Reasons to Fall in Love with Houston, Texas Houston is big—after all, it is in Texas. And this city has a Texas-sized appetite for vibrant food, drinks and culture. Within its labyrinth of streets and towering steel buildings, and amid the often-stifling heat and humidity, you’ll find this intricately diverse city has charm, character and a whole lot of soul. Andy Warhol’s “Big Campbell’s Soup Can, 19¢ (Beef Noodle)” 1962, on display as part of the Menil Collection The Menil Collection, a multibuilding campus with more than 17,000 paintings, prints, drawings, photographs, sculptures and rare books, is the largest private collection of its kind in the country. It includes works of Henri Matisse, Pablo Picasso, Jackson Pollock and Mark Rothko. Be be sure to walk or jog through Buffalo Bayou Park, with its newly renovated hike and bike trails, and stroll through downtown’s beautiful Centennial Gardens at Hermann Park. The cuisine at Underbelly In the arty, edgy Montrose neighborhood, Chris Shepherd’s Gulf Coast-centric Underbelly pays homage to the city’s diversity with flavors from around the globe.

Hugo’s offers a taste of authentic Central Mexican fare. Little Pappasito’s Cantina on Upper Kirby has classic Tex-Mex covered with its cheesy enchiladas and creamy chili con queso. Enjoy cocktails, wood-fired pizzas and a cacio e pepe to die for at Coltivare, in the historic Heights neighborhood. New to the scene: Underbelly’s Shepherd recently opened One Fifth Steak. It’s the first offering in a five-year project that seeks to annually rotate culinary focuses through the same historic Montrose building. best wine that goes with cheese(Next year, the concept will transition to One Fifth Romance Languages, with a focus on French, Italian and Spanish cuisines.) best 2012 wines to ageIn the East Downtown area, the team behind Coltivare is developing its own multistage concept in a renovated 15,000-square-foot warehouse. best wine in 2008

It launches this summer with Vinny’s, a wood-fired pizza kitchen that will soon be followed by an American diner-style eatery with an adjacent lounge. The busy scene at Anvil Bar & Refuge Thirsty patrons clamor for cocktails at Montrose-area Anvil Bar & Refuge, led by Houston’s cocktail king, Bobby Heugel, whose downtown Pastry War is a mezcaleria with some of the best south-of-the-border spirits you can find (and a darn good frozen margarita, too). For whiskey, the Heights’ Eight Row Flint serves a devilish list of cocktails. best wine club forumIt sports 120 whiskeys on the menu and eight barrels of various aged whiskeys on tap. top 10 best wine racksLove Sherry and Scotch? food and wine best cooking schoolsDowntown, Public Services Wine & Whisky has a diverse selection of Sherry to go with a lineup of Sherry-barrel-aged whiskeys. best wine bars america

Wine zealots have long hung out at 13 Celsius and Camerata, but Master Sommelier David Keck is planning on shaking things up with an upcoming hip honky-tonk, Goodnight Charlie’s, set to open later this year, featuring Texas beer, wine and live music. Modern furniture on display at Kuhl-Linscomb You’ll find plenty of the usual suspects in shopping districts like Highland Village and Rice Village, but for the edgy and unique, look inside the city’s Inner Loop (the area in the center of town bordered by Interstate 610). best wine bars with food londonThe iconic Kuhl-Linscomb features a dazzling array of housewares, furniture and home accessories. best wine red meatFor a more “indie” feel, look to Space Montrose for gift-worthy letterpress cards, prints by local artists, handmade jewelry and home accessories. the best sweet red wine brand

In the Heights, Manready Mercantile peddles handmade textiles, leather, wood and natural apothecary goods tailored for the modern man. And for a dizzying selection of unique beers and ciders, don’t miss the quirky D&Q The Beer Station in Montrose. Even if you don’t grab a six-pack, you’ll enjoy the quippy product descriptions. Galveston Island, roughly an hour outside of Houston Make your way down Interstate 45 toward the coastline to Galveston Island, said to be the country’s most haunted city. best wine bars in the usaIt also offers a glimpse of the state’s rich history and a taste of the Gulf Coast’s bounty. best wine to drink during pregnancyAs you cross the great bridge over the bay, the salty sea air welcomes you to what was the second-largest port of entry for immigrants in the late 1800s, after Ellis Island. wine to drink during pregnancy

Located downtown, The Strand offers a view of historic buildings and quaint beach shops. Tour the Bishop’s Palace and The Moody Mansion before taking in a show at the Grand 1894 Opera House or dinner at iconic Gaido’s seafood restaurant.I have maintained several times that we are at an inflexion point in the reputation and prestige of Texas wines. This is not out of boosterism: I have driven out to about 50 Texas wineries in the past year and reported on only five (Duchman, Inwood Estates, Perissos, Sandstone Cellars and The Vineyard at Florence). best wine cooler drinkThose five were the ones that were ‘aspirational,’ in that they both tried to make the best wine they could and showed significant progress. best wine to bring as a giftExtrapolating to the 200 wineries in the state, the aspirational category consists of about 20 wineries. best wine gift packs

Undoubtedly, those wineries are on their strongest ground when they use the grape varieties most suited to the Texas soil and climate. For white wine, there is something of a consensus now that that grape is Viognier. I had a chance to participate in a multi-state, multi-country Viognier tasting this week at the 2012 Texas Viognier Symposium organized by the Grayson County College Viticulture and Enology Program and held at Brennan Vineyards in Comanche. Winemakers, grape growers, sommeliers, academics and one media peep tasted Viognier wines from France, California, Virginia and Texas and I am pleased to report, by way of an ‘executive summary,’ that Texas Viognier is as good as any in the United States, and better than some Viognier emerging from the Languedoc-Roussillon area of France. best wine store dc metro areaThese results reinforce an opinion that I have had for a couple of years that major national wine publications like the Wine Advocate and The Wine Spectator are guilty of a criminal idleness in not reporting on certain wines from Texas that have passed the threshold of replicable quality. which wine is best in taste

This is particularly unjustifiable now that these small-production wines ship directly to more and more states each year. The day started with a summary of Viognier Around The World by James Tidwell, MS, Beverage Director at The Four Seasons Resort and Club in Irving. His 90-minute presentation brought up some surprising facts. For example, Viognier may have arrived in France (via the Romans) from Dalmatia around 280AD; DNA analysis shows it to be closely related to the Nebbiolo grape grown in Piedmont, Italy; sea smoke winery addressViognier was so out-of-fashion forty years ago that in 1971 there were only 34 acres being grown in the whole world (all in the northern Rhône valley in France); sell fine wine onlineCuttings came to the USA in the early 1980s with Josh Jensen of Calera Wine Company, maybe deserving the lion’s share of the praise in sustaining U.S. vineyards of the grape.red wine dry mouth

Also significant, said Tidwell, is the flavor spectrum, dependent on how ripe the grapes are harvested. Just ripe and grapefruit flavors predominate. Slightly riper, and flavors of stone fruit (peach, apricot) dominate. Riper still, and it is tropical fruit (mango, persimmon); even riper, and nutty flavors of almond appear. Tidwell then led a tasting of French Viognier. The first wine, a 2007 Condrieu from Pierre Gaillard, had heavily oxidized, making for a potion that only a wine geek could love. best wine of the month club 2015It exhibited the substantial body, peach flavors and aromas and subtle complexity of Condrieu. best wine kit brandIt would have been fascinating to compare with one of its younger brethren. best wine list in dcThe second wine, a 2010 Vin de Pays de Mediterranean by Pesquie was a simple, build-to-a-price, unoaked Viognier from a 4 hectare vineyard in Ventoux, in the southern Rhône.best wine for budget

The symposium’s attention then moved to Virginia with a presentation and tasting led by John Delmare of Rappahannoch Cellars, one of the most celebrated producers in the state. The accompanying tasting consisted of their 2010 and 2011 Viogniers. The 2010 showed typical Viognier peachy flavors and a finish of ripe apples. The 2011 was quite different, with wine gums in the nose and green apples in taste. I was struck by how precisely made these wines were. The fruit-acid balance was spot on.best wine for 10 dollars Next, our attention turned to Texas and a discussion of the issues involved with vineyard site selection and preparation. best wine with asianThe tasting brought wines from three of the several wineries in attendance. best wine christmas dinner

All of these wineries represent the forefront of Viognier production in the state. 2010 Lone Oak Winery, Texas A double-gold medal winner at the prestigious San Francisco International Wine Competition. Straw color, peachy flavors and fruit sweetness in the mouth. Tropical fruit in the mouth. A hint of bitterness at the back of the mouth during the finish. This is not a flaw, and is a common phenomenon with Viognier (and Chardonnay). Maybe ‘grip’ would be a better description.best wine cocktail party 2010 Alamosa Wine Cellars, Texas Hill Country, Tio Pancho Ranchbest wine sales jobsPronounced and intense fruit. best wine marketing booksSweetness from the ripeness of the fruit.10 best wine travel destinations 2014

Grapefruit notes in the nose. McPherson Cellars also provided their 2010 ‘Les Copains,’ a Rhône blend of Viognier, Roussanne and Grenache Blanc. This reminded me that one of Viognier’s most significant roles is enhancing other grapes by providing floral notes to the bouquet and fruit to the taste. The final area tasted was California, with wines from Lions Peak Vineyards in the Central Coast. This winery has something of a Rhône grape focus as they make Roussanne and Marsanne, as well as Viognier. top 10 wine brands 2014They showed blends of these to great effect.best dc wine lists One of the things that struck me was that the difference between wines from a given area was as great as the difference between areas. best wine 2006I had expected, for example, the Texas wines to be fruitier than those from Virginia but that (at least in this limited sample) wasn’t the case.top wine quotes