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Review: Bonpas Grande Réserve des Challières Ventoux (2020)
I get giddy over a great-value Rhône, and this one is a doozy: The Bonpas Grande Réserve des Challières Ventoux. It even looks substantial and rich. There’s the heavy embossed bottle, the rawkin’ Gothic font, and the castle on the label. I bought the Bonpas during a Grenache spree a year ago and promptly forgot…
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9 hot takes about wine
A wise person once said that when first learning about wine, you should refrain from forming or expressing strong opinions. We heard that advice and went, “Pfffft.” What’s the point of wine writing, if not as an outlet for over-generalizations and manufactured outrage on trivial topics? C’mon wine friends–time to stir the pot! This post…
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Merlot Thursday: RdV Vineyards “Rendezvous” (2021)
With great Merlot comes great responsibility. That was my thought as I took my first sip of the “Rendezvous” Merlot-based blend from RdV Vineyards of Virginia. Pizza in hand, fire blazing, feet propped up on the couch, I thought I was settling for a casual wine-and-takeout weeknight with friends. But the wine was poured and–wouldn’t…
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Texas Wine News Roundup: Winter 2025
It’s a scary time for the wine biz. Our thumbs are tired from scrolling past news about winery closures, sales slumps, and layoffs…and all the associated think pieces. (Why won’t the youngins put down their phones and drink some wine? Is it housing costs, social anxiety, vape pens, or wine snobbery that we should blame?…
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San Francisco’s Queen of Sauvy B: Eco Terreno Winery
Beer for breakfast and wine for lunch–this is how you pass a wintry day in San Francisco. Today, I have tasted everything from cinnamon-sugar pumpkin ale in a toasty brick basement at Fisherman’s Wharf to vegan gluten-free beer (made with sushi rice) at a queer-friendly microbrewery in North Beach. And before strolling off to reconstitute…
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Under $12 Review: Segura Viudas Brut Cava (NV)
A very happy New Year from The Wine Fairy! I’m shopping for party wine in the Houston suburbs–where, to my surprise, the local Spec’s Liquor has a very respectable European wine selection. Despite the holiday rush, the sales guys are even willing to stand around and recommend a Bordeaux to pair with BBQ and Tex-Mex.…
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DFW Wine Events: January 2026
In observance of Dry January, this month’s event roundup will feature lots of ways to have fun without drinking any wine at all. Hahaha–just kidding, of course! It’s wine on the calendar this month and every month. 🍷 Once again, we’ve kept an eye out for all the most exciting tastings, wine dinners, and classes…
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Merlot Thursday: Hayes Ranch California Merlot (NV)
Ah, California Merlot. The unsung hero of countless wedding banquets, airport lounges, and (ahem) company Christmas parties with an open bar. We talk like Merlot went away sometime in the early 2000s…but really, it never did. It just shuffled off to the back bar to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc and the…
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Review: Château de Corcelles Fleurie Poncié Beaujolais (2023)
It’s a Beaujolais day, hooray! I’ve already enjoyed my annual allocation of Beaujolais Nouveau (that’s one bottle each November, per spousal diktat.) But happily, no such limits apply to the Beaujolais crus. So when I spy a Fleurie sitting unassumingly on the bartop, that is what we will be having with dinner. Today’s wine comes…
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Costco Advent Calendar Wine #24: Ciel Bleu Sparkling Brut (France)
Patience, persistence, and an iron liver have finally brought us here: The very last bottle of the 2025 Costco Wine Advent-ure Calendar. And what better way to celebrate crossing the annual wine finish line than by popping some champy? As it turns out, it’s not actually Champagne that’s behind Door #24. Instead it’s this, the…
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Champagne Taittinger tasting at The Wine Authority (Richardson, TX)
It would be insane to abstain from Champagne when Taittinger is being poured. And so, dozens of wine lovers herded ourselves into The Wine Authority for a wide-ranging tasting of six Taittinger labels, including the prestigious “Comtes de Champagne.” French wine specialist Benjamin Samacoïts-Etchegpin of Kobrand Wine & Spirits was on hand to answer questions…
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Costco Advent Calendar Wine #23: Once Upon A Time Chocolate Red (France)
Every Wine Person (every Wine Person that I respect, anyway) has the same motto: Drink what you like. It’s true that learning is useful and exploring is enlightening. Wine tastes often drift over time, and they tend to evolve in a predictable way–often away from sweetness and toward nuance and complexity. But it’s dumb and…