Category: Recent Columns

Sangiovese grapes produce superb wines. They also can make shrill swill that gave wicker baskets a bad name. Continue reading →

Because smell is an important part of wine enjoyment—likely the most important—wineglasses are specially shaped to present a wine’s “nose” (bouquet). Swirl the wine to expose it to air and release aroma, then put your nose into the glass and experience the wine’s individual smell.
So, what wineglass best serves an eonophile’s olfactory organ?
Traditional wineglasses have three parts: bowl, stem, and foot. You hold the glass by the stem and foot so you don’t heat the wine or put fingerprints on the bowl. The bowl’s tapering shape concentrates the bouquet for your nose to smell. Continue reading →

What’s in a name? In the case of Champagne, a bubbly brouhaha. Continue reading →

Cinco de Mayo is over, but Tex-Mex food is a fiesta year round.

Which raises the question among wine drinkers: does wine pair with Tex-Mex? Continue reading →

With the 25th Annual San Angelo Food & Wine Festival coming up, some pointers.
There are three elements to formal tasting of wine: look, smell, taste. Continue reading →

There are more than 5,000 varieties of wine grapes (Vitis vinifera). Continue reading →

Normally, you do not associate white wines with aging. Enjoy them young, with frisky spring flowers in the nose and green fruits on the tongue. Continue reading →

As Christian families gather to celebrate the empty tomb and Jewish families the passing over of the 10th plague in Egypt, they traditionally serve one of two dinners: a roasted ham or some cut of lamb. Continue reading →

If you enjoy rooting for scrappy underdogs, Zinfandel is your wine. Continue reading →

Wine snobs roll their eyes in disdain, but for one in ten wine drinkers, White Zinfandel—the winemaker’s mistake that proved golden—is their wine of choice.
Sutter Home, Beringer, and Llano Estacado are leading White Zin sellers locally. White Zin comes in many different types. Some are made from Zinfandel grapes alone, others include Zinfandel blended with Chardonnay or Chenin Blanc. There are even sparkling White Zins. Continue reading →