A Nice Wine Dinner at the Strip House

Last Thursday night, I attended the Nice Winery dinner at the Strip House. While I have eaten dinner there a few times, this was the first wine event of theirs that I had enjoyed. Ryan Levy & Ian Eastveld, the winemakers and owners of the Nice Winery, were at the event to present each wine with each course and answer questions about the selections. They have an interesting history as they are both Le Cordon Bleu trained Chefs, Certified Sommeliers and, since their initial harvest in Napa Valley in 2007, winemakers. This boutique winery is located in Houston and the wines are handcrafted from grapes sourced from premium vineyard locations.

The 1st course was a vine ripened tomato salad with red onions, basil and balsamic reduction paired with the 2010 NICE Sauvignon Blanc. This wine is sourced from a single vineyard in the Lujan de Cuyo area of Mendoza, Argentina. I really enjoyed the balance of this wine and it was excellent with the salad. It was crisp with a citrus blossom nose and tropical fruit flavors; if I were to compare it with other Sauvignon Blanc styles, I would say that it did not have the searing acidity or bell pepper notes so typical in New Zealand nor the too flat, non-refreshing style often seen in California. It retails for about $22.

The 2nd course was the Strip House roasted bacon with wild arugula and heirloom tomatoes served with the 2009 Malbec Reserve. This course was phenomenal. I will never think of bacon quite the same way again, it was thick cut with a sweet and spicy barbeque flavor. The wine was sourced from old Malbec vines also from the Lujan de Cuyo area of Mendoza. Again, nicely balanced with a black cherry/blueberry character and some vanilla and licorice notes, retail price of approximately $35.

The 3rd course was sliced New York strip with black truffle creamed spinach and goose fat potatoes served with the highly rated 2007 NICE Stags Leap District Cabernet Sauvignon. Again, absolutely delicious. This wine was the first wine produced by NICE with the artisanal talents of acclaimed winemaker, Steve Reynolds and it is everything that you would expect it to be, including its premium price of $110 retail.

The final course was creme brulee with the 2007 Demi-Sec Sparkling made from Muscat de Alexandria which was also sourced from Lujan de Cuyo. I know I enjoyed it but I did not note any specifics as I was quite caught up in conversation with another dinner companion at that time.

The food was fantastic, the dinner group was quite lively and the wines...they were beyond NICE. I have recommended the Strip House for dinner in the past and now I would definitely recommend their wine events as well.

NICE Wines are being poured in many of Houston's top restaurants and have won several awards. Ryan and Ian are currently in the process of negotiating with a new source in an acclaimed area of Tuscany, so we can expect to see some premium Sangiovese-based wine from them in the future, which is certainly something to look forward to.

"The Zen of Zin" Tasting at Fleming's in River Oaks

On Friday evening, my husband and I attended the Zinfandel wine tasting at Fleming's in River Oaks. My husband gets totally pumped up for any and all things Zinfandel but what I found really intriguing in the line up of wines were the aged offerings. Brent Sloan, managing partner at Houston's premier wine storage facility Nos Caves Vin, had provided Fleming's with four 18 year old bottlings and one 17 year old bottling from his collection of some of his favorites. I found this interesting because 1. I don't believe that I have ever had an 18 year old Zinfandel before this evening and 2. From various wine classes, I had always heard that at best Zinfandel had very limited aging ability. So, I was definitely excited to give these wines a taste. There were also an additional five younger Zinfandel wines that are some of Fleming's best sellers. The entire tasting line up for the evening included: 2009 Orin Swift Saldo - California 2007 Schulz "Lampyridae...

Spanish Wine under a Houston Sunset

I was asked to speak about Spanish wine and to conduct a tasting at the 30th birthday party of Kyla Kennedy on the rooftop patio of her and her fiancé, Jonathan Garrett's home this past Saturday. They invited a great group of friends with a new interest in wine tasting. Jonathan had the idea after the two had watched the movie "Somm" and had become interested in learning more about the wines of the world. For our tasting tour of Spain: Anna de Coderniu Brut Cava * - Guests loved this Spanish sparkler! They found the history of the winery interesting and enjoyed the refreshing style of the wine. The birthday girl named the subtle tropical and citrus aromas like a pro. 2012 Burgan's Rias Baixas Albarino - Guests talked about the fresh peach aromas and the crisp taste. Many felt this could be their summer sipper. 2012 Raimat Costers del Segre Albarino* - Guests were interested in learning about this lesser known area, the innovative winery and how ...

A Tropical Staycation with Spy Valley E Block

After a fair amount of traveling this summer with more still to come, I was looking forward to spending time at home with my family this week. Both of my millennial children have recently moved back to Houston but the home-cooked meals have been few and far between. I had recently received a sample of the Spy Valley E Block Sauvignon Blanc 2017 along with an invitation to participate in an on-line tasting with the Wine Pairing Weekend group (find them online under the hashtag #Winepw), this became the inspiration for this family gathering. I gleefully sent out a group text, "I'm grilling poolside tonight, be home by 7:30 p.m. to eat, come earlier if you want to swim." I am surrounded by funny people as the responses reflect, "Who is this?", "What have you done with my mom?", "Not a good night, Bachelor in Paradise is on." I was undeterred, I knew that they would come. I pulled the bottle out of the wine fridge to investigate what I was ...

Wine Life - Houston

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