EATS

When star Australian winemaker Chris Ringland (he's actually from New Zealand, but works his magic in Australia) asked me to taste some of his new R Wines, I invited him over to the Sig-O's for a home-style taste of Texas, featuring local pasture-raised lamb chops, East Texas tomatoes, local cheeses and - just for the fun of it - one of Sig-O's specialties, Caesar salad (Chris asked for seconds). We also introduced him to hoja santa and epazote (the green things on the counter in the pic) while he was sipping on his super slurpable Marquis-Philips Roogle Riesling 2008 from South Eastern Australia.

He brought a lot of his portfolio - more than I can possibly cover here. But there's a definite takeaway message from the tasting. Read on for some highlights - and the new direction his partnership with Grateful Palate's Dan Philips is taking.

Photos: Italian Wine Guy

Something I didn't have the space to dwell on in my review as much as I'd haved liked was Craft's wine list and wine service, both of which are top-notch. I love a list that veers away from the usual suspects -- California cabs and chards. But when I find a great list -- like Craft's -- I find myself in a quandary. I'd really like to spend some time reading the list, but I'm out having dinner with friends, and that would be rude. So I try to give it a quick once-over, and then, when I'm writing the review, I might request that the restaurant email or fax me a copy of the list. That's when I do my serious reading, and it's a nice luxury.

At Craft, on my first visit, a section on the list jumped out at me: Indigenous and esoteric reds. Not that the rest of the list was limited to predictable choices -- far from it. But giving this section a scan, something caught my eye: a 2004 Alois Lageder Lagrein from Alto Adige in Italy for $42.

Since I'm all about local, including Texas wines, I feel kinda like a doofus for missing the reopening of Swirll Winery under new ownership in April, after closing in December. (See Kevin Gray's account on examiners.com.) I went to the Web site (www.swirll.com) in advance of checking the place out in person and count 40 Texas wines. Many are excellent selections, though there are gaps, like Mandola Estate Winery is MIA. Anyone been? If so, what did you think? I'll report back, too.

Talk about a word-of-mouth network. We're coming up on Sacred Cellars' first anniversary, and I made my first visit only last night for a tasting of six chardonneys and a pinot noir.

What a cool, funky place it is - sort of the Wine Therapist meets J. Alfred Prufrock for those of you old enough to remember the neighborhood pub where you scooped the peanuts out of an old commode, then sat around on couches, noshing and sipping.

Sacred Cellars is marked by the smallest sign in the crook of a street called Sadler Circle off Inwood by Love Field; the next-door neighbor is a car graveyard.

No commodes here. It's just a jumble of couches, chairs and wine racks, with old movie posters, sailing pics and other assorted memorabilia - even a Cuban flag - taking up most available wall space.

Scared Sacred Cellars' shtick is small, hard-to-find wines that it sells without a lot of mark-up, and there are some interesting bottles here. The first chard of the night, a 2008 Cucao from the Casablanca Valley in Chile, was my favorite - crisp, well-balanced and refreshing for a very reasonable $11 a bottle (but then, I'm not a fan of the oakier, big-hair chardonnays).

For a longer, more detailed take on the place, check out Worzel Gummidge's colorful account on dallasfood.org here.

On my second visit at Ava, there was a service glitch involving wine. After my party and I -- there were four of us -- ordered our dinners, the server asked if we had selected a wine. I picked up the wine list and said yes, we had -- the 2008 Tapestry, an unoaked chardonnay from McLaren Vale in Australia. There was no discussion back and forth between anyone in my party about it; clearly, I was the one ordering. A few minutes later, the server returned with the bottle, and she presented it -- not to me, but to the man at the table. There was an uncomfortable moment as I had to remind her that it was I who had ordered the wine, and therefore of course I would be tasting it.

It's a service mistake that's happened to me a few times recently. And it's not something that only happens in Dallas -- it has happened to me in L.A. and in France too. It's annoying because of the chauvinism it belies (only men know wine).

The fabulous 1950s era sign that Sigel's saved when the Lemmon-Inwood store was demolished recently is about to be put in place at its new home. Jasper Russo had e-mailed that tormorrow would be the day. Then, he messaged back, "No, not tomorrow after all."

'Looks more like Monday - and maybe as late as Wednesday - for the sign to be hoisted atop its pole at the Addison store. 'Seems the technicians weren't happy with the way the bubbles light up, so they're doing a bit of rewiring. We can wait. I hope it stays put another 50 years.

With the e-mail subject line of "Wine bargain," the folks at Eatzi's have revealed that the store has received 150 cases of the Sicilian red wine blend Dievole Fourplay Rosso No. 1. Bottles normally retail for $16.99, but Eatzi's is practically giving them away for $3.99. One case maximum, mind you. Grab a few bottles -- you may not see prices like this until Trader Joe's Three-buck Chucks become available here ... if ever.

There was a little bit of gold for Texas wineries in the 26th Annual Lone Star International Wine Competition, which was held on June 8-9 at the Grapevine Convention Center.

Among the Grand Star winners (think best of show): Haak Vineyards & Winery Madeira Blanc du Bois 2006 (fortified wine), Driftwood Estate Winery Lone Star Cab 2006 (red table wine) and Grape Creek Vineyards Viognier - Lost Draw Vineyards 2008 (white table wine).

No surprise to see a viognier in the group. Considered one of the fussiest grapes to grow, it positively thrives in the challenging environment of West Texas' High Plains AVA? Acreage is being planted so fast that experts can't keep track of how much there is. The other hot rising star (and there are several) is tempranillo.

I've listed some of the Texas gold-medal winners on the jump. for a compete list of winners, go here.

P.S. I just got off the phone with Grape Creek Vineyards winemaker Jason Englert, who confirms that his viognier comes from a High Plains vineyard in Brownfield, 30 miles southwest of Lubbock. you can't buy his wine retail in Dallas, but the winery does ship. Go to www.grapecreek.com.

If you'd like to know more about Biodynamic vineyard practices and sample some Biodynamic wines, drop by Veritas Wine Room tonight between 6 and 9 to meet one of California's pioneers: Mike Benziger from Sonoma's Benziger Family Winery. When I interviewed Mike several years ago, he told me that some of his vineyard staff quit when he first announced he was interested in going Biodynamic. They figured they would be the laughing stock of the industry. How times have changed. Mike will be pouring samples of the Sangiacomo Chardonnay, Signaterra Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Noir and Benziger Tribute.

In the final GO TEXAN WineCast, Merrill Bonarrigo, co-owner of Messina Hof Winery in Bryan, talks about various port-style and dessert wines produced around the state. I didnt' know that Texas has one of only three madeira-style wine producers (Haak) in the US.

Although many of the wines are labeled as madiera and port, I will forever refer to them as port-style and madiera-style because port comes from Oporto, Portugal, and madiera comes from the Madiera Islands that are part of Portugal. The country just didn't aggressively protect the name like the Champagne region in France, for example.

Anyway, the WebCast will introduce you to the sweetest Texas wines. One of my favorites is the orange muscat. Check it out, and tell me if this series has been useful to you:

I've never been a fan of frozen margaritas -- I like mine on the rocks, with salt, made with good tequila, fresh lime and orange liqueur, not a mix. I don't love brain freeze. But I understand that the frozen margarita is a real Dallas thing. And rumor has it that it's about to get very hot around here.

So I'm wondering: Who makes a really good frozen margarita? Meaning not made with a mix -- fresh ingredients only -- and preferably whirred up in a blender, not put through one of those slurpee machines. I'd like to become a convert.

Anyone?

Photo by Juan Garcia/DMN

Black Spanish is a grape I'm not familiar with, but after watching the fifth GO TEXAN WineCast, which was posted earlier in the week on YouTube, I want to find some. Franklin Houser talks about growing it at his Dry Comal Creek Vineyards and why it does well. (For one, it resists Pierce's Disease, quite a problem in parts of our state.)

He describes the still red wine from the grape as hefty, but smooth, with soft tannins and low acidity. He also makes a port-style fortified wine with it and blends it into a blush. Check it out here:

Each year, Paul and Annette DiCarlo, co-owners of Jimmy's Food Market, hold a no-holds-barred food-and-wine bash. It's strictly casual, with everyone gathered around the long kitchen table, or at the stove or in the den where wine and snacks flow freely.

This year, the Sunday festivities included Sharon Hage's seared foie gras (pictured), which she cooked on site and drizzled with 25-year-old balsamic vinegar (I licked my plate clean on this one), and tabbouleh (one of three), Adelmo Banchetti's "not-Mexican" buffalo mole (made with white wine and Cognac) and steak tartare.

Stone and Diane Savage are having their Stoney's Bottle Bargains grand re-opening on Saturday, June 6, from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Stoney will open some wines for tasting from 2 to 6 p.m., with snacks.

The Savages are getting back to the basics, building upon Stoney's longstanding reputation for "finding great, not the usual wine deals." The store will have a new, pared-down look, bringing you wine with no frills.

If you'll recall, we almost lost Stoney's in February, when the Savages announced the closing of their Lower Greenville wine-and-gift store with its exceptional wines, gourmet foods, linens from Provence - wonderful stuff, but people's pocketbooks closed up.

I'm happy to see that they have reinvented themselves. There's a lot to be said for staying nimble in uncertain times. Stoney's is at 2804 Greenville.

Fort Ross Vineyard is one of my favorite California producers - not only for for Lester and Linda Schwartz's winning wines, but also for their story.

They moved to California from South Africa in 1976 with no thought of making wine. Twelve years later, they were looking to recapture Lester's agrarian roots and, depending on how you look at it, either stumbled upon or were led to the coastal Sonoma ridge where they live today.

"U.S. 1 was closed," Lester told me several years ago when the couple was introducing their wines to Texas, "and we had to go around, above the fog." They fell in love with the ridgetop, built a home there and decided to try grape-growing. What a great decision that was.

Tempranillo, a Spanish grape, is one of the most important up-and-coming varietals in the state, and Alamosa Wine Cellars' Jim Johnson tells why in this latest GO TEXAN WineCast. Not only does he give a feel for the lesser-known, big-red-wine-producing grape, he gives a nod to Dallas winemaker Dan Gatlin's Inwood Estates tempranillo, which is grown by Neal Newsom on the Texas High Plains.

Back when I interviewed Newsom for a story about his family's vineyards, he explained that tempranillo is a heat-loving grape that also has the chutzpah to stand up to the plains' sometimes withering temperature fluctuations. That's important where the temp can change by 40 degrees overnight. Check out the video here:

I was all set to be bummed out that we were losing Julie Blacklidge, my comrade-in-arms in wine writing at D magazine. But wait, Julie's cutting out the vino because she's pregnant - yea! That's great news.

And the new wine columnist is none other than Hayley Hamilton, one of the most knowledgeable and enthusiastic wine sprites in Dallas. You may recognize her from the Dallas Uncorked wine club, which she created after Wine Brats took its corkscrew and its franchise back to California.

Check out the new face and Hayley's first blog entry here. Congrats all around.

Whit Meyers (late of the great Jeroboam, Green Room, Gypsy Tea Room), who now represents wines for Virtuoso Selections, sent along a Reuters story about possible changes in European rose-making rules. 'Seems the EU is considering letting European producers do as the Americans are allowed to do: mix red and white wine to make rose.

That's pretty much sacrilege to drinkers of French roses. Traditionally, rose gets its lovely, pale color from less time on the grape skins, not sloshing two different kinds of wine together. June 19 is the date the change will either be made - or not. Read an excerpt of the story on the jump.

Last night, I got an intimate taste tour of seasonal Japanese cuisine (think Copper River salmon sushi and green vegetable soup with fiddlehead ferns) and a handful of ultra-premium sakes at D SideDish's Supper Club kaiseki dinner at Kenichi, where I was Nancy Nichols' guest (keeping it real).

There's a parade of photos over at SideDish, where you can see all nine tiny courses and one NN dolled up as a geisha.

Read on for some impressions.

Kim McPherson is one of Texas' best winemakers, sired by Clint "Doc" McPherson, the man Kim affectionately and rightly calls the father of the modern Texas wine industry. Kim is also a character, and it's great fun to watch him on this newest Texas WineCast explain the role of sangiovese in the Texas "wine in-DUS-tree."

I didn't realize that his dad first started growing grapes on the Texas High Plains in 1968, and it was Kim's California winemaker brother, Jon, who persuaded their dad to give sangiovese a try. Check out the video for yourself.

Usually, when someone in wine or spirits talks about 20-year-old this or 50-year-old that, they're referring to port or Scotch. So it was both amusing and interesting yesterday to hear the zinfandel producers touting wine from their 40-year-old or 100-year-old vines at the Zinfandel Advocates & Producers Zinfandel Grand Tasting 2009 at the Tower Club downtown.

Psst. We got zinfandel from REALLY old vines. Psst. We got zin from the ORIGINAL Grand Pere vineyard.

I love zinfandel, with its deep, dark berry flavors and aromas, and only wish I could have tasted wines from all the nearly three dozen zin masters who flew in for this event from California. As it is, here are a few highlights.

But first, we get fashion statement from Kent Rosenblum (above), who founded Rosenblum Cellars and makes voluptuous, concentrated zins. His Cuvee XXXI was one of the terrific value, entry-point wines at about $12.

"Texans do boots," Rosenblum quipped, showing off his Luccheses, "and Californians do wine."

If you've ever wanted to plunge into the rooftop swimming pool at The Joule --- but didn't want to shell out the coin for an overnight --- then put on your swim trunks, baby. The downtown hotel's reinvented pool lounge is now open by reservation to non-guests (code for "the public," but dress cute).

Even if you don't fancy taking laps in a pool that cantilevers out over the street and has a Plexiglas back wall view to below, you can still lounge. Charlie Palmer provides the bites up here, everything from burgers and brats to smoothies, and the cocktails were designed by big-deal mixologist Lucy Brennan (voted top bartender by Playboy, Food & Wine, and Bon Appetit, just FYI ...)

Clearly, it's time to get back in the gym.

The Joule, a Luxury Collection Hotel, 1530 Main Street, tenth floor pool deck, make reservations by calling Maria Booth at 214.261.4501 or email her at mariabooth@pmnightlifelounge.com.

Photos by Carter Rose

These GO TEXAN WineCasts are great mini-lessons in the wines of the Lone Star state. In this episode Pat Brennan, owner of Brennan Vineyards near Comanche, talks about some of the lesser-known white varietals that are doing well in the state. As far as viognier is concerned, he think the Rhone varietal is "our signature white." He also talks about some other whites that show promise here. Check it out:

Wow. Food Network personality Ted Allen is one nice guy. You can't say that about many celebrities. When he met last night with the winners of a contest sponsored by Robert Mondavi Winery (Allen is an ambassador for the Robert Modavi Private Collection wines as well as Chopped host), he was fun, charming, responsive and approachable. No prima donna, he, behind those Buddy Holly frames.

He talked about wine-and-food pairings with the Mercy menu and the PC wines, and answered some of the questions people submitted to win a spot at the VIP dinner.

A $200 ($199.99) bottle of vintage Champagne is a fairly hard sell right now. But the Champagne in question is Dom Perignon Brut 2000, and if you're going to spring to commemorate a special occasion, such as a graduation or wedding, this is not a bad wine to spring for.

As winemaker Vincent Chaperon recently pointed out on a stop at The Mansion on Turtle Creek, "Dom Perignon is a palate style. Its complexity and singularity is in the palate. We are not doing a perfume." Tasting with Chaperon is like taking a guided tour of the wine.

So you don't get a lot of aroma with the brut. But if you take a moment to savor a mouthful, it's indeed a joy ride marked by texture, rhythm and intensity. You will feel the flavors and texture at different points in your mouth after an impactful entry (like diving into cold water). The texture alternates between sharp and smooth, and the mineral component expresses as a dusty, dried-flower feel. The Champagne's flavors flit from yeasty to briney to herbal, but they're hushed and opaque.

That kind of thrill ride from a Champagne? Yes, if you take the time to savor. This Dom Perignon is widely available at fine wine shops, and Costco has it online for considerably less than the suggested retail price.

But you know what was even better than the vintage 2000? The rose 1998, which adds a voluptuous layer of bright, vibrant strawberry-raspberry fruit and a back-note sweetness as fleeting as meringue. But this one, you've got to love twice as much at $400 ($399.99), available at some Goody Goody stores. 'Never thought I'd see the day $200 would sound like a relative bargain.

In a bid to get folks more familiar with Texas wines, The Texas Department of Agriculture has posted the first of its six GO TEXAN WineCast videos.

The idea is to tell people about the emerging varietals that seem best-suited to Texas' climate and generally what's up with wine here. The host is bubbly broadcast personality Tanji Patton, and the first guest is Fall Creek Vineyards' Susan Auler, co-owner of one of the state's first serious wineries.

Texas wine is definitely a moving target. While the industry is getting its arms around varietals that do well here - and producing some pretty good wines - the recent wacky spring weather (freeze one day, hot the next) has decimated the grape crop. Growers around the state are unsure what they have left.

Read our new story "BYOB spots let you savor fabulous wine in style and save a pretty penny" to get the scoop on bringing your own wine. Kim Pierce talks about the Web site GoBYO.com and a new bill that has passed the Senate. And Tina Danze talks to four chefs about their favorite BYOB spots, what dishes they order and what they take to drink. Then Kim lists five more spots where you can BYOB. Bottoms up!

Texan T.V. Munson played a pivotal role in saving the European wine industry after the devastating phylloxera epidemic of the late 19th century. North American grapevines were resistant to the pest, and Munson, who had been working in Denison north of Dallas to improve American grapes, helped the French select the rootstocks onto which European vines - and others that followed around the world - were successfully grafted.

All of this is the long way of explaining why the restored long-time Denison residence of the Texas viticulturist has been turned into memorial and museum, which is being dedicated on Saturday. The public is invited to an open house at Vinita Home from 2 to 4 p.m. It's at 530 West Hanna. For more information, go to www.tvmunson.org.

We got a great tip from Jim "JR' Richardson's next-door-neighbor in Oak Cliff. He wanted to let us know that JR has started a winery in Calistoga producing wines under the Oak Cliff Cellars name. The wines are made in California, but the business is based in OC.

In the recession more than ever, people are on the prowl for value wines. Now's a good time to remind them about Louis M. Martini, a 75-year-old Napa winery and estate that's long been a good value.

A California cab that goes easy on the tannins, the Martini Sonoma 2006 is a bargain at $17. Others evidently think so, too. "Our sales on the lower end are through the roof," says third-generation winemaker Mike Martini, who was in town recently to show his wines.

He credits the value pricing to Gallo, which bought Louis M. Martini in 2002, and whose market strategy, says Martini, is to keep their prices below the market average.

Martini notes that Sonoma's climate yields softer tannins, making it a great starter wine, with luscious berries and ripe fruit. It's a grocery-store staple.

See the jump for tasting notes on the other three wines we tasted.

Sigel's has just increased the discount at its Lemmon-Inwood store to 40 percent on all remaining merchandise. This is the '50s era store that's closing at the end of April because the wine and spirits chain lost its lease. There's partial list of the wines on the jump.

We'd noted a few days ago the collision of booze and 1950s pop culture that has stood at the intersection of Lemmon and Inwood for a half-century. But at the time, I didn't know much about the history of the sign. Well, now I do. Click here to read a nice note from the guy whose dad designed the sign. And stay tuned. I have an interview scheduled with his dad in the next day or so, which I will also turn into multi-platform journalism.

Fab Photo: GUY REYNOLDS/DMN

Jeffrey Weiss has an interesting story out today on the famed Sigel's sign at Lemmon Avenue and Inwood Road.

Turns out, the '50s-era sign is a prime example of "Googie" (not to be confused with Google), which is an "exaggerated Jetsons-style of architecture named after a Los Angeles coffee shop."

Take a good look now. The Sigel's store closes at the end of the month and the building is scheduled for demolition. No word yet on what will become of the sign.

As for the remaining alcohol on the shelves? You can buy most of what is left for 30% off.

Groovy photo by Guy Reynolds/DMN Staff

"Vive le Coqtail" sounds like a great event, focusing on the contemporary cocktail. It includes tastes of white sangria, a wasabi martini, watermelon gin and tonic, in-house kummel liqueur, truffle-infused Cognac, limoncellini (hopefully made with sommelier Hunter Hammett's house-made limoncello) and more, all matched with small plates - eight courses in all.

It was good enough to make the cut in last Wednesday's print edition of GuideDaily. Unfortunately, the Fairmont Hotel has had to reschedule the Pyramid event from this Wednesday to this Thursday. It's the same program, just postponed a day. The time is 6:30 p.m.; cost is $75. Make reservations at 214-720-5249.

They don't mix, period. Yesterday I ran into an old friend, and we hugged. When I got to the next wine tasting, I realized that I could still smell her perfume on my clothes. Then a server came to fill the glasses, and she added yet another layer of perfume to the air.

I really love these few minutes before a tasting, when the glasses have been filled, giving off a slight aroma, pulling you in. So, do your fellow tasters a favor: skip the cologne, scented lotion and any other aromatics. Thank you.

There's a new online service that helps you find BYO-friendly restaurants in Dallas: www.GoBYO.com. The company that runs the Web site, DiningInfo, says BYOB is a growing trend, and the site does a good job with ferreting out BYOB spots in Dallas.

But here's the rub: It's more complicated than that in Texas.

Only two Texas wines brought home the gold in the 2009 Dallas Morning News Wine Competition, and they're both made in North Texas. (That's out of 156 gold medals awarded.)

2006 Fuqua Vat No. 3 Tempranillo, which I believe is made with Texas High Plains AVA grapes, and sells for $27.95. Tasting notes: "Black ruby purple, youthful, juicy blackberry fruit with dusty tannins and a lingering finish. Nice use of oak." Fuqua Winery is by Love Field.

Landon NV Cuvee Sec Sparkling Wine, which is made by the winery on the square in McKinney and sells for $19.99. Tasting notes: "Aromas of brioche with tropical fruit and creamy texture in the mouth with a touch of yeastiness."

And I have to give a shout-out to New Mexico for its gold-medal winner: 2004 Gruet Winery Blanc de Blancs Methode Champenoise. Price: $24.90. Tasting notes: "Light straw color, a bit sweet with apple, lemon flavors and a very long multi-layered finish. Just keeps coming."

Way to go, guys. Check out Rebecca Murphy's five gold medal picks under $13 here. There's also a link to the entire medal-winner data base.

P.S. Lee Fuqua says yes to the Texas tempranillo, and he also used some grapes from Santa Barbara.

This ended up on the cutting-room floor from yesterday's GuideDaily section, but if you're a fan of Australian wines or you'd like to find out what it takes for a wine to score in the mid- to high 90s, this free tasting is too good to miss:

Sigel's in Addison will be tasting 2004 Clarendon Hills wines made by Roman Bratasiuk. Wines up for tasting include Cabernet Sauvignon Brookman (92rp), Grenache Hickinbottom (94st), Grenache Romas (95ws), Syrah Brookman (95rp), Syrah Moritz (95rp) and Astralis (98rp).

The tasting is from 5 to 7 p.m. tonight at Sigel's, 15003 Inwood Road. Just show up.

With barely two weeks before Sigel's has to be out of the Lemmon-Inwood store (lost their lease), the closeout discount has been increased to 30 percent - and that's on everything in the store.

Farpointe Cellar closed its Frisco location last week, I'm told. That's too bad. It was a nice wine store with good tastings. The original Southlake location is still going strong if you want to check it out.

After you asked me the status on the contest to rename Stoney's, I asked Diana Savage, and here's what she said:

"Thanks for asking! The winning name submitted by George Howald is.......Stoney's Bottle Bargains! Thought it was a bit corny at first, but seems really easy to remember and, visually, new logo-wise, I can see those 2 t's in bottle as wine bottles. We had a lot of interesting suggestions - I plan to use them (and credit the 'owners') on signage in the store.

"We plan to have a Grand Re-Opening to re-inaugurate our small but terribly sincere, back from the brink, wine-only enterprise Saturday, May 2 - multiple wines to taste, cheap (in keeping with the bargain theme) but tasty snacks, maybe live music, and Stoney's inimitable wine notes."

In case you don't know, George is part of the Dallas Morning News Taste Panel and works for Serendipity Wine Imports. Way to go, George. Way to go, Stoney's.

Lee Fuqua writes to say that the four wineries within the Dallas city limits - Calais Winery, Fuqua Winery, Inwood Estates Vineyards and Times Ten Cellars - have banded together under a single Web banner: www.DallasWineTrail.com. Their inaugural tasting event is May 23, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Times Ten.

I think that's a great move because these guys are making some darned respectable wines. But when the Web site claims, "Dallas made wines are some of the best wines made in America," I just want to whisper Tom Peters' words of wisdom: Better to under-promise and over-deliver.

Every Thursday, wine and beverage director Michael Flynn or sommelier Scott Barber host an informal wine tasting from 6:15 to 7 p.m. in The Mansion Bar.

Flynn writes: "We make a point of not announcing in advance what we will be pouring, so folks will not be inclined to shop the programs of their choice. The idea is to be surprised, and informed, and we have already succeeded in changing some minds about wines people were predisposed not to like.

"The format is very informal. No reservations required, no need to dress up, just bring your palates and $25, and be prepared to sample three, four or five delicious wines as we chat about what makes them so distinctive."

I've tasted wines with Flynn, and this is a perfect format for his personality. Time well spent, if you want to broaden your wine horizons.

i just did an orbit that included Central Market, and if you haven't bought wine for your holiday table, the store has Bloom Riesling on sale for $5.95. This is a fresh, friendly wine that would be happy with ham. Yes, it's bit sweet, but the sweetness is well balanced with crisp acidity - a bargain in my book.

CM also has a boatload of Pixie tangerines from Ojai, Calif., which means the real deal. They are a Slow Food Ark of Taste heritage item. I find them sweet and intensely flavorful but not so tangy as some tangerines. I also saw an in-house special: Buy a package of bacon and get a six-pack of eggs free.

Have you noticed how CM is increasing its guacamole sales? There's station in produce where someone is making it at peak times. Pretty irresistible.

This just in from Texas master sommelier Guy Stout: D'Lynn Proctor won first place in the Chaine des Rotisseurs Young Sommelier super-regional competition in Chicago. For winning first place in the Southwest, D'Lynn gets a trip to Sonoma to compete at the national level in May. D'Lynn was briefly the sommelier at Five-Sixty by Wolfgang Puck and kept the wine flowing at Wine'tastic before it closed. Chaine is a very old, very haute food-and-wine society. Way to go, D'Lynn.

The Sigel's at the corner of Lemmon and Inwood, the liquor chain's oldest store, is coming down along with the rest of the '50s-era shopping center to make way for something new. Sigel's has to clear out by the end of April, and rather than move the stock, everything will be on sale for 20 percent off.

I happen to know that the last time I was in a few months ago, there were still bottles of Nyetimber Vineyard English sparkling wine, a killer-good bottle rivaling the Champagne producers across the channel. There are also some Bordeaux, a lot of good California wines, plus single-malt Scotches, tequilas, and more. Small store, good selection.

Response to its recent sale announcement was so strong that Sigel's has added more wines today at its Addiison location. Many of these are restaurant returns.

Pogo's has added more fine wines, including grand cru Burgundies. See the jump for a complete list. The sale runs through the weekend.

I made it by the new Newflower Farmers Market on Henderson near Ross tonight, and what an interesting store. On the one hand, it is a store of "better choices" while also catering to shoppers who are on board the sustainable/organic lifestyle. But I don't know what to make of the candy.

I'll explain.

Just about half the store is fresh produce. Artichokes from Mexico were two for $3. Blackberries from Mexico were 69 cents a half pint. Those are "better choices" than processed foods.

There were also whole Rosie chickens - organic and free-range - and Applegate Farms organic uncured hot dogs made from grass-fed cattle. Both are full-bore, sustainable-ag-supporting choices.

But wait, there's more.

Three retail wine outlets are having significant sales over the next few days. Check 'em out:

La Cave Warehouse: Several excellent French selections are discounted by at least 20 percent. I confess I know few of these wines, but several show well in various publications. For example, the Domaine de la Charmoise, Charmes, Gamay 2007 got two out of three stars from Le Guide Hachette. It's $16.99 a bottle. A Côteaux du Tricastin Blanc, F. Reverdy 2006 is $9.99 a bottle. Click here to see the whole list. Sale ends April 21.

Pogo's: Doing a two-day sale with fair-to-steep discounts on many pricier wines, mostly Bordeaux. See the list on the jump, and there are more markdowns coming. Sale ends Saturday.

Sigel's Addison (15003 Inwood): It's inventory reduction time. A couple of these are limit one to a customer: to wit, the 3-liter Duckhorn Napa Merlot 1986 for $74.99, marked down from $599. No typo. And the 1.5-liter Perrier Jouet Fleur de Champagne 1996, $74.99, marked down from $299. Check out the complete list on the jump.

The "Texas Two-Sip Tele-Tasting" put on by the Texas Department of Agriculture was so cool. Yup: TDA and cool in the same sentence.

Here's how it worked. TDA sent 10 wines in nearly indestructible wrappers to a handful of people who write about wine. They were all tagged - 1A, 1B, 2A, 2B, etc. - and labeled with the varietal.

Then at the designated time, we all signed on to a Webcast - I hope to have the link shortly so you can see it, too - where our tasting guides led us through each pairing.

Our guides were Devon Broglie (Best Sommelier at the 2006 Texsom Conference and a Whole Foods Market Southwest wine buyer) and Craig Collins (second in '06 to Devon, oversees Central Texas sales team for Prestige Wine Cellars). I know both these guys through the Texas Sommelier Association and grape-picking at Guy Stout's Hill Country vineyard.

The varietals - viognier, sangiovese, Rhone reds, tempranillo and orange Muscat - were chosen because they thrive in Texas and point to the future of wine here.

Read on for the details and the promised link.

The e-mail on this got to me too late to include in the regular newspaper listings, so I'm including it here because for the $, it's a nice, informative evening - Cafe on the Green's "wine experience" led by the state's newest master sommelier, James Tidwell, 6 to 7 p.m. Friday.

The subject this time is German wines - not just two excellent rieslings, but also a Villa Wolf Pinot Gris, and Kunstler Pinot Noir, served with German bites created by chef de cuisine Katie Natale for the walk-around style reception. I like these events because sommelier and chef know how to go beyond the perfunctory.

Tidwell is passionate about wine and passionate about sharing what he knows. But in the way of great wine communicators, he meets you at your level of expertise. It's $40 a person. Call 972-717-2420 to make a reservation. The Cafe is located in the Four Seasons Resort and Club, 4150 N. MacArthur, Irving.

Yes, this past weekend I was on a whirlwind tour (no, make that a straight-line wind like freezing bullets) of the Texas High Plains AVA, which many experts believe is the state's best grape-growing region. With wind chill factors in the teens, Mother Nature was not satisfied with her punishment. She had to add flying grit from the rich, red sandy loam soil. We ate it. We wore it. Our eyes teared to remove it. I still had pants-cuffs full of it when I returned home.

But here's the thing you need to know. Set your crosshairs on a May release of a new wine from Llano Estacado Winery in Lubbock: It's called Viviana, the white counterpart to Llano's Vivano red blend of Newsom Vineyard cabernet sauvignon and sangiovese.

Viviana's ripe, tropical fruit jumps out of the glass (the winery had a few bottles without labels for us to try). One sip, and the fruit reasserts itself with layers of honeyed lime, terrific acidity (makes your mouth water) and a creaminess that does not come from oak. This wine sees only stainless steel. It's made from gewurztraminer, riesling, muscat, chardonnay and viognier - which wine savants will recognize as aromatic varietals. Means they smell good like flowers in bloom. But mostly, this is a cool refresher that anyone can enjoy. I don't know the SRP yet, or even where it will be, but I'll keep you posted on this Texas keeper.

I've been tasting a new vodka over the past week or so that's recently arrived in Texas from Sweden, and it just keeps getting better and better. Karlsson's Gold Vodka is so smooth, I'm drinking it neat even without storing it in the freezer. (You could also add a few rocks to throttle down the alcohol.) I swear this vodka gives a suggestion of sweetness plus, yes, a lingering chocolate aftertaste. Ooh la la.

The label says it's the first vodka made from "virgin new potatoes." Before you LOL, that means they're plucked from the ground before they start developing a skin, harvested from June to September at Cape Bjare. It costs about $25 at Goody Goody, and you can find it at the Gaylord Texan.

This is so simple it knocks me out. Last night I dropped by Arcodoro and Pomodoro for an after-dinner drink. My spirit of choice is limoncello, which must be ice-cold to show its best. Out comes the barkeep with frosty glasses from the freezer, filled about half-way with water which, of course, had turned to ice.

With the iced glass, you get this very cool, cheap and easy presentation that keeps the spirit cold on top without diluting it. My companions got the herby, coffee-brown mirto, a Sardinian digestif made from blueberry-like berries.

When the ice melted enough, it popped to the top of the glass as the mirto slid to the bottom. This is about as cheap a thrill as you can find besides watching jets land at Love Field.

The Sig-O froze some half-water-filled glasses to see if you can do this at home, and the results are pictured above right. Looks good enough to drink.

Photo: Italian Wine Guy

Jilted-bride-cum-dancing-queen Melissa Rycroft said goodbye to her job at Glazer's today for the Dancing With the Stars cameras. Dancing partner Tony Dovolani helped her carry out the last boxes. Check it out here on The Blend.

From TINA DANZE:

Recently, I tasted wines from Miguel Torres' Santa Digna Reserve line -- a big step up in quality from Torres' entry level wines, without a big bump in price.

Among the good buys is the Torres Santa Digna Carmenere Reserve 2007 ($12.99). If you're not familiar with carmenere, don't feel too out of it; although it has been planted in Chile for well over 100 years, generations of Chileans thought it was a unusual variant of merlot until the mid-1990's. After two French winemakers analyzed the grapes and re-christened them, carmenere became known as the signature grape of Chile and the lost grape of Bordeaux (the varietal had succumbed to disease in France, but thrives in Chile).

Torres Santa Digna Carmenere Reserve 2007 is a fruity wine with an herbal, earthy quality. Blending with 15 percent cabernet sauvignon lends structure and spicy notes. It's a good wine for the money, and would go well with grilled meats and sausages. You can buy it at Central Market, Cork and DeVine Cellars.

Sigels Elite hosts an imported beer tasting with many producers on hand to chat about their beer-making techniques, style, ingredients and more, 1 to 3 p.m. Saturday. You'll get a free Import Beer Passport that will entitle you to taste up to 20 of the 28 beers on hand. As each beer is sampled, your passport is stamped.

The only catch is you have to RSVP for the tasting by calling Tommy at 214-739-4012 or emailing him at store01@sigels.com

This is the Sigel's at 5757 Greenville just north of Lovers Lane across from Old Town. Click on the jump for a list of participating breweries.

Look for a rebirth of downtown's Swirll next month. The blend-your-own winery closed in December but is scheduled to reopen April 3 under the new ownership of KC Kronbach. General manager Stephanie Speir, who previously worked at Swirll under founders Peggy and Louis Davion, says the new incarnation will keep the do-it-yourself option but expand the concept to include more of a wine-bar feel, including more Texas wines and bottles from well-known producers, along with cheese and salumi platters.

Arcodoro and Pomodoro's Efisio Farris isn't the only local chef getting some national love. The April issue of Food & Wine magazine spotlights Dali Wine Bar and Cellar in an article titled "Where to Go Next: Wine Bars." The article praises both Paul Pinnell's wine list and the food of executive chef Joel Harloff.

In other Dali news, Harloff will be cooking at the famed James Beard House in New York on June 8. The dinner will also feature wines from Napa Valley's Kathryn Hall Vineyards, owned by Dallas businesswoman and former U.S. ambassador to Austria Kathryn Walt Hall.

Chef Avner Samuel has responded to the economic woes by reducing prices at his luxe Highland Park fine-dining restaurant Aurora. A new $45 three-course prix-fixe dinner option is now available Monday through Thursday, and 75 more affordable wines have been added to the wine list, from producers such as Neyers Vineyards, Groom Winery and Patz and Hall. The dining room also sports a more relaxed vibe: The table linens have been removed and the bar area has been expanded to now offer seating.

Talk about grabbing victory from the jaws of defeat. In selling their wines at 30 percent off ostensibly to close the store, Stoney and Diana Savage discovered that there's uber-demand for bargain-priced wines.

"Yesterday, I sold a case of wine for $100 to a guy who drives a Maserati," they write in their newsletter. So now they're going to keep the store open, strip down to the basics (the store, that is) and sell wines at a 30-percent discount all the time. Shades of Jimmy's Food Store. You go, guys.

Oh yeah, the couple is looking for a new name for the store. It should contain "Stoney's" and "wine," but not the words "cheap" or "discount." Whoever comes up with the winning moniker is looking at a case of wine. Stoney's is at 2804 Greenville. Phone: 214-953-3067.

From TINA DANZE:

Oh. My. Dios! I found some great value wines from Spain during Ole Imports' portfolio tasting at Citiplace yesterday. A roundtable discussion with the bold, young Spanish winemakers behind these excellent wines shed more light on how Spain can crank out so many quality wines at bargain prices.

All under 35, the winemakers present were fourth- or fifth-generation grape growers who studied viticulture. Thanks to financial incentives from the European Union, they're part of an up-and-coming small, family-owned winery movement that's changing the face of the Spanish wine industry.

Scott Barber, a sommelier at Rosewood Mansion on Turtle Creek, said a Mansion dinner Monday featuring the wines was hugely successful.

Among the wines delivering excellent quality for the money was the Cortijo Rioja Tinto 2007. This 80 percent tempranillo, 20 percent garnacha blend delivers clean, intense red berry flavors, with the characteristic tempranillo spiciness. Low yields ensure good concentration of fruit, and there's no oak interfering with the clean fruit flavors. It's an easy-drinking wine with silky tannins.

Everyone in the room was elated to learn that it sells for $8.95 at Dallas Central Market. Such a deal!

Even the best brewed Guinness can be spoiled by a surly bartender. Getting it right means a combination of technique and attitude, says Fergal Murray, head brewmaster for Guinness, in Dallas on a promotional tour before St. Patrick's Day.

"It's about creating an experience,'' said Murray, one of the judges at a Guinness pint pouring competition Tuesday at Trinity Hall, the Irish pub and restaurant at Mockingbird Station.

Murray is Dublin's informal ambassador of stout, visiting pubs worldwide to train bartenders on handling Guinnesss -- far more than a simple pop-off-the-bottlecap beer.

Guinness, celebrating its 250th anniversary this year, carries must-do rules for barkeeps. Among them: hold the glass at a 45-degree angle, never let the tap touch the glass, pour about three-quarters to the top, let the Guinness settle and then top it off with a creamy dome. All this in precisely 119.5 seconds.

Murray, who started at the giant brewery as a research chemist, said bartenders who show their appreciation for Guinness will win fans "who will admire you as a professional." The winner of the perfect pouring contest was Trinity Hall's own Izzy Delgado.

For now, Murray is headed to the East Coast, and he'll celebrate St. Pats Day in New York, where he's in line to ring the closing bell at the New York Stock Exchange. In Dallas, the Guinness distributor also is preparing for the green-flavored celebrations. Last year, it shipped more than 820 kegs of Guinness locally during St. Patrick's Day weekend, said Chuck Polette, DFW distribution manager. That alone accounted for almost 10 percent of its annual Guinness keg sales here, he said.

Seth Herman, the Guinness regional marketing manager, said beer drinkers are still looking for an "affordable luxury" and that craft beers are better able to weather the bleak economy.

Savor Dallas capped its fifth year with the International Grand Tasting Saturday night. And while the event may not be recession proof - I saw fewer folks this year than last - the sheer numbers who still showed up at the Westin City Center Dallas and Plaza of the Americas suggest it's at least recession-resilient.

As usual, it was a place to stuff yourself: Small plates add up when you're looking at 60-plus purveyors. Attendees also had 150 wines, beers, spirits and other beverages to choose from.

I've heard complaints that the wines being served were low-end. There were plenty of value wines, yes, but it was also easy to taste better ones, even fine ones, and I'll tell you how in a minute.

Without further ado, here are some highlights of the 2009 extravaganza:

So what if you haven't latched onto a longneck since college? Men.style.com, online home of GQ and Details, is asking people to vote for the Best Blue-Collar Beer.

And, you guys, our National Beer is not doing well. Yuengling, which I have never even heard of, is in first place, followed by Pabst. Lone Star is languishing in sixth out of 14 right now. At least it's ahead of Schaefer, but still.

Click over and give it a thumbs-up before you head home to your swanky imported brew. For old times' sake.

Goodies From Goodman sent an e-blast saying that it's having a "lease-ending" sale, with 30 percent off everything in its store. "Our lease is up at the end of March." This is in-store stuff only - wine, gift baskets. etc. - not goodies from the online store. The Oak Lawn store is at 4222 Oak Lawn.

As for the future of the store, we get only a cryptic, "Stay tuned for an exciting announcement about an alliance between two great companies: In Bloom Flowers and Goodies From Goodman." Those of us with long memories know this isn't the first time Goodies has moved. We'll hold our breath till the announcement.

For wine lovers, Bottle Shock, the movie, was both Valentine and homage to Napa Valley winemaking, dramatizing that moment in history when a blind tasting in 1976 pitted California wines against France's best. To the French's horror and Americans' delight, two California wines emerged victorious at what is now called the judgment at Paris.

Even since I saw Bottle Shock, I have wondered about what seemed to be gaping holes in the story: No mention was made of Mike Grgich, who crafted the winning Montelena Chardonnay. Similarly, Stag's Leap Wine Cellars, whose Cabernet Sauvignon beat out the French reds, was never brought up.

It turns out that they both were in screenwriter Ross Schwartz's original screenplay. He explained this to me at a wine writing symposium in Napa recently. Grgich, in fact, was a central character. But both he and Stag's Leap were written out of the final film by a different screenwriter in an effort to streamline the story. Now you know.

Whole Foods Market is expecting at least 800 fans of Tool and Puscifer front man Maynard James Keenan to line up for a bottle signing at its Plano store. The bottles? Wine from his Arizona Stronghold Vineyards. Keenan will be at the store (2201 Preston at Park) from 4:30 to 7:30 p.m. March 23 with co-owner and winemaker Eric Glomski (also owner and director of winemaking at Page Springs Cellars).

Francois and Anne Chandou sent out an e-blast from La Cave Warehouse, reporting that a supplier had fallen upon hard times and offered them an assortment of French wines at fire-sale prices, many that they are in turn offering at 50 to 60 percent off retail. La Cave is at 1931 Market Center Blvd., Suite 129. The e-mail says the retail store will be open starting Wednesday, although the Web site says they also have Tuesday hours. Best advice: Call to see which is correct. The phone number is 214-747-9463.

The offer is first come-first served, and the prices are good through Saturday. Check out the list on the jump.

Park Cities Prime brings in Remy-Martin Louis XIII Cognac brand ambassador Sten Lilja for a series of Friday cocktail clinics starting this Friday, 5 to 9 p.m. Although he's with Remy now, Lilja worked at some of New York's restaurants and bars in his previous life. Come in the second and final Friday of each month through June for insights, instruction and a special bar menu. No reservations needed. Park Cities Prime is at 8411 Preston (at Northwest Highway).

Muller Thurgau. Torrontes. Verdejo. If you're still clinging to chardonnay, it's time to move on. Check out these 10 white wines recommended by the wine panel.

The panel hasn't picked a Texas wine in awhile, but this time 2006 McPherson Viognier made the cut.

From Tina Danze:
California winemaker Chrystal Clifton of Palmina Wines in Santa Barbara County was at Nonna last night, showcasing the northern Italian varietals that she and husband Steve Clifton share a passion for. You read that right: northern Italian varietals, native to the Piedmont and Friuli regions, produced in sunny southern California.

They were remarkable, and deserving of the praise from national magazines. It turns out that Santa Barbara County is the coldest growing region in California, thanks to freakish east-west mountains that channel cold air from the Pacific and warm air from the desert (every other mountain range in our hemisphere runs north-south). The resulting weird climate conditions end up mimicking those of northern Italy.

Pretty and perky, Ms. Clifton was eager for guests to sample the wines with Chef Julian Barsotti's menu. "Our philosophy is to make wines that are an extension of the plate. I like to say the wine is a glorified side dish. The next sip should make you hungry for the next bite."

Indeed they did. The Palmina Tocai Friulano, Santa Ynez Valley 2007 showed its versatility, pairing beautifully with two very different dishes: a wild nettle spaghettini with Dungeness crab, fennel and chervil, on the light end; and a rich gratin of Nantucket scallops, pancetta and spicy Calabrian chile. Crisp, refreshing, and beautifully balanced, the wine had aspects of both a pinot grigio and a sauvignon blanc -- but without the pronounced herbal quality.

Last week, Kendall-Jackson winemaster Randy Ullom and I participated in what he says is a first-ever experiment in tele-tasting wine. Using Web cams and a conference connection, we each poured four glasses of identical wines and tasted them together - long distance.

It took more than an hour to get the software set up (being first has its drawbacks), and the images are blurry and kinda herky-jerky. But the substance of the session was no different than it would have been sitting across a table from one another.

KJ is testing the system as a way of saving money and travel time. Is it feasible to do this on a larger scale? I think so. Like anything new, it needs some refining. But it was actually a lot of fun.

"We walked into this as virgins," Ullom said at the end of the session. "We are the first."

Read on for the wines we tasted from KJ's Grand Reserve line.

Like Fess Parker, Greg Norman and a gaggle of other celebs before him, comedian Dan Aykroyd is launching his own wines.

He isn't building a winery yet, but he is working with a reputable one. The Dan Aykroyd Discovery Series Chardonnay 2007 and the Dan Aykroyd Discovery Series Cabernet Sauvignon 2007 (both $19.99) are being produced in partnership with De Loach Vineyards in Sonoma, whose owners are the Burgundy-based Boisset family.

Notes on the new releases say Aykroyd is a white Burgundy fan and that he wanted his chardonnay to give a touch of "the Montrachet experience," but with Sonoma fruit. Similarly, they suggest that the cabernet is blended in the Bordeaux tradition, with the addition of merlot and carmenere. Catch the wines locally at Sigel's.

Caveat emptor: Although several celebrities have gone on to produce some decent-to-really-good wines, a big name is no assurance of quality. I was going to write about Danny DeVito's limoncello when it came out in the fall, but it was swill-ish, with an aggressive alcohol flavor that pummeled the requisite lemon and sweet components. And if that wasn't bad enough, it came with a cheesy decorative carafe that was made where? In China.

For fab limoncello, see if you can persuade Pyramid sommelier Hunter Hammett to part with some that he made - with just the right balance of lemony sweet-and-tartness.

It was very cool to share lunch at Adelmo's with Tim Heath, the 33-year-old upstart winemaker at Cloudy Bay, a leader in getting New Zealand sauvignon blanc in front of the world. We tasted the 2008 vintage, which is so crisp and steely that it almost goes "ping!"

"We like to keep the style nice and tight and fresh," says Heath. "It comes across nice and crispy. Freshness, vibrance and zinginess - that's what sauvignon blanc is all about." He really said "zinginess."

You can taste this acid-lover's wine by the glass at Local, Mac's on 7th in Fort Worth or Lonesome Dove, and it's on the wine list as well at Abacus, Trulucks, Grace, the Rosewood Mansion on Turtle Creek, the Fairmont Hotel, Del Frisco's in Dallas, Seventeen-Seventeen, Pappas Bros. Steakhouse, Capital Grill and Al Biernat's. BYOB (Buy your own bottle) at Sigel's, Centennial, Pogo's or Goody Goody for around $28.

I thought The Wine Market & More that was in Turtle Creek Village had gone the way of the sour economy. But no, it's alive and kicking at its new location: 5715 Lemmon Ave. at Inwood.

The space is smaller, says owner Dave Edmondson, but it still will carry 1,000 wines. At the old location, he says, there was a lot of excess space plus this location is better. "28,000 cars a day drive by," he says. You can park in front or in back; there are entries on both sides.

Some sprucing up remains to be done. There's a mural to paint and more bottles to stock. But it is definitely open, 10 a.m to 10 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 1 to 6 p.m. Sunday. Stay tuned for tastings. And if you're confused about the location, it's the new strip center catty-cornered from Sigel's, on the same side as Lowe's.

'Just got a release that says the McKinney location of Kegs & Barrels is closing, noting that the lease was up for renewal and the owners decided not to renew. The store will be open this week from 6 to 8 p.m. and from 1 to 6:30 p.m. Saturday, when presumably everything will be on sale. Kegs & Barrels still has two locations in Plano: 1905 W. 15th St. and 601 W. Parker Road.

Every Thursday, 6:15 to 7 p.m., starting this week, the bar at the Rosewood Mansion is going to have informal wine tasting/chats with either beverage director Michael Flynn or sommelier Scott Barber. It's $25 a person, and rather than following a strict agenda, Flynn or Barber will "pull some corks and lead a discussion on some very cool wines," says Flynn.

If you're interested in wine, whether you're new to the sport or an old hand, this is a great opportunity to chat with a couple of experts who will meet you where you are on the continuum. Besides being an all-round nice guy, Flynn has an astonishing grasp of monde du vino, if that's not mixing (and fracturing) two languages. I guess we can call these "bar-side chats."

This stunner comes from The Cellarist at sfgate.com. Donn Reisen, president of Ridge Vineyards in Cupertino, Calif., was discovered dead in his car Jan. 26, a probable suicide.

Reisen doesn't have any Dallas connection, but anyone who follows California wine knows that Ridge is one of the state's most prestigious winery-and-vineyard operations. Ridge also has made some of the state's best red wines for decades and has resisted the urge to torque up its prices on the strength of its reputation. In fact, several bottles in the $20s and $30s are listed on the winery's Web site. Reisen, who was 60, had worked at the estate since 1977.

You'll recall that Corbett Canyon Chardonnay 3-liter premium cask scored a gold medal in The Dallas Morning News Wine Competition last year, with the Merlot earning a bronze.

Now the prestigious 2009 San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition has named the Merlot Best of Class for Merlots under $15.

People often ask me if box wines are any good. The answer is a qualified yes. In this case, the box merlot beat out wines up to $15 for one bottle. The 3-liter box holds four bottles. That's a value in my book.

You're to be forgiven if you mix up the two "R-with-a-bird-name" California wineries that both make zinfandel. Ravenswood is often confused with Renwood (generic label at right). It was David Crippen, winemaker for the latter, who was in town recently at Cafe Pacific to talk zin - and viognier, too.

In particular, the winery's entry-level wines - the Zinfandel 2005 Sierra Foothills and 2005 Lodi Viognier - are good values in these budget-conscious times. All Renwood grapes are hand-harvested, regardless of which wine they into. With the viognier, "Two things I do differently," Crippen said, "is more crispness and less viognier floral character." The amplified acid gives it a nice, mouthwatering quality.

The zinfandel is a lighter-weight, less spicy wine from the California grape, with 10 to 12 percent primativo added (zin cousin on the grape tree of life). I like the earthy dimension this brings, without weighing down the wine. Both wines are in the $8 to $12 range at places like World Food Whole Foods Market, Central Market, some Krogers and some Tom Thumbs.

As for more devoted zin lovers, there's much to like about the winery's more complex zins, from the 2005 Old Vines to the flagship Grandpere, which tend to favor spice over jamminess. Think old vines, including some cuttings from pre-Prohibition vines. (The vineyards were difficult to reach, resulting in lax enforcement.)

And now, for something not about John Tesar: I rarely get excited about a vodka, but a friend poured Crop organic vodka the other day and it was like a Slow Food version of the spirit. I have never tasted such a clean vodka - so clean and pure it was almost sweet.

That was the plain version. But the one that had me mouth-tripping was the tomato, where the alcohol does a synergetic thing with the tomato to amplify the umami. Load this into a Bloody Mary for an unforgettable mouthful - or just drink it on the rocks. I can't believe I said that about a vodka.

I went to the Crop Web site to find out why it's so good, and it says that not only are the ingredients all organic, but that it is purified to remove "specific" impurities until it reaches a certain flavor profile. No charcoal or carbon treatment is required. It also comes in cucumber, and it's available locally. I think I have seen it at Centennial.

Say it isn't so. But, alas, it's true. Diana Savage sent us a simple e-mail:

Stoney's Fine Wines & Market will be closing Saturday, February 28.

Stoney and I appreciate very much the interest you have shown our store and wish you all the very best in the coming year.

This is a loss for everyone. Stoney started the little wine shop that could in an impossible location where Harry Hines turns to Akard, building up a devoted clientele. Then he and Diana moved to the Greenville Avenue location and combined their passions, with wonderful foods and items from Provence and other areas.

I'll update this report when I find out what the Savages plan to do next.

I made my way to Oak Cliff's Bolsa last night and saw evidence of former reviewer Bill Addison's prediction that neighborhood restaurants are thriving. Bolsa was bustling on a weekday night, with patrons both inside and out on the enclosed patio. There were so many things to like, from the unusual bruschetta (think butternut squash and parchment thin apples) to the staff's genuine and refreshing attentiveness.

But what caught my eye was the useful and approachable wine list. It combines wines in tiers by price and type. So you have whites for $25 a bottle, reds for $25 a bottle, and so on in $10 increments up to $55 a bottle. Not only that, there were some good, sometimes less-well-known wines, including Four Vines "Naked" Chardonnay, Kung Fu Girl Riesling, Cono Sur Pinot Noir from Chile and Sbragia Merlot Home Ranch, Dry Creek.

We ordered the Trivento Torrontes from Argentina's Mendoza Valley ($35 white), a perfect match to seared scallops and velvet-textured mussels. The latter were served in a spicy carrot-ginger base so much like a soup that a spoon was required to finish every drop. Meanwhile, the torrontes grape produced a wine that's like a crisp-fruity cross between riesling and albarino with a pleasant lychee note.

A few more places like this, and we'll have to call Oak Cliff "North Austin."

After navigating various levels of red tape, Calais Winery in Deep Ellum is now legal to serve samples on premise. That means you can sample winemaker Benjamin Calais' whimsically named cuvees made in the French style he learned in St. Emilion while living in Paris.

He's just on the brink of bottling his Cuvee du Commerce 2006 blending 85 percent cabernet sauvignon with 15 percent syrah.

You can taste all his wines paired with a menu by Daddy Jack's Wood Grill chef-owner Salvatore Gisellu at Daddy Jack's at 7 p.m. Thursday; $45. Make reservations by calling 214-653-3949.

Calais is also starting monthly tastings, beginning at 6;30 p.m. Friday, Jan. 23 with Spanish wines; $10. Make a reservation at 214-453-2548.

In April 2004, the guys at Lakewood's Times Ten Cellars pinned their hopes on land outside Alpine, Texas, where they planted their first grapevines, naming the plot Cathedral Vineyard. On Monday, they throw a release party for their first vintage, the 2007 Cathedral Mountain Vineyard Vino de Tierra Alta Texas Red Wine.

Come on by between 5 and 10 p.m. Monday for a complimentary sample and some Spanish tapas. The wine, they say, is very Spanish in style, made with tempranillo, grenache, syrah, cabernet sauvignon and cabernet franc.

Pogo's clearance sale that starts today includes discounts of up to 35 percent on some wines. Reducing inventory and all that. Early birds get the best pickin's.

Red dot = 35 percent
Yellow dot = 25 percent
Green dot = 15 percent

See a sample of the marked-down wines on the jump.

It's three weeks and counting till the bar-restaurant Zymology opens at 2010 Greenville, next door to Teppo. Here's what the advertisement for staff says on Craig's List:

"This is not your normal Lower Greenville establishment, we are one of the new faces of the area. Zymology is a restaurant that serves a wide range menu, a specialty beer list as well as a unique wine list."

Zymology - it figures. The word means the chemistry of fermentation. There's a Web site at zymologydallas.com, but about all you'll find there is a phone number and a map with no address. At least, for now.

Having blogged about using Peter Schaar's historical chili recipe with elk here, I'm ready to report the results.

Sublime, baby, just sublime.

Although the cauldron of cooking chili in the photo looks reddish - that might have been right after we added the ancho paste - it ended up a deep brown. The flavors were complex and intense, with the only difference (from Schaar's, made with pastured local beef), slightly denser meat. A squeeze of lime juice added to the complexity.

We paired our chili with Corn-Kits muffins (savory, no sugar added) and the 2006 Lost Angel Petite Sirah, a "heavenly" complement to the chili's beefy, chile flavors. (The wine is about $12 at places like Majestic, Andrew's Fine Beverages, Kindred Spirits and Two Bucks.) The only real problem with the chili - and Schaar warned us about this - is the searing step: makes a mess on your stove. Worth it.

Arcodoro-Pomodoro tells Teresa Gubbins that it's leaving its Routh Street digs to take over the (snake-bit) Bice space at the Hotel Crescent Court. (Yeah, but how can they move the garden?) She says the Farris family, which owns the Routh Street space, will install another restaurant there. Read about it here.

TG also notes that Brut Champagne Bar on Mockingbird will close after New Year's Eve tonight, another victim of the economy. Read about it here. Besides the reasons TG posits, I don't think this location did owner Ildefonso Jimenez any favors: It was neither visible nor easily accessible on the side of the Hotel Palomar, and walk-up traffic was zip. If today's the last day, 'might be able to pick up a discounted NYE sparkler.

Michael Hiller, our intrepid special contributor who reviews restaurants, reports from the field:

Pappas Bros. Steakhouse is responding to the challenging economic times by growing their wine list and preferentially expanding their under-$70 selections to nearly 200, according to master sommelier and wine director Barbara Werley.

"We've added incredible value wines from all over the globe," she says, "like three zweigelts from Austria [that's a red grape varietal], a dozen rieslings and my current favorite, Giuseppe Lonardi's Valpolicella Ripasso for $52."

All right, all right, these aren't Wal-Mart wine prices. As with so many things in life, economic challenges are relative.

If you are looking for the "perfect" gift for a wine lover, Sigel's wants you to know that it has a couple dozen 100-point, 99-point and 98-point Bordeaux (Robert Parker, Wine Spectator scores) for sale, priced from $110 (the '05 Clos Fourtet from St. Emilion) to $4,000 ('05 Chateau Petrus Pomerol). I'll run the whole list on the jump.

I wish the 100-point wines (pretty much all Grand Crus) and 30 percent discount were linked, but they're not. If you don't live in the stratosphere of multiple-hundreds-of-dollars wines, Tom Thumb has a more earthbound proposition starting tomorrow: 30 percent off all still wines over $20.

At stores like the Old Town location with large wine departments, there are some good values to be had. And if you buy six bottles, you get an additional 10 percent off. Given that TT doesn't command massive mark-ups in the best of times, this is hard-core value shopping.

News about a champagne tasting, the smoking ban and more here.

For some cool and different wine gifts, check out my story "Take 5: wine" here. The Wine Trials book will shock you - so many good, inexpensive wines preferred over pricey ones. And local chocolatier J Dorian's Special Reserve Tasting Bars are made to taste with wine and spirits.

But the real mind-blower for me and my ultra-wine-geek Sig-O was the Eisch breathable glass. 'Don't know what the technology is, but it works to amplify the good qualities of a wine without damaging its essential nature. Go figure.

One gift that didn't make the cut just because it wasn't in distribution when the story was written is Dr. Loosen's cute little 187-milliliter Beerenauslese Riesling(or "BA" for short) that comes in a tube. The wine itself is in a bottle - a sleek, custom-made number with Dr. Loosen embossed on the bottom. Then the bottle is in turn slipped into a tube.

Only 7 percent alcohol, the wine is a vibrant dance of honeyed sweetness (from botrytis-infected grapes) and mouth-watering crispness, with lots of lovely layers to savor. It's at Cork, Chocolate Secrets and PoGo's for between $24 and $26. Not cheap. That's because Dr. Loosen makes great German wines.

Pegasus reports that Swirll Winery, the downtown spot in the lobby of the Davis building on Main where you can make your own wine, will close for good Dec. 20. "We ran out of money," co-owner Peggy Davion told Teresa Gubbins. You can read more here.

Over on D Magazine's SideDish blog, Nancy Nichols says five restaurants are struggling to stay open till the end of the year. She's even turned off comments to avoid speculation about who's in hot water. Good idea. (Read more here.)

Finally, out in Napa, Copia has closed to reorganize under Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, according to the Los Angeles Times (whose parent company, Tribune Co., is also in Chapter 11). Also known as the American Center for Wine, Food and the Arts, Copia was started by the late vintner Robert Mondavi in 2001 as a facility to celebrate food and wine. Read more here about its shuttering, which officials at Copia say is temporary.

I'm glad it's in the high 90s somewhere, even if it's just wine scores. If you know a wine geek who loves Robert Parker, Pogo's has several upper-90s-scoring, sometimes hard-to-find California reds. Some even have a few bucks knocked off the regular price. To wit:

• 99 - 2004 Colgin Cellars Cariad Red Wine Napa Valley $550


• 98 - 2004 Colgin Cellars IX Estate Red Wine Napa $500


• 96 - 2005 Dominus Estate Red Wine Napa $140


• 96 -2005 Spottswoode Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon St. Helena $129


• 96 - 2005 Anderson's Conn Valley Vineyards Eloge Napa $79.99

It's such a gimmick, but it's so cute. Sigel's will take 20 percent off all wines in a category of wine each day through Dec. 13. Yesterday was Italy and Spain. Today it's Chile and Argentina. Here's a list of the other days and discounted categories:

Dec. 3: Red Rhones
Dec. 4: California whites
Dec. 5: French whites
Dec. 6: Red Bordeaux
Dec. 7: Closed
Dec. 8: Dessert wines
Dec. 9: California, Washington, Oregon and Texas reds (except cabernet sauvignon)
Dec. 10: Champagnes and sparkling wines
Dec. 11: Australia and New Zealand
Dec. 12: Red Burgundy
Dec. 13: Domestic cabernet sauvignon, including California, Washington, Oregon and Texas

Aw, isn't that label just the cutest thing? That's Mionetto Novello, an Italian answer to Beaujolais nouveau, made with 100 percent merlot from the hill country north of Venice. The "new" wine is a fresh, young, cheerful red, and the price is right: $10.99 at Jimmy's Food Store, Fitzhugh at Bryan. Co-owner Paul DiCarlo has just 10 cases, probably fewer now.

Lubbock-based Texas winemaker Kim McPherson came through town with some new vintages and a new wine line, Hook, Line and Sinker. The white: "This is a blend of chenin blanc, viognier, French colombard and sauvignon blanc," he says, modeled after Australia's Shoofly "Buzz Cut," but made with all-Texas grapes. It's clean, crisp and light with nice honey-tropical notes, a good selection to have on hand for the holidays.

The companion HLS wine, also made from all-Texas grapes, is a dark rose blending cabernet sauvignon, merlot, ruby cabernet and carignan. With a profusion of strawberry-raspberry, it's bright and juicy, made for those who prefer a fruitier wine (and there are plenty in Texas). If that sounds a little like Cap Rock's Blush Royale, McPherson used to be the winemaker at that West Texas winery.

The Hook, Line and Sinker wines are so new they're not even on McPherson's Web site and are available locally at Market Street only for now, about $10 a bottle. But that's expected to change.

McPherson recently completed his renovation of the old Coca-Cola bottling plant in Lubbock, transforming it into his winery. It happens to be just across the street from La Diosa Cellars, his wife's winery and tasting room. Nothing like keeping it all in the family.

There have been some good sales at other stores that I haven't posted and, no, Sigel's has no special cache with me. It's just that these restaurant-inventory reduction sales slash prices so low that they're competitive with cheap wines. But they're so much better for your buck.

To wit: Rutz '05 Dutton Ranch Pinot Noir, $9.99 (retail is $49.99), Rutz '05 Russian River Pinot Noir, also $9.99 (retail, $59.99), Novy '05 Unti Syrah ($8.99, regular $29.99), Jeboulet Crozes '99 Hermitage Thalabert ($9.99, regular $49.99). Not every mark-down is that dramatic - and some are much higher-priced wines, such as Spain's Vega Sicilia 2001 Valbuena Five Year ($49.99, from $159.99).

This unadvertised sale is only at the Sigel's at 15003 Inwood Road in Addison. Read on for a list of some of the wines offered.

A group of Francophiles was both charmed and challenged last night at Chateau Wine Merchant's Bodega Bar by Alexandre Martin and his introduction to Le Nez du Vin, Jean Lenoir's French method for codifying and understanding the aromas in wine.

Think of it, Martin began by saying, as a wine vocabulary. Martin is not only wise in the ways of wine (he started his career at the Paris Wine Museum), he also translated Le Nez into Russian - and spoke to us in perfect if accented English. So this guy was running on a few more cyclinders than most of us.

We were huddled around a long table in the wine cellar, when Martin started with a PowerPoint overview of AOCs (appellations) in France, noting that there are underlying aromas common to the wines from each one. We were told that there are three classifications of aromas: primary, from the grapes themselves; secondary, from the oak barrels; and tertiary, from storage (aged wine vs. young).

Whoa, was there going to be test later? 'Turns out, yes, sort of.

Every day this week, the Wine Spectator is unveiling two wines on its list of the year's 10 best. Click here to see numbers 7 through 10, then check back daily to get the rest of the list. The rest of the top 100 will follow later.
Have you tried any of them? I can tell you that my wine panel pals are waiting to see if The Prisoner, a lush red blend out of California that's generated some buzz, makes the list.
The Dallas Central Market store poured The Prisoner at a recent party to unveil new features at the store. I'm not sure, but I think they assigned a waiter to make sure my glass stayed full.

Kozy Kitchen and Grand Tastings across the street on McKinney have always had a close relationship. Now it's fixing to get closer. Grand Tastings owner Terri Burney is shuttering the wine tasting and retail space and moving in to Kozy Kitchen with her concept in tow.

She's now the sommelier for KK. Besides offering the same retail option (think bottles racked vertically to the ceiling), Kozy Kitchen will offer "small plates" and appetizers designed to go with wine as well as continue the tradition of wine tasti