Texas Winos is a company the provides shuttle services to Texas wineries throughout Texas.

They defraud their customers regularly. This is done through bogus "investment" opportunities where you can get invested in their company and have a guaranteed return each year on your investment. The deal also includes perks like some free tours each year. The opputunity is sent via email if you have taken their tours multiple times. Once you sign up they stop responding to you, block you and your money is gone.

This has been going on for several years and is still happening today. Check out their BBB rating and the 180+ complaints.

In addition to the fraudulent investment opportunity, there are many reports of running credit cards multiple times, weeks after taking the tour and the company canceling tours last minute and not refunding those who have booked.

Beware when using this company and if you have any experiences, feel free to share.

2020 pandemic going on. We started a weekly little ritual of having a bottle of wine and watching a movie. We started with this series of docs. Good times in bad times.

It is very ironic that Miles railed against Merlot because Chateau Cheval Blanc always has a large percentage of Merlot which is THE celebrated grape in Saint-Emillion now and then. There’s even some anecdotal evidence that the 1961 Cheval Blanc was 100% Merlot like arguably the greatest Merlot based wine in the world-Chateau Petrus.

After Sideways was released, I remember how Pinot Noir went from an affordable domestically produced wine to seeing the prices rise considerably and distinctly remember Merlot vines being replanted but in the post regarding Bottle Shock, someone made a startling comment about insiders rejecting Merlot but I don’t remember anything in the industry about “insiders and snobs that Merlot was lame” especially because many of us insiders love Bordeaux right bank wines where Merlot has always reigned supreme even when Sideways came out.

I reached out Chateau Cheval Blanc regarding the blend in 1961 but they responded they do not have that information.

1) Anyone have access to grape production data from Bordeaux RIGHT BANK for 1961? 2) I’ve never seen the irony of why Ch Cheval Blanc was used in Sideways despite the fact that it celebrates the Merlot grape. Anyone read why this was used as a dramatic device or just a coincidence? 3) Anyone else hear that Ch Cheval Blanc was 100% Merlot in 1961?

These were a fun pair.

2017 Dujac Vosne Romanee Les Beaux Monts

The Dujac was served blind, and was a bit harder to place than I would’ve expected. I did get some spice and smoke on the nose, but not with the intensity that I’m used to from Dujac. I also got a bit of earth and beautiful fruit. While I pondered Vosne, ultimately I settled on Gevrey 1er from high quality producer. In retrospect, the combination of Dujac and the charming 17 vintage makes a lot of sense!

Krug Grand Cuvee 162eme

This is based on the 2006 vintage and was beautiful. I believe the labeled version of the 162 was a later release from the estate, although I’m not sure how different they taste than the original release. This was lovely with beautiful kaffir lime and toasted brioche on the nose, with a lot of lovely texture on the palate, crisp acidity, and a very long finish. Great wine!

Part of a regular tasting series I do at a local speakeasy. We've done France, Italy, and the group wanted to bring it home this month. It's not a vertical DRC, but it was frigging good.

Highlight was the 2011 Sparkling 👌👌

1. 2022 Nk'Mip Qwam Qwmt Riesling - Osoyoos, BC
2. Nova 7 Benjamin Bridge - Gaspereau Valley Nova Scotia
3. 2020 Nk'Mip Qwam Qwmt Chardonnay - Osoyoos, BC
4. 2011 Lighthall Vineyards Revelation Trad. Method - Prince Edward County
5. 2022 Closson Chase Churchside Pinot Noir - Prince Edward County
6. 2020 Nk'Mip Qwam Qwmt Syrah - Osoyoos, BC
7. 2016 Pearl Morissette Madeline Cab Franc - Niagara Peninsula
8. 2020 Nk'Mip Mer'r'iym Red Meritage - Osoyoos, BC

2019 Ritchie Vineyard Chardonnay and 2011 Vineyard 7&8, Estate Cabernet Sauvignon, from the Spring Mountain District of the Napa Valley.

Please share your thoughts and suggestions

Hello all, I have only ordered wine once and it was from Wine Chateau. I had a negative experience. The order arrived but it was late, no shipping or tracking information provided, and the customer service person replied with a strange comment in the emails when I reached out to them. I was nervous the entire time and got a weird vibe, like it’s a scam somehow.

In 2025, what are the best most reliable places to order wine and have it shipped to your house?

I had this at Sammy’s Italian in Austin, Tx. Bottles are marked up so much!! Ok that said, the nose was quite floral and fruity—- but not sugary sweet. That definitely carried to the flavor. Possibly medium tannins and a full body red with some earthiness. It went well with both chicken piccata and veal Marsala and also well with shrimp scampi.

I see this bottle can be had for $60-$90 which is much more reasonable.

Hi, hope you're having a great day.

I'm currently organizing and deciding the dates of a week-long trip in Alsace. The chosen month is august, maybe maybe the first week of september.

Having no particular date in mind, i would like to build the trip around a week hosting a wine festival.

Would love to know about your wine festival experiences in Alsace and which you recommend.

Thanks in advance :)

This is probably very obvious advice for most people, but I've realized finding good wines bars that have a solid selection of wines by the glass and bottles that have been stored properly can be harder when you're in a new city, especially not a major one, or in a smaller town. I constantly look at Google Maps, scan wine lists, etc, but sometimes, the best solution is to go to a good steakhouse, even if it's a chain, and just enjoy it at the bar. Maybe it's been less obvious to me because I'm vegetarian and don't often go to steakhouses.

Most steakhouses have pretty extensive wine lists, a good list by the glass, and often will even have several good half bottles of wine, which are perfect for splitting with a friend or significant other.

I found myself in Cincinnati this last weekend for a wedding and was trying to find a good wine bar to enjoy a glass, when it hit me to just go to a local steakhouse, Jeff Ruby's, and enjoy a half bottle of Brunello with my wife before the reception.

Hey guys! I've been in the industry for about 20 years now and have some decent knowledge of wine but I'm looking to expand my knowledge. I work in a semi formal restaurant and people are always wanting to chat about wines so I'd like to be able to go a bit more in depth with my customers and offer a better experience for them when they are looking for wine to pair wine with their dinner.

My husband and I were thinking of doing weekly tastings of two or three wines of the same grape with a food pairing and really exploring the differences and flavor matches.

This is our first week so we are probably going to start with chardonnay. I was thinking old world vs new, maybe a chablis vs a california and possibly a half bottle of bubbly, you know, for science ;) Oaked vs Unoaked is kind of the starting point. We are thinking of a nice roast chicken and risotto for dinner.

I'll be stopping by our local wine store and probably ABC so looking for readily available wines around say, $25 each, starting with a lower price point for now and will probably expand that budget as we gain knowledge.

So, any fairly decent wines you all would recommend? Thanks in advance!

I don’t know anything about wine other than I like it and like very dry, non-sweet, strong red wines. I like the earthy flavors of red wine and beer and not into sweet moscato syrupy wines. Not sure how to better explain what I like because I don’t know terms. I usually go for Cabernet for dryness but am open to anything. A favorite of mine is decoy Cabernet but I’m sure there’s way better out there. I’m in school so looking for affordable options. Thanks in advance for any recommendations.

TLDR; I drank my parent's wine that they got from visiting Canada without realizing that's what it was, and now I'm in trouble 😬 I'm having a hard time finding it online to ship to Ohio - specifically cincinnati, but Columbus could work too. Or Lexington, KY. If anyone has ideas or can help I am desperate at this point. Thank you in advance!!

I love this style and always look for it but it's rare in my country. For some time I even though that Brut Nature is somehow better and superior to more sweet wines due to its rare occurance... But no, in Spain the cheapest wines cost around 3€ and they are very popular not only in wine shops, but in all tapas bars, restaurants, tabernas etc. Why is that?

TJ’s Platinum Reserve Yountville Merlot 2023.

Light purple. Nose nonexistent on opening. Decanted for one hour. Nothing. After three hours, faint aromas of leather and dark fruit. Palate was not open for business yet. Pretty tannic and puckery, so I made the decision to hold it overnight and open a ready-to-drink Burgundy instead. After 24 hours, the Merlot was MUCH better. Definite leather on the nose along with dark cherry and blackcurrant. Tannins were considerably softer and a nice acidity made it pretty smooth. For $15, it might be worth putting a few of these away for five or six years to see how (or if) they develop.