Vermentino Revisited

This hopefully won't happen too often, but I now feel that I gave short shrift to Duchman Family Winery's 2009 Vermentino.  Pris cooked up an amazing meal of her PMSpecial chicken with the Vermentino, and we had the remainder with the meal.  I'd try to sum it up in one word, but delectable, delicious, and amazing all come to mind.

The PMSpecial chicken is an amalgam of some of Pris' favorite foods.  Tonight's was chicken breast and thighs simmered in a white wine butter sauce with capers, garlic, feta cheese, and fresh oregano, thyme, and basil.  The chicken was served over a bed of rice with a toasted almond garnish on top.  The wine used in the sauce was the aforementioned Vermentino.  Of course, the best way to cook with wine is by imbibing as one goes along.  I learned this years ago from the Cajun Chef on PBS.

Duchman's 2009 Vermentino boasted a perfect combination of rich fruit and acidity with a fine dry finish.  The sharpness of the feta and caper sauce was a perfect counterpoint to the softness of the wine.  It may have helped that the wine Pris cooked with was also served with the meal, but then the wine may have stood all on its own. 

While the Vermentino may not have been a crowd favorite, its definitely one of ours now.  I'm sure we'll be looking to stock up for the long summer months on our next trip north.

Perfectly La Posta

While Pris and I were in Austin and San Antonio, we had a list of wines we were looking for at Central Market.  Pris is a bit on the Type-A side when it comes to tracking what wines we like and putting them on her "wish list." Then she goes about methodically trying to find the wines on the wish list. One of the wines on our list was an Argentinean Malbec from La Posta Vineyards.  It was recommended to us by our fellow Brownsvillian wine-enthusiastsTrey Mendez and Diana Chapa, and they were right on.  We found La Posta's Angel Paulucci Vineyard's 2008 Malbec at the Central Market in Austin, and Pris actually convinced me to get two of them. The extra bottle was to share at a later date with Trey and Diana. (smart on her part, but now we wish we'd gotten three).

We opened one of the bottles last night to go with the last of the beef bourguignon.  La Posta is an excellent Malbec from the Mendoza region of Argentina.  It was full bodied with both heavy fruit and tannins, dry as a Malbec should be, and had just a bit of spice that added bite in the back of the mouth to finish.  The La Posta had strong, even vibrant, fruit notes in both the aroma and flavor.  It paired impeccably well with both the cheese and hummus appetizer I whipped up and the beef and potatoes after.  I can see this wine going great with a steak in the near future.

We found the La Posta at the Central Market in Austin, but not in San Antonio.  It ran $18 for the bottle.  If you are looking for it, be sure to get the Malbec with the cherub angel on the label.  La Posta also offers a Bonarda that is fairly sweet with a print of a woman with flowers, but it is a completely different wine.  If sweeter is your thing, go for it and let us know how it is.  There's also a Pizzelli Family Vineyard Malbec with a group of people on the label that is supposed to be really good as well, and again, we'd appreciate your input on the subject. You can find more information on La Posta's Angel Paulucci Malbec at: http://lapostavineyards.com/

And finally, a big thank you to Trey and Diana for recommending this wine to us; we'll definitely be on the lookout for it from here on out.

Two meals, one fantastic wine

You have to love the prepared meals from H.E.B. Central Market.  We picked up two of them on our way out of San Antonio.  When we finally got home we were faced with a unique dilemma of picking which one to eat and then what wine to enjoy with it.  We decided on the Buffalo Chicken Macaroni and Cheese with blue cheese for Saturday night and the Beef Bourguignon for Sunday.  It was really tough picking a wine for Saturday.  A white wine would have gone great with the just the buffalo chicken, but the heavy blue cheese macaroni complicated matters.  Pris did some research and came up with several options that would work well.

Pris ended up selecting a Cameron Hughes 2008 Pinot Noir, specifically Lot 165 from Los Carneros/Napa Valley.  This ended up being a spectacular choice and Lot 165 is an amazing wine, or rather was.  Unfortunately its now sold out and gone forever, but more on that later.  Lot 165 is a luxurious Pinot that has great structure.  The soft tannins in this wine create a smooth, lingering, and lightly fruity finish. 

This wine was a great accompaniment to the mac and cheese dish.  The lightness of the Pinot cooled the heat from the buffalo sauce, but the structure and fullness complemented the blue cheese.  As it turns out, the wine most listed to go with Beef Bourguignon just happened to be Pinot Noir as well.  Needless to say the wine infused beef paired flawlessly with the remainder of the Lot 165.  Of course that should be expected from a wine that won Gold and Best of Class with 94 points at the California State Fair Wine Competition, and Silver at the Los Angeles International Wine Competition and San Francisco Wine Competition.

My uncle, who is a true wine aficionado, first recommended Cameron Hughes to Pris and I just before we moved to Brownsville.  Cameron Hughes isn't a vineyard, but rather they are a wine negociant.  What they do is purchase left over wines  or blending mixes from well known, top vineyards and either produce their own blend or bottle the overstock under their own label.  The actual vineyard is not known, only the region and the date of the wine.  The confidentiality allows the vineyard to continue marketing their higher priced wine, while Cameron Hughes offers huge deals on the overstock under a different label. Doing this allows the company to keep the prices low (much like Priceline) for us the buyer.  The prices are low, and the lot sizes are usually fairly small, so they can run out easily.  For example, the incredibly good Lot 165 is now sold out and gone forever. 

Pris and I ordered a number of these wines sometime back, and we have not had a bad one yet.  We especially enjoy knowing that we are drinking a very high quality wine that costs a fraction of what we would pay for it under the vineyard's label. And you can really taste the quality.  We ordered a lot of wine which included a bit of sticker shock.  There was no buyer's remorse, but we do regret not ordering more of the Lot 165.  

Sometimes Sam's carries Cameron Hughes, but I haven't seen it here.  Pretty much the only place to get it is online at http://www.chwine.com.  If you like wine, its worth a visit to their site.  Shipping is quick and inexpensive, and they even recommend not shipping during the summer to avoid the heat.  So check it out, and stock up for the summer!

Artesa: An Artisan Merlot

Friday afternoon Pris and I headed down to San Antonio in order for Pris to conduct some museum business and then relax before heading home.  We ended up meeting up with some friends for dinner at J. Alexander's in the Quarry.  While we were waiting for our dining companion we selected a bottle of Elements by Artesa's 2006 Merlot.  Pris had tried wine from Artesa sometime in the past and remembered the name. Like any full bodied red, this wine took a little bit of time to open up.  Thankfully it did by the time our food arrived (steaks again thank you).  This was a very smooth Merlot thanks to its supple tannins.  It boasted slightly more fruit than most Merlots we've tried, which was underlined by strong red currant leanings in both the taste and aroma.  Elements by Artesa's 2006 Merlot was a very good handcrafted wine.  Not really a wine for a special occasion, but a good wine if you happen to be at a restaurant and see it on the wine list. 

As it turns out, the Elements line is a selection of handcrafted wines made from grapes from different vineyards.  In this particular bottle stated that 53% came from Napa County and 47% from Sonoma County.  The handcrafting of wines with grapes and wines from different vineyards and regions is a movement that has been gaining more mainstream recognition that we'll be touching on more in a later post.  Again, good company, a good wine, and good food all led to a great little evening.

The 2006 Merlot retails for around $20, and the mark-up wasn't that much at J. Alexander's.  For more information on the Elements by Artesa line you can find it at: http://www.artesawinery.com/index1.html

Unwinding at Uncorked

After the long drive, and it seemed like a much longer drive from Brownsville to Austin, what better way to unwind from the road than by having some good wine and good food.  Pris and I saw a sign for a place called Uncorked on our way over to the hotel.  Once we got settled in to our room we looked the place up online and decided we knew where we were having dinner.

Uncorked is a wine tasting room/restaurant with an impressive little menu.  They have a good selection of wines from most of the major wine growing regions around the world.  Their bottle prices are fantastic compared to what'd you'd pay at most restaurants, but where they excel is in their flights.  The flight is a 2.5 ounce sample of three different wines.  Uncorked offers a number of different flights based on country, region, grape varietal, or other sundry criteria. 

I started with the Spanish flight which included Beronia Crianza Tempranillo, Museum Crianza Tempranillo, and Bodega Bernabeleva Garnacha.  Pris ordered a bottle of the Museum Crianza Tempranillo to share with some friends who were meeting us out.  Our server even outlined the best way to drink the wines (from lightest to most robust, or simply left to right).  After the first bottle ran dry we ordered a bottle of the Beronia Crianza Tempranillo.  It was a my favorite wine in the flight so I wanted to share it.  It was light, fruity, but with a good structure.  A perfect red for a warm evening with friends. 

Pris and I both had the beef tenderloin au poivre with a blue cheese crust and roasted potatoes.  The filet was excellent, perfectly cooked and melt in your mouth tender.  It went smashingly well with the last of the Museum Crianza Tempranillo.  This tempranillo was sturdy and full bodied.  This wine needed some time to breathe due to its slightly higher alcohol content. 

Uncorked is uncomplicated, and it is our kind of place.  If you're not there for dinner, they still have a number of grazing options available.  There's an olive plate, a Texas cheese plate, an international cheese plate, and a cured meats plate.  We ended up getting both the Texas and international cheese plates.  Initially I thought they were a little on the light side, but once you got right down to working on them it was clear there was plenty for all. A great time, great prices, and some great wine selections.  Pris and I are definitely putting Uncorked on our to-do list for our next trip back to Austin.

You can find out more about Uncorked at http://uncorkedtastingroom.com/

Cheers Y'all! Part 2: The good, the bad, and El Guapo

Before I get started, a quick disclaimer, the title here is misleading.  There was no bad wine in the tasting.  People's tastes differed, but all the wines were excellent.  I just couldn't resist a Spaghetti western reference, it was either that or a Three Amigo's reference.

As I pointed out last night, the attendees of the Cheers Y'all wine tasting and talk were treated to a number of incredible Texas wines.  I detailed the great whites that were selected for our tasting pleasure.  While the whites were great, it was the reds that were the stars of the show.  An unofficial poll by the speaker proved this when most of the patrons responded that they preferred red.  What's more, a survey of the multitude of now empty bottles confirmed that the reds were the crowd favorites.

The first Texas red on our tasting menu was the McPherson Cellars 2008 Sangiovese.  This is one of Pris and my favorite wines, and it is easy to drink.  Like most Sangiovese's it has a mellow flavor that fills your mouth, but doesn't overpower it.  It is a dry wine, but it finishes with a refreshing acidity and you just want one more sip.  The Sangiovese paired well with the flank steak and chimichurri and some of the heartier cheeses I picked up.  These included a smoked gouda and an Irish cheddar.

We followed the Sangiovese with an Italian cousin from Marble Falls that's modeled on the Super Tuscan wines.  Flat Creek Vineyard's 2006 Super Texan is an excellent red table wine built on a solid sangiovese foundation.  Like the earlier wine, this medium bodied table wine went superbly with the roasted meats and chimichurri.  This was a fruity, but not sweet wine that opened up well and had just a light tannic finish.

Stephanie then brought us back to Duchman Family Winery for our next tasting.  For our sixth selection we sampled Duchman's 2009 Montepulciano.  The Montepulciano is the second most popular grape in Italy, and its easy to see why.  This wine was smooth, boasted a heavily fruited palate, but was only slightly sweet, and medium bodied.  It was not my favorite, but it was to a lot of folks around me.  The fact that there are no more bottles left stands as a testament to the wines' popularity.     

The final wine from the reds came from the northern reaches of the Hill Country.  It was a 2005 El Guapo from Alamosa Wine Cellars.  Like the Super Texan, El Guapo is a blend which is comprised of 90% Tempranillo, 5% Monastrell, and 5% Cabernet Sauvignon.  This was the biggest and boldest of the wines we had, and in the interest of full disclosure its also one of Pris and my favorites.  As with all wines, the flavors can change with the vintages and with the composition of the blend.  We hadn't had the 2005 yet, but that was quickly fixed.  The bottle needed time to open up, so it was good we had it at the end.  It was supple and complex with big flavor and light tannins.  It paired well with the strip steak and the heavier cheeses.  Pris put it best when she said "No one was mild about the El Guapo."  People either really liked it or they didn't.  Its a bold wine, at least as far as the milder Texas wines go, and that may not be for everyone.  After all, it is El Guapo. As with all of the reds, it pairs easily with almost any food, but it works especially well with grilled or roasted meats.

Besides getting to sample a number of incredible wines, we learned a lot.  Texas has a great number of vineyards producing award winning wines, but you're not going to find the big Cabs and Merlots like in California.  The Texas climate and soil is perfect for Spanish and Italian varietals that go well with grilled meats and spicy foods, which is a great thing for us here in the Valley.  You could tell by the smiles and the wines blushes that the attendees had a great time and enjoyed themselves immensely.  There's talk of this becoming an annual event, which would be fantastic.  What's even better is that local stores may now start carrying many of these wines based on the overwhelming response of the 70 plus attendees.  We'll keep our fingers crossed on that one.  All in all, great wine, great food, and some great company made for an amazing evening in the southern reaches of the Lone Star State.

The McPherson Sangiovese runs about $18.99 a bottle and you can get more information about this wine and winery at:  http://www.mcphersoncellars.com/.

Duchman Family Winery 2008 Montelpuciano retails for around $14.99.  For more information you can visit http://duchmanfamilywinery.com.

Flat Creek's Super Texan runs from $19.99 to $21.99 and can be found at Feldman's across the Valley.  For more information on this wine you can visit www.flatcreekestate.com.

Finally, Alamosa Wine Cellar's 2005 El Guapo retails for around $18.99.  You can find out more about it at: http://alamosawinecellars.com/

Cheer Y'All!: A Texas sized event

What a night Saturday night, there was almost too much wine and food to be enjoyed.  If I had to use one word to sum it up it'd be: spectacular.  For the event there were eight wines, an incredible food spread, and a lively crowd to enjoy it all in an intimate setting at the historic Alonso Building.  Because there were so many different wines, we've decided to break this post down into two parts.  Part one will deal with the whites, and part two (published tomorrow) will focus on the reds.

We started the evening with a Duchman Family Winery's 2009 Vermentino.  This was an exceedingly soft white wine that went well with some of the gazpacho soup and fontina cheese and crackers.  It wasn't a crowd favorite, but it was a good light wine for when you're looking for something to go with lighter fare in our warmer months. It seems that Italian wines have found a new home in Texas with some excellent results.

From there we moved on to the Brennan Vineyards 2009 Viognier.  The speaker, Stephanie Wetherill, said this was a perfect wine for sitting by the pool on a hot summer day.  While I usually prefer a cold beer on hot days, I have to admit she's right.  The Viognier had a light citrusy aroma, but offered a full slightly sweet flavor.  It had an excellent finish without the cloying syrupiness found in some sweeter whites.  The crowd definitely warmed up to this wine quickly, with several asking for another taste before the pourers took the bottles away.  The Brennan Vineyards selection was a perfect counterpoint to a fantastic curry cheese spread. What's more, this wine just won a Gold Medal at the San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition, which is the largest competition of American wines.

The next wine was a 2009 Rose of Syrah from McPherson Cellars in the Panhandle.  The speaker informed us that this particular wine was created more in the European provincial style of drier Roses rather than its sweeter American counterparts.  Sure enough, the McPherson was drier and had a much fuller taste with just a hint of sweetness. This wine also just finished winning a Gold Medal in its category at the San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition.

By this time everyone was having a very good time, and the conversations were taking on a bit of a louder tone.  Unfortunately, a lot of folks couldn't hear the speaker who was a treasure trove of information not only on the wines we were drinking, but also the history of wine making in Texas.

We followed the aforementioned whites with a number of superb reds, but those will be covered later.  Stephanie selected a fine 2010 Late Harvest Riesling from the Messina Hof Winery outside Bryan/College Station.  This desert wine was everything you'd expect from a Late Harvest Riesling.  It was sweet, with crisp citrus notes, and a lovely full finish found only in late harvest grapes.  To be fair, it you're not into sweet wine, this isn't for you.  But as a compliment to a walnut and dried berry cheese spread, or pan de polvo, it is top notch.  It was the perfect end to a great tasting experience. 

 

Of course, once the tasting was over, we were free to try the wines at our leisure.  Pris and I enjoyed this immensely, which is what has led to the lateness of this posting.  We went back for several of the reds, but I did end the night with one last little bit of the Riesling and a chocolate covered strawberry.  Cheers!

Duchman Family Winery 2009 Vermentino retails for around $11.99.  For more information you can visit http://duchmanfamilywinery.com.

The Brennan Vineyards 2009 Viognier retails for $23.95, and you can get more information at:  http://www.brennanvineyards.com.

The McPherson Cellars 2009 Rose of Syrah sells for around $12.99.  You can get more information about this wine and winery at:  http://www.mcphersoncellars.com.

And finally, the Messina Hof Winery 2010 Late Harvest Riesling retails around $19.99.  Its a bit on the pricey side for a desert wine, but what you'd expect from a late harvest vintage.  You can get more information about this wine at: http://messinahof.com.

As to availability, you can check with Jones Liquors if they are now carrying any of these wines.  Other than that, possibly Feldman's.  If you can't find these wines locally then there's always the internet, or a quick trip to H.E.B. Central Market in San Antonio or Austin. 

Pris' lunch of gazpacho soup with a glass of the Duchman Vermentino.

A Good Time for the Beach

Its been a rough couple days, but I am happy to say that after a brief but intense illness I can once again drink wine.  In order to properly celebrate this fact, Pris and I took Stephanie Wetherill, author and speaker at tomorrow's wine tasting here, to Gazpachos for dinner.  To accompany our meal we selected a 2008 La Playa Block Selection Cabernet Sauvignon. 

This Chilean Cab was a great wine that opened up nicely over the course of our dinner.  It went superbly with the tocinetas (beef tenderloin medallions wrapped in bacon served with avocado and chimichurri).  As a testament to its quality, the La Playa also displayed a great versatility in that it also paired well with Pris' bacon wrapped shrimp and my prosciutto and onion pizza.

The La Playa was a softer and versatile Cab, with a full bodied flavor and a long but not too dry finish.  It was well balanced and much too easy to drink.  Fortunately there were three of us, and no worries about drinking too much to drive.  One of the best aspects of this wine is that Pris and I would classify it as an EDW, or everyday wine.  That is a great wine at a great price of under $15.  Granted, we paid a little more for it at the restaurant,  but you can generally find La Playa for around $10 at  your local liquor store or H.E.B.  We picked up ours at Jones Liquor here in Brownsville.

La Playa Block Selection 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon is a from the Colchagua Valley of Chile.  Its is produced by  Vina La Playa S.A.  You can find out more about La Playa at www.laplayawine.com.

From Bottle to Glass

We are still trying to work our way through the Schroeder Estate Cab. I've enjoyed a glass the past 2 nights, but because the end of this week we are hosting (conveniently, downstairs from where we live) a Texas Wine Tasting with author Stephanie Wetherill, I've decided to keep the wine drinking to a bit of a minimum. However, I may change my tune by the end of the week. In the meantime, and thanks to a friend who suggested it, I've figured out what to do with all the empty wine bottles. As some of you may know, we keep a few of the empty bottles to remember the wines we've enjoyed. I'm a visual person so keeping the bottles and their labels always helps me spot wines I've liked when I'm at the grocery store or liquor store. Our collection has become an assemblage of carefully curated bottles, each with a great wine drinking memory attached to it. Since we've moved to Brownsville, and because there really isn't any nightlife to speak of, Eric and I have had much more time to sit around and enjoy wine. This was becoming a problem with the excess wine bottles. Until recently. After calling many of the glass companies in Brownsville, I finally found someone who knows someone who can cut and sand the wine bottles to create drinking tumblers. I'm actually quite excited about having these new drinking glasses. This is the first one he created.

Dinner with Schroeder and Horatio

Its been a busy day of posting, but it should slow down nicely from here.  Since it was a light wine and dinner last night, we decided to switch things up this evening.  Besides, we have a sort of Sunday night tradition of a steak dinner followed by CSI:Miami.  A heavy dinner of steak and fettuccini alfredo called for a heavier wine.  So Pris selected a 2010 Argentinean Cabernet Sauvignon from Schroeder Estate.

This is a really good wine that my mom gave me that was extra from a load she got when she joined the Wall Street Journal Wine Club.  Pris has been itching to try some of these wines as part of an effort to get me to join the wine club ourselves.  While this wine isn't bold as its California cousins, it has a rich full flavor and lots of structure.  The Schroeder Estate Cab doesn't have the heavy tannin content and dryness usually associated with this varietal, but that may be due to the cold climate these grapes are grown in.  This wine, like most Cabs, was a great compliment to the steak and the cheese on CSI:Miami.  Hopefully we'll be able to find this bottle again somewhere, of course there's always the WSJ Wine Club.

Schroeder Estate 2010 Cabernet Sauvignon is from the Patagonia region of Argentina.  The vineyard has been producing wine since 1927.  This bottle runs about $18.99 and can be found at www.wsjwine.com.

"Smack Your Momma Good": Mauro Cosecha 2006

Since we had a quiet night last night, Pris and I decided to try a new wine that we picked up while getting some dinner at Feldman's Market Center.  We went with the Mauro Cosecha 2006, which was described by an un-named staffer as "smack your momma good."  After that ringing endorsement it had to be opened for dinner.  Let me just say, we were not misled.  Pris and I polished off the bottle in short order without realizing we had done so.  The Mauro Cosecha 2006 is an incredibly smooth Spanish wine.  The 2006 is made up of 90% Tempranillo and 10% Syrah (not to be confused with the 2007 which has a different varietal make-up creating a different flavor). 

The wine was smooth and balanced.  As with most tempranillo blends there was an excellent, if understated fruitiness,  balanced with subtle tannins.  The wine was perfect with our simple meal of Serrano ham, manchego cheese, olives with feta, egg salad, and hummus.  Steaks are fantastic, but there's something to be said for a lighter meal that you can just graze on while enjoying a great wine.

As a side note, this wine served as our inaugural bottle for a new Vinturi Aerator.  We picked up a travel one for my mom for Christmas, and she's raved about it ever since.  Then they used one at Cafe Shiraz the other night and we were sold.  The wine still needed a little time to open up, but the aerator really sped up to process if you don't want to spend the time letting the wine decant in the bottle or a decanter.

Mauro Cosecha 2006 is from the Castilla y León region of Spain. Its 14.5% alcohol by volume.  If you'd like more information on the wine you can find it at www.bodegasmauro.com.

First Post: Tolosa "1772"

So Friday night Pris and I decided to celebrate the fact that we finally had a weekend with absolutely nothing to do expect sleep, eat, drink, and relax.  In order to celebrate properly we decided to go to Jones Liquor and pick up a bottle of Tolosa Winery 2006 "1772" Pinot Noir. 

We first tried this wine on the recommendation of Mike Jones, owner of Jones Liquor here in Brownsville. To put it mildly this is an excellent wine, smooth and flavorful.  It stands on its own as one of the most easy drinking wines we've had.  However, when paired with filets from Cafe Shiraz this wine adds a whole new dimension to an already incredible dining experience.  The wine's serene flavor perfectly complemented the meltingly tender filet and the porcini mushroom wine sauce.  In a testament to its versatility, the wine even complimented our respective desserts of crème brule and chocolate soufflé.  If you can find this wine, get it.  Your only regret will be not getting a couple bottles while you could.

This pinot was produced from grapes from the Edna Ranch in the Edna Valley, California. More information about "1772" and Tolosa Winery can be found at: http://www.tolosawinery.com/.