Dallas Wine Chick

Celebrating Regional Wine Week with an Aged Texan

In honor of the fourth annual Regional Wine Week, which is scheduled from Oct. 9 to Oct. 15 this year, I wanted to write about a Texas wine that I picked up two years ago from Calais Winery in Dallas.  Regional Wine Week is scheduled to profile wines from “The Other 47” states that aren’t California, Washington or Oregon.

Back in September of 09 when I tasted the Calais, I wondered how it would age.  I am glad to report that this wine really evolved with time in the bottle.  In the spirit of full disclosure, I know Ben and his wife, Melynn, from the wine business and due to our almost daily class workouts at Equinox in Dallas.   They are delightful people.

Calais bills itself the French winery of Texas and it definitely uses an Old World method of wine production.  This wine is named after Commerce Street in Dallas, the location of Calais’ tasting room, and is an 85 percent cabernet sauvignon and a 15 percent syrah blend.  I tasted blackberry, currant, cherry and sandalwood with hints of mocha.  I enjoyed this wine and was glad to see time in the bottle equaled a more complex and well rounded glass of wine.

Tara Winery: A Southern Respite in East Texas

We had an opportunity to spend a weekend with our dear friends, Doug and Alyce, at their Lake house in East Texas last month.  While there I had the chance to spend some time with Patrick and Susan Pierce, the winemakers and owners of  Tara Vineyard & Winery the oldest winery in Henderson County.

As you drive up to the grounds, a stately 1880’s antebellum house once owned by former Dallas Cowboy Owner Clint Murchison, looks over the vines and made me think of Scarlett O’Hara’s house in Gone with the Wind.  The house was relocated from downtown Athens and serves as a respite as the Tara Inn.  The winery is also adjacent to the Cellar Door restaurant, which I did not try, but heard great reviews.  

Susan Holding “The Hill of Tara“

I loved the story about how Tara came to be.  It was the name of Patrick and Susan’s sailboat.  The name comes from Irish folklore and stands for “a view from afar”.  The name originally came from a book discovered in a used book store in Berkeley, The Hill of Tara. 

While Tara makes 14 wines, we only tried a few produced in East Texas on the 7-acre estate while my six-year old and her friends played the drums, danced and sang “California Girls”.  It was quite the musical revue.   My favorite Tara wine was one that I had tried before from my friend, James.  It is a white blend of Texas grapes, the Texas Blanc de Bois.  It’s a fruity wine with tropical notes and vanilla on the end and is priced under $18.  The Stagecoach Red, priced at $18.50, was termed “barbeque wine” and I see how it would be a good match.

If you are visiting East Texas, Tara is definitely worth a trip – for the food, the wines, the conversation and the live music events.  I think this is a good winery to watch with lots of future potential.

Deep in the Heart of Texas’ Wine Country

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I recently was invited to attend an event in Fort Worth for the Texas Hill Country Wineries at the National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame.  The session began with a panelist seminar of winemakers that included John Rivenbaugh from Bending Branch Winery, Gill Bledsoe from Pillar Bluff Vineyard and David Kuhlken from Pedernales Cellars who discussed a variety of subjects as related to producing wine in Texas.

I learned a few things:

• The Texas wine and grape industry is fifth in the U.S. for wine production with over 2 million gallons produced annually.  The 2,700 acres of vineyard and 200 plus wineries contribute $1.35 billion to Texas’ economy.  Wow.
• And, the proposed budget cuts at a state and federal level will absolutely level the gains made in Texas wine production.

I wanted to know more about where the winemakers thought the ‘sweet spot’ was for Texas wine.  Not surprisingly, they talked about the potential for growth in Texas as only six percent of Texas wines are consumed by Texans.  When I was on the efactor panel in February, I heard the same from Dan Gatlin from Inwood Estates.  I was glad to hear that they all acknowledged planting the right kind of varietals for the crazy Texas weather is the key to success.  As someone who has palate skid marks from trying Texas wines in the 1990’s, I was heartened to hear this.  Bledsoe had my favorite quote of the night, “I want to show that we can dance – I’ll throw our wines up against anyone.”  The fact that 15 of 21 Texas wines that were awarded medals in the San Francisco International Wine Competition were from the Texas Hill Country shows he may have a point.

Naturally I asked about the challenges they face.  Texas weather and funding seemed to top the list.  If you’ve spent any time in Texas or watched the Big Game this year, you know temperatures can drop 50 degrees overnight.  There is also some research that is making gains in improving Texas wine – collaborations between Texas A&M and the program at Grayson County College – that could be severely impacted by budget cuts.

If you’ve been reading Dallas Wine Chick for the past year, you know that I’ve had some past struggles with Texas wine.  I’m sure your big question is what I thought about the wines.  I tasted 29 wines.  Some took me back to my experience in the 1990’s.  However, I had four that made me take notice.

• Duchman Family Winery, 09 Montepulciano, ($15) this was a red wine full of stone fruit, slight oak and a bit of spice at the finish.  It was a Texas wine that is actually possible to drink in August Texas weather.
• Duchman Family 09 Vermentino ($10), a Texas patio wine that is floral with hints of pear, but balanced with some minerality.  Lively and light for patio weather.
• Perdernales Tempranillo ($29.99), a little high priced for my threshold for a Texas wine, but with soft tannins, an earthiness and cherry notes that make it well matched for Texas game.  The highlight of my tasting note was simple – “Nice” with an exclamation point.
• Singing Water Vineyards Reserve Merlot/Cabernet Blend ($24.95), also priced on the high range, this was a deep red wine full of stone fruit, raspberry and vanilla.

Coincidentally, a group of Texas sommeliers blind tasted more than 100 Texas wines and both Duchman and Perdernales wines were on the winners list.  The Singing Water Vineyards has also won a number of awards for their reserve blend.

My takeaways from this event – I found wines that I liked that give me hope for the future of Texas wines.  I would keep an eye on Perdenales Cellars, Singing Water Vineyards and Duchman Family.  I expect good things.

Beating a Path Toward Wines Off the Beaten Path

Several months ago I had the opportunity to meet Hunter Hammett, sommelier for the Pyramid Restaurant & Bar at the Fairmont Hotel when we were seated at the same table during the NY/Texas Gridiron challenge.  Hunter impressed me with his passion for wine, his knowledge of wine, and his commitment to giving lesser known grapes their due. A few months passed and my intrigue about putting together a tasting for “wines off the beaten path” did not wane, so last week I grabbed a group of wine loving friends and we ventured to the Fairmont.  It’s always exciting when you look over a list of wines and have to research the grapes, the vineyards and the geography just so you can have some baseline knowledge.  It’s what makes wine geeks tick and I was anticipating this tasting like a kid waiting for Christmas. 

We started with the white wine line-up.  Our first pour was the 08 Txomin Etxaniz, Hondarribi Zuri, Getariako Txakolina.  It was bright in the glass with citrus and pear flavors.  There was almost a fizz to it making it a great patio wine on a hot Texas day.  This was one of my favorites of the tasting.  The second wine was the 09 Tollo, Pecorino, Terre di Chieti from Italy, which was described as one of the group as “the non-Chardonnay Chardonnay lover’s wine.”  It coated your mouth and had almost a honeysuckle taste to it with lots of nutmeg and pear flavors, but with minerality that made it really interesting versus being overwhelmed with oak.

The third wine was the 07 Ottella di Lodovico Montresor, Trebbiano di Lugana, which had some chalkiness due to its terrior with citrus, lemon and floral notes.  I could see this wine pairing well with fish, but it wasn’t something that I would drink on its own if I were looking for a crisp glass of white on a hot summer day. I did, however, enjoy the drama associated with this wine.  Apparently the experts and wine books cannot agree on what grape this truly is as recent studies have debated if it is actually Verdicchio Bianco vs. Trebbianco.

We then moved into the line-up of reds.  Our first wine was also from the same region as the aperitif that began the tasting.  The 08 Gorrondona, Hondarribi Beltz, Aldape Vineyard, Bizkaiko Txakolina was earthy with almost a silt taste. It was a tart fizzy wine.  You could taste the red fruits and it paired well with the goat cheese on the lovely cheese tray provided by Chef Andre Natera.   I am a big fan of Heitz reds, so I was eagerly anticipating trying the 07 Heitz, Grignolino, Napa Valley.  What a change from the big, bold flavors that I was used to in Heitz wines.  This was much more subtle with orange notes, rose petals and berries. 

The final wine was a Texas wine.  The 09 Sandstone, VII, Touriga Nacional, Mason County, Texas, was my least favorite. Granted, it was better than many of the Texas wines that I have tasted, but Hunter mentioned that he decanted this wine three hours before we got there.  It was still tannic and needed more time.  I tasted port, berries and jam and an almost tarlike essence.  I want to support these wines based on my geography and advocate the “Go Local” movement through my position on the steering committee of Chefs for Farmers, but our Texas wine producers must raise the bar to make wines that invite an even competition.  This week I’m going to a Texas Hill Country Wineries Road Show tasting and I hope to find a few “diamonds in the rough” when these wines are previewed for the press.

When we were wrapping up, Hunter told me about an Albarino that he just secured that is produced from vines that are over 200 years old. It’s on my “must try” list and I know that I’m going to be back to continue my “off the beaten path” education.  It’s much more fun doing it this way than reading a wine book to research a region.

Photos courtesy of James Freeman

Wines.com, Texas Wineries, D Magazine … and me?

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This month is a big month for the Dallas Wine Chick.  It’s the one-year anniversary of this little blog and with over 9,500 page views, about 3,100 Twitter followers and almost 600 fans on Facebook, you all have exceeded my expectations for success and created this amazing wine community.

You’ll see a link above to my first advertiser, Wine Chateau, a great online retailer of fine wines, who offers you a shipping discount with the link above.  Thank you Wine Chateau for your support of Dallas Wine Chick.

Recently I had my first wine-related speaking opportunity for EFactor, a local networking group.  Alex Andrawes, the CEO of wines.com and a friend on Twitter, asked me to join a panel session with some esteemed names in the wine business.  So I found myself on a panel with two Texas winemakers — Dan Gatlin from Inwood Estates and Dave Duchman from Duchman Family Wines as well as two personal friends – Andrew Chalk, D Magazine producer for Side Dish and Lindsay Woodard, owner of Retour Wines in Oregon.  About 55 people gathered at Cork Wine Bar to taste wine, hear the discussion and network.

I first introduced myself as the “accidental blogger.”  For those of you who know the story of starting Dallas Wine Chick, I just wanted to share my passion and experience of wine with others.  I started first on Twitter and when I reached a certain following; I thought about starting the blog.  To my shock, it happened.

The discussion was interesting.  We were asked as a panel to discuss the wine industry in Dallas.  Dan talked about how Dallas remains a challenge for him and other markets like Houston are much more supportive of Texas wines.  I talked about how Texas wine – especially in Dallas – needs an image overhaul to occur before consumers can support it.  In my discussions with other winemakers, including Lindsay who was there to debut her wonderful Retour Pinots in Dallas, the market is definitely supporting wines from other regions.

Andrew voiced the frustration of the room when asked about challenges with wine and restaurants.  Because consumers are better educated and know the retail price of many wines, paying triple mark-up is a detriment.  He believes that if restaurants were to even double the price of retail wine, they would immediately see higher sales because people would be willing to buy more wine.  I wasn’t asked this question, which was probably a good thing, but my pet peeve is “cookie cutter” wine lists that have been purchased by a distributor.  If many restaurants would take the same care with wine lists as they do with their food, consumers would have a better experience.

We talked a lot of about social media.  Lindsay doesn’t use social media today because her customers aren’t using Twitter and Facebook.  Dan has an Inwood Estates Facebook page, but it doesn’t seem to be populated often.  Dave has his marketing department handle their social media efforts and they are active.  Andrew uses a blog, but not Facebook or Twitter for business.  So, that leaves me and Alex as the poster children of the power of social media.

There was also some general discussion about the three-tier system and I think many of those in the room were surprised to hear about how wine gets from the winemaker to your home.

All in all, it’s the type of panel discussion that brought together many perspectives – winemaker, wine writers, wine retails.  We just needed a distributor to get a holistic view of the wine business.

As we wrapped up the Q&A, one audience member asked if it was still possible to get outside funding for the wine business.  Dan responded with a well-known, but sadly true quote – “If you want to make a small fortune in the wine business, be prepared to invest a large fortune.”

Dallas’ Most Interesting Wine List is at a National Hotel?

Last month I attended the Texas/New York Gridiron wine challenge had the opportunity to sit at a table with Hunter Hammett, sommelier for the Dallas Fairmont Hotel.  Surprisingly enough, our conversation shifted to wine and he told me about the Fairmont’s wine list which he had totally overhauled including a large number of Texas wines.  I was intrigued, so I asked Hunter if I could spend some time with him learning more about the list.

He’s an agreeable guy and very passionate about wine, so I found myself in the totally revamped Pyramid Restaurant & Bar at the Fairmont – with a tasteful local focus on Texas products and a rooftop garden.  I was handed the list, which received a Wine Spectator 2010 Award of Excellence, and like a kid in the candy store, I started perusing.  As Hunter hand-selected the 250 wines that are on the list, it was important find a variety of on and off “the beaten path” wines at any price that patrons would love.  I especially enjoyed the Underrated Reds and Underrated Whites sections that had a number of wines I have enjoyed in small little wine bars or across the country.  I never expected to see them at a restaurant in a national hotel.  You’ll also find grapes you’ve probably never heard of nor had the opportunity to try like Aligoté, at least in Texas, until now. 

Gruet was one of the selections on the Underrated Reds list and I mentioned that I had never tried its still wines.  In short notice, I had a glass of the 06 Gruet Pinot Noir Cuvee Gilbert in hand.  Hunter also had a large selection of wines that are positioned by varietal vs. region to encourage experimentation of all different types of grapes from around the world.

Of course, because this is Texas, you will find the usual big suspect Cabernets -we all know that restaurants have to carry these to please certain patrons.  Also, I believe that having some of the big steakhouse wines gives people the trust factor to try other wines that may not have considered otherwise.  

Wines that are sustainable, organic and environmentally farmed are given special consideration.  You’ll probably see a future focus on building out the French section of the list in 2011.  Hunter’s credo, like The Wine Century Club, is to broaden the wine drinking scope at every opportunity.  I, for one, look forward to my trip around the world with his wine list as my guide.

Texas vs. New York Gridiron: Let’s Get Ready to Rumble

Earlier this month, with high hopes for a Ranger’s World Series win and the Cowboy’s at a pathetic 1 and 4; I was invited to attend the 2010 Grape & Gridiron Classic that was thrown by the “GO TEXAN” folks at the Texas Department of Agriculture.

I was excited to see two industry folks that I hadn’t met live yet,  Russ Kane and Jeff Siegel who were co-hosting the event on the Texas side.  Russ and I have been Twitter friends for a long time, so it was great to finally meet him live.  The premise was to do a taste off Texas vs. New York wines in conjunction with the Cowboys/Giants game that was scheduled that evening. Based on the Cowboy’s season at that time, I wasn’t surprised to see that the better competition was going to be in the room that night at El Centro (wine vs. the football game).

We started with ten whites, which we tasted blind.  Of all the whites, I found I preferred the 09 Llano Estacado Winery Unoaked Chardonnay. This was a good thing as Mark Hyman, president and CEO of Llano was sitting at our table. I am a huge fan of New York Finger Lakes Riesling wines. However, not one Finger Lakes wine was represented due to the archaic laws regarding shipping wines to Texas. Because of this, I feel like we were able to showcase the wines we wanted to in Texas, but the New York folks were sparring with one hand tied behind their backs.

We tasted ten reds and a dessert wine. I also found that the palate of my table mates – Mark Hyman, Ron Ruggles from Nation’s Restaurant News and Hunter Hammett from the Fairmont Hotel, were overall very similar. However, the palate of almost everyone else in the room was drastically different as choice after choice of ours lost the vote.

Texas won by a landslide – eight to three for a total of 11 flights. The “best of show” favorites were McPherson Cellars Rose’ of Syrah 2009 (Texas) and Dr. Konstantin Frank Semi-Dry Riesling 2009 (New York).  All in all, I found some good wines from New York and from Texas. I must commend Russ and Jeff for figuring out how to take very different wines, including different varietals, and pair them together in categories for tasting. I’m hoping that we’ll do it again next year … only let’s involve Lenn Thomas and tie it to the Rangers/Yankees play off games.

All photos are courtesy of  Jenny Gregorcyk.

A Return Visit to Fuqua: The Dallas Wine Experience

I had the chance to attend a tasting at Dallas-based Fuqua Wines in September.  Some of you may remember my surprise at the quality of the wines – especially the tempranillo — from my column in Black White and Read last November. 

Lee and his wife, Julia, started the winery a few years ago in the warehouse district in Dallas.  Fuqua’s motto is to distribute super ultra-premium wines using the best grapes from Texas, California, Oregon, Washington and Europe.  Lee and Julia would like to use more Texas grapes, but there is a huge shortfall of quality fruit, which is obviously a problem when your mission is to make premium wines.  We had the chance to meet Courtney Key, a wine making student about to start her apprenticeship in France, who was helping Lee and Julia with the most recent vintages.

Courtney and Lee with the Fuqua 08 Chardonnay

We arrived to a glass of Segura Vidas Cava from Spain – obviously not a Fuqua wine, but a favorite sparkling of theirs and good palate cleanser.  This is a great value sparkler and has always been on my list of preferred value wines.

We tried a number of wines — some made by Fuqua, some made by others – but I’m going to point out a few that were of note to me:    

Fuqua 09 Summer Cabernet ($17.95) – very light, fruit forward and Beaujolais style with currant, vanilla, cherry and strawberry notes.  This was the only Texas wine and certified by the Texas Department of Agriculture to have 100 percent grapes from the Texas High Plains.  My personal preference was for the bigger styles, but because it is the only 100 percent Texas wine, I thought I’d mention it.

Fuqua 06 Syrah ($19.95)- very dark, spicy, concentrated fruit, wood, liquorice and coffee. This was a wine that needed food or a little more time to open.  Very interesting flavor combination and I would have liked to try it again the following day.

Fuqua Malbec Barrel 09 ($27.95), my favorite with the exception of the tempranillo, which has also not been bottled yet.  Even right out of the barrel I tasted lots of big blackberry fruit with vanilla and complex flavors.  Looking forward to picking up my pre-ordered bottles when they are ready and putting them down to age.

Fuqua wines are available at Pogo’s, select Sigel’s and Red’s Seafood.

I’ll let you know in a few years if I was right about the Malbec and I continue to eagerly wait for this year’s release of the tempranillo.

Taste Texas Tweet Up: Mandola Estate

Many of you know that I was asked to participate in Taste Texas Tweet Up with bloggers from across the nation to taste Mandola Estate, an up-and-coming Texas winery’s offerings.  Even though I am the Dallas Wine Chick, I find that most of the wines that I stock in my cellar come from California, Oregon, Australia, New Zealand or Europe (Spain, Italy, and France).  But, I did go on a tour of Dallas’ wineries last year and found some Texas discoveries that I did purchase, so I was hopeful when we gathered a crew together and began to taste the wines.

Texas still has a long way to go to remain competitive with my “go to” wine regions.  We tried four wines and the favorite wine of the group was the 08 Mandola Estate Dolcetto.   It was a simple dry wine with dark fruit that I’d pair with pizza.  But at $26, I’d have a hard time justifying purchasing this wine over my usual suspects. 

Others included a Rose, Sangiovese and the very sweet Canto Felice.   The reality is consumers will buy local if the quality of the wines is similar.  Otherwise it isn’t fair for wineries to ask.  I am hopeful that Texas wineries will make the wines that are best suited for the growing conditions of the state and the evolution will be a tasty one.

Taste Texas Twitter Event with Mandola Estate Winery

The Vintology Wine Blog burst on the scene late last year and quickly become the “go to” Texas wine resource.  Tomorrow I am participating in the Texas Taste Twitter event with Mandola Estate Winery with a few other bloggers. Link here and you can join us to taste live or get a feel about how the wine fared with some pretty blunt bloggers.  I am having a few friends over and plan to report live on Twitter as we sample.

Ben recently posted a Q&A with several of the bloggers participating including me – http://www.vinotology.com/2010/05/taste-texas-guest-blogger-profile-melanie-ofenloch-of-dallas-wine-chick.html.  As always, he was way too kind.

Follow #TexasTaste on Twitter tomorrow or check back here early next week for the results.