Napa Valley

Houston: The 352nd-Happiest American City. We Analyze Our Closest Competitors

A new survey based on Twitter use -- and actually filled with all sorts of math has ranked 373 American metropolitan areas in terms of how happy and sad residents are. The study by the Vermont Complex Systems Center look at more than 10 million geotagged tweets. It looked for "happy" words like rai ... More >>

Upcoming Events: Somm-vasion at Phil's Wine Lounge and More

The brand-new Phil's Wine Lounge downstairs at Philippe is breaking in its boots by launching a Guest Sommelier Series starting February 6. Hosted by Vanessa Trevino Boyd -- resident sommelier at Philippe and last year's Best of Houston® winner for Best Sommelier -- the series will feature intimate ... More >>

Big California Wine Crushes a Houston Import from Italy: Sutter Home Forces Trinchero Family to Remove Its Own Name from Labels

La reproduction interdite... When a colleague showed me the new label for Trinchero Barbera d'Asti Superiore (2006 vintage) last night, I thought to myself, either he is playing a practical joke on me or this is a work of surrealist art. As if plucked from a painting by Magritte or a fountain by D ... More >>

Upcoming Events: More Food Trucks Hit the Downtown Streets

After all the brouhaha over food trucks being banned from downtown, the Houston Pavilions is bringing in a whole fleet of the mobile food units, six days a week. Starting last week, the food trucks will provide a daily lunch service from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Saturday. "We've seen the de ... More >>

Vietnamese, Ice Cream & Pizza: One Perfect Day in San Francisco

Recently, I spent two blissful days in Napa Valley, which I chronicled here and here. It was hard to leave places like Bouchon Bakery, Bottega and about a million wineries behind, but I had another sunshiney (slash really foggy) day in San Francisco to look forward to before we headed to visit frien ... More >>

What Wine for a [California] Veggie Sandwich?

The first time I had a [California] veggie sandwich (in California, they just call it a "veggie sandwich"), it was at the legendary Source on the Sunset Strip in Los Angeles. By the time I got there (an undergrad at UCLA in the late '80s), founder Father Yod and the Source family were long gone (as ... More >>

This Week In Deliciousness: Fun Abroad, Bummer At Home

Welcome back to the weekly roundup here at Eating Our Words, where fall is finally here and we can go outside again, except OH NO WAIT, everything's made of mosquitoes and allergens. Right around the time the weather gets nice enough to roll down the window of your car, the pleasant air coming in is ... More >>

My Trip to Napa Valley: Part II

I'm pretty sure I fell in love with Napa. It's like an alcoholic's wine lover's Disneyland; a land with a picturesque landscape and fantastic crisp breeze, with some of the world's best wine at your fingertips, just ripe for the taking. And the food scene: TDF. I was lucky enough to enjoy two incr ... More >>

Sommelier Vanessa Treviño Boyd Doesn't Kiss and Tell

Philippe sommelier and wine director Vanessa Treviño Boyd is not one to name drop. But even if she were, you really couldn't fault her for it. In conversation with her, once the ice is broken, she can rattle off a who's who of Burgundy and French-wine elites whom she counts among her most intimate ... More >>

Today's Cover Story on the Texas Wine Industry

See our slideshow of Texas wines and wineries. The cover story for this week's issue of the paper, coming out online this afternoon, is an article on the Texas wine industry by my colleague Katharine Shilcutt and me. In the piece, we take a hard look at the challenges that Texas winemakers face. ... More >>

H-E-B Wine and Food Week 2012 Ventures Inside the Loop for First Annual 80 Sips Around the World Event

See our slideshow of photos from Wine and Food Week 2012. This past week, The Woodlands hosted its Wine and Food Week 2012, sponsored by H-E-B. Most of the events, including wine and cheese tastings, multi-course dinners and conversations with winemakers, were held in The Woodlands, with one impor ... More >>

What's the Deal With "Old" Wine?

So, what's the deal with old wine anyway? Wednesday's post on What are "Tannins" in Wine? got me thinking about the widely divergent ways Europeans and Americans perceive and approach the consumption of "old wine." Tannins and "tannic structure," after all, are part of what gives wine its longevity ... More >>

Woodlands Wine & Food Week to Take Place June 4 to 10

Food and wine lovers, rejoice. Just a few short days away is a big-time celebration of gourmet cuisine and marvelous vino. The annual Woodlands festival, put on by the event-planning extraordinaires at Food and Vine Time Productions, and now in its eighth year, is slated to draw more than 10,000 att ... More >>

Go Way Out to Eat: 5 Favorite Dining Destinations

Food & Wine magazine recently featured a series of articles on culinary destinations, or "...the world's best food pilgrimages," as they put it. While it was indeed interesting, I must say that places like Bangkok, Rome and India are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to food travels. The ... More >>

Wine Fair Cy Fair: A Celebration of Wine, Beer and Food to Take Place this Saturday in Cypress

There seems to be an unwritten rule that all top-notch food-and-drink festivals have to take place inside the loop. Lucky for us, the folks at Food and Vine Time Productions are slowly changing the rules; little by little, they've taken praiseworthy food-and-wine festivals to Houston suburbs that tr ... More >>

Tasting Notes: This Week in Wine Blogs

Eat My Words: This week Texas Monthly wine writer Jessica Dupuy gives a glowing review to new releases by the Duchman Family Winery, the Texas Hill Country winery owned by Houston's own celebrity cardiologist Stan Duchman. "I'll be honest," she writes, "I fell in love with all of these wines, which ... More >>

Tasting Notes: This Week in Wine Blogs

Vintage Texas: Top Texas wine authority Russ Kane chronicles the bankruptcy filing and botched sale of one of the state's leading wineries, CapRock, in Lubbock. According to his report, New Mexico winery Gruet has been ordered to pay $4 million for a breach of contract after bidding in a bankruptcy ... More >>

A Wonderful Time at Brenner's on the Bayou's Wine Revolution

This past weekend, beautiful Houstonians donning flats and bright resort-casual attire, per the event's invitation, skipped out on their Saturday country club visits and spa days in favor of Brenner's on the Bayou's third annual Wine Revolution. Set in tents under the bright sun, amidst Brenner's hi ... More >>

Wine of the Week: Your Grandfather's Chianti But I Like It

Italian wine is our thing. And when I say that, I don't mean that we don't like and drink French, Spanish, and Californian wine. But when it comes to the wine that my wife and I serve and drink in our home, that we drink most often when we go out, and what we stash away in our wine cellar, Italian w ... More >>

Wine of the Week: Eyrie Vineyards Pinot Noir (Willamette)

Of all the wine-growing regions in the U.S., none seems to make more sense to me than the Willamette Valley, Oregon (although the Finger Lakes in New York state comes in at a close second). When rich white dudes were inspired to plant French varieties in Napa like Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Ch ... More >>

Messina Hof Has the Best Wine in Texas, According to the Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo

This year, more than 2,500 wines were entered into the annual Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo's International Wine Competition. Of those entries, 736 were from Texas wineries. And of those Texas wineries, Messina Hof swept up 20 medals and the coveted title of Top Texas Wine for its 2004 Solara, whic ... More >>

Wine Time: Wine and Sulfur Dioxide

Image via HomeBrewers.com.No, that's not cocaine. It's potassium metabisulfite, one of the many forms of sulfites employed by winemakers for a variety of purposes.​A post earlier this week ("Wine of the Week: A Wine with No Detectable Sulfites") inspired a lot of acidic (pun intended) discussi ... More >>

Upcoming Events: Eat Noodles, Help the Homeless

​Still haven't made Halloween plans? Head to RA Sushi in Highland Village or at CityCentre, where the restaurant will be hosting its annual Boo Bash this Monday, October 31, from 8 p.m. to 11 p.m. Boo Bites (appetizers) and Potent Potions (booze) will be on special all night, and guests are en ... More >>

Wine of the Week: Another Oaky Buttery Chardonnay

Photo by Jeremy Parzen.The marketing campaign by Educated Guess wines is one of the most successful in recent history.​Yesterday, after arriving at the Newark, NJ airport from Milan, Italy (where I admired a statue of Leonardo da Vinci across from the famous Scala opera house), I headed straig ... More >>

Tasting Notes: This Week in Wine Blogs

​Blue State Carpetbagger's Red State Wine Blog: When Tom "Bighouse" Casagrande's brother comes to town for a visit, the Houston-based wine blogger pulls out all the stops. But that doesn't mean that good value wasn't on his mind. Tom opened some good stuff for his bro, including a 2007 Story ... More >>

Boz Scaggs & Michael McDonald: Smoothest Of The Smooth

For fans of '70s classic rock, it was the equivalent of three comic book heroes coming together in one Super Smooth Team when Boz Scaggs, ex-Doobie Brother Michael McDonald, and Steely Dan's Donald Fagen announced last year that they would do a short tour as "The Dukes of September." The generous sh ... More >>

Wine of the Week: $15 Is the New $10

​"What's your favorite wine for under $10?" If I had a nickel for every time someone asked me that question, I'd probably have about $15. When it comes to wine pricing, you'll often hear wine trade folks talk about "price points," in other words, a "maximum" price that allows us to categorize ... More >>

Odd Pair: What Wine Do You Serve with Doritos?

​When asked what factors had shaped his palate and his wine collection when he first began collecting fine wine, rockstar (literally, not just figuratively) and winemaker Maynard James Keenan answered: "Mountain Dew and Doritos. Like most American kids, that's what I grew up on." This was a fe ... More >>

Tasting Notes: This Week in Wine Blogs

​Know a Houston-based blog we should be paying particular attention to? Leave the address in the comments section below. The Blend: We're not sure how we missed the photo (above) of Houston's top Italian wine specialist Joseph "Grappa Joe" Kemble, statewide wine buyer at the flagship Spec's. ... More >>

Who Doesn't Like Heitz?

​If you've been following along here at Wine Time on the Eating Our Words blog, you know that we don't drink a lot of Californian Cabernet Sauvignon at our house. Fact of the matter is we rarely drink monovarietal (i.e., a wine made from a single grape variety) Cabernet Sauvignon at all. Ca ... More >>

Highlights from the Wine Rendezvous Grand Tasting & Chef Showcase

Mai PhamMini causitas by Chef Roberto Castre at Latin Bites Cafe​For me, this past Saturday was the culmination of a week's worth of anticipation and a day's worth of appetite-saving, a chance to taste more than 500 wines and sample 50 chef's tastings at HEB Wine & Food Week's Wine Rendezvous ... More >>

Good Tequila Actually Does Come (Relatively) Cheap

​It's 4:32 in the afternoon and I have a box of booze and nowhere to be. A box filled with two giant bottles of Familia Camarena tequila, a brand that I am not familiar with. Lord knows I do love me some tequila, but testing out strange booze can be a risky endeavor. And strange tequila is per ... More >>

Wine of the Week: A Cool-Weather Cabernet Sauvignon from California

​When we think of "California Cabernet," the next two words that come to mind are invariably "Napa Valley" -- the AVA (American Viticultural Area) that changed the way the world perceived American winemaking back in the 1970s. Since that time, "Napa Valley Cab" (oh, how I wish people would st ... More >>

Tasting Notes: This Week in Wine Blogs

​This is the first of a series of wine blog roundups. Know a blog we should be paying particular attention to? Leave the address in the comments section below. Wine Camp: Craig Camp out on the west coast is always at the top of our Google reader feed. This week he ponders the nature of wine c ... More >>

Wine of the Week: Truchard 2007 Carneros Pinot Noir

At $11 by the glass, the Truchard 2007 Carneros Pinot Noir is a great value from one of California's most famous winemakers.

Wine(s) of the Week: Duel Napa Valley Chardonnay

​I had a couple bottles of Chardonnay sent to me from different wineries, and noticed they were both within a year's vintage of one another, in the same price range, and both from the Napa Valley. So, why not do a Wine of the Week, "Food Fight" style? It was on like Donkey Kong, only a little ... More >>

Vintners Own Winery: Wine (in a Freaking Keg!) in the Heights

Happiness is eight different wines on tap.​I called my most wine-savvy friend upon receiving the invitation to the event. "Did you know there's a freaking winery in the Heights, just a few blocks from your house?" This was followed by a string of expletives (apparently she was not aware). I co ... More >>

More Than Margaritas at TQLA

No, not champagne flutes, tequila tasting glasses at TQLA. ​As the name would suggest, TQLA is serious about, well, tequila. Bottles of every shape and size glow seductively along red backlit shelving covering much of the rear wall. One-hundred-and-sixty-seven varieties, to be exact, with eigh ... More >>

Raise Your Glass to Texas Wine History

​The last few years I had the opportunity to live in both San Francisco and Napa Valley and work in the thriving California wine industry. Overall it was a very enriching experience; I learned a lot about the micro-climates that dictate Northern California's growing seasons, met some notable w ... More >>

$50-Plus Wine for $10 (And How the Hell This Is Possible)

​A friend called about a week ago.  She excitedly relayed the details of a Cameron Hughes Wine presentation she had seen at Costco that afternoon. My reply: "That sounds great, but I think you're leaving something out. There is just no way this guy is buying up someone else's high-priced fin ... More >>

Pop-Up Fever: The Just August Project

Photos by Ruthie JohnsonAvocado pieces.​Pop-up restaurants are growing like mushrooms across the country. The small eateries have small menus and even smaller staffs. They "pop-up" for a finite time period, and then POOF, they're gone. Sound silly? Think about it this way: These temporary rest ... More >>

Wine of the Week: 2007 Bouchaine Chene d'Argent Chardonnay, Estate Vineyard

​These 80 degree afternoons beg for a glass of crisp, white wine. Sipping a cool, refreshing white is the closest thing we get to a summer vacation these days. On this particular sunny afternoon, we decided to expand our horizons and choose an un-oaked Chardonnay from Napa Valley-Carneros. I ... More >>

A Cafe Bites Nibble

Tom Schwab and Tom Brown built Vintage 46 Wine Bar (2418 Sunset, 713-524-6318) themselves. "We basically wanted to find a place to put our 401k," says Brown. "We were looking for something that we wouldn't have to work too hard at. Boy, were we wrong. We're working harder than ever. This is a very ... More >>

Texas Traveler: Bluebonnet Wine Trail

While in Navasota lovin' on some alpacas, Texas Traveler had a hankerin' thirst. So we got on our trusty iPhone and found the closest winery, a funky l'il shack called the Purple Possum Winery. While in the air-conditioned comfort of the Purple Possum's tasting room, we met a lovely couple we'd se ... More >>

Send It Back: Bottle Shock's Corked

Not Quite Ripe

Not Quite Nascarbernet: Private Label Wines from Perry's Steakhouse & Grille

5 Wines That Will Blow Your Mind

5 Wines That Will Blow Your Mind

Urban Refuel

Finally, downtown gets the groceries it deserves

The Most Happy Loesser

TUTS presents a most happy production of Frank Loesser's complex and ebullient The Most Happy Fella