Texas Wine of the Month: Messina Hof Solera Texas, 2004
By Top Texas Wine, we mean the Messina Hof Solera Texas, 2004, a Texas version of a sherry-style wine made from 100% Black Spanish (Lenoir) grapes grown at the Bryan-based vineyard. (Note: Black Spanish is one of Texas’ native grapes and grows well in just about all parts of the state.) This unique wine sits at the cream of the crop as one of nine Overall Show Award winners including wines from Italy, France, Spain, California and Washington State.
“This wine caught the attention of the judges in a double blind tasting,” says Stephanie Baird General Chairman of the Rodeo Uncorked! Wine Committee. “It is a great Top Texas Wine as it is made from what was once one of the most widely planted grapes in the state—Lenoir. It was abundant enough to be used by missions for communion hundreds of years ago, which gives this grape a great Texas history, and now, so does this wine from Messina Hof.”
What’s a Texas version on a sherry style wine?
It’s probably best to define what a Sherry is. Technically, Sherry is a fortified wine that is made in Spain near the town of Jerez. The primary grapes used to make sherry are Palomino, Muscatel and Pedro Ximenez and the process by which this delicate wine is made is called the “solera system,”—which is how the Messina Hof wine got its name. To be honest, the solera system is difficult to describe, but it is a method of fractional blending using old wine that is aged in barrels to refresh younger wine, creating a level of complexity in the overall flavor.
In Messina Hof’s case, owner and winemaker Paul Bonarrigo, used barrels of Black Spanish from 2003, 2004 and 2005 to fractionally blend an aged wine. He then set the barrel with this blend in the summer sun during 2007 to “bake” the wine with flavors from American oak barrels. The result is a crisp, off-dry/sweet wine with creamy vanilla and toffee flavors.
As Karen MacNeil says in her wine enthusiast handbook The Wine Bible, “As it stands, Sherry, the unsung hero of great wine classics, is misunderstood, under appreciated, and wrongly cast as the libation of old ladies.”
Messina Hof has proved this misconception wrong with the Solera. Even though it’s not technically an official sherry, the style is very much in the Sherry arena.
What makes it so good?
I sat down with Maser Sommelier Craig Collins of Prestige wine distributors. Collins is one of only six master sommeliers in the state and it just so happens that he got his start in the wine industry with a job in the tasting room of Messina Hof while he was finishing college at Texas A&M University.
“Messina Hof is a pioneer for the wine industry,” says Collins. “They work tirelessly at getting their wines into the hands of Texans and they have a lot of great wine to show for it.”
Solera Tasting notes:
On the nose, this tawny brown wine has notes of raisin, dates, toffee, and caramel. Collins also picked up orange peel, candied pecan, and a soft, savory herbaceousness. Almost like lavender.
On the palate, the wine confirms the nutty, raisin notes in the nose adding flavors of amaretto, vanilla and prune.
And while Collins finds the general flavor of the wine to be appealing, he was most impressed with the balance. “This wine has 18 percent alcohol, yet it’s unbelievably balanced. It doesn’t have a heavy body and it’s not very cloying with residual sugar. You don’t get an overwhelming sense that you’re drinking a high alcohol wine. Striking that balance is very difficult to do with wine like this and it’s probably why it made the Top Texas Wine.”
While this is a dessert-style wine, Collins suggests opting against sweet desserts to pair with the Solera. Instead, enjoy the wine with a cheese plate including a strong blue cheese, a sharp cheddar cheese and a few different nuts. If you must satisfy the sweet tooth, a rich walnut brownie would be fantastic. The clean, crisp body of the wine will enhance the walnut flavor and cut the bitterness of the chocolate.
Messina Hof cleaned house in this year’s competition taking home 21 total awards out of the 23 it submitted. Two other standouts were the Cabernet Franc Private Reserve, 2009, which won Class Champion and Texas Class Champion (Double Gold Medal). This big Texas Red is consistently one of my favorites from this winery with balanced tannin and deep, dark flavors of blackberry, Christmas spices and a little vanilla.
“This award shows us that we’re on the right track when we’re winning competitions like this in the same league as wines from all over the world,” says Paul Bonarrigo. “I’m particularly proud that we won using the Black Spanish grape. We use it in a number of ways with our wines including in port and a dry rose. It means a lot to get recognition for showing how diverse a native Texas grape is and how well it shows in an international competition. It says a lot for Texas wine.
You can visit the original Messina Hof Winery and Vineyards in Bryan or at their new Hill Country facility in Stonewall, just outside of Fredericksburg. The Tuscan-style winery not only features a warm and inviting tasting room, but a guest villa as well for those who would like to linger a little longer in the Napa Valley of Texas.
The awards will be given at the Roundup and Best Bites Competition on February 19, 2012 at Reliant Center. Tickets for the event can be purchased here. Congrats to Messina Hof for making some great Texas wine and hats off to the many other Texas wines who performed beautifully in the Houston Live Stock Show and Rodeo Uncorked! International Wine Competition! (See the full list of results here.)
Winery: Messina Hof Winery and Vineyards
Wine: Solera Texas Sherry 2004
Availability: Winery only. Click here to purchase
Price: $45
- Jessica Dupuy
Tagged: Craig Collins, Houston Live Stock Show and Rodeo Uncorked! International Wine Competition, Jessica Dupuy, Messina Hof, Paul Bonarrigo, Solera
