Wednesday, January 7, 2009

Shout Out to Texas Wine in February Bon Appetit


Flipping through Bon Appetit's February feature, 50 Easy Ways to Eat Green, I was pleased to discover on page 83 that the magazine has suggested we all support our local winemaker in an effort to do better by the planet, culinarily speaking.  



Becker Vineyards is listed as B.A.'s Texas winery of choice, and by now I'm sure you're all aware of how much we here at DallasEats love Becker's Iconoclast Cabernet.  And that's just the tip of the iceberg!  With so many wonderful wineries to choose from here in North Texas and throughout the Lone Star State, I wholeheartedly agree with this suggestion.  Let's all pick up a bottle of Texas wine tonight, and raise our glasses to the greatness of eating - and drinking - green.

C&S

p.s.  Becker Iconoclast is widely available in Dallas at grocery and liquor stores and wine shops.  I buy mine at Kroger or Dallas Fine Wine & Spirits.  Click here, here or here for other Texas wine recommendations.  And there's plenty more where these came from!

12 comments:

Food Czar said...

C&S, we both love to do our part to promote Texas wines. Now, do yourself a favor and try Dry Comal Creek. Black Spanish, Sauvignon Blanc, and French Colombard are all standouts. Dry Comal Creek wines may be purchased at Central Markets, Whole Foods, or Dallas Fine Wine and Spirits. Check out their website at www.drycomalcreek.com
By the way, Black Spanish is a Native Texas grape, so it's like supporting Texas products twice!!

Eddie G said...

Hey Lisa,

Do you know if Becker's wines are vegan? I know Dry Comal Creek uses egg whites in some of their wines, so that's a no-go for me :( But I am all about investigating Texas wines...considering we have some damn good vodka!

Classy&Sassy said...

Egg Whites? I'll be the first to admit that I don't know the half of it when it comes to wine, and I'd never heard of using egg whites in winemaking until I read your question today.

So, I gave Nichole over at Becker Vineyards a call (she and I have talked/emailed before with regard to my book project). She confirmed that, yes, many wineries use egg whites as part of the fining process (sort of like filtering). Becker used them a long time ago, but they do not use egg whites anymore. *However*, they now use bentonite clay and fish bladder - and that fish bladder would pose the same problem.

I explained your sitch to Nichole and she said that the fish bladder is used for white wines and the bentonite clay is used for reds. She confirmed that Becker reds were okay for someone who is avoiding animal products. I don't know about what comes in contact with what, though, so that's that.

*Whew* I learned something new today! I hope this helps, Eddie :)

Eddie G said...

Thank you so much, Lisa! I'm much more of a red wine fan, so that's excellent news :)

Classy&Sassy said...

You're welcome. I feel smarter now!

p.s. Were you at the Grapevine last night? If not, there was a guy that totally looked just like your picture :)

Eddie G said...

Funny you mention the Grapevine...a friend and I almost made it out there last night, but we were nearly robbed at gunpoint right outside of my building on Reagan Street. Luckily, we had the good (or maybe bad) sense to run away as fast as we could while I screamed profanities at the guy! Me talk pretty in panic situations :) Needless to say, we were both too nervous to walk over, and cabbing/driving less than a block away is just asinine! But maybe the attempted robber was a godsend...had I made it to the Grapevine, I might have had a fateful run in with my doppelgänger ;)

Classy&Sassy said...

Oh, my. I am so sorry to hear about your ordeal. What a traumatic start to the weekend! I hope your Saturday was better, and I'll be sure and alert you to any future doppelganger sightings :)

Eddie G said...

Lisa, you crack me up! If at any point we are at the Grapevine on the same night, please promise we'll have a drink together :)

Classy&Sassy said...

I promise! We'll have to arrange that soon!

Eddie G said...

Update:

I contacted Edward Gomez, winemaker at Dry Comal Creek to verify which of their wines are vegan. His response follows:

Good morning. Other than yeast and malolactic bacteria none of the current wines contain any animal products. If you have any questions regarding the processing of wine please feel free to contact me. I would be happy answer your questions.

Regards,
Edward Gomez
Winemaker
Dry Comal Creek Vineyards

Classy&Sassy said...

Good to know! Thank you for posting that. Perhaps we'll explore organic wines in the future, too - I am very curious...

Anonymous said...

Very nice thanks for the posting................

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