Texas Wines

[claire797]

Am I crazy or has Texas wine suddenly become Good?

Case in point. Messina Hoff. Last night, a friend let me try some Barrel Reserve Papa Paulo Port. Wow! This was amazing. I'm not much of a Port drinker, but after tasting a this one, I want to taste a few more.

I've also enjoyed the Llano Estacado Merlot and the Texas Hills Cab so much so that my faith in Texas wines has been renewed. In fact, I am now on the look out for Becker's Viognier, which was written up in this month's Saveur.

What are your thoughts on Texas wines? Any recommendations? Has anyone else tried the Messina Hoff Port?

Edited February 5, 2003 by claire797 (log)

[vengroff]

I grew up in Lubbock, home of Llano Estacado. I order it whenever I see it, which almost never happens outside of Texas. Where did you run across it?

The vineyard is an interesting place to visit, mainly because it seems so improbably placed. Forget the lush images of Napa. The land is absolutely flat and bone dry. There are no hills or trees, and there is essentially no surface water. The ogallala aquifer provides the water that irrigates the region, but it is deep underground. After driving through miles of nothing but cotton fields, you suddenly run into grape vines.

[Jaymes]

Has anyone else tried the  Messina Hoff Port?

Where is it available? Easy to find locally? Price??

[KatieLoeb]

It aint Texas, but the Gruet sparkling wine from New Mexico is absolutely delicious. It was the house pour bubbly at one of my favorite New York restaurants, the Tasting Room. I've had it a couple of times since. Great quality for the bucks. Similarly incongruous place to expect vineyards and wine production I think.

Edited February 6, 2003 by KatieLoeb (log)

[claire797]

Vengroff,

I bought the Llano Estacado at World Market. They have a pretty decent selection of Texas wines. I think I've seen it at H.E.B. as well.

Jaymes,

I'm not sure where to find the Port. Since it's 19% alcohol, it probably would not be at H.E.B. or World Market. I think you can order it off their website:

http://www.messinahof.com/

[foodie52]

Pretty sure Central Market carries their port.

[claire797]

Pretty sure Central Market carries their port.

Great! I may pick up a bottle for Valentine's Day. I wish I was more of a Port drinker so that I'd be better able to gauge exactly how good it is. I've only tried a few different Ports and they've all reminded me of cough syrup. The Messina Hoff did not.

[alicembk]

Here's the poor college student's 2 cents:

St. Genevieve Merlot ain't that bad for everyday.

[fifi]

I went to the wine festival at Messina Hoff a couple of weeks ago and got some of the port. I was really impressed! It was developed with the folks at Texas A&M in that they developed some sort of enzymatic process to achieve the flavor without the classic fortification with distilled spirits.

I also tasted some of their merlot, private reserve I think. It was REALLY good. I am not a wine maven so I can't offer any arcane descriptions ("Evokes the essence of a field of bluebonnets on a sunny day!") but I wouldn't hesitate to serve it to some of my more sophisticated friends.

[fifi]

Update... Just got back from a Spec's (Houston) wine run for dinner tomorrow. They have a full range of Texas wines, including Messina Hoff. However, I did not see the private reserve stuff. I did buy a bottle of the port for $12+. They also had a "double barrel aged" port for $20+.

Any other Texas wine recommendations out there? I would love to feature them when I have friends from out of state over. Like I said, I am not very knowledgeable and have to go with recommendations from those who are.

[Luggage386]

I agree that the Messina Hof Papa Paulo Port is excellent. Becker (one of the better TX wineries, say the SO and myself) also makes a very good Vintage Port and a nice Cabernet Reserve. For great value, try stuff by Pepperwood Grove and also Fall Creek (a bottle of the latter's terrific Granite Reserve can be had around Austin for as low as $8; snap it up if you like deep, characterful reds).

Are there any TX white wines of note, anyone?

[tommy]

i've got 2 bottles of texas wine in my "cellar:"

Becker Claret, which is a bordeaux blend.

and the melissa hoff cab.

i had the Claret a few months ago, but don't have any notes. for what it's worth, the bottle was emptied.

Edited May 18, 2003 by tommy (log)

[claire797]

i've got 2 bottles of texas wine in my "cellar:"

Becker Claret, which is a bordeaux blend.

and the melissa hoff cab.

i had the Claret a few months ago, but don't have any notes.  for what it's worth, the bottle was emptied. 

I haven't tried the Claret, but Becker makes a stellar Viognier. And by stellar, I don't mean stellar "by Texas wine standards" either. The Becker Viognier is one of the best I've tasted. It's runs about $15 a bottle.

Fifi and Luggage, I'm glad you've tried the Messina Hoff Port. Hopefully, more people will discover what an excellent dessert wine this is.

[cdh]

Alamosa Viognier was quite good when I was introduced to it a couple of years ago by Wiggy's wine shop in Austin. Yummy stuff. Apparently Viognier vines work in the TX climate... who would have guessed.

And I'll second the Gruet New Mexican recommendation-- the blanc de noirs especially.

[tommy]

i had the Messina Hoff cab ("barrel reserve" 2001) tonite.

a pleasant bottle. not too tannic. nice fruit in the nose and on the palate, although i won't pretend that i could parse out strawberry/gooseberry/blueberry. just "fruit", ya know?

all in all, more pleasant than most california cabs at the same price point (i think it was about 12 or 15).

good for them. the next time i get to texas, i'll be sure to buy more.

[claire797]

I'll look for the Alamosa Viognier.

As for the Messina Hoff Cab, that's great news. The last time I tried Messina Hoff's Cab was at my sister's wedding 6 years ago. She had it at the vineyard, so that's all that was served. To say the wine was underwhelming would be putting it nicely. It was somewhere between a Sutter Home and a Mondavi -- not great. In the past year, I've revisited a few different Messina Hoff wines and have been pleasantly surprised at how good they are. Guess they've really improved their Cab too -- I'm going to pick up a bottle ASAP.

Tommy, next time you're in Texas you might also look for a Texas Hills cab. They're doing some pretty amazing things here in Texas too.

What's impressive about Texas vintners is just how smart they are -- true chemists. Creating a good wine with Texas soil and Texas weather takes dedication and lots of study. If the Beckers or the Gilstraps picked up and moved to Oregon, they could make a mind blowing wine. Then again, maybe it's more of a challenge to attempt it here.

[tommy]

had a Llano blush today. mentioned here.

a good, fun, summer wine.

Edited July 27, 2003 by tommy (log)

[fifi]

tommy, you HAVE to try that port mentioned further up in the thread. I am not a wine nut by any means but I do like that port.

[Luggage386]

I was in Lubbock last week and visited two of the three wineries there, Pheasant Ridge and Cap Rock (I decided to omit Llano as I found the smaller ones more interesting). The drive out to the isolated Pheasant Ridge was actually more interesting than the wines themselves, or the winery, but Cap Rock is a gem -- a purpose-built estate (late 1980s) that's so impressive it's a regular venue for weddings, with wines to match. They offer 15 wines for tasting, and you can sample five for $5, which is waived in case you buy a bottle (which I gather is expected). I bought a bottle of the terrific Reserve Orange Muscat dessert wine for $20, and on my return to Austin picked up their excellent Reserve Toscano Rosso blend, which is a velvety romantic well-balanced wine that Fitz and I enjoyed over a dinner of mushroom pasta and broccoli. I highly recommend Cap Rock to any skeptical Europeans who think Texas couldn't possibly produce good wine...

[claire797]

I highly recommend Cap Rock to any skeptical Europeans who think Texas couldn't possibly produce good wine...

How about a skeptical Texan?

I should have bought a bottle of Cap Rock this weekend. Instead, we tried Messina Hoff's Reserve Cabernet. It was good as good as any $10.00 California wine, but nothing to write home about. So far, my best experiences with Texas wine have been the Becker Viognier and the Messina Hoff Port. Still haven't tried the Alamosa. Thanks for recommending the Cap Rock.

[nessa]

I used to live in Bryan, and went on a Messina Hof winery tour.

I loved their port. I loved it so much I had three glasses, which the guide was more than willing to provide. He took me aside and told me that he had some reserve in the back, that still had the lead tops, and that he could sell some to me for half price, since they weren't supposed to still have them. Or that's how the story went. I think the bottles were 30 each at the time, and I got them for 15. I still have one... I'm saving it. I think it was voted best domestic port that year?

[NewYorkTexan]

This weekend I had Llano signature red meritage and thought it was very good.

For a under $10 bottle of wine, it was an excellent value.

[claire797]

This weekend I had Llano signature red meritage and thought it was very good.

For a under $10 bottle of wine, it was an excellent value.

I've had that one. It's pretty good.

[albie]

I tried the Callahan Buena Suerte Cabernet and it was excellent.

[slkinsey]

I've had a number of wines from Becker Vineyards, and all have been very good to excellent. The claret is particularly good, as I recall. It's an interesting place to visit, as well. My parents went out there to see about touring the grounds, and it was Becker himself who showed them around. Apparently he is a medical person (dentist or anaestheologist or something that makes piles of money), and he and his wife were looking for a little vacation place in the Texas hill country in the early 90s. Instead, they ended up buying the vinyards in 1992. Since that time they have become dedicated to making good wine, have brought in some serious expertise and are making really very good wine. I highly recommend checking the place out if anyone is spending a little time in the hill country.

On the other hand is Dry Comal Creek Vineyards. They had some interesting wines when I visited, if not outstanding. I liked one or two of their wines very much, but I got the impression that they still had to scale some learning curve on most of the others. Their Dry French Colombard and Spanish Black (which is not yet available for sale) were both very good. When Fat Guy was over last night to help me finish the gargantuan pile of stuffed cabbage I had made, we popped open a bottle of their Comal Red III, which my brother gave me for Xmas. My reaction was that it was cloyingly sweet, which I guess is part of their attempt to copy the Ausbruch style of Hungary and southern Germany. Still, I didn't like it much.