Roussanne is one of them. This white grape is native to France and appears in the white wines of France's Rhone Valley. It also appears in the red wines of the region, since it is one of the few white grapes allowed to be blended into Rhone's red wines in small quantities. Roussanne is primarily found in southern France, but its presence is growing in Texas, particularly in the Texas High Plains AVA.

Tasting Tannat from Texas

Tannat is a red grape (Vitis vinifera) native to France and historically produced in France's Madiran appellation.  Its deep color and strong tannins make it popular as a blending partner with lighter varieties, but it is not often produced on its own. 

Some New World wine regions are bucking this trend and producing Tannat as a varietal.  Uruguay has adopted Tannat as its national grape and hopes to become as famous for Tannat as Argentina is for Malbec.  Texas is experimenting with Tannat as well, and I tasted some Texas Tannat when I visited Barking Rocks winery earlier this year.

Barking Rocks is in Granbury, Texas and part of the Way Out Wineries wine trail.  Barking Rocks combines lovely scenery with a friendly tasting room and some delicious wines.  The Tannat grapes are grown in the Texas High Plains and transported to Barking Rocks for vinification.  (Check out the Texas Wine Cheat Sheet for more about Texas wine appellations.) 

Barking Rocks Tannat has a deep, ruby-purple color and aromas of blackberry, boysenberry, sweet spice, cedar, and a hint of savory smokiness.  The nose has lots of rich fruit, but the palate is a bit more tart, while still fruity, with more emphasis on the savory/smoky characteristics.  This is a big wine, with high acid and high tannin, but moderate alcohol at 11.8%.

Aging helps to smooth out the rough edges of Tannat, so this wine undergoes aging at the winery. I purchased it in 2015, and the current vintage for sale was 2008, so the wine was already 7 years old.  I drank it a few months later and enjoyed it as much as when I tasted it at the winery, but this wine could easily age and improve for another 5 years or more.  It costs $25 at the winery.  It's not currently available for sale in Houston, but you can order it from the Barking Rocks website.

For those unfamiliar with this grape, the Barking Rocks Tannat reminds me a bit of Syrah.  The flavor profile and the powerful structure are similar.  However, the Tannat is a bit lighter in alcohol than I'd expect from a Syrah that tastes like this Tannat.  I think that's an advantage, because I often prefer wines in the 12% range, rather than one with 14% or higher abv, simply because they're easier to drink and pair with food.

I'd encourage you to try Tannat and to visit Barking Rocks, especially if you live in the Dallas/Fort Worth area.  It's a short drive to Granbury, which has lots of other fun attractions to round out your day trip.

You might also be interested in:
Texas Wine Cheat Sheet
Argentina Wine Cheat Sheet
The Wines of San Juan, Argentina

Galveston Bay Beer Company is open in Dickinson!

I've been keeping a list of all the breweries in the Houston area, and the list is growing all the time (up to 18 now!). The latest addition is Galveston Bay Beer Company, which I visited yesterday.

Behind this unassuming exterior is a large, comfortable tap room.

  

Galveston Bay offers many different beer choices, and flights so you can taste a lot of them.

• Mosaic Smash - an easy-drinking IPA. My favorite of the 2 IPAs.
• Sunny Day IPA - a stronger, richer, more hoppy IPA. This one was good too, but probably caters to the more serious IPA fans than I am.
• Wits' End - a great wit beer. I really enjoyed this one.
• Lifeboat Lime - a pale ale with lime. Refreshing and perfect for summer.
• Hammerhead - a dark Scottish ale with a hint of coffee flavor like a porter. Very good.
• The Twins - blonde ales that have been flavored with either blueberry or raspberry. These are fruity, but not sweet. They weren't my favorite, but they're probably a good option for people who are less enthusiastic about beer. 
• Tart Cherry Brown - a good brown ale brewed with tart cherries. I liked this, even though I have a history of not liking cherry-flavored things.
• Duck Duck Gose - a light and refreshing sour, possibly my favorite of the night. Gose is a style of German wheat beer. This one had great ale flavors, was nicely balanced, and just a bit tart.

  

Galveston Bay beers are available in plenty of locations near Dickinson, but visit the tap room if you can, because a lot of great beers are only available there.

Houston has a Distillery!

I recently toured Houston's first distillery and sampled some locally made spirits! Yellow Rose Distilling launched in 2012 and produces 4 kinds of whiskey and a vodka (plus a few other fun things in limited quantities). They are available for sale in Texas and 9 other states. Tours and tastings are offered every Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, and are a fun way to spend an evening. The tours are relaxed and informative with a tasting afterwards, and there's a comfortable bar to relax in before and after the tour.

Yellow Rose's whiskeys are made from organic Texas corn with rye and barley from a variety of sources. This is the food-grade grain storage room...

The fermentation takes place in open-topped tanks, then the result is distilled in this pot still.

After distillation, the whiskey is clear (and strong!).

By law, the whiskey must be aged in new American oak.  You can see the charring on the inside of the barrels. The oak aging contributes color and flavor.

We visited the bottling line...

Then on to tasting!

Yellow Rose produces Blended Whiskey, Outlaw Bourbon, Straight Rye Whiskey, and Double Barrel Bourbon Whiskey. As a wine person, the Double Barrel was the most interesting to me. To make Double Barrel, they age the bourbon a second time in barrels that have been used for Cabernet Sauvignon. This adds red wine aroma to the whiskey and fruitiness to the taste. These are the Cabernet barrels in action:

Yellow Rose also does some fun things with maple syrup. First, they send their used whiskey barrels to Vermont, where a maple syrup producer ages his maple syrup in them. The syrup takes on a whiskey flavor without any alcohol. (Yellow Rose sells this maple syrup in their tasting room.) Then, after the syrup has been bottled, those same barrels are sent back to Yellow Rose, where they are filled once again with Straight Rye Whiskey. The end result - Maple Rye - is a delicious, maple-flavored whiskey.

I'm excited that Houston has its own distillery, and I highly recommend that you take a tour. You'll have fun and taste some great Houston whiskey.

A Dessert Wine from the Texas Piney Woods

With the increasing fame of the Texas Hill County, it's easy to overlook some of the other Texas wine regions. But the Piney Woods Trail (east of Dallas) has a few hidden gems, including Enoch's Stomp Vineyard and Winery. I visited in 2012 and enjoyed the wines, but only brought home one bottle. (As I recall, it was one of the last stops on the trip, and by that time I was thinking I'd never be able to drink all the wines I had already bought.)

This week I finally opened that lone bottle from Enoch's Stomp: Ellen's Sweet Song, a red Port-style dessert wine. Many Texas wineries make a Port-style wine, but this may be one of the best. Many of the Texas Port-style wines are not fortified, meaning that unlike true Port, brandy is not added to the wine. They achieve a higher alcohol content (usually 18 - 20%) through fermentation alone, which makes them very smooth and perfect for those who like the taste of Port but find it a bit harsh.

Ellen's Sweet Song is made from Lenoir, which grows well in east Texas. Lenoir is an up-and-coming variety to watch. Many Texas winemakers are growing and experimenting with it. I've tasted great and not-so-great examples, but I predict a big future for the grape.

2010 Ellen's Sweet Song

Appearance:  Opaque, deep brick red. The brownish tinge is a result of age, since it's 5 years old now.

Nose:  Very aromatic. Notes of blackberry preserves, raisin, dried plum, vanilla, and almond (almost like in Amaretto).

Palate:  Fully sweet (14% residual sugar), high acid, medium tannin, full body. 17.3% abv.

I don't believe you can purchase any of Enoch's wines in the Houston area yet, but since the Piney Woods is an easy weekend getaway from Houston, I hope you'll visit them sometime! They have a restaurant along with beautiful, relaxing views, as you can see.

P.S.  Yes, that is a Messina Hof tasting glass in the picture! I often use mine for tasting at home, since they're the right size and shape.


You may also be interested in:
Texas Wine Cheat Sheet
Visiting Tara in East Texas and Tasting Stagecoach Red
Lenoir and the Georgetown Winery
Visiting Los Pinos in the Piney Woods
Returning to Messina Hof for my 1st harvest and grape stomp!

Texas Two-Step from the Dancing Bee Winery

About a year ago I visited the Dancing Bee Winery and Meadery.  It's roughly 80 miles north-east of Austin and part of the San Gabriel Wine Trail.  (See Mead 101 and the Dancing Bee Winery).  I bought a bottle of what I considered their most interesting wine, and I'm drinking it tonight in honor of Texas Wine Month.  This wine-mead combo is technically called a Pyment, which means it's made from honey (like mead) as well as grapes -- in this case 60% honey and 40% Merlot.  (This bottle lists Merlot as the grape, but my notes from the winery say Tempranillo.  Either I wrote it down wrong initially, or they were in the process of changing the blend.)  Let's see how this bottle fared over the last year...

Appearance:  Deep brick red.  More brownish in color than most red wines (at least young ones), due to the honey.

Nose:  Aromas of cherry, plum, honey, and toffee.

Palate:  Dry, with barely a hint of sweetness, but not enough to be called off-dry. Flavors of ripe red fruits, honey, and a nice earthy quality. Moderate acid and surprisingly strong tannin.  13.8% abv

On one hand, Texas Two-Step is a unique experience.  On the other hand, it might not taste as unusual as you'd expect, given the ingredients.  Despite being made from 60% honey, it still tastes mostly like red wine, and is well balanced.  The honey in the mix accomplishes 3 main things: adds flavor, adds a touch of sweetness, and makes the red wine ultra smooth.  I think the combination is pretty successful and easy to drink.  Make sure you chill it for a few minutes. 

Mead is an occasional thing for me, so I can't see myself drinking this on a regular basis.  However, I think it's a must-try for wine geeks.  And anyone who finds many red wines too harsh and wants one that is super, ultra smooth, could fall in love with this.

As far as I know, the only place in Houston to buy this at the moment is at the downtown Spec's, where it costs about $16.

Visiting Tara in East Texas and Tasting Stagecoach Red

Tara Winery is part of the Piney Woods Wine Trail in northeast Texas.  I visited the winery a few years ago and really enjoyed the wines, but only recently drank the bottle I purchased when I was there.  As you may have guessed from the picture, Tara is named after and built to resemble Scarlett O'Hara's house from Gone with the Wind.

Tara grows the Lenoir grape (aka Black Spanish) onsite and buys other grape varieties from other places. This estate-grown Lenoir figures prominently in my favorite of their wines, Stagecoach Red.  It's made from 50% Lenoir, 30% Merlot, and 20% Syrah (from California). This bottle was not vintage dated, but I purchased it in 2012.

• Color:  Medium ruby-garnet
• Aroma:  Red and black fruits, toffee, sweet baking spice, cedar, plum, plus a hint of tobacco and vegetal aromas. 
• Palate:  The flavors on the palate generally matched the aromas, with a hint of smokiness on the finish. Medium acid and strong tannin.  12.5% abv
• Price:  $18 at the winery (in 2012)

I love this stuff.  My notes from tasting it at the winery were positive, but the wine improved as it aged. (I stored it in a wine fridge for most of the 2 1/2 years before I drank it.)  It might have improved for another year or so, perhaps, but I think I got lucky and ended up drinking this bottle at or near its peak.  It really did taste great.

  

I drank Stagecoach Red with what we happened to have for dinner that night:  spaghetti squash topped with a rich, meaty tomato sauce, which I made in the slow-cooker with herbs, capers, and chicken thighs.  It was a big wine for this food, but still paired reasonably well.  The earthy sweetness of the squash paired with the fruity/earthy/sweet-spice qualities in the wine, and the wine was acidic enough to stand up to the tomato sauce.  This pairing worked because of the rich sauce, but Stagecoach Red would really shine with grilled meat or a steak.

I believe Tara's wines are currently available only in east Texas and the DFW area, or directly from the winery when you order online or join the wine club.  I'm hoping they'll appear in the Houston area soon.

Returning to Messina Hof for my 1st harvest and grape stomp!

Most people who are interested in Texas wine have heard of Messina Hof winery.  It was established in 1977 by Paul and Merrill Bonarrigo, whose son Paul and his wife Karen are now carrying on the family tradition.  The wines have won many awards over the years, and the Bonarrigos and Messina Hof have been instrumental in the growth and promotion of the Texas wine industry.  In 1977 there were 3 wineries in Texas - now there are 300!

Messina Hof is the first winery I ever visited.  This was about six years ago, before I knew anything about wine, except that I liked to drink it.  My husband and I had just become interested in wine and were still trying to figure out what we liked.  When we toured Messina Hof and tasted the wines, the Cabernet Franc made a huge impression.  Not only was it a grape we had never heard of, but we absolutely loved the wine - we were fascinated by the earthy/herbal qualities we had never experienced.  That visit sparked my interest in the many flavors of wine and fueled my desire to learn more about it.

Last night I visited Messina Hof again for their Moonlit Harvest and Dinner.  It was a beautiful evening - surprisingly cool and breezy for August in Texas.  We arrived about 6pm for tasting, picking, grape stomping, dinner, and then a special announcement!

Wine on Tap

It was fun to see the innovations since my last visit.  Messina Hof has been experimenting with "wine on tap."  This works a bit like beer from a keg.  The wine is taken straight from the barrel and placed into something similar to a beer keg, and attached to a tap.  This is the system they use in their tasting room, and it lets you taste the wine as it would taste straight from the barrel.  It's a neat experience for the consumer, since the flavor is different from what you taste out of the bottle.  

It's also efficient for restaurants and wine bars.  Restaurants often have to throw away leftover wine, when a bottle has been open for several days and begins to oxidize.  The tap system prevents this waste, since it keeps the wine away from air as it's being used (the same idea as bag-in-box wines).  Once the keg is tapped, the wine stays fresh for 2 months or so.  This prevents waste and saves money for the restaurant.  We tasted the Cabernet Franc on tap, and it was just as good as I remembered!

Harvest Time and Grape Stomp

After a few instructions about how to use the knives (the mixing of wine and sharp objects requires careful attention!), we were set loose in the vineyard to fill our bins with bunches of Lenoir (aka Black Spanish) grapes.  These grapes are destined to become Sofia Marie Rosé.  

Messina Hof makes 4 different wines from the Lenoir grape.  The grapes increase in sugar content as they hang on the vine (more on that here).  More sugar in the grapes translates to either more sugar or more alcohol (or both) in the finished wine, so different wines require grapes with different sugar levels.  So the Lenoir grapes are harvested at 4 different times to make these 4 wines.

After the picking, Monsignor Malinowski offered a few words of blessing and led a prayer for a continued fruitful harvest.  In today's world, especially if you live in a big city, it's easy to forget that wine is an agricultural product, and growers are still dependent on nature.   

Once the grapes are picked and blessed, it's time to stomp!  While most wine today is not made by people stomping grapes (we have machines for that now), Messina Hof still celebrates the tradition on harvest day.  I'm glad they do, because it's a great reminder of wine's connection with the past (after all, it's been around for thousands of years), and it's fun!  They'll even let you put your grapey footprints on a T-shirt.  (That's my husband peeking out from behind my T-shirt.)

If you've never harvested grapes, I highly recommend it.  There's no better way to expand your knowledge of wine than to go to a winery, see how the wine is made, look at the vines, and if you're lucky - pick some grapes yourself.  Messina Hof does a great job of making this a fun and educational event.  

Messina Hof is Expanding

At dinner, we heard some exciting news first hand:  Messina Hof is expanding into Grapevine, Texas.  In late 2014 they will open a new urban winery in historic downtown Grapevine, joining the Grapevine Wine Trail.  Messina Hof's newest location will be in the Wallis Hotel, and will include a 2-story space with a wine production facility, a retail shop, and a tasting room with 18 wine taps.

Grapevine Mayor William Tate spoke at dinner to welcome Messina Hof to Grapevine, and praised the Bonarrigos for their pioneering work and their involvement in promoting Texas wine, through Grapevine's annual Grapefest and in their participation in the Grapevine-based Texas Wine and Grape Grower's Association.  Mayor Tate has led the city of Grapevine for an amazing stretch of 39 years and has successfully positioned his city as a wine hub in the state, which is fitting for a city named after its wild grapevines.

What We Tasted

I can't finish this post without adding a few notes on the wines we tasted.  Messina Hof grows Lenoir in its main vineyard in Bryan and sources the rest of its grapes from other vineyards around Texas.

Blanc du Bois Private Reserve:

Blanc du Bois is a familiar grape in Texas.  This one is light, refreshing, and easy to drink.  Though it is dry, it's very fruity, so I think it would please a wide variety of palates.

Sofia Marie Rosé:

The Lenoir grapes we picked last night will become this year's Sofia Marie.  This wine is named after Paul and Karen's daughter.  It's deep in color for a rosé, but still light and crisp.  It's ever-so-slightly sweet with 1% residual sugar (the threshold where most people can just begin to detect sweetness).  The tart and jammy, yet earthy flavors are nicely balanced.

GSM (Grenache, Shiraz, Mourvedre):

I'm a big fan of GSM wines in general, especially ones from the traditional home of that blend in the Southern Rhone Valley of France, and this example could hold its own against any of those.  I love the aromas of earth and baking spice in this dry red.  Messina Hof's GSM will only be available in restaurants, and is just now making its way into the Houston area, so I'll post an update when I know where you can try some.  (Better yet, just visit the winery!)

Paolo Cabernet-Merlot Blend:

This Bordeaux-style blend is an all-around good red wine.  Smooth and approachable, yet full-bodied and steak-worthy.

"Glory" Moscato Mistella (Late Harvest):

Since the grapes develop more sugar as they hang on the vine, a "late harvest" wine has lots of sugar in the grapes and tastes sweet.  This wine is very sweet, but has a good amount of acidity to balance the sugar.  It has the typical Moscato flavors and tastes sweet without being cloying or candy-like.

Papa Paolo Port:

Messina Hof makes a great port-style wine, which was one of my clearest memories from my first visit.  Most ports are fortified with grape brandy up to the standard level of 18 - 20% alcohol, so they sometimes taste strong and harsh.  Messina Hof uses a process that allows the yeast to do the work of fermentation to get the alcohol to the correct level, without needing additional brandy, so their port is super smooth.  The aromas and flavors of dark fruits (black cherry, blackberry) and chocolate, combined with lots of sweetness, and acid to balance, just can't be beat.

If you're interested in Texas wine, a visit to Messina Hof is essential.  The main location in Bryan is an easy day trip from DFW, Houston, or Austin.  With their second location in Fredericksburg and the expansion into Grapevine coming soon, it's becoming easier than ever to get to know Messina Hof.  I appreciate their interest in community and wine education, and of course, they make a good glass of wine!  

The harvest celebration continues throughout August, so check out the special events happening all month.

Win a Trip to the Texas Hill Country

Wine Enthusiast Magazine is partnering with Texas Tourism to offer the chance to win a trip to the Texas Hill Country.

The prize is:

• Round-trip flights and transportation for 2 to Texas
• Up to 8-night accommodations at local B&Bs and winery accommodations in the Texas Hill Country
• Guaranteed visits at up to 12 wineries
• Multi-course wine-and-food dinners

Enter the contest here: buyingguide.winemag.com/features/destinations/2014/texas/contest

Good luck!

Wine Infographic: Australian Wine Cheat Sheet

This wine cheat sheet has been updated. See the new and improved Australian Wine Cheat Sheet here.
--------------------------
As regular readers know, I’m on a quest to make one-page cheat sheets for the world’s major grapes and wine regions.  (See the full collection here.)  This week we go to Australia!  

To see the Cheat Sheet in full size…
…in Internet Explorer, right click on it and select “open in new tab.”
…in Chrome, right click on it and select “open link in new tab.”
…in Firefox, right click on it and select “view image.”     

Sponsored Note:  I have recently corresponded with the nice people at D’Vine Wine Tours, a new venture which offers wine tours, day trips, private charters, and corporate event planning in the Swan Valley region near Perth.  They combine their expertise in tourism and wine to create a fun and educational atmosphere with something for everyone.  Give them a call if you’re in the area!

Lenoir and the Georgetown Winery

I recently visited the Georgetown Winery, which is north of Austin on the San Gabriel Wine Trail.  It has a quaint storefront on the beautiful downtown square in Georgetown, Texas, and it's a comfortable place to stop and taste.  

The most interesting wine I tasted there was Lenoir.  Lenoir is a grape, also known as Black Spanish or Jaquez, which is native to the U.S. and grows well in Texas due to its natural resistance to phylloxera and Pierce's disease.  It is a hybrid of two other grapes - one from the species Vitis aestivalis and one from Vitis vinifera (the species of most international wine grapes).  Many Texas wineries produce wine from Lenoir, to varying degrees of success.

I enjoyed Georgetown Winery's take on Lenoir.  The wine has a medium ruby color, with aromas of blackberry, cranberry, spice, herbs, earth, and vanilla.  It's initially fruity on the palate, but then develops a slightly tart, bitter edge, which balances the fruit.  It reminded me of the vegetal/green pepper notes that Cabernet Sauvignon sometimes has.  This Lenoir has moderate tannin and moderate-to-high acid.

Georgetown sources over 65% of its grapes from Texas and about 35% from other places, primarily California.  Here are my notes on the other wines I tasted.  (When I make tasting notes, I use a 4-star scale for how much I liked the wine.)  

• Tempranillo – Dry red with full body, aromas of red and black fruits, spice, potting soil, and vanilla. (***1/2)
• Cowboy Red – Dry red with full body, aromas of red and black fruits, blended from 75% Malbec (from California) and 25% Tempranillo. (***1/2)
• Super Big Texan – Dry red with aromas of blackberry, cranberry, and vanilla.  Tart on the palate, with moderate-to-high acid, moderate tannin, and high alcohol.  Blended from 70% Sangiovese, 20% Cabernet Sauvignon, 10% Merlot. (***)
• Cabernet Sauvignon – Dry red with full body, aromas of black currant, black pepper, tobacco, and cloves.  Blended from 75% Cabernet Sauvignon and 25% Shiraz. (***)
• Portejas – A sweet red Port-style wine, fortified with brandy, and made from Red Zinfandel grapes.  It's very strong at 21% alcohol, but fruity and smooth. (***)
• Chocolate Cherry Port – In the style of a ruby Port with chocolate flavoring added. (***)
• Texas Twister – A dry white that tasted mostly like apple juice with some vegetal characteristics and moderate-to-high acid. (**)

Georgetown Winery makes more wines than I tasted.  Here's the full list with prices.  Locally, I believe we can only buy the blueberry and peach wines.  But Georgetown makes an easy day trip from Houston, so I encourage you to visit and taste for yourself.  Also keep your eyes peeled for Lenoir/Black Spanish from other Texas wineries.  It's an interesting grape with a lot of potential.

List of Houston Craft Breweries (updated)

List updated 5/25/16.
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I know this is a wine blog, but I love beer too.  And the Houston craft beer scene has exploded in the past few years, with lots of new breweries and a new annual craft beer event, Big Brew.  I want to taste all the new beers and visit all the new breweries, but I can hardly keep track of them.  So I'm posting this list of Houston craft breweries for my own use (and yours).  Have I missed any?  (I'm sure I have...)

11 Below Brewing (Houston)
8th Wonder Brewery (Houston)
Apogee Brewing (Houston)
B-52 Brewing (Conroe)
Bakfish Brewing Co (Pearland)
Brash Beer (Houston)
Buffalo Bayou Brewing (Houston)
City Acre Brewing (Houston)
Cyclers Brewing (Montgomery)
Fetching Lab Brewery (Alvin)
Fort Bend Brewing (Missouri City)
Galactic Coast Brewing (Dickinson)
Galveston Bay Beer Company (Dickinson)
Galveston Island Brewing (Galveston)
Holler Brewing Co (Houston)
Ingenious Brewing (opening in 2016 in north Houston)
Karbach Brewing (Houston)
Lone Pint Brewery (Magnolia)
No Label Brewing (Katy)
Saint Arnold Brewing (Houston)
Saloon Door Brewing (Webster)
Sigma Brewing Co (Houston)
Southern Star Brewing (Conroe)
Spindletap Brewery (NW Houston)
Texas Beer Refinery (Dickinson)
Texian Brewing (Richmond)
Town In City Brewing (Houston Heights)  
Under the Radar Brewery (Houston)

For more discussion on craft beer in Houston, check out this episode of Houston Matters on KUHF. (It's also about Texas wine, but I'll get to that later...)

Texas Wineries: Fairhaven Vineyards

Fairhaven Vineyards is part of the Piney Woods Trail in north-east Texas.  The vineyard and tasting room are not far off I-20, near Tyler, which is an easy drive from Dallas.  Fairhaven grows its own grapes and uses a combination of traditional, yeast fermentation and carbonic maceration.  (Carbonic maceration is a whole-berry fermentation method that yields sweet aromas and fresh flavors.)

When I visited Fairhaven's tasting room a couple of years ago, I liked many of the wines, but my favorite was the Chambourcin, which is a French grape.  The 2010 Chambourcin has tart red and black fruit aromas/flavors, heavy on the cherry, a little blueberry, lots of spice, vanilla, and a hint of smoke at the end.  The acid level is on the upper end of moderate, with moderate tannin, body, and alcohol (13.5%).  I was impressed with the combination of flavors - fresh and bright balanced against dark and rich.  It's a good deal at $15.

I appreciate that the tasting room offers a meat and cheese plate.  I find that when I'm tasting on a wine trail, driving between wineries and maybe visiting several in a day, the oyster crackers just don't cut it!

Fairhaven will ship its wines to the Houston area, but unfortunately none of our local retailers carry it.  I definitely recommend visiting if you are in the area.