Want to know how Texas wines rate on a national level? Yes, many are winning national awards from East Coast to West, but how does the general sphere of wine experts view regional wine, and more specifically Texas wine? I recently had a few minutes to catch up with Food & Wine magazine wine expert, Anthony Giglio who will be on deck to discuss a few different wine topics at the inaugural Austin Food and Wine Festival this April. (Tickets on sale here.)

Giglio is a New York-based wine expert, CBS Radio wine correspondent, wine and cocktail speaker and author and is the editor of the annual Food & Wine Magazine’s Wine Guide—which reviews around 1,000 out of close to 4,000 wines tasted. He’s also guiding a 10-day tour of Sicily this summer for 20 people. Want to go? I know I do, but the tour sold out in three days. So we’ll just have to hope he offers another one.

TM: Having traveled all over the world tasting wine, what are your thoughts about regional wine and, more specifically, Texas wine?

I’ve written a lot about regional wine and I can tell you that the challenge for different regions across the country is weather and climate. The big three wine states—California, Washington and Oregon—are blessed with amazing weather that other parts of the country just don’t have. On the East Coast, for instance, you just don’t get 360 days of sunlight like you do on the West Coast. Without great sun, you can’t have great grapes. So they have to adapt.

Texas has plenty of sun, but it also has heat. It also has a constant struggle with Pierce’s disease (a bacteria disease which suffocates the vines), and a lot of other weather challenges. There are a million things to contend with. I visited Dry Comal Creek about a year ago and loved their wines, especially what they’re doing with native Black Spanish grapes.

But I’ve seen it so many times where people think it’s going to be this romantic thing to start a vineyard and what end up realizing is that they’re basically farming. But it’s farming at its ugliest. And it doesn’t matter how much money you have to put into it, you’re still fighting nature and nature cannot be controlled.

Texas is making some notable wines and has a wine history that predates California by a few hundred years through the Spanish missions, and it should also be proud of the fact that it was Texas rootstock from Thomas Munson that essentially saved the European wine industry, in the late 19th Century. That wouldn’t have happened if it hadn’t been for a Texan.

NOTE: Phylloxera is a small pest to grapevines worldwide that is native to North America. The pest was introduced to Europe when botanists collected specimens of American vines that carried the pest and brought them to Europe. The result was virtual plague on European vines that decimated the European grape growing industry. Because phylloxera are native to North America, the native grape species are resistant to the pest, but as Europe found out, their grape vines were not. Some estimates hold that between two-thirds and nine-tenths of all European vineyards were destroyed. The remedy to the epidemic that came from North America was also discovered in North America by notable Texas horticulturist, Thomas Munson, whose work on Native American rootstock development provided European grape growers with phylloxera-resistant stocks, a discovery that saved and restored the European wine industry as we know it.

TM: One of the things that Texas Grape growers and winemakers have found in the past 10 years or so is that warm weather grapes such as Spanish Tempranillo, French Viognier and even Italian Sangiovese do better in Texas than other cooler weather varietals that have done well in California.

AG: I think it’s brilliant that they’re using Spanish [and Southern French and Italian] grapes! I was surprised to learn how well Tempranillo was doing in Texas, but it really makes sense. I think there’s something poetic about the Spanish grapes making landfall in Texas since it was the Spanish that began the whole industry there centuries ago. And I’m so glad that they’ve decided to stop the madness of growing French grapes everywhere.

It’s the same thing Chile and Argentina have done. They have grapes there that you don’t expect and that’s what is making them successful. I don’t need to drink another new Chardonnay for as long as I live as long as there are white Burgundies from France and Chardonnay from California.

I think Texas is really still in its infancy as far as having the kind of wine that it had 30 years ago because they’re finally not in the bind of saying “We have to grow Chardonnay or Merlot because that’s what everybody likes.” Instead, they’ve figured out how to grow these warmer climate grapes that work better for the Texas climate. I’m interested to see  where the state will be 10 years from now.

TM: How does that discovery in Texas pertain to regional wines across America?

The majority of Americans love wine now. It’s more approachable than it has ever been. But, because of the way California first started marketing their wines many many years ago, Americans in general talk about grapes when referring to wine rather than region. They say, “My favorite Chardonnay is,” or “My favorite Cabernet Sauvignon is,”

But very few people talk about appellations, or where the wine comes from. It’s just not how we talk about wine. Which is funny because it’s exactly the opposite in Europe. Europeans are always scratching their heads at Americans because we’ll say “Oh, I love Chardonnay,” But they want to know, from where? Conversely in France, when you say you love white Burgundy, they automatically know you’re talking about Chardonnay, but the key is that you’re defining a very specific taste and flavor profile of that wine because of the region it is from.

I think the discussion for Americans is going to start to move in that direction. I think in the next decade we’ll hear more and more people say that they like Washington Cabernet Sauvignon, Anderson Valley Pinot Noir or even Texas Hill Country Tempranillo, realizing that place matters completely when you’re talking about wine. Instead of going into a restaurant and saying, “I’ll have a Chardonnay,” people will say, “Can I have an oaky California Chardonnay,” or “I’d prefer a crisp, white Burdundy,” knowing they’re talking about the same grape, but completely different styles of wine because of where they’re from.

TM: So Texas wine will have a part in that overall discussion?

AG: Someone may see a Texas Sangiovese and say, “I’ve never heard of that grape before.” But in asking questions about it, they’ll eventually find that it’s the same grape that is used to make wines that they are very very familiar with such as Chianti or Super Tuscans.

Those wines may not taste the same if you put them side by side. In fact, they most likely won’t, but when you tell them that the same grape they use in Chianti is the Sangiovese and that this is a Texas version of Sangiovese, people will start to understand that place really does matter when it comes to understanding the grapes that make the wine.

TM: So as a wine expert/educator/speaker, how do you go about teaching people about different wines?

AG: I never want anyone to feel uncomfortable about not knowing certain things about wine. I tend to treat it like a game of Jeopardy. People love trivia and when you talk about wine, it’s a lot less intimidating if you’re giving them a chance to participate.

I’ll say, “You like this Champagne? What are the grapes that make Champagne?” A lot of people that Champagne IS a grape. But when you tell them that the sparkling wine is actually made with three primary grapes: Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunniere they’re usually blown away. It’s a great way to start a conversation.

Guys love to tell me that they love Cabernet. It’s like a right of passage or something. I

l’ll be in an elevator or on a plane with someone and tell them I write about wine and they say, “I had a great Cabernet last night, I love Cabernet.”

And I think, “Well of course you do. You’re American and you’re male, so of course you love Cabernet.”

But if I say, “How about Bordeaux? Do you like many Bordeaux wines,” and they’ll give me a deer-in-the-headlights look not realizing that most of the world’s great Bordeaux wines are primarily Cabernet Sauvignon. But when they ask about it we always end up in a great discussion and they end up with ideas of a few new wines to go out and try.

I still come across plenty of people these days who are snobby about wine and I am right there to let them know that I have zero patience for any of it and I will not stand for anyone being made fun of for what they may not know about wine.

Wine should be a part of everyone’s life. Robert Mondavi once said something like “Like what you drink and drink what you like and everything will be fine from there.” That couldn’t be more true.

I threw about 2/3 of what I learned as a sommelier out the window because it’s not what Americans need to know or even care about. What they really want to know is how to feel confident about wine and not be intimidated by something that is essentially fermented grape juice.

TM: So what can we expect from you at the Austin Food and Wine Festival in April?

AG: I’m doing three different seminars. One is called “Temperature Tantrum” where I’ll discuss how people need to drink wine at the correct temperature to be able to really enjoy it. I won’t get too scientific about it, but I’ll show people how much the taste of wine changes after just five minutes in an ice bath. If you taste the same wine blind at different temperatures, you would never believe it was the same wine. I’ve given the seminar many times before and I’ve made complete Temperature Tantrum soldiers out of it. People now go into restaurants and tell their waiter how to chill their wine correctly if they don’t do it right off the bat. It drives restaurants crazy, but now those people are enjoying their wine even more.

I’m also doing a seminar on Chardonnay versus Burgundy. So many people associate Burgundy with very fancy, expensive red wines or horrible, cheap gallon wine from California. But so few people know that the term “Burgundy” is not to describe a color, but a region from France. And few people also know that there is white wine from Burgundy and that white wine is made from Chardonnay. I’ll talk about the different styles of Chardonnay like the refined, minerally, crisp Chardonnay of Chablis as well as the over-the-top oaked Chardonnays like the kind you’d see women with big shoulder pads drink in Dynasty in the 1980s.

I’ll also do a similar class on Syrah and Shiraz, which are actually the same grape, just different based on where they’re grown. The Rhone region in France is known for Syrah, and the Australians essentially nabbed the same grape, began growing it in their country and changed the name to Shiraz. The grapes may be the same, but the wines taste very different. It’s the same discussion on how PLACE matters when you’re talking about wine.

- Jessica Dupuy

Tagged: Anthony Giglio, Austin Food and Wine Festival, Dry Comal Creek Vineyards, Food & Wine magazine, Jessica Dupuy, texas wine

Among the few varietals Texas winemakers are heralding as the star grapes of Texas, the Tempranillo and the Viognier are at the top of the list. And while these grapes certainly do well in the Lone Star state, their Spanish and French origins don’t exactly make them native selections. There is, however, a native Texas grape that some winemakers have used with great success. It’s called the Black Spanish grape.

And while it has almost identical counterparts in France named Lenoir and Jacques, this hearty varietal, known for its dark black fruit, originates in Texas. (It was introduced to the Europeans in the 1850s.) In addition to its unique red juice qualities (it actually bleeds red juice when crushed, while most other red grapes bleed white juice), the Black Spanish grape is miraculously resistant to Pierce’s Disease, a bacterial pathogen that kills grape vines, and phylloxera, a small insect that feeds on vines—both of which are commonly found in Texas.

Though you won’t find many straight Black Spanish wines on the market in Texas, you will find some wineries using the grapes for blending, including Messina Hof in Bryan for their reserve port and Chisolm Trail Winery, near Fredericksburg, for their Diablo red wine, which is 70% Syrah and 30% Lenoir (Black Spanish). But we did want to introduce a winery that is producing a 100% Black Spanish wine.

At the suggestion of Sommelier Paul Botamer of the esteemed Fearing’s restaurant in Dallas, this month’s Texas Wine of the Month is the Dry Comal Creek Vineyards Black Spanish Reserve, 2008.

“I recently popped a bottle of this Black Spanish for the first time and it was just wonderful,” says Botamer. “It is a great full-bodied red with a little bit of spice and a nice, long finish. It’s great for the kind of food we serve at Fearing’s.”

Dry Comal Creek is a little winery near New Braunfels owned by Franklin and Bonnie Houser who have been producing Texas wine since 1998. Though they had originally planted other grapes for their Hill Country vineyard, Pierce’s Disease and flooding in 1998 and 2002 forced the Houser’s to find a grape that would withstand the sometimes harsh Texas climate. The answer for them, the Black Spanish Grape.

Describing this grape isn’t easy, as it’s not like any other red wine you’ve ever tasted. In fact, Houser often tells people to simply put everything you know about wine aside and “expect the unexpected.” In the glass, this jammy wine is dark ruby in color and tastes about as crimson as it looks. This is no light summer Pinot Noir for sipping on the patio. This is a bold wine that would be great with wild game or the quintessential Texas steak. At the same time, it’s smooth and light on tannin—meaning you won’t get that “kitten tongue” feel after you’ve sipped it. For more from Houser on the Black Spanish grape in Texas, check out this Go Texan Wine Cast with Tanji Patton.

The best place to find the Dry Comal Creek Black Spanish is, of course, at the winery itself. But if you can’t get down to New Braunfels, you can find it at specialty wine stores around Texas i.e. Central Market in Austin and A Taste of Texas Wines in San Antonio. For a little added help, the Housers have been kind enough to put a listing of their wine retailers on their website.

For the best presentation, Houser suggests giving this wine time to breathe. In fact it’s one of the few wines that actually gets better the longer it’s been opened. If you have time, open it and let it sit for about 24 hours before serving. (Yes, you read that correctly—24 hours.) If you don’t have that much time, try decanting it at least twice before serving. This will really open up the flavor of the wine and give you the best introduction to this unusual native Texas grape.

Winery: Dry Comal Creek

Retail Price:  ~$30

Availability: Specialty wine and liquor retailers. Click here for a listing of retailers.

Tagged: Black Spanish grape, Dry Comal Creek Black Spanish Reserve 2008, Dry Comal Creek Vineyards, Go Texan Winecast, Texas Wine of the Month