Sangrita, tequila, and flavored salts From Jim's session (but they're another story)

This made my day.  Barkeep Jim Meehan, of PDT in New York, shared his favorite margarita recipe at his session on Tequila and Salt at the Austin Food & Wine Festival yesterday afternoon. As soon as I got home from the long, long day, took a shower and washed my hair—the dust and sun and waiting lines were unbelievable at Auditorium Shores–I tried his version. Thumbs up. Might do the same thing again after the festival wraps up today.

Jim Meehan’s Margarita

2 ounces silver tequila (he’s fond of El Tesoro Platinum and Tequila Ocho Silver)

¾ ounce lime juice, freshly squeezed

¾ ounce Cointreau

Stir together and serve over ice in a glass rimmed with salt (or not, your choice)

Note: If you find this a tad tart–and I have to say I did–sweeten it up with ¼ ounce or more of agave nectar thinned with water to make it pourable.

Although Jim didn’t say anything about what type of lime to use, I think all margs are better when they’re made with small round Mexican, aka Key, limes instead of large green Persian limes. They taste like Mexico to me.

Incidentally, now that I’ve met Jim, I’m got to visit his awesome-sounding bar next time I’m in New York. Here’s a blurb from New York magazine’s website: “[PDT is] the cocktail-lounge annex to Crif Dogs, an East Village mainstay known for its deep-fried Jersey-style franks. Accessed through a vintage phone booth within Crif Dogs, PDT (short for Please Don’t Tell) is a snug, sexy speakeasy.” It’s located at 113 St. Marks Place (between 1st Ave & Avenue A).

If you want to try more recipes, get  The PDT Cocktail Book: The Complete Bartender’s Guide from the Celebrated Speakeasy (Sterling Epicure, $29.95 list price, less on Amazon). By the way, please comment on the recipe and feel free to share yours.

Tagged: Austin Food & Wine Festival, Jim Meehan, margarita, PDT

For months, a great deal of hype and anticipation surrounded this weekend’s Austin Food & Wine Festival, and yet even before the festival commenced, extensive criticism began plaguing it. Many critics from around Texas and Austin bemoaned the rather pricey tickets: $850 is a pretty penny to have to pay for a VIP ticket, even if you are tasting the cuisine from figures like Masaharu Morimoto, Marcus Samuelsson, and Austin’s own Paul Qui while sipping back glasses upon glasses of bold reds and subtle whites. And, sure, you could pay $250 for a Weekender Pass, but would that $600 difference drastically change the experience? (Spoiler alert: It did)

Many Texans were attached to the less-high-brow, less-Austin-friendly Texas Hill Country Food & Wine Festival. And no Texan likes when East-Coast outsiders come into their state and tell them how to run things, so to have a name like Food & Wine behind the whole event really sent some Texans over the edge.

In the end, the festival’s star-studded chef lineup, gourmet tastings, and provoking panels provided good to great satisfaction and entertainment for the commencement year. And, the food and wine – oh God, the food and wine – was amazing. Each of the chefs brought forth their signature performances, personalities, and tastings; massive props to them for their delivery and charisma. Yet in truth, there is improvement needed before next year.

No better kickoff could have been planned than Tim Love’s large grilling demo. With 200 fired-up grills, juicy skirt steaks, thick New York strips, and crisp broccolini, the chef communicated his extensive grilling knowledge with a welcome helping of crude and risqué humor. The chef was like a culinary tour guide leading clueless, curious diners through flaming coals. Morimoto’s demo was laced and his notable charm, culinary smarts, and calm nature. Although there was significant timing overlap in the demos, if you were able to inch your way into the cooking tents, you probably had a darn good time Saturday and Sunday.

Saturday’s awkward two-hour gap between events was the most noticeable flaw of the weekend. Attendees simply slept on concrete bricks to sleep off food comas, sheltered themselves from the sun under under bare tree limbs, stalked celebrity chefs around the park, or starred into the dusty abyss. Word of advice for next year: never give your attendees an excuse to leave your festival – ever. If you absolutely have to make them wait, you need to make it more comfortable. The lack of tents, fans, and seating made it difficult to want to stay and sweat it out. It was also a little saddening to see the condition of Auditorium Shores. Mother Nature did a number on the land over the past year, so much so that when a light breeze blew, a stormy dust bowl was created. You can’t blame C3 and the festival for that, though. God knows Texas weather is unforgiving.

Saturday night’s Rock Your Taco Showdown was clearly planned well, but executed a little haphazardly. Sure, the idea of tasting some of the nation’s best chef’s tacos is tempting, but is it really worth it to stand in long line for 20 to 25 minutes for each small tasting? No…. If you’re going to pay $850, you better not have to wait. And yes, not even for Tyson Cole’s award-winning crispy pork jowl taco. I’m that serious.

Photo taken by Nick Simonite

Last but not least, the mosh pits of people tying to get to book signings, cooking demos, food tastings, community bathrooms, and the one and only entrance was a little absurd. This all goes back to the issue of comfort; if you’re going to make your guests dish out the big bucks, you better deliver.

I believe in the potential of this festival. Austin is a city that is growing in national culinary relevance, and with more tweaking and better planning, I believe this festival can be on par with the Food & Wine Classic in Aspen. The Austin Food & Wine Festival’s libations and eatings were glorious, but if they are going to make the festival worth the ticket prices next year, they better bring all the charms, bells, and whistles and nothing less.

Tagged: austin, Austin Food & Wine Festival, Layne Lynch, Texas Hill Country Food and Wine Festival

The Austin Food & Wine Festival has officially commenced, and hoards of cooks, chefs, boozers, and devourers have descended upon the up-and-coming foodie city. This morning was off to a sizzling start with Tim Love‘s 200+ grilling demo, but off to the side, another famed chef was demonstrating her version of light Texas cuisine, sans the meaty New York strips and savory skirt steaks.

Meat from Tim Love's demo

Canadian-transplant Gail Simmons‘ cooking demo Cowgirl Cookin’ featured Texas-friendly cuisine with a focus on lighter foods, including mussels and biscuits. She started off her demonstration with a heavy-bottom pan steaming seven-minute mussels with Shiner Bock, shallots, garlic, lemon zest, orange and lemon juice, and fresh thyme. The Top Chef judge provided tried-and-true cooking tips, such as using wooden utensils, how to detect a “dead mussel,” and the difference between a light sizzle and a detrimental burn. Her soft cheddar, chive, and maple bacon biscuits and bread-pudding-esque peach skillet pudding finished off the one-hour cooking demo.

Simmons sat down with TEXAS MONTHLY after her demo to talk about the her cowgirl cookin’, her new book, and how she stays so fit as a “professional eater.”

What was the inspiration for your cooking demo?

Today’s demo was called Cowgirl Cookin’, and even though I ain’t no cowgirl, I have spent some time in Texas and was really inspired by the food I saw when I was shooting Top Chef. I knew this weekend there would be a lot of men and a lot of meat, and I honestly didn’t want to follow Tim Love. I was thinking of how I could use the flavors of Texas but make it a little more feminine and lighten it up a bit.

Cowgirl Cookin' Demo

How did you go about planning the dishes?

The recipes were variations of things I’ve cooked before that I liked to cook. I wanted to make them home-cook approachable, and I wanted it to be really light. You get enough of the heavy, big meats in Texas. I wasn’t going to make Texas barbecue and ruin three-hundred years of tradition. I wanted to make it my own. I wanted to get Texas in there, though, like using the skillet for the peach pudding.

You mentioned at the end of your demo how you get asked about not gaining weight. Tell me about that life as a professional eater.

It’s weird to have to eat for a living and do it publicly on television. Women are so judged and there is so much pressure to be thin, but I have to eat for a living; so the question is how I do my job but also feel good about myself especially when there are thin models on the covers of magazines and on the screens of televisions. The first thing is not to think too much about what other people think. The second thing is to learn how to take care of yourself. And, of course, exercising and eating healthy. I eat a lot of food, especially when we are taping, but I do tastings. I don’t clean my plate. I take two to three bites and that’s it. I love to eat food, but I do it with my health in mind, and if that means I need to work out and eat small portions, I’ll do that. I love what I do too much to give it up.

Gail Simmons

Explain your book Talking With My Mouth Full and why you decided to do a memoir instead of a cookbook.

When I started thinking about writing a book, a cookbook came to mind because that’s what everyone does for their first book. But then I started thinking, “What do people want to hear from me?” I started gathering questions that people would ask me, but what I realized were these questions weren’t about what to make for dinner. There were plenty of books about one-hundred recipes, ten dollars or less, or twenty dollars or less. The questions I was asked were “How did you get here? Why are you on my television? How did you learn to cook? How did you get on Top Chef?” So that’s why I decided to write a memoir and this is how Talking With My Mouth Full came about.

Talking With My Mouth Full

Did you look to other culinary memoirs for inspiration?

A little bit. I tried not to read too many because they’ll be stuck in your head, and you want to tell your own story. I read modern memoirs from women I admire, like Gabrielle Hamilton’s Blood, Bones & Butter, Tina Fey’s memoir, Ruth Reichl‘s books, and obviously, M.F.K. Fisher’s books, which set the stage for food writing.

Smoke was definitely in the air.

The quintessentially Texas aroma of smoked beef permeated the air at Live Fire! on Thursday evening at the Salt Lick Pavilion in Driftwood, outside Austin.
Billed as the kick-off event for the three-day Austin Wine & Food Festival coming up this weekend, Live Fire! was sponsored by the Austin Food & Wine Alliance. More than two dozen Central Texas chefs, with an outlier from Portland, Oregon, set up smokers and grills under towering pecan trees on the banks of Onion Creek while 650 attendees paid $75 each to stuff themselves silly, listen to music, swill adult beverages, and watch the amazing performers of Fire Knights, who twirled scary-looking flaming staffs with the ease of high school drum majors.
Meanwhile, the chefs cooked Texas beef up, down, and sideways.
There was smoked brisket from local barbecue hero Aaron Franklin of Franklin Barbecue and tongue pastrami sandwiches from Ned Elliott of Foreign & Domestic. Andrew Wiseheart of Contigo changed his last name to “Beefheart” for the night; his booth served up, yes, cured beef heart with a chicory-and-strawberry salad.
Naomi Pomeroy of the appropriately named Beast, in Portland, went native with Texas wagyu medallions topped with wild-ramp butter.

Jason Dady did battle with maurauding flies.

Jason Dady of San Antonio, owner of Tre Trattoria and Bin 555, did slow-cooked charred beef brisket with blue-cheese spoonbread and a caramelized onion purée. He encountered a problem that plagued many booths: “I’ve been fighting flies all night,” he said, sounding exasperated. ”Maybe our food smelled better.”
Josh Watkins of the Carillon could not stop at just one. He did two dishes: beef ribs with corn pudding and also fried beef cheeks with Brussels sprouts brushed with smoked maple syrup. And just exactly how to you smoke a liquid? Turns out there are at least two ways, but the one that worked best was a no-brainer: put a pan of syrup in a smoker. Watkins also proved himself adept at juggling Myer lemons, to the amusement of onlookers.

The most dramatic entry of the evening was Alamo Drafthouse Cinema chef John Bullington’s whole steer, cooked over coals on a specially constructed Argentine-style grill. “We wired very large pieces of meat to the platform, and cooked them for about sixteen hours,” he said. “We turned it once. The beef alone weighed 407 ½ pounds and the metal rack was another 100. It took six guys to flip that sucker.”

Wagyu medallions with tomato-jam tarts.

After so much bovine protein, it was a relief to find a dessert. Erin Echternach, pastry chef at Fino, skewered fresh strawberries and squares of cake to make grilled strawberry shortcake. Her assistant Christiana Rachut volunteered that “Strawberries are the beef of the vegetable world.” Kyle McKinney of Barley Swine made sweet zucchini bread,  grilled and served with dabs of goat cheese mousse and candied walnuts. (Thankfully, neither barley nor swine was involved.)

(A version of this post will appear on TMDailyPost.com.) Photos by Courtney Bond.

Tagged: Alamo Drafthouse Cinema, Austin Wine & Food Festival, Barley Swine, Bin 555, Contigo, fino, Foreign & Domestic, Live Fire! Austin Food & Wine Alliance, Salt Lick Pavilion, the Carillon, Tre Trattoria

Masaharu Morimoto is the chef great chefs admire. Many of us know him from watching on as he wielded knives and slayed the competition on Iron Chef America – always willing and ready to stand up to any chef who challenged his enviable skills. His creativity, execution, and presentation make him one of one of most respected culinary figures of our time. Lucky for Austin residents, the chef is leaving the East Coast this weekend to sample Tex-Mex and participate in the Austin Food & Wine Festival. The famous chef talked with TEXAS MONTHLY about the upcoming festival, Texas barbecue, and where he is planning to dine while he is in Austin.

Morimoto

What made you want to be a part of the Austin Food & Wine Festival?

Austin is a city full of spirit and creative culture. I have heard a lot of buzz about the city’s dynamic and exciting food scene – the food trucks, great Tex-Mex, innovative restaurants, and everything in between. I am definitely expecting some interesting culinary experiences, different from what you can find in New York. I also recently opened a restaurant in Mexico City and am curious to experience Texas’ version of Mexican cuisine.

Tell me the story behind how you got involved.

I have been fortunate enough to be part of some of the world’s greatest culinary festivals, including many Food & Wine events, and I was thrilled to get invited by the partners at C3, my fellow chefs Tyson Cole, Tim Love, and restaurateur Jesse Herman – my restaurant neighbor in Napa Valley – and Food & Wine to be part of this inaugural Festival.

Have you ever been to Austin or Texas before? If so, tell me what you think about the culinary scene here.

I have been to Texas, but am not super familiar with the food scene here. I can’t wait to try some barbecue while I’m in town, and I am excited to try the food that the local people are proud of so that I can learn something new.

You live and work in New York. Do you see any similarities between New York’s and Austin’s culinary scenes?

People here in Austin talk about brisket and barbecue the way that New Yorkers talk about burgers, pizza, or, lately, ramen noodles.

A lot of chefs are excited about meeting you at the festival, but are there any chefs you are excited about finally meeting?

I am excited to see some chef friends like Andrew Zimmerman, Marcus Samuelsson, Tyson Cole, and Tim Love, whom I battled years ago on Iron Chef America. There’s so many great chefs involved that I have not yet met. I can’t wait to get to town and see everyone.

What are your plans for your weekend in Austin? Are there any restaurants you plan to visit while you’re in Austin? If so, which ones?

I hope to sneak away and check out Tyson Cole’s Uchi and Uchiko.

What event are you most looking forward to at the festival?

I am looking forward to competing against my fellow chefs for the best taco at Saturday night’s Rock Your Taco event. I love live music, and I think it’s cool that Lucinda Williams and Mayer Hawthorne are performing as well. And, it’s always fun to see what other chefs are doing during their demos and walk through the grand tasting tents meeting people.

There aren’t many Anna Wintours out there in the world. In fact, most magazine editors generally prefer to stay hidden from the glare of media exposure. Glued to recorders and notepads, they are the ones who conduct interviews, the ones who bury themselves in research, the ones who feel awestruck by celebrities, the ones who keep their opinions to themselves. Gail Simmons is a rare exception.

Her culinary expertise and sophisticated palate make her one of the most respected and talked about minds in food media. This season, viewers watched as Simmons judged Top Chef Texas in the scorching summer days of San Antonio, Dallas, and Austin. Simmons returns to Texas this weekend for the Austin Food & Wine Festival to cook up her version of cowgirl cuisine and devour her way through the festival and its city. Simmons talked with TEXAS MONTHLY about the festival, her experiences while filming Top Chef Texas, and how Austin compares to New York.

Gail Simmons

What’s going on in Austin right now that makes it worthy of its own festival?

Just to be fair, I wasn’t the sole person responsible for bringing Food & Wine to Austin. I certainly spent some time there this past summer and, simultaneously, Food & Wine was working with people in Austin to see if they could make the festival happen, and I’m so glad they did. I don’t think it could be at a better time. For a long time now, Austin has been rumbling and starting to buzz, and the buzz has been getting bigger and bigger, and I think it’s just a perfect moment to bring a big food festival of this caliber down to Austin. I was there for the first time ever this summer when we were filming Top Chef, and, having spent time in Dallas and San Antonio and lots of other places, I certainly felt the second I got to Austin that there was this amazing, young energy of all different kinds of things: music, art, and food, of course. [There are] a lot of great young chefs doing fun, exciting food. Food that really pays attention to the history and traditions of Texas, of barbecue, and Tex-Mex. But at the same time, they are elevating it, refining it, twisting it, making it modern, and making it their own. It’s a great time to show that off to the world.

What was your filming experience like in Texas? You guys have been all over on Top Chef. What was the highlight of the Top Chef Texas filming?

We had a lot of fun in Texas, and I had never been to the state of Texas before. I didn’t know what to expect, and I was very nervous about the fact that we were filming for the full summer. July was the hottest month on the record in like sixty years, if you recall, so that made for a pretty daunting introduction to Texas. But, I have to say, we had a blast. It was the first season we did where we moved within a season from city to city, so that brought a huge element to the season. I learned so much because there was a lot that I didn’t know about [Texas] in terms of learning about barbecue, learning about Tex-Mex, learning about the history of that part of America that I really had no exposure to until then. The food was great, too. We specifically had a blast in Austin. We went out and saw live music almost every single night when we weren’t working. We ate at a lot of food trucks. We would get off at eleven at night and go sit at a little food truck park and get a six-pack of Shiner Bock, drink cold beer, and sit outside underneath the hanging lights. It was a blast. And there are some amazing restaurants there.

Who are you looking forward to seeing at the festival?

I’m very excited to see Paul [Qui], the winner of Top Chef Texas. I’m excited that now that the show is over he and I can just be friends and I can actually just hang out with him, have a cocktail, and get to know him a little better. When I was there in July last summer, I visited Barley Swine and absolutely adored it. I was just so completely enamored with the space, and I had known the chef a little bit because Bryce [Gilmore] is a Food & Wine Best New Chef, so I had gotten to know him a little bit the year before, but it was great to see him in his own setting and finally eat his food. I’ll definitely be visiting him, too. There are places I still want to check out. I never got a chance to go to Foreign & Domestic, and I’ve heard such amazing things about them. I’m really looking forward to the Rock Your Taco event on Saturday night that I’ll be judging. I think that’ll be really fun because there are some Texas chefs and chefs from out of the state. It’ll be fun to see them go head-to-head with their best tacos.

You’re doing a demo, right?

I’m doing a cooking demo. When I was in Texas, I was inspired by the food, and I’m doing a demo that pays an ode to cowboy food. Chefs like Tim Love are going to be there doing cooking demos with big pieces of meat, grilling, and all that stuff. I’m doing what we named Cowgirl Cookin’. I’m cooking with all those really great flavors that I was inspired by in Texas, but that are made in a feminine way. I’m actually not cooking with any meat, but there is some meat flavoring. I mean, you got add bacon in! Just a little bit. I’m cooking mussels steamed in Shiner Bock and I’m doing cheddar, bacon, and chive biscuits. I’m also doing a peach skillet pudding. This stuff is inspired by my time in Texas, but is a little lighter, very refreshing, and perfect for the summer.

You live and work in New York. How would you compare its dining culture to Austin’s?

The culinary world takes tips from each other all the time. Chefs travel. The word travels. Trends travel, and I’m seeing a lot of trends in New York that I think are really influenced by Austin and vice-versa. The food truck culture that has been going on in Austin for so long has really only been in New York for the last two years. I think that no one does it better than Austin. They’re inexpensive, but have great, flawless food. I love that there can be three or four of them right by each other, but each of them will have really different cuisine. The creativity is really high in Austin. I see a lot of similarities between New York, in that way. In New York right now there are also a ton of Southern restaurants opening. Not necessarily Texan restaurants, specifically, but there has been a huge amount of barbecue places that are opening all over New York. Hill Country Barbecue, certainly, and others. A lot of the same aesthetic that young, hyper-creative Austin chefs are bringing to their food can be said the same of New York: young chefs who have exceptional formal culinary training who want to do something different and who are starting small. Barley Swine is a great example. [Bryce] is starting small and doing something very focused that is casual and comfortable. There is no pretense, but the food is pushing us forward.

Are you doing another season of Top Chef Desserts anytime soon?

We are doing another season of Top Chef proper, first. That’s all I know. One series at a time. It takes up so much time to shoot, so when we start shooting that later on this year, we’ll go from there.

Tagged: austin, Austin Food and Wine Festival, Bryce Gilmore, Foreign & Domestic, Gail Simmons, Paul Qui

We asked some of the chefs attending the Austin Food & Wine Festival what they are most looking forward to this weekend and here is what they had to say…

“I am looking most forward to interacting with some of the nation’s best culinary talent.” – David Bull

“Not only am I looking forward to cooking with my peers and colleagues, I am very excited about meeting new chefs and sampling their foods from different regions.” – Philip Speer

“I’m happy to be a part of it. It’s the inaugural festival and there are chefs from all over coming [here], and I’m part of the chefs representing Austin. It’s pretty cool.” – Bryce Gilmore

“I’m looking forward to meeting all the guests chefs and hosting them in our city.” - Paul Qui

“I’m looking forward to being back in Austin, Texas. It is one of my favorite cities!” – Sarah Grueneberg

“I’m looking forward to the opportunity to meet new chefs as well as reconnect with old friends.” – Laura Sawicki

“It’s going to be great to see all of our Austin chefs with their A-game going.” – Rene Ortiz

“I think it’s great for the city that we are finally getting recognized as a culinary destination. I have been to Aspen several times and I am looking forward to experience the festival with an Austin spin on it.” – Jack Gilmore

“I’m looking forward to the Rock your Taco event!” – Tony Mantuano

“I look forward to visiting with people who have never been to Austin.  I always get a kick out of people’s reactions to South Austin.” – James Holmes

Texas Wine of the Month: Becker Vineyards Viognier 2011

It’s not easy moving to a state like Texas when you’re from the east coast. You have to learn to say “y’all,” you have to temper your taste buds to copious amounts of Tex-Mex and barbecue, and you have to break in a pair of boots. But if you take up residence in the Lone Star State and you already happen to be a Master Sommelier, then you had better get up to speed on Texas wine. That’s exactly what Melissa Monosoff has been doing for the past month or two while acclimating to her new digs in the Big D. Monosoff is a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America and has honed her skills at the top restaurants in Philadelphia as a cook, sommelier, bartender and beverage director.

In 2009 and 2010 both Philadelphia magazine and Main Line magazine named her “Best Sommelier.” Wine & Spirits magazine recognized her as one of America’s “Best Young Sommeliers” and she was a James Beard Foundation nominee for “Outstanding Wine Service” in 2011. Having recently joined Pioneer Wine, a distributer in Dallas, I’d say Texas is lucky to welcome her to her new home. But the Philadelphia native is no stranger to Texas. She’s been a part of The Texas Sommelier Conference (TexSom) for a few years now and has come to love what Texas has to offer—especially the company of the six other Master Sommeliers in the state.

“Where I lived in Philly I was all by my lonesome being the only Master Sommelier in the state,” says Monosoff. “But here it is amazing to have such a great support system and team. Masters like Guy Stout have laid the ground work, while [Drew Hendricks] and James [Tidwell] have set a new precedent with wine events like TexSom all together making Texas what it what it is today in the wine world. I am extremely proud to be part of this “next generation!”

As the 7th Master Sommelier in the state—and the 2nd female at that—Monosoff was up to the challenge of selecting a Texas wine worthy of “Wine of the Month” status. Her palate is fresh to Texas wine, making her first impressions particularly unique compared to other wine professionals who have been tasting the evolution of wines here for so long. And what does the think?

Melissa Monosoff, Texas' 7th Master Sommelier

“Intuitively when I think of Texas and grape growing, I think of a dry, warm climate and long growing seasons. But how well that plays out here is unbelievable,” says Monosoff. “The quality of the wines I have tasted so far and the range of grape varieties is impressive. I have been seeing wines made from traditional Spanish, Portuguese and Southern French varieties making it really fun I can’t wait to try them all.”

With more than 250 wineries in the state, she’s got a long way to go. But in the mean time, she has been wooed by one wine in particular, this month’s wine of the month: Becker Vineyards Viognier 2011.

“This wine is Viognier at its best,” says Monosoff. “It is not an easy grape to get right and strike the perfect balance of fruit, acidity and alcohol. But Becker achieves this in spades and it’s honestly one of the best Viogniers I have ever had! [Normally,] I would never consider Viognier a wine I would want to drink all summer long, but this wine has changed my mind.”

Changing minds is something Becker Vineyards has been doing for a long time; particularly about Texas wine. Owner Dr. Richard Becker and his team have spent years making the very best of what Texas grapes have to offer. Sure, there are times when they use California fruit for some of their different wines, but the overall motivation has been to steadily grow the Texas wine industry. This 2011 Viognier is a perfect example of how they are doing that. Made of grapes from Bingham Family Vineyards and Reddy Vineyards, there are beautiful floral, honeysuckle notes on this wine as well as a little spray of lemon zest on the nose that may lead you to think that it may have a little sweetness to it. But when you taste it, there’s a searingly dry character, with great balance and little to no sugar at all—confirming Monosoff’s overall assessment of this grape from Southern France as one that makes wines that lend some fun and intrigue.

“Viognier produces a full bodied, dry, richly floral wine that pairs with many of the same foods as a great chardonnay. I would sip this wine on its own on a hot summer day or pair it with succulent seafood like shrimp and scallops on the grill or lobster with butter,” says Monosoff “Viognier loves the natural sweetness of seafood. I went to my first crawfish boil recently and I think it would really work with those spices too! It also lends itself well to roasted chicken and rich and creamy sauces on pasta or fish.”

Wine: Becker Vineyards Viognier 2011

Retail Price: ~$14

Availability: HEB, Randall’s Central Market, Whole Foods, Spec’s, Twin Liquors

- Jessica Dupuy

This week, the winners  for the 28th Annual Dallas Morning News and TexSom Wine Competition were announced revealing 64 Texas wines who took home either a gold, silver or bronze medal. Of the 3,200 hundred entries from all over the world, I’d say that’s pretty good! Out of the 25 states and 17 foreign countries represented in this nationally-renowned competition, Texas faired well among the total 114 entries with 8 Gold Medals awarded to:

Haak Vineyards & Winery, Texas, Madeira, Blanc du Bois 2008

Kiepersol Estates, Texas, No Oak, Stainless, Syrah 2010

Kiepersol Estates, Texas, Cabernet Sauvignon 2008

Pedernales Cellars, Texas, Tempranillo 2009

Duchman Family Winery, Texas, Bingham Family Vineyard, Vermentino 2010

Cap Rock Winery, Texas High Plains, Bingham Family Vineyards, Roussanne 2010

McPherson Cellars, Texas, Bingham Vineyards, Reserve, Roussanne 2010

Duchman Family Winery, Texas, Bingham Family Vineyards, Viognier 2010

The reputation of The Dallas Morning News Wine Competition has steadily grown through the years and with the added addition of TexSom as a partner, it’s grown even stronger. The 15 judging panels were comprised of wine critics, distributors, importers, sommeliers, master sommeliers, and masters of wine, including 11 Master Sommeliers and 11 Masters of Wine, more than any other U.S. wine competition. (Click here for a complete list of winners.) You can sample award winning wines from the competition at the Dallas Wine and Food Festival, May 2-6.

This week also brought the official conference lineup for TexSom, formally known as the Texas Sommelier Conference. Among the many educational and informative and palate-inspiring listings on tap will be seminars on Bordeaux, Riesling, Oregon, New Zealand, Beer, and, yes, Texas.

While many in the general public may find the name a little intimidating, TexSom is not just a conference for sommeliers—though they will certainly be there in numbers. It’s a one-of-a-kind opportunity for wine experts and novices alike to learn about the many regions of wine throughout the world, and taste benchmark wines from each of them. Almost every seminar includes tastings of eight wines from each region, which means, if you’re not careful, you’ll be on your way to a long, toasty nap by the end of an afternoon. But if you’re serious about learning more about wine—and know that it is appropriate to spit—then TexSom is something worth checking out.

“We want as many people to come from outside the business as we can,” says Master Sommelier Drew Hendricks of Pappas Bros. and co-founder of TexSom. “As educated as a lot of consumers are these days, a lot of them may know more than people in the industry are. In addition to the seminars, the Monday night Grand Tasting is definitely something any and everyone can enjoy with a whole variety of wines from all over the world that you can taste in one evening.”

In it’s eighth year, the conference has steadily drawn national recognition among wine industry professionals as THE event for wine enthusiasts with speakers among the “who’s who” list of the nation’s top wine professionals: Master Sommeliers (MS), Certified Wine Educators (CWE), Masters of Wine (MW) and other highly respected wine educators. The event was originally founded in 2005, when Texas was able to claim only one Master Sommelier among its ranks. Today, there are seven: Guy Stout, Barbara Werley, Drew Hendricks, James Tidwell, Devon Broglie, Craig Collins and Melissa Monosoff.

The conference isn’t until August, so you have plenty of time to plan. But keep in mind, the event has sold out from year to year, so don’t wait too long! (A full list of the conference schedule can be found here.)

- Jessica Dupuy