A Simple Greek Meal with Greek Wine

This week kicked off a project relating to the history of wine, which I’ll be working on for the next year and a half. (More on that soon.) To mark the occasion I decided to drink a wine from one of the oldest winemaking countries in the world. The Greeks have made wine since at least 600 BC or so, and possibly much earlier.

Sorting Out the Names: A Brief History of Bordeaux

The names of the regions in and around Bordeaux can be confusing. For one thing, Bordeaux is the name of a city, a winemaking region, and a wine. In addition, many names get tossed around in relation to this part of France:  Bordeaux, Aquitaine, Gascony, Gironde, Dordogne. Let’s take a brief trip through history that will help us figure out what everyone is talking about.  Here’s the general area in question:

The city of Bordeaux and surrounding areas.

The cheapest, easiest, laziest way to cook with wine.

Okay, I know what I'm about to say sounds bad, and I'm the first one to advocate for drinking good wine and serving it correctly. But when it comes to cooking with wine, I just don't have the time (or the budget) to be a perfectionist. So I've developed some strategies to get the great flavors from cooking with wine without any of the hassle.

The general rule is to not cook with any wine that you wouldn't want to drink. You might open a single bottle to put into the dish you're cooking and to drink while you eat it. Or, if you're cooking with the leftovers from an open bottle from a few days ago, you'll want to make sure you preserved that bottle properly, using a vacuum or gas system and putting the wine in the fridge.

This approach is admittedly not that hard, but I have a few issues with it, because maybe I'm cheap and/or lazy. First, I'll spend about $15 on a bottle of wine to drink with dinner. I won't do it every day, and I'll spend more on special occasions. I'm reluctant to pour a $15-a-bottle wine into spaghetti sauce. If I spent the money and chose the wine, I want to drink it! And if I'm supposed to always cook with wine I would drink, then we have a problem.

Second, I cook dinner for my husband and myself 4 or 5 nights a week. This requires a lot of both planning and improvising. Sometimes I plan a meal and use a recipe; sometimes I make it up as I go along from whatever we happen to have in the house. Sometimes we're drinking wine with dinner, sometimes not. Figuring out which bottle of wine to cook with complicates things, not in an insurmountable way, but in an "I worked all day and need to cook something healthy and fast and I don't want to deal with one more thing" kind of way.

Ideally, it would be nice to have a couple of different types of wine on hand for cooking (red, white, etc.), without having to plan ahead, without having to worry about an open bottle spoiling, without cringing as you pour some of your yummy $15 bottle into the pan.

Here's how you do it!

Introduction to the Grapes of Texas

Now is a great time to get interested in Texas wine. Texas is the 5th largest wine producer in the country with more than 300 wineries and growing fast. Texas has more wine history than most people know -- vines were planted in Texas in the early 1600s, which is earlier than they came to California. In the early 1900s transplanted Texan Thomas Munson played an important role in solving the worldwide phylloxera crisis using rootstock from Texas grapes. The Texas wine industry today is often compared to the California wine industry in the 1970s -- the winemakers are still experimenting to see what works best in the climate, the quality ranges from very high to low-but-improving, and the wine is generally undervalued. Check out the Texas Wine Cheat Sheet for an overview of Texas' wine regions.

Most people think about wine in terms of grape variety. Learning about the grapes of a region is a good beginning for learning about the region's wines, but it's especially important in Texas because winemakers here are still figuring out what grapes grow best. In Burgundy winemakers have spent hundreds of years perfecting the wine identity of the region and the marriage of grape to vineyard site. In Texas these are open questions. So far, wineries and grape growers in Texas have tended to take one (or a combination) of the following approaches to their grape selection.

Wine Infographic: Champagne Cheat Sheet

Next in the wine cheat sheet series:  Champagne!  The most important thing is if it doesn't come from the Champagne region in France, it is not Champagne.  Just call it sparkling wine.

See the full collection of wine cheat sheets here.

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.”   


You may also be interested in:
Wine Infographic:  French Wine Cheat Sheet (new and improved)
Wine Infographic:  Loire Valley Cheat Sheet
Tour Bordeaux with a French Wine Scholar in 2017

Top 4 Things to Know About Super Tuscan Wines

If you’ve explored much Italian wine, you’ve heard the term “Super Tuscan,” but you may not have known what it means. It doesn’t mean a really good Tuscan wine...although it might also be a really good Tuscan wine.  

Attention Clear Lake: We have craft cocktails!

Clear Lake just got its first Prohibition-era, speakeasy-style bar for craft cocktails. Preamble Lounge and Craft House in Webster is open now, with a grand opening celebration planned for April 1. I stopped by this evening for a drink and was very happy with what I found - and even happier that it's 5 minutes from my house.

Located in an unassuming strip center between 2 movie theaters -- the Cinemark on one side and the NASA Dollar Cinema on the other -- Preamble has a classy modern-industrial interior to rival anything inside the loop.

More importantly, the cocktails are really good. I tried the Garden Gimlet (a basil-infused gimlet that was perfectly not-too-sweet) and the Bee's Knees (made with local honey and lavender). Both were delicious, although the gimlet was my favorite. I also got to preview the house red wine, which has a good balance of fruitiness, acidity, and oak, moderate tannins, and should please many palates and complement a variety of foods. Speaking of food, the menu is still in the testing phases, but should be rolled out soon.  The beer taps are stocked with a variety of local craft fare.

Preamble has a dress code on Thursday through Sunday evenings (casual all other times). I think it's cool that they've added this touch to recreate the more glamorous feel of a bygone era. I'll be interested to see how it works for them, since I'm not aware of any other bar that does it. They currently have a well-curated Pandora station playing, but live music of all types is on the agenda.

I'm excited to welcome Preamble to the neighborhood, and excited that our Clear Lake horizons are expanding!

Wine Infographic: French Wine Cheat Sheet - new and improved!

The original French Wine Cheat Sheet was one of the first wine cheat sheets I ever made, more than 3 years ago. I've gotten better at it since then! Here's the new and improved version.

This kicks off a greater focus on French wine in my personal tasting and studying, in preparation for being the wine educator on a river cruise through Bordeaux next year. Want to come along? Find more info here:  Tour Bordeaux with a French Wine Scholar.

The full collection of wine cheat sheets is here.

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.”   

Tour Bordeaux with a French Wine Scholar! (updated with new discounts)

Join our group on a river cruise through Bordeaux in October 2017!

More info...

• AmaWaterways has created a great itinerary with a lot of wine tastings and activities. They plan the itinerary and run the cruise.
• Travel with your own French Wine Scholar - me! I will be on the trip to provide additional educational opportunities, answer your questions, and help you get the most out of your experience. 
• The ship holds ~150 people, but our group-within-a-group of ~15 will allow a more fun and personal experience, and you'll be able to get to know your fellow passengers and wine enthusiasts better.

Itinerary:  8-day/7-night "Taste of Bordeaux" cruise
Sailing Date:  October 26, 2017
Cruise vs. Cruise+Land:  I am doing just the cruise, but you have the option to extend the trip by a                                              few days on land either before or after the cruise.
Air Travel:  You may arrange your own air travel, have our travel agent book it for you, or purchase                       it through AmaWaterways.

I just booked my flights with AmaWaterways, and they are offering spectacular deals!

What are the discounts?

• Discount on Double Occupancy Cabins:  $1000 off per person through the end of March.
• Discount on Single Occupancy Cabins with Windows Only:   The single supplement is waived, so you pay the same price to have your own cabin!  This discount is good until they sell out of that cabin type.

Are you interested?

If you're interested in this trip, contact me! If you may be interested in future trips, please let me know that too.  I'll keep you posted on upcoming plans.


Happy wine travels!

An Organic Bargain from Chile

I've written a couple of times before (here and here) about Emiliana in Chile.  Emiliana produces organic grapes which are farmed sustainably, and some of their wines are biodynamic.  (More on biodynamic wine here.)  I liked the wines I had tasted so far, but I had never tried Emiliana's Sauvignon Blanc.  So when I saw it in Fresh Market today for $10, I had to try it.

Emiliana's Natura Sauvignon Blanc comes from the Casablanca Valley in the Aconcagua Region in northern Chile (check the Chilean Wine Cheat Sheet to see where that is).  Its aromas are fresh and crisp, with lime, grapefruit, and grassy notes.  Like most Sauvignon Blanc, it has a bit of vegetal character (like asparagus or canned mushrooms).  The flavor is dry but fruity, crisp and tart, with tropical fruit and citrus notes.  Overall it's well balanced and has a nice finish.

I drank it with a spinach and mushroom crustless quiche, and it was perfect.  

You really can't do better than this for a $10 Sauvignon Blanc.  This one is going into my regular rotation.