Celebrate the Texas Harvest
Texas grapes will be coming into many Texas wineries over the next few weeks. The Gulf Coast Harvest of Blanc du Bois was finished around the first half of July with the first harvest coming in on June 2, 2023, which is several weeks earlier than normal. This heat will force an early harvest on many vineyards. Normally the first grapes from the Texas interior being the classic grapes, vitis vinifera, are the Chardonnay grapes with the thin-skinned reds coming into the wineries from the vineyards. The last grapes to be harvested are the thick-skinned grapes like Cabernet Sauvignon. I predict out Texas harvest will be finished before September 21st which is an early date for end of grape harvest.
Texas wineries will be celebrating with Harvest celebrations. Below are a few of the winery celebrations:
• Messina Hof Winery in Bryan celebrates the grape harvest during the first four weekends in August. This ticketed event will feature grape harvests, meals, grape-stomping contests, and more. For more information, go to www.MessinaHof.com.
• Bernhardt Winery holds its Grape Stomp Festival on August 5th from noon to 6 pm and is free to attend and enjoy. Wine tastings, grape stomps and train tours through the vineyards are nominal in cost. For more information, go to www.BernhardtWinery.com.
• Texas Hill Country Wineries invite you to a multitude of Harvest Celebrations which can be found at www.TexasWineTrail.com. It does pay to plan ahead to attend the various grape stomps, wine tastings, concerts, and wine dinners in the nation’s second most popular wine country destination.
Once the harvest of grapes is in and the wines have fermented, celebrate Texas wines with October being designated as Texas Wine Month.
Expanding Your Wine Pallette
People ask me how to develop your palette on wines. I have several opportunities for you to have an evening of tasting diverse, but outstanding wines. The best way to expand and educate that palette is to taste a diversity of wines while also getting an education on each wine. Your first opportunity is next Friday, August 11th at Bayway Cadillac of The Woodlands located on the east side of I-45 at 16785, I-45. There will be sixty or so premium wines for you to experience at a variety of wine tasting stations manned by wine experts providing their take on each wine’s characteristics. Did I also mention that outstanding Chefs will be pairing foods with those wines? A limited number of tickets for this palette please are still available through Food and Vine Time as a part of their expanded Food and Wine Week in The Woodlands at www.WineandFoodWeek.com. This event runs for 150 minutes starting at 6:30 pm. On October 5th, the Market Street Wine Walk will be held during the cooler time of the year in lieu of in June during WINE and FOOD WEEK in THE WOODLANDS.
Texas Restaurants Serving Texas Wines
Amore’ Restaurant on the shore of Lake Conroe provides a wonderful setting for an intimate dinner paired with great wines. The Rotary Club of Lake Conroe hosts their Tuesday evening meetings in the spacious event room. I was invited to speak to these Rotarians about Texas Wines and found a great Texas Italian wine called Trebbiano from Duchman Family Winery near Driftwood, Texas. This crisp white wine has great acid and is a wonderful Summer Sipper. It pairs wonderfully with Summer Salads.
