It’s been a good year for Texas wines. The burgeoning wine industry has claimed a growing number of medals in state, regional and international wine competitions. The list includes some well-established wineries, such as Becker Vineyards and McPherson Cellars, as well as some up-and-coming names on the scene: Sunset Vineyards and Georgetown Winery.

The following is not a complete list of award-winners, but a sampling of some of the wines that have taken top honors at various competitions.

• Becker Vineyards 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve, Wilmeth Vineyard – Best of Show Red Wine (San Antonio Wine Festival)
• Becker Vineyards 2008 Fleur Sauvage – Class Champion and Texas Class Champion (Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo International Wine Competition)
• Becker Vineyards 2008 Barbera, Peter’s Prairie Vineyard – Texas Grand Star (Lone Star International Wine Competition)
• Becker Vineyards 2009 Clementine Late Harvest Viognier, Bingham Family Vineyards – Texas Grand Star (Lone Star International Wine Competition)
• Flat Creek Estate Mistella NV – Top Texas Wine and Texas Class Champion (Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo International Wine Competition)
• Georgetown Winery Lone Star Frost NV – Grand Star (Lone Star International Wine Competition)
• Grape Creek Vineyards 2007 Serendipity – Texas Class Champion (Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo International Wine Competition)
• Grape Creek Vineyards 2009 Viognier, Lost Draw Vineyards – Texas Grand Star (Lone Star International Wine Competition)
• McPherson Cellars 2009 Rosé of Syrah – Grand Star (Lone Star International Wine Competition)
• McPherson Cellars – Reserve Class Champion (Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo International Wine Competition)
• Messina Hof Winery – Best of Herd Award (San Antonio Stock Show and Rodeo)
• Messina Hof 2005 Papa Paulo Port Private Reserve – Texas Grand Star (Lone Star International Wine Competition)
• Messina Hof Winery 2008 Chenin Blanc – People’s Choice Grand Champion White Wine (San Antonio Stock Show and Rodeo)
• Sunset Winery 2005 “Vintner’s Select” Orange Muscat, Newsom Vineyard – Texas Class Champion (Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo International Wine Competition)

Some of these wines are found only at the winery or on the wineries’ websites, but others can be found in wine shops. For a complete list of award-winners, click here.

It’s the middle of July and the temperatures are heading into the triple digits — at least that’s what the thermometer at my house tells me.

What do we do under these circumstances? We pray for mild humidity, stay inside when we can and chill down the summer wines.

Sparkling rosé wine: It's always a treat, but not always expensive.

In our house, that means pink wine: dry, well-made rosé that goes with just about any food except, say, roast lamb or game. It doesn’t overwhelm with (hot) alcohol content and always is a pleasure to behold in a wine glass.

On Friday, searching for a rosé to chill down for Saturday night, I stopped into the Gabriel’s at Callaghan Road. I strolled past the more expensive wines, the Nicolas Feuillatte that I sometimes receive for my birthday, the Scharffenberger that always gives me pause, inducing as it does thoughts of icy Champagne downed with chocolate truffles. I stopped at the Segura Viudas, a Spanish Rosé Cava, cava being Spain’s answer to Champagne, that comes in my favorite shade of pale and costs an attractive $7.99 per bottle.

At that price, you get a lovely wine that sparkles and gives you a treat of fruit and flowers, a good acid balance and a surprisingly nice finish. I put it in my best Champagne glass and enjoyed it while watching a B movie from the ’40s.  A patter of rain on the roof might have made this night perfection, but close, in this case, was good enough.

Absinthe poured over a sugar cube produces the Green Fairy in the glass.

Pavil Resaturant and Bar, 1818 N. Loop 1604 W., is celebrating Bastille Day (that’s July 14) with an absinthe tasting. The Green Fairy, as the drink is also known, was once outlawed in this country and has only recently been made legal again.

For $45, customers will get four .5-ounce pours of various versions of the drink.

For newcomers, the restaurant is offering the following tasting guide:

Color: When considering a verte, or green absinthe, the color should look natural and not “glowing” or artificial. When considering a blanche, or clear absinthe, the color should be clear, bright and free of color. Note: Some absinthe (verte or blanche) may have visible sediment. This is not always bad but may contribute to a grainy taste.

Louche: The louche is the cloudy, white, opalescent color absinthe takes as water is added as the herbal oils are released form the absinthe. The louche should be prominent but still translucent. A quality absinthe will usually provide the best louche at a 1:3 to 1:5 ratio.

Aroma: Refers to the aromas released while louching. As water is added and the herbal oils are released, the aromas of the various herbs are also released giving off a pleasant, flowery nose.

Flavor: This is a personal preference. Absinthe will vary greatly in taste from one to the next and between verte and blanche. Overall, an absinthe should have a well balanced herbal flavor with no one taste over-powering another (this includes the taste of alcohol).

Finish: This is basically the mouth-feel or aftertaste. You can find a rather expensive absinthe that has an incredible start but finishes with an unpleasant aftertaste.

For more information, call 210-479-5000.

Yali Wetland Merlot Rosé 2009

Fact: This watermelon-colored rosé from Chile’s wetland region near Maipo has plenty of pink with a touch of orange underneath. The aromas mingle strawberry and cherry with summer flowers. The tastes are lush and fruity yet dry, with a long finish. Serve it chilled with grilled shrimp, cool pork tenderloin or a seafood salad. The screw cap makes it perfect for taking along on a picnic. The price is an attractive $7.99 a bottle at Costco.

Feeling: The wine’s color may remind you of cotton candy, but its dryness will refresh you on a hot summer afternoon. I opened a well-chilled bottle at a party recently, and it disappeared in short order. It held up nicely with the salty tang of pickles and cut through the gooey richness of grilled cheese sandwiches.

Infuse your brandy with the flavor of peaches.

Q. How would I go about making peach brandy?

- Bruce V.

A. Peaches are plentiful this season, and they can be used for a variety of old-fashioned treats, including pie, ice cream, even tiramisú. But why stop there? Infuse your favorite liqueur with the summer fruit, and you’ll be able to savor it all year long.

I found a recipe for Peach Liqueur in the book “Infused: 100+ Recipes for Infused Liqueurs and Cocktails” by Susan Elia MacNeal, who offers a basic recipe for instilling the flavor in a host of distilled drinks, including brandy, vodka, rum, tequila or Cognac.

Peach Liqueur

1 (750-milliliter) bottle brandy, vodka, rum, tequila or Cognac
12 peaches
1/4 to 1 cup simple syrup or agave nectar, optional

Decant the spirits into a clean 2-quart (2-liter) glass container with a tight-fitting lid. Soak the original bottle to remove the label. Let dry.

Cut the peaches in half and thinly slice. Add the peaches and their pits to the spirits. Allow the spirits to infuse away from direct sunlight and intense heat for 1 month. Shake the container a few times each week.

When you’re satisfied with the intensity of flavor, strain the liqueur through a metal sieve into a bowl. Discard the solids. Add the sugar syrup to taste, if desired.

Using a funnel, pour the liqueur into the original bottle (or another container). Label with the name of the liqueur and the date. Age the liqueur for 1 month away from light and heat.

Variations: Use your favorite honey in place of the sugar syrup. Add 1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise, the zest of 1/2 lemon, or 6 whole cloves with the peaches.

Makes 1 (750-milliliter) bottle.

Source: “Infused: 100+ Recipes for Infused Liqueurs and Cocktails” by Susan Elia MacNeal

If you have a question for Ask a Foodie, e-mail info@savorsa.com.

Strawberry-Basil Martini

Basil and strawberries make for a great pair in this martini.

Strawberry-Basil Martini

1 good-sized strawberry, cut in pieces
4 fresh basil leaves
1 teaspoon simple syrup or agave nectar, or to taste
Vodka, to taste
Strawberries and/or basil leaves, for garnish

Muddle the strawberry, basil leaves and simple syrup in the bottom of a cocktail shaker to mash the strawberry and break up the basil leaves. Add ice and vodka, to taste. Shake until icy. Strain into a chilled martini glass. Garnish with a strawberry and/or a basil leaf.

Makes 1 martini.

Source: John Griffin

Are you tequila obsessed?  Crave learning more about its history, production, and grading?

Gabriel’s Wine & Spirits has partnered with Aldaco’s Mexican Cuisine and Partida Tequila to offer Tequilier Certification.  The class will be held on Saturday, July 31 at Aldaco’s Stone Oak.  For $400, you will spend the day learning in depth about tequila with topics including: types of agave; distillation process; standards of quality; maturation process, and more.  At the end of the class, participants can take an exam. If they pass, they receive a Level One Tequilier Certificate from the Academia Mexicana del Tequila.

According to a press release, this class will be the first offered in Texas.  It also states that only 22 people currently have this certification.

Lunch and tequila tastings are included.  Registration starts at 8:30 a.m., which is followed by class until 12:30 p.m.  Lunch will last one hour and the class will resume until 5:30 p.m.  Make reservations by July 17 by contacting Gabriel’s at sales@GabrielSpirits.com or 210-831-0042.

Aldaco’s Stone Oak
20079 Stone Oak Parkway
San Antonio, TX 78258
http://aldacos-stoneoak.com

Close

I walked into a gas station store recently to pay for gas and grab some emergency cans of cat food. They didn’t carry any pet tuna, but I noticed something new—a wine rack next to the entrance.

My first reaction was to flinch at the sight of light pouring in through the windows and glass door onto the wine. The next thought followed quickly: It was good to see a gas station mini-mart selling a selection of wine—especially since beer drinkers have such a plentiful choice.

I saw the rack by the door as a sign of the times. The fact that an actual selection of wines was there at all might reflect the advances wine drinkers have made on beer drinkers over the past years. In a couple of recent years, in fact, the Gallup Poll showed wine drinkers outnumbering beer drinkers in the U.S. (Some, however, claim the numbers of glasses of wine and beer sold in the U.S. don’t bear that out.)

As I reflected further, it seemed that putting that rack in the window might not be all that bad. This was not high-end wine, but inexpensive wine that probably would move quickly. It was the kind of wine people would take home and drink, not put it in a cellar or wine rack. The rack wasn’t large, so the wine might not sit in the sun that long. Or at least, that was an optimistic way to look at it.

Grapes developing on the vine need sun; wine in bottles doesn't.

Sun, of course, is a great thing when it comes at the right time and in the right amounts to ripen grapes. It’s where the sugar is developed that is needed for fermentation.

But, when wine becomes wine, after it is bottled, it must come in out of direct sunlight.  This is because free radicals develop in wine when it is exposed to ultraviolet light. These cause wine to oxidize much more quickly. Colored bottles, rather than clear, do offer a little protection from the sunlight.

Another factor comes into play here, too. Wine shouldn’t be stored under fluorescent lighting, either.

In fact, if I go into a wine store and see wine on racks under fluorescents, I reach to the bottom of the rack to take out the bottle I’m going to purchase.

A study in 1988, by the Department of Viticulture and Enology at the University of California, Davis, found that exposure to fluorescent light on still and sparkling wines, after about 18 hours, showed in the aromas in the wine. “With increased time of exposure, a decrease in citrus aroma intensity occurred, while the intensity of cooked cabbage, corn nuts, wet dog/wet wool, and soy/marmite aromas increased.”

Not tastes I want in my wine glass!

My last thought as I exited the store that day wasn’t about the wine. It was about cat food. Why, for heaven’s sake, don’t they stock it?  That’s the other thing I’ll take up with them, after we discuss wine storage.

Photos by Bonnie Walker

Rebecca Creek Distillery, a venture by San Antonio entrepreneurs Steve Ison and Mike Cameron, has opened a facility on the North Side to produce two spirits: Enchanted Rock Vodka and Rebecca Creek Single Malt Texas Whiskey.  “We are excited to do something that is local and Texas based,” Cameron enthusiastically states.

The duo spent much time in Houston, Dallas, and San Antonio interviewing bar patrons about what they seek in premium spirits.  To achieve their goals, they have employed a master distiller to oversee development and production.

The grain-based vodka is distilled six times with limestone filtered water from Trinity Aquifer.  According to one of their representatives, it is also filtered through Texas-produced coconut shell carbon.  The mid-level priced vodka will be 80 proof and available this summer.

Their whiskey will be barley-based and produced in small batches with a copper pot still.  It will be aged in charred oak barrels and the proof will be determined upon release, sometime next year.

Their artisan production facilities have implemented environmentally friendly practices including water recycling.  They have stated that spent grain will be recycled as cattle feed.

Visitors will be invited for tastings and tours on Saturdays starting around the end of July or beginning of August.  Cameron hopes that people traveling to vineyards in the Hill Country will stop by to check out their facilities.

Rebecca Creek Distillery
26605 Bulverde Road, Suite B
San Antonio, TX 78260
www.RebeccaCreekDistillery.com
www.rebeccacreekwhiskey.com
www.texasvodka.com

Dan Aykroyd, famous for films like “Ghostbusters” and “The Blues Brothers,” as well as Saturday Night Live characters including Julia Child and the spokesperson for the Super Bass-O-Matic 76, came to San Antonio on Thursday to autograph bottles of his Crystal Head Vodka (CHV). Gabriel’s Superstore was jam-packed with fans of the actor — some even in Ghostbusters costumes.

The line started at 2 p.m. and it took about 1 1/2 hours to reach the star. Even though the wait was long, a band playing the blues kept everyone entertained.

In addition to the bottles, Mr. Aykroyd signed memorabilia including posters and DVD’s. When groups requested photos, he even came out to pose with a fresh smile.

CHV, made with Newfoundland water and select grains, began production in September 2008. According to a video on their website, it is distilled four times, triple carbon filtered, and passed through Herkimer Diamonds, which are five million year old, double-terminated quartz crystals. The bottle was designed by John Alexander and manufactured by Bruni glass. The bottles are hand filled and bring you “truly non-enhanced pure spirit.”

In the website’s video, Mr. Aykroyd asks himself, “why vodka?” He replies, “because we have an opportunity to do something different and indeed enlightened in this category.” The website states, “CHV is his latest venture and the one that he is most passionate about, because of his long time fascination with ghosts, spirits, and other unworldly presences. In fact, it was his interest in the supernatural and the story of the 13 Crystal Skulls that inspired his creation of Crystal Head Vodka.”

Aykroyd will continue his bottle signing tour at his next stop in Austin.

Photos by Nicholas Mistry