Austin Music and Wine Festival

Yay its time for the annual Austin (Music and) Wine Festival and I was so excited! For $30 you gained entrance into the festival, a commemorative wine glass, and 10 1 oz samples of wine. Last year was very interesting including massive thunderstorms, delicious cheese, lots of wine, and collecting about 5 discarded glasses. This year it rained AGAIN, but not enough to ruin the day. I went with 2 people and we all decided to share tastes to maximize our experience, so I ended up having close to 30 wine tastes. I kept notes and this is what I tasted:

Becker –

Rousanne, Syrah, and Merlot – none too memorable, the Rousanne was the only one I hadn't tasted before and it wasn't very good.

Landon –

Yellow Rose and a Cab/Merlot/Cab Franc blend – both bad :(

Mandola –

Moscato, Dolcetto, Canto Felice – all these were really weird and the ones that were supposed to be sweet were actually sour, which I didn't like!

Spicewood –

Semillion – bad

Flat Creek –

Pinot Grigio – good! This was the first decent one of the day.

Woodrose

Wood Rose was very good – it was a rose that wasn’t too sweet

Tempranillo and Merlot were just alright, I was a little disappointed because this is one of my favorite wineries.

Haak –

White Port – BEST wine there! Very deliciously sweet without being overly so, high alcohol content but doesn’t taste that way.

Blanc du Bois - meh

Brennan - 

Viognier - bad

Llano - 

Signature Melange - meh, the guy told me it was like a pinot noir, which I TOTALLY did not get. 

Retreat Hill - 

Riesling and XOXO - both just ok

Cork This - 

Green Apple Riesling - not as crazy as I'd expect, but not very good - did taste like an apple though.

Perissos-

Hammet Cab, Newsom Cab - I couldn't tell the difference between the two, but this was near the end of all the tasting. 

Viognier - ok

Dry Comal Creek -

Sangria - This was AMAZING!

Random White - not sure what this was, but it was pretty good! Should have found out.

Pillar Bluff-

Kitty (Orange Moscato) - Delicious! I love orange moscatos

Stone House - 

Scheming Beagle Port - Fairly good, but way too alcoholic tasting for a port

Driftwood - 

Orange Muscat - I was out of tasting tickets but used a dollar because I had to try this last wine and Im glad I did, it was fantastic!

I ended up walking out of there with the Haak white port because it was fantastic and one of my favorite things at the festival this year AND last! I have looked all over for it since, and never found it!

Yellow Tail Shiraz

I figured I would go ahead and try my Yellow Tail Shiraz since I've had it for awhile, and I must say I wasn't very impressed. :/ This is the most popular red wine? I thought the chardonnay was ok, but this shiraz just tasted overly alcoholic and too strong. There weren't any particular flavors I could pick out and it wasn't very enjoyable. In fact, I had this open for about a week because I wasn't too eager to drink it. Blah, at least it was only $5.

Back on Track

Oops, I haven't updated my blog in quite some time, but I have been keeping track of the wines I drank! Coming soon are posts on the approximate dates the wines were tasted, all between the end of March and now! Please go back and check them out! :)

Apothecary Cafe and Wine Bar

I had a groupon coupon to Apothecary Café and Wine Bar and finally used it since it expired today. I never would have found this place unless I had a coupon, its in a small strip mall on Burnet Rd. We went really late, just about 45 minutes before it closed, but were sure glad we did! They have coffee, sandwiches, soups, other food, and a pretty extensive wine list. We ended up getting the Nautilus Sauvignon Blanc which we had both loved from McCormick and Schmick, and I got the weirdest wine on the list.

 There was a wine from Slovenia called Quattro Mani Tocai and the description was “margarita in a wine glass”. I asked for a taste before I ordered it since it sounded so weird, and it was actually quite interesting! It was lemon-lime flavored and I swear I could smell and taste some tequila in there lol. I ordered a glass so I could try more, and it ended up not being so great the more I had of it. A little bit was a novelty, but a whole glass ended up just being bitter and a bit weird. Still, it was cool to try a wine from Slovenia!

As a side note, the food there was amazing! We ordered a smoked turkey, brie, apple, and honey sandwich and it was so delicious. They also make a really great brushetta, with super fresh tomatoes and a vinaigrette sauce. On the menu it said that Sundays and Mondays they have $10 off a bottle of wine, and most the wine is between $25 – 35 so I definitely want to come back, share a bottle, and have a cute date there soon! 

Specs Texas Wine Tasting

I was super excited for this tasting, because it was my favorite one from last year. I remember all the wines being so delicious! I was immediately sad to see that my favorite Texas Hills wines were not there this time, the Kick Butt Cab and Orange Moscato L. Apparently they had been at the south Specs tasting on Brodie Lane the day before – is it too obsessive to go to both tastings next year lol? 

Anyway there were a lot of other good wines, some I remembered from last year. There was the Flat Creek Orange Moscato which I loved, and the Fall Creek Chenin Blanc which was just over $5. We actually went ahead and got a bottle of the chenin blanc because it sold out last year! I also got a bottle of Peregrine Chardonnay because it was just $6 and actually quite good! I always like to keep cheap bottles around the house as well as nicer ones.

Kono Sauvignon Blanc

I have wanted to go this book and wine club for months now and finally found the time to go this week! I was trying to think of a refreshing white wine to go with the hot weather so brought the Kono Sauvignon Blanc I bought at a Specs tasting last month. It was just under $10 and fairly light. I actually liked the wine a lot, and thought it was a great easy drinking wine! Its crisp, and of course citrusy, although I wish I would have had it a bit colder. I still have a bit left and might try it on ice with lemon, like I had at Cork and Co!

The book and wine club was really cool! I was the new one there, but everyone was really nice and friendly. It was a bit different from Wino Divino, because people just brought their own bottle of wine and pretty much stuck to that – they didn’t all drink everything and rate them like we do. I want to actually read the books and participate in the discussions more next time!