Around the World in 80 wines-Tour de Vin

September 20, 2014.Reading time 4 minutes.

The sky was not all that was pouring in Austin on Thursday night. The 12th annual Tour de Vin sponsored by The Wine and Food Foundation of Texas at The W Hotel in Austin. Guests enjoyed dozens of wines and food from some of Austin’s finest restaurants. Navigating this much yum in one evening can be challenging. It […]

A Practical Girl’s Ferrari

August 18, 2014.Reading time 2 minutes.

In my preteen years, we spent hours playing the game MASH. We fantasized about Ferraris, mansions in Malibu, and our passionate relationship traveling the world with Simon Le Bon. We let the spiral of fate determine our career path and number of children. Gratefully, my life looks very little like the best or worst of […]

Solid as a…(Thoughts on Marriage and Winebelly)

April 10, 2014.Reading time 6 minutes.

I do some of my best “writing” in the middle of the night. In those quiet moments, my mind stirs while others sleep. Maybe it is the quiet. Maybe it is the half-conscious mind, free to roam. Tumbling around, thoughts and ideas seem both foggy and clear, vague and precise. I find an angle, a […]

Storytellers-Sequoia Grove

February 22, 2014.Reading time 6 minutes.

This past summer, my family and I flew into San Francisco, pieced together equipment from my brother and father-in-law, and headed north. I had seen them before. I was probably eight. At that age, everything seems a bit taller than it does now. You tilt your head back, way back and gaze up, up, up […]

Dinner with the Don

January 29, 2014.Reading time 5 minutes.

Last fall I was invited to a dinner in Houston hosted by Concha Y Toro to introduce their 2009 flagship wine, Don Melchor. The winemaker, Enrique Tirado, would be hosting the event which included a vertical tasting of the wine. It sounded like a fabulous event, but without much notice, I couldn’t get away. Fortunately for […]

“Sparkle and Shine”-Bubbles for NYE and Beyond

December 29, 2013.Reading time 8 minutes.

I love Steve Earle. I first fell for El Corazon, went back to I Feel Alright and then on to Transcendental Blues. “Ft. Worth Blues” was on repeat as I watched the moon over the Adriatic. I had people come up to me at the show at La Zona Rosa and say they had never seen anyone […]

Frankly Delicious

December 5, 2013.Reading time 6 minutes.

I wish you could smell my kitchen right now. Scratch that, I wish you could smell my whole house right now. By now, no matter where you live, you’ve likely heard of Franklin BBQ. If you haven’t seen the press, maybe you’ve seen the Chase credit card commercial. The local joint has reached cult-like status and, in order to […]

B.L.A.C.(K) Friday

November 29, 2013.Reading time 4 minutes.

…or what I’ve been drinking this week. I don’t shop this weekend. But I do enjoy wine, so I thought I’d share my own version of “Black Friday.” The only wines I could think of that begin with a K are either bigger producers or ones that I haven’t had in while so forgive the […]

South A. Welcomes South A.

October 29, 2013.Reading time 3 minutes.

A few weeks ago I told you about a South African Pinotage that I blew my socks off. It was my first piece for Wine Savvy so you may have missed it but the experience whet my appetite for South African wines. This past Sunday, Wines of South Africa held a Braai and wine tasting to […]