Hey Cricoli Neighborhood gang, it was a real pleasure to host your tasting last night.  Huge thanks to Stacy and Dane for the wonderful hospitality!  There were a number of questions from last night that I know folks wanted to write down, but didn't want to put down their wine, so here are some of the questions, I took a mental note of to document for you all.  Below that is our tasting sheet, and below that are some links to interview podcasts that I've done which give real light to TX wine.  Don't hesitate to contact me with any questions!

Mark

Questions and Notes from Last night

Many of you were curious as to where to purchase some of the wines.  The Whip In (I35 & Oltorf) carries the Dandy Rosé, William Chris Blanc du Bois, and Lost Draw Roussanne.  I believe, you can also buy the Dandy Rosé at the Austin Wine Merchant on W 6th st.  All of the Reds, unfortunately, can only be purchased at the winery (maybe the Brennan Cab can be purchased at Spec's, maybe).

There was a discussion about dry Riesling.  If you see Trocken on a bottle of German Riesling, it will be dry.  In Germany, the terms of increasing sweetness are Kabinett, Spätlese, and Auslese.  It's a bit more complicated than this, but we won't get into it here.  If you find Austrian Riesling, French Alsatian, and Australian Riesling, they are almost always dry.  A little sweetness helps temper the spiciness of Indian or Thai food.

I mentioned the Southern French region of Bandol famous for the grape Mourvèdre and dry Rosé.  I suggest you go to a wine shop and try rosé from Bandol!

Next Sunday, April 2nd, is the Rosé festival called the TX Wine Revolution, out between Johnson City and Fredricksberg, maybe I'll see you there:  http://texaswinerevolution.com/

Wine preservation gadgets:  I think that if you want just a few more days on a bottle you open, the vacu-vin is just fine.  The coravin is an amazing gadget, but very expensive, and you can have a glass of wine from a bottle without officially opening it.

Many of you were interested in my Chocolate and Wine Pairings class at Chocolaterie Tessa on April 13th.  More info to come, you can sign up for my newsletter below.

The Line up

Here's the tasting sheet, sometimes better to have a digital copy!