Know a Houston-based blog we should be paying particular attention to? Leave the address in the comments section below.

TweetChat #TXWine: If you've been following along here at Wine Time, you know that Texas wines have been on our minds. We found out about the TweetChat #TXWines thanks to top Texas wine blogger Russ Kane (whose post also includes simple, user-friendly instructions on how to participate).

TweetChat #TXWines is a forum/chatroom where Texas wine lovers can exchange information and notes about Texas wines and tasting opportunities. And the resource is also helping to raise awareness of Texas wines even beyond the Lone Star State: Check out the feed and you'll find a tweet from internationally renowned wine celeb, California winemaker extraordinaire, Randall Grahm. (Photo via FineArtAmerica.)

TX Wine Lover: On the subject of Texas wines, Jeff Cope's blog TX Wine Lover is a fantastic resource for Texas wine tasting notes and wine tourism in Texas. This week he writes about his visit to the Driftwood Estate in the Texas Hill Country. One of the greatest things about the Texas wine industry is that the Texas Wine Trail features some of the most beautiful spots in our state. The crowd-pleasing Driftwood Estate, writes Jeff, has what "we consider arguably the most beautiful view among the Texas wineries."

Blue State Carpetbagger's Red State Wine Blog: Back here in Houston, we loved reading about an Italian wine that really knocked the socks off of Houston wine blogger Tom "Big House" Casagrande. "Vibrant dark ruby color," writes Tom about the Firriato 2008 Etna Rosso from Sicily. "Fantastic nose of electric, stony/mineral-infused dark cherries with subtle wisps of fragrant woodsmoke. (Those words don't do it justice -- it smells captivating.) Intensely minerally and bright flavors. Like sucking on a mouthful of freshly chipped rocks and ripe/tart cherries mixed with cherry jam. Excellent acids make this thing dance, and the finish is long, clingy, and pure. It went awesomely (can awesome be an adverb?) with a spinach pasta."

Never one to inflate grades, Tom gives the wine an "A" as he seeks to expand the boundaries of English grammar. Mt. Etna (above, right, photo via NashaMapa) is one of the most exciting categories in European wine today and we're thrilled that more of these wines are making their wine to the Houston market.

Uncorked Daily: Also here in Houston, Greg Steiner, author of Uncorked Daily, shares his passion for Australian wine through a profile of (literally) larger-than-life winemaker Dave Powell, "whose persona can be described as a cross between Crocodile Dundee and John Wayne."

Wine isn't just about sun, soil, and grapes. It's also about people. In this post, Greg reminds us that half the fun of wine connoisseurship is meeting some of the brilliant minds who have turned their backs on sanity and decided to make wine (one of the most punishing, however rewarding, careers in the spectrum of human endeavor). "Dave is cool," writes Greg. "He's a big ol' dude with a booming sense of humor and a mouth as foul as a pissed off steel worker."

On the Wine Trail in Italy: And from beyond the Texas/Louisiana state border, we've really been enjoying Dallas-based wine blogger Alfonso Cevola's dispatches from the "harvest trail in Italy." From Qaddafi's Hummer to nuts-and-bolts harvest reports from the Tuscan coast, Alfonso's seen and done it all.