What a great time to be a wine lover in Dallas—the city is alive with tastings large and small. Check these out:
Tonight (July 10)
Sacred Cellars Secret Hideout is conducting a blind tasting of “some reds and whites before they reveal the origin or varietal.” The event is from 7:00pm-9:00pm. AND IT IS FREE! Great way to learn about wine or test your tired palate. Reserve (hah!) a spot: 214-764-6858
Sacredcellars.com. (Here’s a map to the secret location.)
July 14
The Warwick Melrose’s Library Bar will also host a FREE wine tasting from 7:00p.m. – 9:00p.m. The wines featured are Chandon Sparkling Wines: Chandon Etoile Rose, Chandon Brut Rose, Chandon Blanc de Noir, and Chandon Brut Classic. Tuesday at the Library Bar is also Jazz & Classic Music Night and classic cocktails (Gimlet, Rusty Nail, Manhattan, Madras or White Russian) or glass of wine are only $6 from 4:00p.m -7:00 p.m. That translates into four hours of cheap drinks. (Look out Old Monk.)
July 18
Barking Rocks Winery is a bit of a schlep—it’s located between Granbury and Thorp Springs, Texas, but this event is worth the drive a perhaps a mini-vacation in Granbury. The newsletter I received, via W.G., says: “Rhett Butler is returning to the winery on July 18th. Billy McLaughlin, a “long time ago” inspiration, will join him. This will be an unforgettable evening. Tickets are $15 per person. We will open the doors for a little wine at 7:00. Here is what the Star Telegram said: ‘these two musicians play acoustic guitar with such a passion and aggressively out-front style that one may think they are each plugged into a mile high stack of amplifiers. In fact, their fiery, six string sorcery comes almost exclusively from their often blinding finger work up and down a traditional acoustic fret board.’ It won’t get any better than this.” Good times.
July 22
I know it’s overpriced and overhyped and all that jazz, but I remember my first sip of Sassicaia. Seriously. It was in a small Italian restaurant on Ventura Boulevard in Studio City, California circa 1985. The next day I bought a case. Ten years later, I ventured to the winery in Italy and spent the day sipping and touring the estate.
Anywhoo, I’m off task. On July 22, from 6:00p.m. to 8:00p.m., Dr. Sebastiano Rosa, one of the most respected oenologists working in Italy today according to Sigel’s, will be at the Sigel’s store at 5757 Greenville Avenue. A graduate of UC-Davis, he spent his early years at such illustrious wine estates as Lafite Rothschild in Bordeaux and Argiano in Tuscany, before joining his family’s Bolgheri estate (Tenuta San Guido) as Winemaker and Technical Director. . A graduate of UC-Davis, he spent his early years at such illustrious wine estates as Lafite Rothschild in Bordeaux and Argiano in Tuscany, before joining his family’s Bolgheri estate (Tenuta San Guido) as Winemaker and Technical Director.
Dr Sebastiano Rosa will lead a tasting of the current releases from his 3 estates, Tenuta San Guido (Bolgheri), Tenuta di Salviano (Umbria) and Argicola Punica (Sardinia). To RSVP for this free tasting please contact David Waddington or Ben Coyle at [email protected] or 214/739-4012. Jump for the joyous details of the wine.
Wines to be tasted:
Tenuta di Salviano
Nestled among Umbria’s rolling hills between Todi and Orvieto, the Salviano estate occupies 4,940 acres surrounding Lake Corbara and the banks of the Tiber River. Owned by the Marchesa Nerina Corsini Incisa della Rocchetta the Salviano vineyards are planted to Sangiovese, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Procanico and Grechetto, rising from 150m to 500m above sea level. These newly planted vineyards of indigenous and international varieties produce excellent quality red and white wines from the classic Orvieto Classico Superiore to progressive luxury red blends.
Orvieto Classico Superiore 07
Salviano di Salviano 06
Solideo di Salviano 03
Turlo’ 04
Agricola Punica
Agricola Punica is a ground-breaking endeavor in Sardinia from Super-Stars of Italian winemaking – Dr. Sebastiano Rosa, architect of Sassicaia at Tenuta San Guido and Giacomo Tachis – who helped create the original Super Tuscan, Sassicaia, as well as Tignanello and Solaia, is the technical director. Dr. Rosa recounts: ‘It was Giacomo Tachis who turned us on to Sardinia and the sweet, soft tannins of Carignano. He convinced us that we could make a great Carignano-based wine… There are few people making wine here, and the potential is tremendous, a similar situation to Bolgheri. We are at the beginning of something great.’
Barrua 05
Tenuta San Guido
The legend that became Sassicaia began in 1944, when Mario Incisa della Rocchetta planted a few Cabernet vine cuttings in a tiny vineyard called Castiglioncello. It was not until over a quarter century later that he first released the wine to the market, in the 1968 vintage. Within a matter of a few vintages, Sassicaia became a legend, not only as a benchmark for quality but as the progenitor of a new breed of Italian wine, and has remained so since. With the 1994 vintage, this unique legacy was acknowledged when Sassicaia became the first wine to be given its own appellation in the D.O.C. system.
Guidalberto 06
Sassicaia 06
