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. About a month…

Wine from Pittsburgh? Surely you jest. After all, Pittsburgh is Steel City, known for its dominating football teams, brawling blue-collar identity and Primanti’s, a famous hangout where the cooks are known to stuff French fries inside their burgers. Of course you would want to wash down such robust fare with…

To oak or not to oak? That is the question for chardonnay makers. For many years, American winemakers tended to follow the example Kendall-Jackson set with its flagship chard, suffusing their wines with so much oak that it was sometimes hard to taste anything but tree. Then, about five years…

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…

People aren’t the only ones who suffer through hot Texas summers. Grapes feel the scorch as well, which means the state’s not the place to produce varietals that wither in the heat. After years of stubborn experimentation with Pinot Noir and other delicate grapes, the Texas wine industry now realizes…

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…

Winemaking is a laying-on-of-hands tradition, a passion that is often passed down from generation to generation. Most often, the children, grandchildren and other family members will stay with the core brand, further refining and developing its tipples and making it better. Occasionally, one branch decides to break from the tree,…

The State Fair of Texas makes it easy to find your way around Fair Park if you know how to use one of the handy free maps handed out at the entrance gate. If you wish to find the Go Texan Wine Garden, for example, merely mosey a ways down…

Messina Hof winery in Bryan is the second-most visited tourist attraction in Brazos County. The winery has a restaurant, bed-and-breakfast and an annual guest tally of more than 250,000 eager oenophiles Messina Hof is said to be the most award-winning Texas winery in national and international competitions, yet I feel…

For a long time, wine-making in North Texas was pretty much limited to the city of Grapevine. In recent years, that has slowly but surely changed, and now more purveyors can be found on the eastern side of the metroplex, with Fuqua, Times Ten Cellars, Calais and Inwood Estates setting…

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, learning to plant the proper grapes for the…

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 learn that Malbec actually originated…

Since Jose Ralat Maldonado announced on this blog the finalists for this years Big Tex Choice Awards for Best Fried Foods at this year’s upcoming festival, it brought back memories of fairs past and all the folderol created last year by Abel Gonzales’ award-winning Fried Butter — or the Chicken-Fried…

In 2008, Fall Creek Vineyards in tiny Tow, Texas, released a couple of wines with a mission. They dedicated their 2007 Sauvignon Blanc and 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon harvests to help raise money and awareness for much-needed restoration of the Mission San Antonio de Valero (aka The Alamo). Specifically, a portion…

KRLD Restaurant Week is now in full swing, and diners are exploring the pleasures of their favorite eating palaces at $35 a pop. So, now it’s time to assess the state of our union. Have you had any interesting or unusual stories to share from your Restaurant Week experiences? Have…

One Dallas winemaker is so good at his craft, he was knighted by the French. In 1992, Lee Foster Fuqua was made a member of the Ordre Ducal de la Croix de Bourgogne (Cross of Burgundy) in Dijon, France. He is one of fewer than 100 Americans to be inducted…

According to Hayley Hamilton at Sidedish, Sigel’s Addison location (15003 Inwood Road) is having one of its not-to-be-missed restaurant inventory reduction sales until September 4. More than 150 imported wines are being discounted anywhere from 30 to 90 percent. You must purchase these wines in-store, no e-mail or phone orders…

Promised delivery time: 35-40 minutes Actual delivery time: 22 minutes THE SCORE Delivery earlier than promised: 20 Points No online ordering: Minus 5 Points No MSG: 10 Points Fresh tasting food: 40 Points Food securely packaged: 10 Points TOTAL: 75 points E-mail menus, snail-mail menus, and door-hanger menus. Where would…