Tag Archives: Tempranillo

by Steven Doyle | December 30, 2013 · 9:10 am

Texas Winery Prepares Presidential Wine

by Andrew Chalk

Pedernales Cellars announced that they have been commissioned to create a limited edition 2012 Texas Tempranillo to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the election of President H.W. Bush. The event was organized by the George Bush Presidential Library Foundation which kicked off the event with a Vintner Dinner and wine auction in Houston. Pedernales Cellars owners David and Heather Kuhlken were named honorary co-chairs for the event. A limited numbers of bottles of the special wine are on sale at the winery. Continue reading →

Red Caboose Winery and Vineyards: Discovering a Texas Iconoclast

by Andrew Chalk

At less than two hours drive from Dallas, Red Caboose Winery and Vineyards in Meridian, Texas is close to the big city. However, standing in the sixteen acres of vineyard, one could be miles from anywhere. Gary McKibben and his son Evan founded the winery in 2003 at this location because that is how they wanted it. Close to the city, but in the country (they were also concerned about Pierce’s Disease, and wanted to be north of Fredericksburg as a result). Evan handles the winemaking and Gary is a kind of cross between CEO and everything else. Continue reading →

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Tagged as Cabernet Sauvignon, Red Caboose Winery, Tempranillo, Vineyard

by Steven Doyle | October 11, 2013 · 9:34 am

Traditional Rioja Done Right

by Andrew Chalk

Bodegas Franco Espanolas is a wine maker founded in 1896 in the town of Logroño by Spanish and French vignerons to produce Rioja wine. Today, the winery is totally under Spanish ownership and committed to producing quality wines in the traditional Rioja style. Last week, export director John Perry came through town to show the latest vintages of the company’s wine and I was an invited guest at a trade tasting.

Franco Espanolas wines’ intrigued me not least because they appeared to be such good values. Furthermore, most Rioja nowadays is in what is called the ‘modern’ style of forward fruit and French oak. By contrast, Franco Espanolas expressly adheres to the traditional style of using American oak for ageing. Also, a winery characteristic is that they age their wines longer in oak and in bottle than is legally required. The result is a better consumer experience on purchase as a result of finding the wines nearer peak aging. Continue reading →

Texas Winery Wins Grand Slam in California Wine Competition

by Andrew Chalk

This just in from Solaro Estate Winery of Dripping Springs, Texas. They won Best of Class for their 2011 Solaro Estate Barbera, Estate Grown, Texas Hill Country in the 2013 International Women’s Wine Competition held in Sonoma County, CA in July and organized under the auspices of the respected industry magazine “Vineyard and Winery Management” (if you want to know how many vines to plant per acre this is the magazine for you). Continue reading →

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Tagged as Solaro Estate Winery, Tempranillo, Texas, Texas Hill Country, wine, Wine competition

by Steven Doyle | August 5, 2013 · 9:29 am

Texas Tempranillo Wines Tested

No fewer than 23 wines were involved in our taste-off

by Andrew Chalk photos by Robert Bostick

There is general agreement that Tempranillo is the red grape that has done best in Texas thus far. I decided it was time to do a comparative tasting in order to get an idea of how good Texas Tempranillo has become, and who is doing the best job with the grape. I put out an APB to every winery in Texas for their currently available Texas Tempranillos and received no fewer than 23 different wines from fifteen wineries in response. As with our earlier comparison of Texas Viognier, the tasting would be blind and the tasters would be volunteers from the Dallas sommelier community.

Seven sommeliers, plus myself, assembled at WinePoste.com in the Dallas Design District over several hours to sip and slurp our way through the wines. I excluded my scores from the results below as I was involved in the packaging of the wines into their numbered brown bags. Continue reading →

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Tagged as Dallas, MOAT2, Sommeliers, Tempranillo, Texas, Texas Viognier, wine