Another Wine Blog - Latest Comments

Re: Wine Accessories: The Corkscrew

thirstforwine — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 16:11:25 -0000

Amy

I work with the Vivanco family who created the Dinastia Vivanco Museum of the Culture of Wine in Rioja. Rafael Vivanco has amassed a collection of almost 5000 corkscrews, 3500+ of which are on show in the family museum at the winery in Briones, La Rioja. In fact, they have an original of most of the ones you show here including the monkey.

You should come and check it out!

Re: Fourth of July Wine Deal Ends in 4 Days!

Romeo — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 23:40:45 -0000

Sounds like a good deal...Thanks for sharing!

Re: Tilapia

123aquatropicalfish123 — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 00:07:41 -0000

http://aquatropicalfish.com/forum/index.php

Re: Wine Country Travel: The Inn at Occidental

thiral7 — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 09:10:07 -0000

Cool pictures they are..Each hot entree is prepared after the guests are seated downstairs to make sure it’s hot and fresh. The syrup was incredible.
water wall fountains

Re: If Wishes Were Horses.

averagebetty — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 17:15:32 -0000

The minute you stop wishing and dreaming of more... you're probably dead. Here's to all your dreams coming true. I'd like to cook dinner for my Dad one more time, too.

Re: If Wishes Were Horses.

Moritza — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 15:42:05 -0000

You sure made me think - and listen to the Lucinda Williams song. I will making my wish list. Funny, I used to do that all the time. Time to do it again.

Re: The Complaint as a Gift: A Tale of Three Wineries

WineWonkette — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 15:14:11 -0000

Thanks. The 3rd dude just continues to tell us we're wrong to the point of spamming the blog. The last vintage Wine Spectator reviewed of the particular wine we didn't care for was in 2001, when they gave it a 79. Most of his wines were WS-rated in the low 70s.

Not that WS is the end-all, be-all of what is good and bad in a wine, but I think I might look for another way to create good will, if that's what you've got in your portfolio.

Re: The Complaint as a Gift: A Tale of Three Wineries

Rob — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 14:57:30 -0000

Great post. It is so easy to take the lazy way out and stop caring about going that extra mile. The people that do will get the rewards.

Re: The Complaint as a Gift: A Tale of Three Wineries

Ryan Reichert — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 12:31:10 -0000

Wonderfully written. I find this prevalent in dealing with customers at our winery in fact. It's all in how you approach things. Sorry to hear that 3rd dude didn't make any further effort to convince you.

After a good experience, the average person will tell 3-4 people. After a negative experience, they typically tell 11. Old B-school stat, but it's incredibly valid. Some people just won't learn though.

Re: If Wishes Were Horses.

Heidi / Savory Tv — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 01:57:30 -0000

I love her (Lucinda) so much. My favorite of hers is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=clKQhawfADs "I changed the locks". I hope that all of your wishes come true. Perhaps they already have?

Re: If Wishes Were Horses.

Mitch — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 12:12:20 -0000

I find myself wishing for some of the same things.... and will most likely now spend most of the day adding things to my own wish list (maybe I someday I will have my own successful blog to post my wishes on).

Thank you for sparking a thought that will carry me through an entire day!

Re: If Wishes Were Horses.

jpower — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 08:45:05 -0000

Thanks for the tip!

Re: If Wishes Were Horses.

jpower — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 08:44:21 -0000

Thanks, Deb...glad that you enjoyed it!

Re: If Wishes Were Horses.

Catstone — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 07:45:25 -0000

Nice to come across another Warren Zevon fan. If you follow the link on his official site to the Web site, and post a request for DVDs, you will be accommodated (free)!

Re: If Wishes Were Horses.

Deb R — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 22:13:16 -0000

Excellent & interesting..Always a pleasure~

Re: Restaurant Review: Pope’s Pairings Protect Plonk

Toby (Winegeeky at Twitter) — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 12:19:26 -0000

As far as someone dictating to you (even IF they are a wine/food critic and happen to think something is FABulous, it gives them absolutely no right to critique your own experience. I would love to meet this wine blogger who says you are ignorant! Such pretension and rudeness are not merited nor, I feel, a aprt of this wine world.

Re: Restaurant Review: Pope’s Pairings Protect Plonk

WineWonkette — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 11:31:07 -0000

Hi Susan. Unfortunately we will miss that event! It's a shame, because we're in Napa and Sonoma the week before, and are flying out on the 28th.

Re: Restaurant Review: Pope’s Pairings Protect Plonk

WineWonkette — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 11:28:01 -0000

Thank you for your thoughtful comments, Bruce. We usually don't write negative wine reviews. In fact, this post was meant to be a review of my entire experience at t'afia on my birthday. Overall I thought it was a pretty positive review of the restaurant, which was the purpose of the post.

I was rather astounded when a regional wine blogger commented (weeks after the post) that we were ignorant because we didn't prefer those wines. What I didn't know was that he'd recently reviewed them as fabulous. Of course we had no idea he had done so, and this conflicted with his post, because we don't read his blog.

I agree that it's all about the consumer. We receive samples all the time. If we don't care for the wine, we simply don't write about it, because we like to introduce good wines to our readers. Then we catch flack from other wine bloggers because we DON'T negatively review samples.

We look forward to learning more about yours and other Texas wines, because buying local is not only good for the economy it's also better for the environment, which in my particular part of Texas, needs all the help it can get!

Re: Restaurant Review: Pope’s Pairings Protect Plonk

Bruce Anderson — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 00:01:26 -0000

Wow, what an exchange. My wife and I have been making wine commercially [in Texas] only since 2003. Prior to that I'd mad some wine and beer as an amateur, and my only other claim regarding wine was to have begun drinking wine at age 11 in my parental home in California, and continued doing so for many years including many European and one Argentine visits.

As wine makers, Birgit and I try to make the best wine we can. We begin with the best grapes we can find, and we try to help them become the best wine they can become. Russ talks terroir -- most of our grapes are Texas High Plains because we believe that is the best viticultural region in this state. Most of those are from Newsom vineyard because neal and Janice Newsom have been growing grapes longer than most and in our opinion do it better than most.

We enter our wines in competitions, and I am happy to say that we have won medals for every nwine we have entered. Does that make our wines "wonderful." Not unless a consumer thinks they are, and consumers differ in their tastes.

When you visited T'afia you were merely consumers. Granted possibly a bit more "Savy" than some, but consumers none the less. Birgit and I visited T'afia for the first time a few weeks ago, and we had the Menu with local wines. Our impressions were a bit different from yours -- because we were also consumers, possibly with a bit more "Savy" than some, but consumers none the less.

I'll only comment on two wines:

Compared to many other Blanc du Bois I found Haak's very good, and a pretty good pairing. Brennan's viognier would have been a good alternative from among the Texas wines that I know.

Haak's Madera -- for me -- worked well with the dessert we were served. I claim no expertise on this type of wine, but I think his stands up well to others of the same type that I have tried.

When Birgit and I first came to Texas in 1973 there were very few Texas wines available. We tried a few and were not impressed, so we purchased wines from other regions. Today the selection of wines made in Texas [and even of those made in Texas from Texas grown grapes] is much larger. To the extent that that is true, generalizing about Texas wine has become a much more questionable practice.

If you like our wines and care to tell your readers about that, we'd be delighted. If you don't like our wines, we can live with that, but please give your readers an opportunity to try them for themselves -- they may not share your tastes in all instances. My bottom line, which I tell folks at the winery and in my "Wine Demystified" column in the local paper is as follow:

A good wine is a wine that you like. A great wine is a wine that you like at a price you can afford. If you find two great wines, and one of which is made close to home, buy local and support your neighbors. [Local may be Texas vs California, or California vs Australia or France... If your great wines are from Australia and Chile -- local is not an issue, buy by price.]

Our wines will soon be available in Specs if you'd care to try them. More info at www.sunsetwinery.biz.

Regards, Bruce

Re: Restaurant Review: Pope’s Pairings Protect Plonk

Susan — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 15:40:36 -0000

For all of you who would like to try Texas Wines, the next Conference of the Society of Wine Educators will present a tasting of Texas Wines. The Conference will be held in California at the end of July. Perhaps you are members??

Re: Restaurant Review: Pope’s Pairings Protect Plonk

jpower — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 11:57:42 -0000

Actually, Russ, you are the one who just stepped in it, and in a very big way. Anyone who shills for wine that is as bad as what Haak produces is simply not a credible messenger for anything. Calling either of us ignorant after your earlier claims that our palates had been ruined by California wine is beyond laughable.

Facts:
-That area is dotted with brownsites, no place in this area is far from one.
-Just as in California, the drought allows some winemakers better control due to drip irrigation while hurting the crops of other winemakers. Your comment regarding the freezes is merely an addition to the list of reasons why Texas wine has not lived up to its early promise.
-The only time Blanc du Bois was incorrectly identified in this entire discussion was when you called it "Blanc Dubois." Your pretending that we do not know anything about is becoming a very tiresome act, particularly since we are not the ones confusing the grape with a Tennessee Williams character.
-Hurricane season runs from June 1st through November 30th.
-Pairing good food with bad wine, even if both are produced in the same region, is never a good idea. I find it astonishing that someone who claims to be a wine critic would even suggest such a thing.
-You should never defend yourself against charges that have not been made as it then raises a suspicion that was not previously there. No one said that you were paid for your reviews, but since you keep bringing it up, I will say that it sure would explain an awful lot.

Thanks for finally providing suggestions for other Texas wines that you consider good. Any particular reason it took you this long to do so? I have tried a few of those already and was less than impressed, but in the interests of fairness and a very real desire to find a quality local wine, I will look for the others.

As for misleading our readers, we are not the ones promoting undrinkable crap on our site...that would be you, and you should be ashamed for doing so.

Re: Restaurant Review: Pope’s Pairings Protect Plonk

WineWonkette — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 11:48:33 -0000

Thank you for finally providing us with some name of wines to try. Also, it might be helpful to put this discussion about Texas wines in context with one winegrower opinion on the typical Texas wine-drinker's palate.

I found a interesting article on-line that was an interview with the particular winery owner who commented on this post. In that interview he mentioned that the the grapes for the two wines referenced above came entirely from the grapes grown on his property in Galveston county. And here's what he says about the wine he makes and who he targets as drinkers:

"About 40 percent of the wines I produce are white and slightly sweet. My personal opinion is, and I was the same way, that when people first start drinking wine and appreciating it, their palates run toward sweet wines. Texas wines are generally fruit forward. It depends on the consumer's palate. I'm not saying that Texans' palates aren't educated but there are a lot of nouveau wine drinkers in Texas and those are the folks who like sweet, fruity wines. That's what's driving wine makers in Texas in the direction we're going. As the Texas palate matures I'll feel like we'll move a little more toward the drier end of the spectrum. That's not to say we'll give up sweet wines but I think we'll move more towards the drier, more complex wines."

His words copied and pasted. This is exactly why I don't care for his wines. My palate has moved beyond "nouveau." It appears it was not I who was attempting to mislead our readers.

Further, with regard to "brownsites;" I was referring to the Superfund sites that sit to the north (Brio) and to the east (Hall Street) of the town where the grape varietals used to make the two signature wines are grown.

Readers who wish to read the entire interview, or would like links to the information about the Superfund sites, can send us an e-mail and we'll forward the links. We've provided enough publicity for the winery as it is and do not choose to continue to do so.

Finally, I would suggest that perhaps a winery that isn't happy about a particular review SHOULD employ someone to put a congenial and positive face on its wines. Attacking a writer, calling her ignorant and telling her get out of town is not only childish, it's appallingly bad PR. It speaks volumes.

Re: Restaurant Review: Pope’s Pairings Protect Plonk

Russ Kane — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 10:32:20 -0000

During my PC meltdown this week, I promised Joe that I would not post any more here on your site and agree to disagree. However, Ms Wonkette just stepped in it again.....Raymond was right when he said, "it is difficult to see someone obviously ignorant of the wine world in general and Texas wines specifically to continually advertise their ignorance." You asked why I would come to your site and expound so much and so often...this is precisely the reason.

First, the grapes used in the wine in question were Blanc du Bois (BdB), French American hybrids that were especially developed for hot humid regions like the Texas Gulf Coast. They are not limited by the issues that cause problems with French vinifera grapes. They like hot humid conditions and can maintain good acidity even without night time cooling. They also are resistant to Pierce's and within reason to humidity, as well.

Second, most of the grapes in Haak BdB were likely grown outside of Harris County closer to Austin County and other places by Texas family growers that are cultivating small to medium size vineyards. Again, good sense for a farm to market pairing like at Chef Pope's place.

Third, these grapes in Texas typically ripen in July before the Hurricane season causes many of the issues it does in Texas in August and September.

Fourth, no brownsites were included in the vineyards that produced this wine.

Fifth, I can suggest some very interesting and more conventional Texas wines for your palate to enjoy. Those that are made from vinifera grapes that also love dry heat from Spain, and southern Rhone. Brennan Vineyards Viognier (Texas HIll Country), McPherson Cellars Tre Colores - Rhone-style blend (Texas High Plains AVA), Becker Reserve Grenache (Texas Hill Country), Sandstone Cellars III, Mourvedre-based red blend (Texas Hill Country), CapRock Viognier (first Texas organically produced grapes from Bingham Vineyards on the Texas High Plain) etc, etc, etc.

Just for the record, I am not on anyones payroll. I report what I see and taste - even if it is a message that some do not what to hear or even acknowledge as worthy. Also, I have traveled and studied many major wine producing reasons of the world and have blogged on these experiences (not just Texas as you claim) particulary in terms of what lessons to learn that they give to Texas in its future development from merely a new viable wine producing regions (5th largest wine producing state in the US) to a truly great wine producing region over time.

Sixth, I almost forgot to remind you that doughts have not been the issue with Texas wine production. It has really been late spring freezes along with some degree, hail damage. Dought is one thing that Texas grapes do not have to worry about as most vineyards can supplement rain with drip irrigation if needed.

Please get your facts straight so that you do not mislead your readership. I am sure that you guys want to provide a good service to your readers as do I.

P.S. Please do not kill the messenger.

Re: Father’s Day Treasures…

finewhineblog — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 12:05:23 -0000

I love your sentiment here.
Ash

Re: Restaurant Review: Pope’s Pairings Protect Plonk

WineWonkette — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 11:22:58 -0000

Thank you for your comments Rob. I think part of the problem in Texas is the weather, global warming, chemical companies, etc. The Houston metropolitan area just seems like the worst place to try to grow grapes - especially in Hurricane Alley. It really never gets cool enough, the weather is erratic, and a hit like Ike can take out your entire operation. Add that to having one of the worst environments for pollution, and a number of former "brownsites," it's almost like playing poker with the Devil.

We continue to look for impressive Texas wines to write about - but so far our travels have not yielded any. Some of those in the Hill Country held promise, but droughts have taken out much of the yield. We'll continue to hope to find one or two to share!