Houston Food Blog

​In a perfect world, we would eat every meal at a nice restaurant. A sommelier would pick out the perfect wine to pair with our gourmet meal, and we could even take a nap afterwards. But it's not a perfect world. We still want to drink wine with our meals, though, even if the meals are more junk food than gourmet food.

Our first adventure into pairing wine with junk food led us to try crispy egg rolls -- Sundays are made for Chinese take-out and pajamas -- with a bottle of Rancho Ponte Pinot Grigio leftover from our visit to the winery. We wagered the crisp, slightly sweet Pinot Grigio would be a nice complement to the crunchy vegetable egg roll.

Photos by Katharine Shilcutt

​As it turns out, Eating Our Words is not a very good wine judge. Blame our unappreciative palates or -- as we did on Saturday afternoon -- our preternatural ability to judge beers instead of wines, but one thing is certain: We're pretty sure the Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo will not be asking us back to be a full-fledged judge on any future International Wine Competitions.

Granted, we did better than some previous judges. According to Stephanie Earthman Baird, the chairman and head honcho of the HLSR Wine Competition Committee, there are some judges who have not been asked back in the past for "bad behavior," which she indicated was a result of not using the spit cups designated for the judges and instead sucking back each glass of wine brought to them. And with nearly 1,800 bottles of wine to judge between 75 judges this year, that's a lot of wine.

We were only on a media panel this past weekend, so we sampled a mere swallow of the many wines that are presented to each judging panel over the course of the weekend. Each panel is comprised of five judges, and each judge usually samples anywhere from 115 to 120 glasses of wine each day. Over many hours of swirling, sniffing and spitting -- and note-taking, of course -- winners are finally determined in 79 different classes of wine.

A peek inside the "neutral zone," where wines - yes, even boxed ones - are catalogued and poured for the judges.

​Some of the 79 classes have so many entries -- such as Merlot or Cabernet -- that they have to be split into price points. But although the judges know which class they're judging, they aren't aware of the price point. As Baird pointed out, it tends to breed discrimination when a fancy wine writer is sampling Merlots under $15, i.e., "Oh, this is a $15 wine? It's barely worth my palate. I'm not even going to taste it." Whereas we, as a poor food blogger, would happily declare it the best Merlot ever sheerly by virtue of the fact that we could actually afford it.

​Five miles east of Fredericksburg, Texas is the newest addition to the 290 Wine Corridor, Rancho Ponte Vineyard. This family-owned winery opened in early 2009 and features, in my opinion, some of the better Texas wines. Rancho Ponte offers tastings Wednesdays through Sundays from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. For $8, you can try five of the ten wines.

This past weekend, we tried the Pinot Grigio, Chardonnay, Rose, Meritage, Tempranillo, Merlot and the famous Triple M Blend. Rancho Ponte is known for the last wine, a slightly sweet red blend of Sangiovese, Merlot and Muscat Canelli. The owners sadly reported that they only have a few cases left of this particular blend, but they have plans to bottle more in the future. Rancho Ponte also features a late-harvest sweet Merlot. Although unique, sweet Merlot was a first and a last for me.

​In 2007, Vasco Luti, owner of Simposio Ristorante, opened the restaurant's new location in an unlikely shopping center at the corner of Westheimer and Dunvale. Historically, this native Tuscan focused on Northern Italian cuisine, but last night, Simposio debuted some new wines and Southern Italian dishes at the first of many tastings.

Two months ago, Chef Riccardo Palazzo-Giorgio joined Simposio Ristorante as the new executive chef. A first-generation Italian-American, Palazzo-Giorgio trained at the Culinary Institute of America and has worked in both the US and Europe. His goal as the new executive chef is to showcase seasonal ingredients in both Northern- and Southern-Italian-inspired dishes.

Last night's fall tasting featured four stations pairing food and wines from Tuscany, Sicily, Piemonte and Friuli-Venezia Giulia. The first station in the spacious entryway, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, served a mushroom-topped polenta cake and a cabbage roll filled with beef and risotto. The Piemonte station served a pancetta-wrapped shrimp-and-rabbit ravioli.

​It's just so tempting. After a long day of work, you pick up your bread and milk and then turn the corner to find rows and rows of delicious wine, begging you to take it home. You can't resist. That is exactly what Robert Salyers, Beer and Wine Manager for H-E-B on Buffalo Speedway, wants you to do. It's his job.

Robert has been in the restaurant and hotel business for more than ten years. He's lived in New York, Philadelphia and even Hawaii. Before moving to Houston, he worked for Haak Vineyards & Winery in Santa Fe, Texas. Like me, he's a fan of Texas wines. So, how did Robert find such a fun day job? Reading and drinking. He swears by the World Atlas of Wine by Hugh Johnson, a 400-page bible on anything and everything wine.

​Mourvedre is a highly tannic red wine grape that is often blended with easy-drinking fruity Grenache. Two of my favorite French wines, Chateauneuf de Pape and Bandol, are made with blends that include this sturdy red wine grape. Mourvedre (pronounced something like moo-VAHD) is the French name for a grape called Mataro in Italy and Monastreli in Spain. The ancient grape was introduced to the Catalan by the Phoenicians long before the year zero. The grape was planted in Southern California under the name Mataro more than a hundred years ago.

Photos by Jeff Balke

​The Italian Cultural Center was fit to bursting on Saturday afternoon with wine and food lovers from across the city. The sold-out Wine Conference featured sessions, classes and tastings with wine experts such as Gary Vaynerchuck as well as an outdoor food and wine expo with some of Houston's and Texas's favorite restaurants and wineries.

​Some drama came early in the afternoon when Chef Robert Gadsby -- recently of Bedford and currently unemployed -- was a no-show for the expo. Although conference organizer Geri Druckman had just spoken with Gadsby three days prior (he was in Japan at the time), he was unable to reach the chef for a final confirmation in the days leading up to the conference. Gadsby never showed, nor did he call to apologize or explain his absence. This latest move has fueled further speculation that Gadsby doesn't plan on returning to Houston at all, instead making a go of it in another city -- or perhaps another country.

Luckily, local barista and co-owner of Tuscany Coffee David Buehrer was attending the conference and happened to have all his equipment on hand from a catering gig earlier in the day. Buehrer churned out crowd-pleasing espressos and lattes from the spot which Gadsby would have occupied, a win-win for guests and the conference.

For more photos from the afternoon's event, feast on our slideshow.

​Next Saturday, Houston will be hosting a home-grown festival unlike any other the city has seen. The Wine Conference will bring together an assortment of food and wine personalities -- both national and local -- along with a high-tech twist that's due in large part to its founder, Geri Druckman.

In addition to such widely known wine experts as Denman Moody and Guy Stout, Druckman has also brought in social media star Gary Vaynerchuk, host of the popular online Wine Library TV series, to speak at the one-day conference. And what's great wine without great food? That's where local restauranteurs and chefs like Carmelo Mauro, Jonathan Jones, Robert Gadsby and Randy Rucker come in. Eager to find out the good gossip behind Gadsby's departure from Bedford and Rucker's from the Rainbow Lodge? We dare you to go to The Wine Conference and ask for yourselves.

In preparation for the event, we asked Druckman to talk to us a bit about what makes The Wine Conference so special.

Eating Our Words: Explain a little bit in your own words what The Wine Conference is.

Geri Druckman: The Wine Conference is a gathering of food and wine enthusiasts. It's an opportunity to bring together top wine experts, top chefs, great wines and the people who love them. We'll all learn something, and have a great time doing it! Best of all, it is an intimate setting, so we hope this will allow people to get to know each other and the experts.

Photo by Robb Walsh

​Instead of combining grape juices to make a blend, German viticulturalist Georg Scheu crossed two popular varietals to make a new grape. Huxelrebe is a cross between sweet and aromatic Muscat and the austere Swiss wine grape, Chasselas. Invented in 1927, Huxelrebe was named after the late viticulturalist Fritz Huxel, who won a variety of prizes for his Huxelrebe wines.

Thanks to its hearty Chasselas genes, the grape is fast-maturing and produces Auslese (late-harvest) sweet wines even in years when other grapes cannot. And due to its Muscat heritage, Huxelrebe has an intense flowery aroma and rhubarb-like tartness. It is often vinified as a dessert wine or sweet aperitif. But even the Kabinet I sampled had plenty of residual sugar, which makes it an excellent wine to drink with green chile dishes. I got this bottle on sale at Central Market. I think it was $12.

Photo by Sarah Rufka

​Ask Linda Salinas how she became such a wine guru (or wine nerd, to use her expression), and her answer is, "Actually, a few years ago I fell in love with a piece of mold." Um.... Then she explains: "I used to work for Backstreet Café just as a waiter, and Sean Beck, the sommelier there, every Friday he would do this wine class. He broke down Botrytis, which is a type of mold that grows on grapes that produces this super awesome sweet wine, and so I kind of fell in love with the science and it went from there, and I started gobbling up this knowledge, and the next thing you know it was fate."

As the acting beverage director at Hotel Icon's VOICE, Salinas is currently prepping fall wine and cocktail lists. "I'm rolling out a really cool wine list. It'll be somewhat focused on biodynamics, which is the study of the sun, the moon, the stars, just everything in alignment to grow the grape and basically to love the vine. People that do biodynamics are not playing around. They dedicate their lives, and yeah, it gets a little hokey every once in a while, but they have a true passion for their vineyards. I'm a person of passion, so I connect with that," Salinas says.

Photos by Robb Walsh

​You don't know anything about wine, but you know what you like? There's a new wine store for you.

Wine Styles is a retail outlet that demystifies the complicated world of wine. There is a white wall and a red wall. The whites are divided into the categories "crisp," "silky," "rich" and "bubbly." The reds are organized into "fruity," "mellow," "bold" and "nectar."

The wines cost $12 to $25 and are mostly from small wineries you've never heard of.

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 comfortable place, very warm and it feels like home." It sure does, perhaps because the space used to actually be someone's home.

The menu is expanding every week. "Friends of ours recommended a great chef, Kristin Powell, who is very talented," says Brown. "She's making some great flat bread pizzas as well as some traditional cheese plates." The evening Café Bites visited, Dave Cofran, the winemaker of Highland Hills Winery in the Napa Valley, was in town for a wine tasting. $5 allowed us to sample three of his wines, a 2002 Cab, a 2004 Zin and a 2006 Cab, which was the most full-bodied. A plate of six cheeses ranging from a mild gouda to a more pronounced manchego to a strong blue cheese, along with a charcuterie plate of salami, prosciutto and speck proved to be the perfect fare for the wines and caused us to linger well into the evening.

Café Bites is our weekly email newsletter about new Houston restaurants, food events and news. To register, click here.

Photo by Robb Walsh

​Touriga Nacional is an ancient Portuguese varietal that was probably introduced to the Iberian peninsula by the Phoenicians. It's a black grape that typically has high tannins and very concentrated fruit flavors. The grapes are most famously used in the highest quality ports. Touriga is also used to produce red wines in the Douro region of Portugal.

Touriga was introduced to the Texas Hill Country some years ago. The grape is currently being used in some iconoclastic blends put out by winemaker Dan Pullum at Sandstone Cellars in Mason.

Sandstone's motto is "Terroir for Texas." The winery has released a series of intriguing blends using grapes from the Rhone and warm regions of the Mediterranean. Each is identified by a Roman numeral.

Photo by aynsavoy

Rice Krispie Treats with chocolate, toasted marshmallow and passion fruit caramel at Block 7.

​Michael Housewright, the Director of Operations for the new Block 7 Wine Company (720 Shepherd, 713-572-2565), has spent 15 years of his life dedicated to wine. His resume includes Pogo's in Dallas, the Dallas Central Market, the Austin Wine Merchant, Vinfolio in San Francisco, and the Tasting Room and Max's Wine Bar here in Houston, to name but a few. He has also lived in Italy.

Housewright is very excited about Block 7. "The concept is simple," he says. "Find a high-traffic, growing area where the rent is reasonable, and sell all the wines we sell at our retail store by the glass with no restaurant mark-up and no corkage fee." Block 7 is in an 8,000-sauare-foot building that used to be a Western Appliance Store. There's a sommelier, a beer guy and, running the kitchen, chef Loren Root. "His menu is very casual, and we always use the best ingredients," says Housewright. "The flat breads have really taken off, especially the seared rabbit loin, which is topped with yellow tomatoes and caramelized onions." He adds, "Loren is shooting for 'best burger' with our Block 7 Burger, which is made with dry-aged beef and a slice of Gruyere."

The menu, which is still evolving, is fairly simple, yet chosen with care, with first-class ingredients. The sautéed mushroom flatbread with taleggio cheese, spicy arugula and fresh thyme was outstanding, and the fries so good, they could easily make a meal by themselves - especially washed down with a bottle of the Austrian Ecker Zwiegelt, which can be purchased in the retail store for $13.99.

Café Bites is our weekly email newsletter about new Houston restaurants, food events and news. To register, click here.

Photo by Robb Walsh

​The Greco grape, sometimes known as Trebianno, is thought to have been planted in Southern Italy by the Greeks at the beginning of recorded history. It's now called Greco di Tufo after the town of Tufo in Southern Italy. Some historians believe that the other white wine varietals of Southern Italy, including Fiano, may have descended from wild crosses of the Greco grape. The Fiano grape was popular with the ancient Romans, who called it vitis apiana because its sweet juices attracted apis, or bees.

Fiano wines have a floral aroma and honey flavor, while Greco di Tufo wines are drier and nuttier with more tannins. Wines from the two grapes are traditionally blended together in Puglia, the region in the heel of the Italian boot. The Greco di Tufo gives the resulting wine a fine structure that keeps the sweet flavors and aromas of the Fiano from getting insipid. The balanced, easy-drinking wine is a perfect summer aperitif or an accompaniment to light meals like salads and cold seafood. I got this bottle at H-E-B for ten dollars and change.

Photo by Sarah Rufka

​To some, a bartender is just a server with something to lean on. But Mike Sammons is an example of how, with passion and creativity, the job can be so much more. "I started doing this to make money, but I was really good at it because I liked it," he says. "I don't think people have any idea how fun it actually is. It's a miniature event or party every night that's my job to arrange."

As co-owner and proprietor of 13 Celsius (3000 Caroline St., 713-529-8466), he's created a place where people can share in their passion for wine. "There's a certain type of person that comes in here that wants to try something unique and different and is already interested in wine," says Sammons.

"People that have a nice collection at home, but don't really drink it unless it's a special occasion, generally they just collect it. And here they have the opportunity to say, 'Oh, an Italian Gewurztraminer,' and be able to try it for $15 a glass rather than at $80 for a bottle. Everybody that works here is excited to show off wines that people haven't tried; to pour them a taste and explain to them what it is and where it's from and why it's unique. And I think that really engages people. It's the same with anything--art, or food--if you've never experienced it, and you try it and it's good, you've got your money's worth. If I can please somebody by offering them something they've never considered before, that is really rewarding. Screw the tip, I want the 'Oh, this is awesome, thank you.'"

Photo by Robb Walsh

​You know about Rhone and Rioja reds, but you may not have heard of the grapes that many of these wines are made with, Carignan, Mourvedre and Grenache. These grapes are seldom seen on wine labels, but they are all pretty common in the Rhone region of France as well as the rest of Europe. Mourvedre is also grown in Italy under the name Mataro, and Grenache is widely used in Spain, where its called Granacha. Carignan originated in Spain and was part of the Rioja blend.

Carignan is one of the world's most successful warm-weather grapes. It was transplanted to Algeria by the French. When Algeria won its independence, French wine growers began to plant Carignan in the South of France. Carignan is actually very common in California's Central Valley, where it is also known as Carignane. It's mainly used in box and jug wines, because the grape doesn't have any name recognition.

Photo by Robb Walsh

 According to the "Italian Flavor" website, Forgiarin is one of four native grapevines that have survived in the Northern Italian wine region of Friuli, thanks to the efforts of Emilio Bulfon. (Piculit Neri is one of the others.) I picked this one up along with several other Emilio Bulfon rare varietals for $6.99 a bottle at Phoenicia.

Photo by Robb Walsh

Rose de Ksara is a dry Lebanese rose made with grapes grown in the Bekaa Valley. It tasted pretty good with tabouli and olives. The wine is made with about one-third Cinsault grapes. Okay, so Cinsault isn't really all that obscure--it's the fourth most widely planted grape in France and a major varietal in Languedoc. But it is of particular interest to Texas. Cinsault thrives in hot weather, which is why the French introduced it to Lebanon, Algeria and its French colonies in Africa.

Photo by Robb Walsh

If I said the flavor and aroma of this sweet white wine reminded me of an overripe pear, would that be a bad thing? Friuli winemaker Emilio Bulfon found these ancient wine grapes accidently dotted among other varietals in one of his vineyards. It isn't clear whether the grape originated in Northeast Italy or across the border in Slovenia. This is another one of those sweet white wines that was once highly prized in Europe and has since fallen out of fashion.

The label describes Cividin as "an elegantly perfumed white wine which was a delicacy in the 17th and 18th centuries." It is recommended as an aperitif or with charcuterie, ham or fish. I drank some outside on the patio on a hot summer evening with a Nicoise salad. It was pleasant, but if I had a do-over, I think I'd drink this wine for dessert with a stinky French semi-soft cheese and fruit.

Photo by Katharine Shilcutt

While in Chinatown browsing the aisles at Hong Kong City Mall's grocery store, Hong Kong Market, last weekend, I ran across something interesting among the hundreds of bottles of sake: Japanese Chardonnay and Merlot, made by Chateau Mercian. It's highly possible that I'm the last person on earth to know that Japan produces wines other than the traditional rice wine, but everyone I've talked to has seemed equally clueless.

Wanting to try a bottle of Japanese wine for myself, I found that I was torn between buying the Chardonnay and the Merlot. I hate both equally -- Chardonnay for the oaky taste and Merlot for the excessive tannins -- and at $21 per bottle, I certainly wasn't buying both. I ended up choosing the Chateau Mercian 2002 J-fine Chardonnay based solely upon the fact that I could chill it and (hopefully) enjoy it in this scorching hot weather.

A few days later, I took the chilled bottle over to the home of two of my favorite oenophiles for a taste test. We were all pleasantly surprised.

Photos by J.C. Reid

Vieiras al Albariño: Seared sea scallops

The debate about which Houston restaurant serves the most authentic Spanish tapas rages on. Among Houston food lovers, the general consensus is that Rioja is at the top of the list for authentic tapas and great paella. But to a large population of Houston diners, Rioja has one major flaw -- it's located outside the loop.

Inner-loopers have made do with the perfectly serviceable tapas at El Meson, Mi Luna and Oporto Cafe. But starting this week, a new inner loop contender joins the fray -- Tintos Spanish Restaurant & Wine Bar.

Tintos is the creation of Texas-born Chef Alberto Alfonzo. The son of a Spanish immigrant father and Texan mother, Alfonzo spent much of his childhood in Venezuela with members of the Spanish immigrant population there, eating and cooking with family and friends. After returning to Texas to attend high school, he would eventually graduate from Texas A&M. A foodservice career followed, leading to a position as Executive Corporate Chef for Joe's Crab Shack and then to the position of Director of Operations at Houston's Tasting Room Wine Bars/Max's Wine Dive.

In November 2008, Alfonzo decided to open his own restaurant. He spent a year in Spain researching the traditional Spanish recipes he inherited from his family, as well as the newest trends that make Spain a world culinary leader. Alfonzo made the decision to include ingredients and menu items found not only in Spain, but also in other Spanish-influenced cultures in the Caribbean and Central and South America.

Recently, Tintos sponsored a complimentary media tasting event to show off the restaurant's elegant dining room, extensive wine list and, most importantly, menu. Wine pairings were chosen by Tintos' wine director, Lisa Hudson.

Photo by Robb Walsh

The Nuragus grape is the most widely grown in Sardinia. Some experts believe that the grape was brought to the island more than 3,000 years ago by the Phoenicians. It is so prolific and adaptable, it has been called pagadeppidus ("pay-debts grape"), preni tineddus ("fill-up-vats grape") and ua de is paberus ("poorman's grapes"). Overproduction has made it so cheap that few wine experts take it seriously.

A friend of mine found this bottle of Argiolas S'elegas made with 100 percent Nuragus grapes in the bargain bin at Spec's warehouse for $5.99. It was probably on sale because it was from the 2003 vintage -- I have seen the 2007 vintage reviewed already.

Photo by Robb Walsh

Piculit Neri is an ancient grape varietal from Italy that was popular in Roman times but went out of favor. Progressive winemakers have recently revived the almost-forgotten grape, along with several others that were once popular in the Friuli Venezia-Giulia region, an area in the North of Italy that borders Austria. Piculit Neri yields a rounded, fruity red wine that is intensely aromatic -- one critic described it as the red wine equivalent to a floral Moscato.

It's painful to imagine how many wonderful old varieties of grapes have been torn out of the vineyards of the world to make way for the creeping proliferation of Cabernet and Merlot. You can find this bottle of Piculit Neri Modello Delle Venezie at Nundini Imported Food Store on North Shepherd for under $20.

Photo by Robb Walsh

I asked the wine guy at Richard's on Bissonnet at Wesleyan what he's recommending these days. He pointed at the end-cap display, which was stocked with several rosés from the Rhone, all selling for under $10. Makes sense -- it's cheap, you can serve it chilled, and your wine geek friends will be impressed.

Which is funny, since nobody would touch rosés a couple of years ago. They were considered cheap wishy-washy wines for people who couldn't make up their mind between red and white. I guess that once we started drinking those fabulous rosé Champagnes and pricey rosés from Bandol, we forgot all that.

Photos by Robb Walsh

Messina Hof Winery makes some of the best wines in Texas. In fact, their "Angel" late-harvest Riesling won the Best in Texas award at the Rodeo several years in a row. The winery offers tours for the public and group tours by reservation. There's a tasting room where you buy wines and snacks for a picnic, and there's also an elegant restaurant where you can drink wine with a nice meal. The restaurant overlooks a vineyard, and at this time of year, the greenery is lovely.

Photos by Margaret Downing

It's time for Spec's Wine & Cheese Festival!!!!..........

.....or maybe not.

Spec's downtown on Smith is always busy on a Friday afternoon with patrons arming themselves with enough adult drinks to make it through the weekend.

Today was extra special. Booths were lined up out front and employees had on special Spec's Cheese and Wine Festival T-shirts.

Except Spec's had a real party pooper of a sign out front, announcing it wasn't pouring any wine.

The best wine bars, like the best restaurants, are always a reflection of the owner's vision and personality. 13 Celsius Win Bar in midtown Houston is no exception.

On the bar side, proprietor Ian Rosenberg, an architect by profession and training, has transformed a circa-1927 Mediterannean-style building into one of the most elegant and sexy spaces for a wine bar in Houston. The building's redevelopment recently won an Honorable Mention in the Urban Land Institute's 2009 Development of Distinction Award.

One the wine side, proprietor and wine evangelist Mike Sammons is well known for his fanatical pursuit of unusual and daring wines that would never see the light of day in a typical cookie-cutter wine bar. Mr. Sammons and his staff, the antitheses of wine snobs, are known for engaging their customers with a personal touch when helping them choose a wine: "What mood are you in? How adventurous are you? Do you want to be challenged or do you want to relax? OK, I've got just the wine for you..."

Sutter Home Winery is a reasonably credible wine maker. Sure, to some people they may be one step up from Two Buck Chuck, but you have to think the wine makers at Sutter Home retain some shred of pride and dignity.

Or not.

One of my favorite fun things to do on a Friday night is pop over to Nundini on Shepherd for one of the food store's wine nights. There are (mostly Italian) wines in all price ranges and you'll meet some fun people. I always pick up prosciutto and bleu cheese, as Nundini has some of the best prices in town.

The next wine tasting is December 5. See you there. -- Jay Francis