Vineyards and Winemakers

Toast the New Vintage

Toast to Texas

Stomp Then Sip

Calais Winery Launches Recycling Program. Not Convinced? It Involves Free Wine.

​On Saturday, Calais Winery will launch its new wine-bottle recycling program with the first rendition of what will become semi-annual event. From its rustic little shop on Commerce, the winery will accept empty bottles from any Texas winery. In exchange, generous winos will receive free tas ... More >>

Sigel's Discounts Mysterious Cheap Wines

Sigel's is readying to put its 90 Cellars wines on sale, making the label Time recently described as a "magical combo" of good wine and cheap prices an even better deal. ​90 Cellars, the subject of a feature story in The Boston Globe this week, has been garnering attention for its unique bu ... More >>

Texas Wineries Ask "What Do Hispanic Wine Drinkers Want?"

​Hispanics represent a growing share of Texas' wine drinking population, but wineries are still grappling with how to pitch their products to them. "No information is available about the Hispanic wine market," Natalia Kolyesnikova, assistant director of the Texas Wine Marketing Research Insti ... More >>

Texas Wine Industry Considers Identifying Best of the Bunch

​Texas wine enthusiasts seeking a better way to convey to consumers which local wines deserve their attentions are broaching the possibility of creating a wine quality program. Russ Kane, a wine writer who's moderating a panel on wine quality at this week's Texas Wine and Grape Growers Associ ... More >>

San Martino Tempranillo Reserve: Tasting an Up-and-Comer

​Along with malbec, Grenache, and cabernet franc, tempranillo is viewed by oenophiles as one of the up-and-coming red grapes in today's wine scene. It is often called the "noble grape" of Spain, and is used as the base for that country's magnificent Rioja reds. Almost black in color, temprani ... More >>

Texas Winemaker Puts the Mad in Madeira

​Wine experts have pretty much given up the annual tradition of naming the perfect wine for Thanksgiving, acknowledging the array of flavors on the table -- and diverse palates assembled around it -- mean a good case can be made for just about any varietal. But if I was doing the beverage buy ... More >>

How 'Bout Them Wineboys? (At Least Some Texas Competitors Had a Good Monday Night.)

​There's no dispute that Texas trounced New York in last night's Grape Gridiron Classic, a Texas Department of Agriculture-sponsored competition featuring wines from both states. What's debatable is whether it was a fair fight. "You guys killed us, and we deserved it," Albany Times-Union wine ... More >>

Go Texan Winery Passport Program:
The First Reward

​A Texas wine compendium -- that's the first level of reward after visiting four wineries in the GO TEXAN Winery Passport Program, one of the programs sponsored by the Texas Department of Agriculture to spur interest in Texas-grown products, and hopefully, keep more consumer dollars in state. ... More >>

So Three Cabs Walk Into a Wine Garden...

For those of us who visit the State Fair, it's worth braving the Midway to revisit old favorites and discover new delights. As I reported last week, my wining companion and I were particularly pleased to find the Go Texan Wine Garden, a little Hill Country-esque oasis of vino, music and sanity near ... More >>

Go Texan Winery Passport Program: Drink and Be Rewarded--But with What?

​The other day on City of Ate, my colleague, Hanna Raskin, bemoaned the state of the Go Texan Restaurant Week, one of the numerous programs designed by the Texas Department of Agriculture to spur interest and business in our state's food industry. She noted that only seven restaurants in Big D sig ... More >>

Five Tips for GrapeFest-goers

Cookingbytheseatofmypants.com​GrapeFest is underway, which means the People's Choice Wine Tasting Classic - billed as the nation's largest consumer judged wine contest - is back. We asked Jeff Siegel, a Dallas wine educator who blogs as The Wine Curmudgeon, to offer first-timers a few tips for mak ... More >>

Dry Comal Creek Bottles Up
Something Really Dry

​Once known for making inconsistent, if not downright weedy wines, Texas winemakers have been slowly but surely improving quality as the vineyards become established, the vines get older, and the winemakers themselves receive better education, training, and practice in their craft. Also, learn ... More >>

Llano Estacado Vintner's Selection Signature Red Meritage

​Meritage or Claret? What's the difference? Typically, both terms refer to Bordeaux-style blends, heavy on the Cabernet Sauvignon and/or Merlot, with one or more of the regions classic blending grapes added for body, spice and completeness. Most fans of Argentinian reds would be surprised to l ... More >>

Big Tex Will Go All Texas With Wines
At State Fair

​Kroger has pulled out as a wine garden sponsor at the State Fair of Texas, taking its West Coast wines with it. With the Texas Department of Agriculture left as sole sponsor of the wine tasting and teaching space, all of this year's featured wines will come from Texas. Jeff Siegel, who will ... More >>

Grapes of Wrath: Too Much "Texas" Wine,
Too Few Grapes Threaten Lone Star Vintners

​Here's a romantic scene: Two wine connoisseurs in love pack a basket with cheese and crackers, roll down the roof on a rented convertible and spend the day zigzagging the scenic, hilly roads between Texas' newest wineries. But by the second or third stop, the young couple begins to grow crab ... More >>

Grape-Picking Volunteers Needed;
César Chávez Rolls Over in Grave

​Cooperative weather has put plenty of grapes on Texas vines, and wineries are now recruiting volunteers to help pick them. In a stratagem with shades of Ton Sawyer, small wineries annually appeal to connoisseurs to join them for harvesting. As Jeanette Raines of Bernhardt Winery in Plantersv ... More >>

Art Of The Wine Taste

Wish They All Could Be

Sips And (Sound)Bites And Almost Fist Fights

Back to school, with drinking--and threats--allowed: a panel discussion at the drinklocalwines.com conference.​This past Saturday, a sold-out crowd gathered at Le Cordon Bleu Institute of Culinary Arts in North Dallas for the first-ever DrinkLocalWine.com Conference. Hosted by website founders Je ... More >>

Killian's California Red...And White

Souverain's Winemaker's Reserve Cabernet, one of the wines to be featured at Jasper's tomorrow night.Beer pairing dinners have been the rage of late, but apparently some people still do things the old-fashioned way. Kent Rathbun's Jasper's (7161 Bishop Rd., Plano) is offering a four-course wine pair ... More >>

Want More Beer? Change This Law!

Get a Cru

Take a Stags Leap this Thursday

Happy Birthday, G.

Grapefest is finally of legal drinking age!

Chuck This

Statute Stomp

Wine Me, Dine Me

Apple Juju

Frankie Carabetta brings N.Y.C. to Big D

Sour Grapes

At Tony's Wine Warehouse, there's a sucker born every minute

Drink Up

Loosened Texas laws spawn a litter of Dallas street wineries. Ready for Preston Hollow Pinot Grigio?

Guest-Mex

Cafe San Miguel to open in June

Cooking With Class

Soon, Dallas students can learn the restaurant biz in school

Grape Expectations

Winefest uncorks at a new home

Chicken-Fried Infamy

It's a batter battle as Texas faces Oklahoma

Lotus Blossoms

There's a flurry of curry in the metroplex

Random Drink Blur

Celebration remembers Prohibition-era winemakers

Month, Week, Daze

Mark your calendar. October is the month for wining and dining.

Cockfight

A Plano homemaker finds herself in a legal pit with a very big rooster

Sunken Island

Gozo gets shuttered up

Cobweb Quad

Quadrangle cuisine

Return to blender

Maritage's mix of flavors doesn't quite mesh

Hash Over

Drink up

Hash Over

A far cry; Mixed hash

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Hash Over

Whine capital of Texas

A rigged wine contest peels away Grapevine's grandiose label as the Napa Valley of Texas, revealing instead another cheap import

Hash Over

Hash Over