Well, folks, it’s been almost a year and half since I braved a sushi trailer in June and lived to tell about it. In that time, I’ve circled Texas’ cities in search of the best trailer food. I’ve binged on bulgogi-and-kimchee tacos, bogarted some barbecue, gorged on doughnuts, imbibed a bacon milkshake, and become the queen of the pork belly slider. I’ve also gotten to know a ton of small business owners, as well as learned that you can’t always count on the food trucks to be open. But my trailer reign is coming to a close. Blame it on my high cholesterol or my growing need to eat somewhere with air-conditioning in the 106-degree heat, but don’t for a minute think that it means I don’t love the trailer scene, especially here in Austin.

But even though I’ve reviewed 62 trailers and eaten at dozens more (don’t remind me about the inedible salmon, feta, and raspberry vinaigrette hoagie from a place that shall go unnamed), I’ve never mentioned my favorite trailer of all time: East Side King. This baby has become the closest thing we have to a trailer chain, with locations at Liberty Bar, the Grackle, and its newest location, the Shangri-La.

While all three of Paul Qui, Moto Utsonomaya, and Ek Timrek’s brightly graffitied trucks serve delicious offerings, sometimes oldies really are golden. And I don’t care if that makes me sound like one of those indie snobs who only listen to Radiohead’s early albums. My favorite is still the Liberty trailer’s fried Brussels sprout salad, with crispy fried Brussels sprouts, crunchy cabbage, a sweet-spicy sauce, and more fresh basil, cilantro, and mint than an herb garden in springtime. The fresh jalapeños and onion are a nice touch too. Of course, it’s hard to beat the Thai Chicken Karaage, which is the Uchi/Uchiko chefs’ version of chicken nuggets on crack: tender chicken bites with a perfect fried crunch and an addicting sweet-and-spicy sauce. Junk food at its fusion finest.

The trailer at the Grackle has a nice menu as well. They were out of pork belly on the day I visited, but that suited me just fine (see above about the profusion of pork belly I’ve polished off in my time). I was happy with the yakitori with rice, an Asian-barbecue chicken thigh with slightly sour pickled cabbage and vegetables served with kewpie mayo and deliciously sticky rice with green onion on top. The pork ribs, though, stole the show. The huge grilled ribs were dry-rubbed and then doused with tare (a sweet Japanese barbecue sauce), then sprinkled with sesame seeds and green onion. I had to fight my friends for the last bits of tender, falling-off-the-bone meat.

Now, what I haven’t mentioned are East Side King’s buns. A twist on the classic Chinese bao, the sticky steamed buns are served at both the original and newest location. But they’re ideal at the idyllic, divey Shangri-La. I liked the “Pho” Buns Au Jus. Kind of like a sandwich, the pillowy bao wraps around all of the fixings for pho: slightly stringy, thinly sliced beef; fresh cilantro and jalapeño, Sriracha, Hoisin sauce, and onion slices, with crispy shallots on top. To top the bun off, you dip the whole thing in wonderfully salty pho broth, the “au jus.”

I wasn’t as much of a fan of the curry tteokbokki. The tteokbokki itself was amazing. A Korean street food described on the menu as a “rice cake,” it resembled very dense, chewy French fries. But the rich curry (with Enoki and king oyster mushrooms) was too gelatinous for my taste. With some refinement, though, this dish could be the Asian answer to Canadian poutine.

When I started this weekly series, East Side King was a six-month-old baby with only one location. The trailer scene itself was well on its way, but it was nothing like what we see today. Now trailers are a living and breathing force in Austin, and more and more of them are driving into Houston, San Antonio, and, hopefully, Dallas.

Don’t think my “epic trailer quest” ends here. There are still too many to try (Mrs. P.’s Electric Cock in Austin, Eatsie Boys in Houston). But carrying the torch for me on Eat My Words will be Jason Cohen and the rest of Texas Monthly’s fine web team. Going forward, you can read my writing in CultureMap Austin, Tribeza (forthcoming in October), and other publications around town. And you can always find me at megangiller.com, or the nearest food trailer.

At the Liberty: 1618 E. 6^th. Open 7 days a week, 5 p.m.–1:45 a.m. At the Grackle: 1700 E. 6^th (512-422-5884). Open Mon–Sat 5 p.m.–1:45 a.m., Sun noon–1:45 a.m. At the Shangri-La: 1016 E. 6^th. Open Mon–Sat 7 p.m.–1:45 a.m. Closed Sun.

Photos of trailer, ribs, and pho buns by Marshall Wright.

Posted by Megan Giller. To read more from Megan Giller, check out CultureMap Austin, Tribeza, or megangiller.com.

Tagged: Asian fusion, East Side King, Megan Giller, Trailer Thursday

Inwood Estates Vineyards Palomino Chardonnay courtesty of inwoodwines.com

In the past two years, we’ve spotlighted a number of different varietals that make great wine around the state. At this point, you’re likely familiar with Viognier and Tempranillo as the star grapes of Texas. (Be on the look out for Roussane (white) and Mourvedre (red) to make some headway in coming years.) But you’ve probably not seen a lot of talk about Palomino—and no, we’re not talking about the type of horse known for its golden coat and white main. Don’t feel bad, few people are probably familiar with this grape. It’s a popular grape in Spain, but few other places and it’s primarily used for making sherry, a fortified dessert wine made from white grapes.

But Dallas winemaker Dan Gatlin of Inwood Estates Vineyards took an interest in Palomino long ago and used Chardonnay to create a beautiful white wine blend. It’s a bit of an odd duck wine that sings with nectar and vanilla aromas and sits at the top tier of Texas wines.

Which is why Craig Collins of the Prestige division of Glazer’s Distributors has helped us select the August Texas Wine of the Month: Inwood Estates Palomino Chardonnay 2008.

“I have never seen this blend from any other country or region which is one of the reasons I like it so much and the fact that it is from Texas makes it all the better. This is a one-of-a-kind blend from Hunt County Texas near the Texas-Oklahoma border,” says Collins who is one of the recent additions to the small circle of Master Sommeliers in the state of Texas. (Read more about Collins here.) “These two grapes dance very well together with the Chardonnay adding richness and tropical fruit while the Palomino translates an expression of terroir and adds a beautiful mouth feel and textural component to the wine. This wine demonstrates a true sense of place and display notes of grilled pineapple, summer melon and lemon zest with well-balanced oak and a white flower bouquet. Not knowing, some might think this wine was from France.

“This wine is deserving of the Wine of the Month selection not only because of it’s uniqueness but  also because it is one of the best white wines being made in the great state of Texas. It is very food friendly and pairs perfectly with a fatty fish dish or grilled pork and chicken. One of my favorite pairing with this wine is a rosemary and lemon grilled pork chopped with grilled summer vegetables.”

At $59.50 a bottle, this is a serious Texas wine. And though you may want to save this for a special occasion, it’s complexity of flavor will reward you upon first taste.

Winery: Inwood Estates Vineyards

Price: $59.50

Availability: Central Market, Whole Foods, Spec’s, Richard’s Fine Wines, Twin Liquors

- Jessica Dupuy

Tagged: Craig Collins, Dan Gatlin, Inwood Estates Palomino Chardonnay

(Editor’s Note: This guest post about last week’s Texas Sommelier Conference comes from San Francisco food, wine and spirits writer Jordan Mackay, a James Beard Award-winning author for his 2010 book with Rajat Parr, “Secrets of the Sommeliers.” But we knew him when!)

At TEXSOM, if you were not in a suit and tie, you’d have been likely to feel underdressed. But that’s part of the culture at the Texas Sommelier Conference: everyone’s suited up most all the time. Yet, thanks to the fact that they’re tasting wine all day, they’re likely still having more fun than you.

And when they’re not drinking wine, they’re drinking coffee. And when they’re not drinking coffee, they’re drinking Campari, which the bartender of the lobby bar in the Four Seasons at Las Colinas, where the convention took place, told me the hotel stocks up on before the conference. The thirsty, wined-out sommeliers likely drink as much of the red Italian aperitif (with soda or in Negronis), he said, as the hotel goes through the rest of the year. (Other preferred non-wine alcoholic beverages included Aperol and Fernet Branca, as well as mezcal.)

The bulk of the conference is taken up with education. In-depth wine seminars ran constantly for two days as heavily credentialed experts discoursed from the dais on subjects like “Grenache around the World” and “Red Wines of Burgundy’s Cote d’Or” to hundreds sitting quietly in the audience, taking notes and trying not to spill any of the eight glasses of wine they had lined up before them.

And all the while this was going on, a crew of masters from the Court of Master Sommeliers, the premier sommelier training and certification organization in the world, was putting 23 young sommeliers through a grueling multi-day examination to determine the winner of the Texas Best Sommelier 2011. The ultimate champion, Bill Elsey, was crowned at TEXSOM’s concluding event, the Grand Tasting, at which dozens of invited wineries and importers poured their wares for all the convention’s attendees.

TEXSOM is of particular relevance to me as, when I left Austin and Texas Monthly in 2001 to pursue my own interest in wine outside Texas, there were, to my knowledge, no dedicated sommeliers in Austin. I hardly knew what a sommelier was when I arrived in San Francisco later that year. Yet destiny led me to fall in love with and, in 2006, marry, a sommelier. Last year, I published Secrets of the Sommeliers. These days, as I learned at TEXSOM, Austin has several sommeliers, like the spirited June Rodil (who won Texas Best Sommelier in 2009) of Congress and the affable Mark Sayre of the Four Seasons (2007’s winner).

Texas has long been an important place for wine, even if it wasn’t noted for its sommelier community. Rebecca Murphy, who was one of the first members of the modern sommelier profession in Texas, starting in Dallas in 1972, remembers there being no culture of the professional wine steward. “I was working by myself, figuring out how to be a sommelier on the job,” she said. Today Murphy writes periodically on wine for the Dallas Morning News and runs its wine competition (more…)

Tagged: Bill Elsey, Court of Master Sommeliers, Drew Hendricks, Jordan Mackay, Rajat Parr, Rebecca Murphy, sommeliers, texas, Texas Sommelier Conference, wine

TEXSOM. Say it like it sounds. Tech-Somm. No, it’s not a new form of Texas cuisine, as in Tex-Mex. And no, it’s not a new style of Texas line dancing blended with the Samba. It stands for the Texas Sommelier Conference and if you’re in the wine industry, you’ve at least heard of it, if not become a regular attender.

TEXSOM 2011 was held just last week at the Four Seasons Hotel Resort and Club in Colinas following the Court of Master Sommeliers Level 1 Course and exam. It’s actually the only one of its kind in the country. Formed by Texas-based Master Sommeliers James Tidwell of the Four Seasons Las Colinas and Drew Hendricks of Pappas Bros., the conference is a central meeting place where sommeliers from across the nation (and globe) congregate to network, brush up on characteristics of specific grape varietals, regions, and basically taste a whole lot of wine. (In one day alone, I counted a total of 42 wines tasted. And just to be clear, no one with any common sense actually drinks the wine completely; you taste and spit, otherwise you’d be a stumbling fool.)

James Tidwell and Drew Hendricks

In its 8th year, the event, hosted by the not-for-profit organizations Texas Sommelier Association and the Wine and Food Foundation of Texas, has attracted more than 2,200 wine professionals from across the United States.

“Every year, the conference reflects greater diversity,” says Tidwell. “This year we featured an amazing vertical tasting with celebrated winemaker Serge Hochar, who traveled all the way from Lebanon and shared wines dating back to 1969. No other conference integrates all levels of the business and welcomes the public like this one does.”

In addition to the unparralleled experience of having Serge Hochar from Chateau de Musar–a rare occassion that brought a hush over a room full of sommeliers–TEXSOM hosted it’s annual competition to determine the Best Texas Sommelier of the Year, a key component that occurs in the background of the conference for a hand-picked 20 candidates from across the state. To participate, candidates must be a current resident of Texas and must not have passed the Court of Master Sommeliers’ Advanced Exam.

This year the distinction went to Bill Elsey, Director of Sales for D’Amore Wine Selections a wine distribution company owned by Duchman Family Winery.  Elsey outperformed his fellow Texas compatriots in an intense three-part examination involving service, blind tasting, and theory and proctored by a panel of Master Sommelier judges. (more…)

Tagged: Bill Elsey, Drew Hendricks, Duchman Family Winery, James Tidwell, TexSom

Good Afternoon Masters and Fellow Students

In assessing the wine in front me, I see this wine is clear and bright, with a medium intensity. It is ruby-to-garnet in color with little rim variation and a medium-plus viscosity.

The nose is clean with a medium-plus intensity and an aged aroma with baked black cherry, plum, and cinnamon as well as damp tobacco, purple flowers, pepper and dried herbs.

On the palate, the wine is bone dry, full, and confirms the dark fruit and earth on the nose. Tannins, alcohol, acidity, complexity, and length are all medium-high to high.

Based on this my initial conclusion is that this is an Old World wine from a warm climate. It is a granache grape variety from the Southern Rhone region of France, probably from Chateauneuf du Pape, 2006 vintage.

Learning to Blind Taste Wine

This is an example of a four-part analysis required of me and 98 fellow classmates for the Level 1 course for the Court of Master Sommeliers, a two-day intensive overview of wine history, theory, and tasting analysis. The Court is the premier international examinging organization for professionals in the wine industry and there are four levels one must pass to become a Master Sommelier: Introductory, Certified, Advanced, and Master. Achieving the distinction of Master Sommelier takes years of preparation and an unwavering commitment.

Masters are not only required to have an extensive knowledge of wine and a well-honed palate, but they must also be able to flawlessly execute professional wine service. (This includes knowing how to properly open a sparkling wine bottle, knowing to always serve to the right of the customer and then clockwise around the table, and knowing how to open and decant an aged bottle of fine wine without disturbing any sediment in the bottle.)

After a few blind tasting examples in teams, it was time for individuals to stand and volunteer to do a complete deduction alone. Enter Jonathan JR Clark, 37, of Central Market in Houston. This time, the Master Sommeliers were counting for time. (For the Master Sommelier exam, students have 4 minutes to draw a final conclusion)

Though a little nervous, JR managed to meander his way through the significant details of the wine and narrow his selection down to a 2009 Chenin Blanc from the Loire Valley. He did it in just over 6 minutes.

JR Clark of Central Market Houston drawing a final conclusion on a blind taste

Is this something I see myself doing a few years from now? Probably not–though I haven’t made a final decision yet–but I do want to expand my knowledge of the wine world and the structure and educational guidance from the Court of Master Sommeliers is unmatched. Which is how I found myself in this intensive two-day course furiously taking notes and meticulously reviewing a comprehensive study guide for a 70-question exam.

For JR, it means a little more than that. “As a buyer for Central Market in Houston, Clark started down this track to help make him better at his job. “I owe it to my customers to know as much as I can about wine,” says Clark. “I owe it to myself too if I want to stay in this industry.”

After months of preparation, hours of studying and a few minutes of last minute cramming, we all took our exam. Though I can’t divulge some of the questions we answered, I can say that you had to know a lot more than the fact that Bordeaux is a wine region in France. Following the exam, we adjourned to a private suite where we celebrated with what else? Wine!

The tests were quickly graded and a parade of Master Sommeliers entered the room with a stack of certificates in their hands. Master Sommelier Guy Stout (of Houston) stood at the front of the room calling out names and handing out certificates with an official Court of Master Sommelier pin like he was Santa Claus at Christmas.

Jessica Dupuy (Writer) and Denise Fraser showing off their Level 1 Sommelier certificates

Did I pass? Yes! Although I was one of the last names called grew more and more nervous with each name called before mine. In the end, a few months of hard work paid off. And the seed to move forward to the next level was planted. But for now, I’m thrilled to have a better appreciation for what it takes to be a sommelier. As for JR Clark – he passed too.

Google Streetview/Allison Matsu.

If you love reading mean YouTube comments, you’ll enjoy Houston’s latest Twitter spat. Prolific tweeter Allison Matsu (with 42,361 tweets and counting!) was ejected from the Height’s Down House Sunday for sending an angry tweet, since deleted, about the bartender, calling him a “twerp” and using the hashtag #jackoff after he supposedly insulted Houston restaurateur Bobby Heugel. Down House’s general manager, Forrest DeSpain, called the bar after he saw the tweet and told Matsu to leave, Eating Our Words reported. As with many Internet scandals, everyone emerges from this one looking childish.

While you can expect to be shown the door for shouting at a bartender, would a mean comment whispered to another patron earn you the same treatment? Sam Biddle raised that question on Gizmodo. But Twitter “straddles a bizarre line between private and public,” Biddle writes. And Matsu could have anticipated that an employee of the bar could see her comment while she was still there. “The moral of the story?” Houston Eater asks. “Think before you tweet, and don’t insult the bartenders at Down House on Twitter until you’ve already left the place.”

What’s the fallout? Matsu says she’s banned from both Down House and Heugel’s Anvil Bar. Meanwhile, on Twitter, Matsu is claiming not to want the attention, but also appears ready to capitalize on her five minutes of Internet stardom, and is considering making T-shirts to sell. As for Down House, well, the bar-restaurant-coffeehouse is now trying to make Twitter-scandal lemonade with a contest, offering a $50 gift card to the person who can come up with the “most creative most insulting” tweet about the establishment.

Heugel was not amused with the whole mess. “So a relatively new restaurant had a conflict with a guest – ok? Based on yesterday’s reactions, you would think the Down House bussers pulled out AK-47’s killed everybody in the dining room and slapped a baby in the parking lot on the way out,” he writes on his blog. Of all the media attention, he wrote: “Did someone really just tell me that Channel 2 picked this story up??? Slow day in Somalia I guess…”—Sonia Smith.

This week I thought I’d take a cue from Jared Fogle, of acclaimed Subway fame, and start my own sub sandwich diet. But rather than jump on the Subway bandwagon a decade too late, I decided to support Austin’s neighborhood trailer sub shop, Short Bus Subs.

Of course, my resolve was detained by a couple of days due to other trailers, so really my diet began mid-week. On Tuesday I waddled over to the bright yellow school bus at Mueller to pick up a Teacher’s Pet, a turkey sandwich with a twist. Always a straight-A student myself, in high school my sack lunches consisted of whole-wheat sandwiches with a few chaste pieces of sandwich meat. Oh, what I was missing! The thick mound of sliced smoked turkey, the generous slatherings of cream cheese and mashed avocado, the crispy cracklings of bacon. And don’t forget the salsa, tomatoes, and shredded lettuce on top (I am on a diet, after all). Put together on a toasty hoagie roll, the sandwich more than satisfied.

On Wednesday I went with the jalapeño chicken sandwich, having read in Cosmo long ago that spicy foods are good for weight loss. If the salsa gave the Teacher’s Pet a surprising little kick, the chipotle sauce and pickled jalapeños on this sammy would have knocked her straight into the principal’s office. Fortunately it was saved by the yogurt-marinated, tender chicken, as well as the melty cheddar cheese and cooling lettuce and tomato. The obviously old, stale chocolate chip cookie, though, definitely disappointed. I’ve never been known to waste sweets, but I threw most of mine out.

Today’s entrée has been the best yet: the Hot Teacher. I liked the fat slices of mozzarella and cheddar paired with the sun-dried tomato pesto, red pepper, and whole sun-dried tomatoes. But what really made the sandwich were the flavorful strips of roasted portobellos. The whole thing most resembled a vegetarian pizza, but hey, I’m not complaining. I figure that if I keep eating these babies almost every day, I’ll look like Cameron Diaz in Bad Teacher.

Besides for Short Bus Subs’ made-from-scratch bread (slightly sweet and perfectly toasted every time), I also like that they’re located off the beaten track for trailers. Rather than getting lost in the traffic of East Sixth or South Austin, they cater to the North Austin crowd. One bus is permanently parked during the weekdays in the Mueller development, and the other one roams northern locations like the Domain and the Arboretum.

Tomorrow I’m planning to get the Summer Vacation, to celebrate the last few weeks before it’s over. Honey ham, provolone, Parmesan, marinara, pineapple, and crushed red pepper.

But first, let’s step on the old scale here and see how much weight I’ve lost. Hey, wait, that’s five pounds more than last week . . .

Bus #1: rotating locations, check website for schedule (512-535-SUBS). Bus #2: Old Mueller Airport Hanger, 4209 Airport Blvd (512-535-SUBS). Mon–Fri 7:30 a.m.–8 p.m., Sat & Sun 9–8.

Posted by Megan Giller. To read more from Megan Giller, visit her website at www.megangiller.com.

Tagged: sandwiches, Short Bus Subs, Trailer Thursday

Awww. Bon Appétit is lovin’ on Austin again: On its website, bonappetit.com, Austin restaurant Congress was just named number nine of the magazine’s ten best new restaurants in America. Way to go, chef David Bull! (Bon Appétit is on a Texas tear; about a month ago they named our own Franklin Barbecue the best barbecue joint in America.) It’s so nice to get well-deserved national press that I feel a little rude mentioning that the picture on the magazine’s site is not of Congress but of its sister restaurant, Second Bar + Kitchen. But I did a complete double-take when I read that Congress serves “distinctly American comfort food.” Say what? You have to wonder what they are smoking up there at Bon Appétit. Here are the first three items from tonight’s seven-course dinner menu at Congress:

American Ossetra caviar with carrot-citrus mousse and dill

Hamachi sashimi with avocado, avocado, grapefruit, turnip, and chives

Oxtail ravioli with goat cheese, ratatouille, and toasted garlic.

Ah, yes, when I was a child, we often gathered around the kitchen table and slathered caviar on Texas Toast before digging into a big ol’ pot of hamachi sashimi. Yum. Thank you, chef Bull, for keeping those beloved traditions alive.

As a barbecue trailer in Texas, the Smoke Shack, in San Antonio, has quite a reputation to live up to. Franklin Barbecue has changed the game for all of us, and even Hitler is into their ‘cue. While no one can live up to that kind of marbled perfection, the Smoke Shack turns out some tender plates on the weekdays and tasty sliders on the weekends.

My favorite was the chopped brisket slider, with a tiny toasted bun and plenty of sauce to go around. The pulled pork was addictive, tender and juicy, and the thinly-sliced sausage, though a bit chewy, satisfied nonetheless. If anything, the only downside of the meal was the overly sweet sauce that made it feel a bit like eating dessert rather than hunkering down with a big hunk of meat.

Now for the sides. I liked the spicy corn in a tomato base, with a fun kick that hit the back of your throat when you least suspected it. The potato salad was nice as well, with little mayo or mustard but instead big chunks of potato with the skin still on—rustic and filling, though it had enough pepper to make the slider next to it sneeze. The coleslaw was the perfect crunch on a hot summer day.

Whereas Franklin’s exterior recalls 1960s kitsch, the Smoke Shack hits up Texas vintage in the best way: distressed, gray wood, an American flag, and the truck’s name branded on the side as if the trailer itself were a nice, fat cow in the pasture. Chris Conger, a former chef at Dallas’ Smoke restaurant who runs the trailer with his wife, Kate, built the shack himself, along with family and friends.

The two currently just serve lunch, but they expect to extend to dinner soon. And that’s not all the two are expecting: Kate is due to deliver a baby this month. With two professional pitmasters as parents, that kid is going to be one lucky Texan.

2347 Nacogdoches, 410 & Nacogdoches (210-829-8448), San Antonio, Mon–Fri 11–2. Pearl Brewery, 200 E. Grayson (210-829-8448), San Antonio, Sat 11–2. Closed Sun.

Posted by Megan Giller. To read more from Megan Giller, visit her website at www.megangiller.com.

Tagged: barbecue, Franklin Barbecue, the Smoke Shack, Trailer Thursday

Fellow wine enthusiasts, how well do you know wine? Think you can tell the difference between a California Pinot Noir from one made in the Burgundy region of France? Are you able to list the major grapes of the Piedmont region in Italy? What wine is primarily associated with Hungary? Don’t worry, this isn’t a pop quiz. Rarely in life would you be expected to know this level of detail.

Unless, of course, you were a sommelier. And certainly if you were a Master Sommelier. But achieving a Master Sommelier status is no easy task. Before reaching this level, you have to pass the Introductory, Certified, and Advanced level exams from the Court of Master Sommeliers, the premier international examining organization for professionals in the wine service industry.

It’s no easy task. In fact, there are only 180 Master Sommeliers in the world and until two weeks ago, there were only four in the state of Texas: Guy Stout of Glazer’s Distributors; Drew Hendricks of Pappas Brothers in Houston; Barbara Werley of Pappas Brothers; and James Tidwell of the Four Seasons Las Colinas in Dallas.

As of July 31, Texas has welcomed two new Master Sommeliers to the table, Devon Broglie, the Specialty Coordinator for the Southwest Region of Whole Foods Market and Craig Collins, Regional Manager for Glazer’s Distributors. Both Broglie, 37, and Collins , 35, are from Austin.

The two joined 63 fellow wine professionals (by invitation only) in Las Vegas to take the three-part exam (Theory, Service, Tasting) for a Master Sommelier Diploma. Of the 63, only six passed, and two of those six were Broglie and Collins.

But getting to his point was no easy task for Broglie and Collins. Beginning in 2005, having already passed the Introductory level exam, the two committed to a rigorous study schedule every Monday morning, and often on weekends, to prepare for the Certified, Advanced, and Master levels. The Master level alone took them three years to pass. In 2009, they completed the Theory portion of the exam, which requires a mastery knowledge of wine origin, history, and production, but failed the Service and Tasting portions. In 2010, they returned only to nab the Service portion of the exam after having rigorously practiced restaurant service at Austin’s Paggi House in their spare time.

Craig Collins, Master Sommelier

“The tasting portion may be the most difficult because it boils down to not only a proper sensory analysis of wine but determining what your tasting through applying the theory you’ve learned,” says Collins. “Prepping for service was a big challenge as well, but it’s a really important part of being a sommelier because it’s about knowing how to convey a respect for the vineyards, the wine, and the hands that make it before pouring it in a patron’s glass.”

This year, they conquered the Tasting portion of the exam and gratefully received their hard-fought diploma.

“This was our third and final attempt to complete the exam. You only have three years to complete the Master level and if we didn’t pass, we would have had to start all over again,” says Broglie, who admits the Tasting part was the most challenging for him as well but that using a specific wine tasting grid helped him conquer this section. “It’s like learning music scales. You don’t have to use scales to play music, but it helps you understand the nuts and bolts of music better if you do. The same is true for the wine tasting grid, it helps you deconstruct the wine and, through deductive reasoning, determine what wine it is that you’re tasting.”

Three years to pass the tasting portion,” you ask. What’s so difficult about it? Here’s the break down of requirements: 6 wines; 3 red, 3 white. Sommeliers are required to analyze each individual wine based on sight, nose/smell, and taste to determine:

- The grape variety

- The country of origin

- The district and appellation of origin

- The vintage (year the wine grapes were harvested.)

Devon Broglie, Master Sommelier

It’s not exactly a multiple-choice, walk-in-the-park type of test. It requires a significant amount of familiarity with wine history as well as an extremely sensitive palate. Based on the tasting portion alone, it’s easy to see why there are only six Master Sommeliers in the state, and why Collins and Broglie deserve a Texas-sized pat on the back for their great accomplishment!

Collins and Broglie will join fellow Master Sommeliers Guy Stout, Drew Hendricks, and James Tidwell this weekend, August 13-15, for the 7th Annual Texas Sommelier (TEXSOM) Conference at the Four Seasons Resort and Club in Las Colinas near Dallas. The conference is a premier wine education symposium attracting leading wine professionals and connoisseurs from across the country.

“TEXSOM is an opportunity for beverage professionals in Texas to network with people from all parts of the industry and the country,” says James Tidwell, who along with Drew Hendricks co-founded TEXSOM. “It is also an opportunity to learn what is happening in the larger world of beverages; and, to show the dynamic culture of beverage service that we have in the state. Over the years, it has become a conference with national influence beyond its physical size.”

Prior to the conference, the Texas Master Sommeliers along with Melissa Monosoff, Serafin Alvarado, Larry Stone and Fred Dame will also administer the Level 1 Introductory course for the Court of Master Sommeliers and yours truly will have a front row seat as I try my hand, err palate, at the first stage of this thorough wine education endeavor. I’ll post details on the experience once I’ve completed the exam—Wish me luck!

Tagged: Barbara Werley, Court of Master Sommeliers, Craig Collins, Devon Broglie, Drew Hendricks, Guy Stout, James Tidwell, Jessica Dupuy, TexSom