Tag: holidays

Wine, Wine, Wonderful Wine

Holiday season’s here, and the Wein is fine. I’ve already offered up a slate of selections for gatherings, parties, and dinners — click here for my selective and approachable holiday lineup — and I’m tasting a lot of wines, some of which will end up as gifts or being paired with holiday meals. I’m sure you’re doing the same.

Wine shops and bars are also busy, and you should stop by your favorite one(s) and peruse the shelves. Then visit one that you never have before. Find something new to your palate, ask the staff what they’re drinking, and stock up. 

To get you started, Avondale Food & Wine’s  Holiday Wine Market should be on your agenda. It takes place today (December 13), from 6-8 p.m. For $20, you get appetizers and the chance to stroll through a market featuring pop-up shops including Houston Dairymaids and Heights Vinyl. Bonus: purchase a wine from Avondale’s worthy inventory and your $20 is refundable.


Avondale Food & Wine wants to help get you in a festive mood.

Then, when Saturday arrives, make sure you set some time aside to visit 13 Celsius, because their Annual Holiday Wine Sale & Customer Appreciation Event  is taking over the space on Caroline beginning at 11 a.m. A multitude of wine sellers (including Monopole Wines, whose team I recently joined — more on that soon) will be on hand with great pours and amazing bargains. 

I’ll let the 13 Celsius crew speak for itself: 

It’s that time again! Our annual wine sale and customer appreciation event takes place on Saturday, December 15th.

As our little way of saying thank you for 12 wonderful years, we have scoured the market to find the best wines for you and your family to celebrate and share this holiday season. Come say hello and taste through this massive stable of amazing wines. Decide which ones you like and gleefully purchase them at foolishly low prices.

Finish up the last (or at least some!) of your holiday shopping with:
Weights + Measures’ fresh-baked bread
Houston Dairymaids with more delectable cheeses than ever before

This event is free to attend and no reservations are required!

Here’s what Monopole will have for you at the sale: the 2015 Kerloo Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon (Columbia Valley Washington), the 2014 Y. Rousseau Tannat (Russian River Valley), and the 2015 “La Sorella” Pinot Noir from de Lancellotti Family Vineyards. Come by and say hello, and taste some great wines. 

A Subjective, Approachable Holiday Wine Guide

It’s the season of celebratory gatherings and cooking … dinners and parties abound, and the wine flows. I love the days between Thanksgiving and January 1, and approach them with enthusiasm and care. We began this year last week, hosting friends who are passionate about food and wine, and we’ll continue through the first week of 2019.

Mexican chicken soup, carne adovada, sausage balls, sweet potato pie … and wines, of course. Sparkling and read and white, even a vermouth here and there. Uncorking bottles with loved ones and friends and toasting the past, present, and days to come is a thing of joy.

To assist in your merrymaking, I put together seven bottles that would serve you well this holiday season, no matter your culinary plans. Click here for my 2018 wine guide, and drink well.

Want more wine time? Check out my  PaperCity library:

A Zinfandel for Daily Drinking
A Wine Family’s Excellent Adventure
Four Brothers and Some Great Young Wines
Your Endless Crush Rosé
Enrique Varela Loves Malbec
This Geologist Knows His Italian
A Chardonnay For Your Mother (and You)
Don’t Dismiss the Peat
Distinctive Whisky Enters a New Era
A Whisky Legend Visits Houston
A Rare Cask, Indeed
Austin Whisky, Strange Name
Here’s Your Texas Rum Goddess
A ZaZa Wine Guy Loves Great Service
A Merlot That Your Snob Friend Will Love
French Couple Make a Sauvignon Blanc in California
A Perfect Afternoon Chardonnay
Terry Theise Talks Reisling
A New Wine Wonderland
Paris Wine Goddess Tells All
Rice Village Wine Bar Has a Cleveland Touch
A Texas White Blend for Your Table
A Pinot Noir Full of Flavor
This Pinot Gris From Oregon Pairs Well With Cheese
Willamette, Dammit!
A Value Rioja
Drink Pink!
Underbelly Veteran Goes for Grenache
A Man of Letters and Wine
Ms. Champagne Wants a Nebuchadnezzar
The Wine Artist Goes for Chardonnay
This American Loves Spain and Its Wines
Houston’s Wine Whisperer Has a Soft Touch
Blackberry Farm’s Somm Pours in Splendor
Mr. Pinot Noir: Donald Patz of Patz & Hall
A Cork Dork Wants to Spend More Time in Tuscany
Sommelier Turned Restaurateur Daringly Goes Greek
Texas Master Sommelier Debunks Wine Geeks
A Bottle From Gigondas Changed This Houston Man’s Life

Oil Man Falls in Love, and the Rest is Good-Taste History
Ryan Cooper of Camerata is a Riesling Man
Mixing It Up With Jeremy Parzen, an Ambassador of Italy
Sommelier at One of Houston’s Top Wine Bars Loves Underdogs

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