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Bordeaux + Tuscany Tasting with Château Giscours and Caiarossa
Wine Wednesday got a serious upgrade with a selection of bold blends from Bordeaux’s Château Giscours and Tuscany’s Caiarossa. Reps from both estates were in Dallas this week and swung by The Wine Authority with some crates of their marvelous red elixirs. Giscours and Caiarossa had just been featured in a “Bordeaux Meets Toscana” winemakers’…
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Review: Rowdy Creek Ranch Texas Merlot (2022)
Gather ’round the chuck wagon, ’cause today I’m pouring a 2022 Texas Merlot from Rowdy Creek Ranch. Located in Gilmer, Texas (about 20 minutes northeast of Longview), Rowdy Creek Ranch is a 450-acre country resort that opened in 2022. A 22-acre winery is on site. The property is equipped with a venue and event space,…
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Review: Berlucchi ’61 Extra Brut Franciacorta
Celebrations require bubbles…even if all you’re celebrating is that it’s finally 5 PM. For At-Home Happy Hour today we have a lovely bottle of ’61 Extra Brut Franciacorta by Guido Berlucchi & C. Franciacorta–as I’m sure many of my readers already know–is Italy’s answer to Champagne. It’s made in a similar style/method to French fizz,…
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Unboxing the WSJ Wine Club – Wine World Tour Italian Collection
I recently tried a new “flavor” of the Wall Street Journal Wine Club–the Wine World Tour. In this blog post, I share a peek inside the box, as well as my honest review. The WSJ Wine club sends me reams of direct mail offers. You know, the ones that look like this: They usually go…
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Review: Clare Wine Co. Watervale Riesling (2020)
Back in college, there was a bar in the old part of town called “Bar.” It’s still there–and the official name of it is (and was) Tavern on Main–but the sign out front just said “Bar” so that’s what everybody called it. Where’s the karaoke tonight? Bar. Where did you park? Bar. The name was…
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Exploring Texas’s Bay Breeze Wine Trail
Bay Breeze is Texas’s newest named wine trail, Texas Wine Lover blog reports. It was organized in 2017 and currently includes five wineries in Southeast Texas. What’s a wine trail? Basically, it’s a group of wineries that are close enough to hop around on a day or a weekend. Bay Breeze is one of the…
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Review: Palivou Estate Single Vineyard Nemea (2021)
From ancient vineyards near the ruins of Nemea, to a patio overlooking a parking lot in suburban Dallas–such was the fated journey of this bottle of red wine. And I am so grateful it made the trip. Palivou Estate’s flagship wine is a welcome discovery. Both fruit-forward and elegant, it’s a testament to what native…
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So Many Ways to Chardonnay (Total Wine class review)
Total Wine’s West Plano classroom holds 40 people. It’s usually stuffed to the rafters with eager wine learners. But on a recent Thursday evening, only about a dozen folks showed up for “So Many Ways to Chardonnay.” Maybe it was the bout of late-spring thundershowers keeping people away. But more likely, it was another sign…
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Balletto Vineyards tasting at The Wine Authority (Richardson, TX)
I love my Wine Authority membership because I get to try all kinds of stuff I wouldn’t find on my own. Premium wines, small-production wines, overlooked grapes and regions–you never know what’s going to be on the tasting bar. This week was a Russian River Valley tasting. I order a Russian River Valley Pinot Noir…
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Come for the wine, stay for the salumi: Quartino Wine Bar (The Colony, TX)
Fresh-baked bread, artisan pork products, and Italian wine by the liter! If any of those things are calling your name, head on over to Quartino Ristorante & Wine Bar in the Colony. The Chicago-based Gibsons Restaurant Group opened their first Texas location in 2023. It’s since become a popular spot in the “Grotto District” of…
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Review: De Chanceny Crémant de Loire Brut
I can’t afford to drink Champagne every day, alas–but at least there’s Crémant. I always keep a Crémant or two in the fridge, and open them without a second thought. If Champagne is designer evening gown, hanging in a closet and awaiting a gala occasion, then Crémant de Loire is like a favorite sundress: Floral,…
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Texas wines and good times at Salado Winery Co. (Salado, TX)
Texas country highways in the springtime are idyllic, all blankets of wildflowers and baby cows. The April rains have made the grass tall and green. The smell of hickory and mesquite smoke hovers faintly in the air. And if you tire of the ever-thickening traffic as you pass through growing cities like Temple and Waco,…