Houston Wine Events

Coming soon are some really fun wine events here in Houston. These are my two favorites, so mark your calendars! If you would like to know about local wine events in your area, sign up for The Juice and get notified by email.

Houston Cellar Classic '08
When: Monday, October 13th to Sunday, October 19th
Cost: $20 to $250 - For details see the Featured Wine Events

This event is mostly hosted by Uptown Park's The Tasting Room and also inlcudes the other TTR locations and of course Max's Wine Dive (which is owned by TTR incase you didn't know). There will be many events you can attend including Sommelier Smackdown, VIP Reserve Room Wine Tasting, and Sunday Jazz Brunch Buffet.

The event that I will DEFINITELY ATTEND is the Grand Tasting Experience held on Saturday, October 18th from 1pm to 5pm with a cost of $55 (last year it was $75). This event was a total BLAST with more than 100+ wines to taste, 18+ of Houston's own restaurants, and live music.

This event sets itself apart from any other wine tasting event because of the quality of wine and the quality of all the food you will get to sample. For $55, you will definitely get your money's worth, and hopefully get to taste and learn about some new wines. Get your tickets early and I'll see you there!

Wineapalooza '08
When: Sunday, September 28th - 2pm to 8pm
Cost: $50 (Last year it was $35)
Wineapalooza is an event at The Corkscrew and has sold out every year. The space is limited so get your tickets early! It is very fun and large wine tasting that includes good food and fun live band music. There will be more than 100+ wines to taste ranging from $8 bottles to $150+ bottles of wine. A note for Champagne lovers, the sparkling wines always go first.

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Pinot Grigio aka Pinto Gris

Pinot Grigio/Gris is one of the most popular white wines we serve and is perfect for Houston's hot Summer nights.

Pinot means "pinecone" in French and Gris means "Gray" in French. The grapes grow in a pinecone shaped cluster and they have a grayish hue to them. This grape is thought to be a mutant of the famous Pinot Noir grape.

Pinot Grigio's come from Italy and are light, crisp, and clean. It has a high acid content which allows it to pair nicely with tomato based dishes. They can be vinified dry to sweet but generally are on the dry side with some flint and steel, lemon verbana and green apple flavors.

Pinot Gris grows in many parts of the world but the standard of excellence is usually from Alsace, France. Alsace's cool climate and warm volcanic soils allow long hang times for this varietal. The long hang time produces a style of Pinot Gris that is round, supple, and light to medium bodied. This wine will also be low acid with flavors of buttered almond, yellow apple, minerals and nuts.

Bibliography:

• WinePros.org
• Wikipedia

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How to describe a wine

I manage part time at a wine bar here in Houston, Uptown Park's The Tasting Room. We generally sell 12-15 wines by the glass. We break the choices down into red, white, sparkling, dessert, and a usually a couple of Sommelier Picks.

When describing a wine you generally want to talk about 3 things:

• Body - light, medium, full
• Sweetness (or lack of) - sweet, off-sweet, off-dry, dry
• Flavor - usually fruits but can include many other flavors too like herbs and spices too
  

If you know these 3 things about a wine, you can pretty much describe any wine in the world and the person you are describing it to will be able to tell if they'd like that particular wine.