Wine Life - Houston

Tasting Notes from a Wines of Chile Masterclass taught by Fred Dexheimer, M.S in Houston on October 11, 2016. Viña Santa Carolina - Luis Pereira 2012 - Sourced from the Central Valley (Maipo, Colchagua and Maule), this wine is a blend of 90% Cabernet Sauvignon, 5% Cabernet Franc, 2% Malbec and 3% other grapes from ungrafted 70 year old vines from vineyards ranging from almost 500 to to over 2100 feet above sea level. Named after the man who founded the winery in 1875, this iconic Chilean wine has a surprisingly moderate 12.5% alcohol by volume. Classic cassis Cabernet aromas with cedar and violet with matching concentrated flavors through the long slightly spicy finish. SRP $130 Santa Rita - Casa Real 2010 - Sourced from a single vineyard Alto Jahuel in the Maipo Valley, this wine is 100% Cabernet sauvignon sourced from vineyards over 1700 feet. It also has classic cassis Cabernet aromas and flavors along with a minty note but with a grittier tannic structure and a fresher m...

Quintessa 2013 has concentrated, ripe, mixed cherry/berry aromas and flavors with a pencil box nuance and a subtle dark floral note. It is dry and full bodied with a long, lush, surprisingly smooth, slightly spicy finish.  Highly recommended. Quintessa 2013 is a red wine blend from the Rutherford AVA in Napa Valley, it is composed of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot and Carmenere. It was aged for 21 months in French oak barrels of which 85% were new. Tasted on October 5, 2016 in Houston with Larry Stone, MS.

Greece is the 17th largest wine producer in the world. Though they have a 5000 year wine making history, their modern winemaking story really begins in the late 1970's when new investment and a quest for higher quality is initiated. It is currently a very dynamic time in the Greek wine industry. The new generation of winemakers are highly educated and many have worked in multiple wine regions all over the world. They are bringing some of the most current thinking to some of the oldest and most remarkable wine terroir in the world. The country has over 300 unique indigenous grape varieties to create a wide variety of wines in an array of styles. There are now over 800 wineries in Greece and they export out about 15% of their production. Assyrtiko white wines from Santorini are some of the countries most important. The volcanic island soils create wines with an intense mineral or saline component. The grape is being planted in other more inland locations in Greece where it is...

As originally seen in the October 2016 issue of  Galveston Monthly A recent trip to Lodi this past August was the inspiration for this month's wine feature. 

Pour yourself a glass of some of Napa’s finest, then settle in to take a vicarious ride with one of the valley’s most perfect scoring couples. You will feel like you’ve joined them at their table as Kathryn and Craig Hall take turns telling their tale starting in Texas before they met on through the building of their California wine country empire.  A Perfect Score: The Art, Soul, and Business of a 21st-Century Winery is a story anyone can savor, it is one of two hard-working, determined people who come together first in love and, then together, dream a dream big enough for wine lovers everywhere to share with them.  Available today on Amazon  or at  Hall Wines .

As originally seen in the September issue of Galveston Monthly

I recently had the opportunity to taste The Lodi Native Project wines after an old vines tour of the area. In 2012, the Lodi Wine Grape Commission asked winemakers to make a more naked style of 100% Zinfandel wine from designated vineyard areas. These vintners were asked to create low intervention wines made with native yeasts, no new oak barrels, no fining or filtering and no adding acid or water to the wines. The goal was to give a true reflection of these special terroirs . Wegat Vineyard  sits on the west side of the Mokelumne River AVA. The vines were field grafted onto St Augustine rootstock in 1958. This wine is made by Chad Joseph of Maley Brothers . The vines here produce loose clusters with an intense fruit character. This wine had a fruity blueberry/blackberry flavor with an earthy touch of mushroom. Stampede Vineyard   is on the east side in the Clements Hills AVA. The vines are on their own rootstock in sandy loam soil and range from about 80-100 years...