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

Wine Skinny: New World Chardonnay? Someone's got to like it, right? Houston-based publicist Robin Tinsley gives the category some love in a recent post. "New World Chardonnay continues to get a bad rap in wine circles these days," she writes, "sort of that 'love to hate,' punching bag example of heavy handed, over-manipulated wines that no one should like. But Chardonnay (even New World Chardonnay) can be a really lovely wine, offering richness and body, with classic varietal flavors." Check out her top picks for "Chardonnay for Every Budget" (photo by Shanghaiist).

Another Wine Blog: Joe Powers (one half of the husband-and-wife wine blogging team behind Another Wine Blog) takes on short-sighted creators of smartphone apps for wine with his idiot's guide to marketing wine apps. "Lets face it," he opines, "most phone apps have few users and not many produce much revenue. If your app is for something that is kind of a niche market for say, wine perhaps, your user base is already limited. Why would you limit it further by ignoring the most popular operating system on the planet? Not only does Android command the largest market share, it is consistently grabbing more, with 550,000 new Android devices activated per day." Check out his post here.

Vintage Texas: The relentless heat and drought of 2011 has been brutal for the Texas wine industry. But leading expert on Texas wine Russ Kane sees hope for the future. "As I drove from my personal piece of the Texas hill country to Bending Branch Vineyards just a short stretch of road from old town Comfort, Texas," he writes, "I saw the toll taken by the summer heat and drought of 2011. There were empty stock tanks holding wisps of wind-blown dust and scorched fields of undelivered crops, waving dry and brittle in the arid wind. But, as I approached Bending Branch I saw hope for better times in Texas in the reduced but still flowing waters of the Guadalupe River." Russ generously lets us tag along for the ride in this heartfelt post, "From Tannat to Souzão: Sunday Morning Tasting at Bending Branch Vineyards."

Polish Wine Guide: And from points east, we read that "Montalcino [is] still at war" in this excellent post by Polish wine writer Wojciech Bońkowski. As the famous Tuscan appellation braces for yet another showdown between oligarchic forces who wish to modernize the category and traditionalists who wish to preserve local character, Wojciech sums up the many points of view that have kept the enoblogsphere buzzing this week. Emotions are running high among observers of the Italian wine world but his informed and balanced post gives the reader an overview of the actors and the battlefield.

Dirty South Wine: If you don't already follow Hardy Wallace's excellent wine blog, welcome to the Doll House! Hardy got his start in the world of wine blogging while still living in the South (Atlanta) but has since relocated to Northern California (after winning the Really Goode Job competition a few years back). These days he works as a media consultant in the Natural wine set. We loved his "mini week in review" post chronicling the vicissitudes of a free-wheeling wine professional and lover of Natural wine. To borrow a favorite aphorism of his, "wine is meant to be crunk!" Rock on, Hardy!