In my short time with wine, I have had the opportunity to taste some very beautiful wines from all over the world. The amazing thing about wine is that it not only changes with time, but the friends you enjoy it with, the atmosphere or ambiance and even your mood. In other words, it is subject to interpretation and if you say peaches and I say apricots or you say raisins and I say plum, no one is wrong. Sure there are connoisseurs like Robert Parker whose palate is amazing almost to a fault, but the bottom line, is that if you like it, you like it and no need for further explanation. That being said, wine enjoyers can train their palates to recognize a wider variety of aromas and flavors…ultimately enhancing the entire wine drinking experience! Practice does make perfect!
Please note, Texas wines will absolutely awaken new taste buds for you! I am already spoiled here, as June works very hard on her palate and tasting so that she can bring you the very best Texas has to offer. Salado Wine Seller is the coolest one-stop-shop to get a good palate workout! Drink up and enjoy! Here are some tips to developing and keeping your palate sharp:
How to Develop a Wine Palate
Training your wine palate is not just for professional wine tasters and connoisseurs. In fact, all wine drinkers are training their palates everyday just by experiencing different tastes. A trained wine palate simply means that you can recognize the various flavors that you taste in the wines you consume. The more flavors you can successfully identify, the more trained your palate has become. Ultimately your experience with taste is your wine tasting guide.
Instructions
Step One
See below for a list of flavors common to wine. Write these flavors down in your wine journal.
Step Two
Seek out and purchase a small quantity of each item from your list. Many of the items may be purchased at your local grocery store or specialty mart; however, others may require a trip to a nursery, hardware store or other less conventional store.
Step Three
Taste and smell each of the items you have purchased. Try to recall wines you have previously tasted, which may have had hints or notes of the flavor you are tasting.
Step Four
Repeat this process, adding new items occasionally. This will allow your palate to solidify these tastes.
Step Five
Continue to drink a variety of wine types including wines from different regions and countries. This will allow you numerous opportunities to test your palate against a multitude of flavors.
Step Six
Verbalize your thoughts as you drink different wines. By verbalizing thoughts through dialogue, you may gain further understanding of what you are tasting. You may also record your thoughts in your wine journal.
Tips & Warnings
· Training your palate is like training for anything else, the more you do it, the better you are likely to get at it.
· Wine tasting at wineries and wine stores is a great way to meet people who enjoy talking about wine. Such tastings are also a good way to taste a wide variety of wines without breaking the bank.
· Jams and jellies are good for training your palate to recognize a variety of the fruit flavors you are likely to encounter when wine tasting. When you taste jams and jellies, try to stick with organic or preservative free jams and jellies.
· Palate sensitivity does vary from person to person, so even if you can’t identify every nuance in your favorite wine, remember that wine enjoyment does not come from the knowledge of what you are tasting, but from the pleasure of the taste.
· Don’t wear out your tasters; be sure and keep trying new, non-wine foods and flavors to keep senses sharp.
I have been transplanted to Texas and couldn’t be more excited! What brought me to Salado you ask? My husband recently took a job in Killeen, and we have been looking for a charming and active community to call home. Several weeks of wandering and one great Saturday in Salado was all it took! We found the perfect home near a beautiful golf course, a dog and picnic-friendly creek, fun shops with friendly owners (June being the friendliest of them all), a great place to drink coffees and read the paper on weekends, beautiful backroads to work and easy access to Austin! So here we are…closing on our first home, working hard and playing harder!
That being said, I have become the newest part-time employee at Salado Wine Seller and am so grateful for June! She has been a great resource for the very-exciting wines of Texas and an amazing connection to the active businesses and organizations within the community (I do not know how she finds time for owning/running a successful business, being a winegrower/maker, an active member of the Chamber of Commerce, Junior League and the Texas Wine & Grape Growers Association…the list goes on). In addition and most importantly, I have been fortunate enough to meet some of the most endearing and enthusiastic members of the village through this wine shop! Who doesn’t like to enjoy new friends and good wine?!
I’m excited to be here…so stop in and have a glass…the conversation flows as freely as the wine! :0)
Salado’s popular with other wedding couples, of course, including these newlyweds cruising the streets of the historic village, which was named in 1860. Below, Roy T’s Old Salado Bakery offers blue plate specials, pizza and baked goods with a New Orleans touch: homemade beignets.
Photo by Larry Kolvoord AMERICAN-STATESMAN
TRAVEL
Jenna Bush puts sleepy Salado on the map
Known for its galleries, restaurants and shopping, now this quaint village has star appeal.
By Candace Birkelbach SPECIAL TO THE AMERICAN-STATESMAN Sunday, June 08, 2008
SALADO — This quaint village north of Austin, which bills itself as “artfully yours,” already was on most Central Texans’ list of places to visit. With galleries, fine shops, restaurants and a beautiful creek, it’s a natural place to escape the chaos of big city life.
But lately it’s been buzzing for a different reason thanks to Jenna Bush’s super secret bridal luncheon at Salado’s Inn on the Creek and “Texas-Sized Celebration” at Salado’s Silver Spur Theater.
Inn owner Will Lowery admitted with a laugh that the village had never seen anything this big.
I decided to check in and see how Salado is doing after the entourage rolled into, and out of, town. Fortunately, all the hubbub has died down, returning the area to the serenity for which it is known.
My first stop was Roy T’s Old Salado Bakery to get my caffeine fix. This place has a locals-only vibe, but don’t worry about looking clueless when you walk into the shop. Owner Roy “Knox” Tyson quickly pegged me as an “I-35er,” someone who just pulled in from the highway that runs directly in front of the shop, and helped me sort through the menu. If the homemade doughnuts and beignets don’t make you a lifetime patron of this New-Orleans style bakery, the coffee is sure to win you over. What’s with the New Orleans theme? Tyson went to Tulane University and fell in love with the Big Easy.
The Salado College T-shirts adorning the walls are a nod to the first co-ed college in Texas, which burned down in the 1920s. (Ask about getting an honorary degree!)
There are also daily blue plate specials and the family’s own unique recipe for Manhattan-style pizza. And you can wash it down with a classic Dublin Dr Pepper.
But time now to shop.
Horsefeathers has home décor items to suit any taste. And if you buy something, designer Diana Woolard will follow you home to help you figure out where to put it. I found some interesting candles (lemonade, fried green tomato and cashmere scents), lamps, trinkets, furniture and paintings that I would be happy to place in my home.
Mud Pies Pottery offers colorful handmade pottery. Want to make your own? There are pottery classes for adults and children. And please, try the 46 flavors of fudge, including chocolate cherry walnut, armadillo crunch and key lime.
OK, I’ve had my morning fudge; now it’s time for lunch.
The Ambrosia Tea Room is next door and serves fresh salads, chilled strawberry soup and ginger peach tea. And as 31-year Salado resident Robert Denman told me, men are allowed to eat in tea rooms.
But Browning’s Cafe across the street also offers salads and classic sandwiches such as chicken salad, tuna fish and pimento cheese. I opt for the homemade minestrone soup, and I made the right decision. The bold, rich tomato base of this soup made my mouth very happy, along with the fresh vegetables.
I’m curious to see where Jenna Bush set up camp during her wedding weekend, so I drop by the Silver Spur Theater (the only source of night life in the town, it offers over-the-top slapstick comedy with a touch of vaudeville). Owner Grainger Esch, sitting on the edge of the stage decked out in a red plaid shirt, black vest and cowboy hat, says in hindsight he is glad he didn’t know in advance because it would have been daunting to keep the secret.
Lowery says that when Bush arrived at the inn, she and her friends ran down to the creek, kicked off their shoes and walked through the water holding hot pink parasols.
He prides himself on maintaining a discreet inn where dignitaries can come for a peaceful evening. (The inn offers specialty dining for reservation only on Friday and Saturday nights, with a different four-course menu each week.)
My afternoon ended too soon, and I left town with a thought running through my head: “I wish I were older so I could retire and move here now.”
Birkelbach is an Austin freelance writer.
Worth checking out
Roy T’s Old Salado Bakery, 100 N. Church St. (254) 947-7181, www.oldsaladobakery.com.
Inn on the Creek, 602 Center Circle. (877) 947-5554, www.inncreek.com.
Salado Silver Spur Theater, Royal Street. (254) 947-3456, www.saladosilverspur.com.
Salado Wine Seller (881-B N. Main St.) open for wine tastings Sunday, Monday, Wednesday and Thursday noon to 6 p.m., Friday and Saturday noon to 8 p.m. Five tastes for $3. Thursday is Ladies Only Night from 6 to 8 p.m. (254) 947-8011, www.saladowinery.com.
Fletchers Books and Antiques(945 N. Main St.). Eclectic items from estate sales. Civil War, religion and philosophy books. (254) 947-5414.
Say “Texas” in a word association test and the one thing that probably does not automatically spring to mind is “wine.” “Longhorns,” “cowboys” and “oil,” sure, but probably not wine.
And that’s a shame because Texas is now the U.S.’s number five grape producer, with 220 family-owned vineyards taking up 3,700 acres, according to GoTexanWine.org. The Texan wine industry provides more than 8,000 of the state’s jobs. Texas even boasts an important wine pioneer among its natives. Texan Viticulturist Thomas Munson developed phylloxera-resistant rootstock, which helped save the European wine industry from that dreaded bug threatened to destroy it. Munson is honored in France with his own statues.
Still, wine growing is a nascent business in the state, with most its wineries less than two decades old. That’s no doubt part of the reason that we don’t associate Texas with wine. The other is that most Texas wineries are still small farms that produce limited batches, most al of which are enjoyed within the state.
Not that Texas doesn’t have a history of wine-making. In fact, wine-making in Texas goes back to Spanish times. But, like elsewhere in the country, the 14th amendment and prohibition pretty much wiped the industry out.
I visited a number of wineries on recent trip through the Texas Hill Country, two of which I’ll talk about here. I drove from San Antonio (home of The Alamo) up State Highway 281, through Johnson City (home of the American president of the same name), Marble Falls, Lampasas, and Mineral Wells to Bridgeport and Wichita Falls, stopping here and there along the way. Lovely bit of country riddled with cowboy history, legend and lore.
Texas Hills Vineyards
stop was Texas Hills Vineyards, near Johnson City, about 100 clicks north of San Antonio. Owned by Gary and Kathy Gilstrap, along with their son, Dale Rassett, THV, as we’ll dub it, has been producing award-winning wines for a little over a decade.
The tasting room, up a little drive next to the green vineyard, is convivial and friendly. Most Texans still don’t know much about wine (though I reckon most Californians don’t really, either), so it falls upon those working the tasting room to educate, and this they do well.
When I approached the counter, the woman there asked if I should prefer to taste dry or sweet wines. This I found interesting. In California and elsewhere, sweet dessert wines are usually considered an afterthought in the tasting order. Further conversation revealed that most sweet wines grow well in the Texan climate, and are also quite popular with the locals, who are used to other sweet liquors, such and bourbon whiskey, and soft drinks, like Coca-Cola and sweet iced tea. For all it’s rootin’-tootin’ history, Texas, or many parts of it, is not all that friendly to alcohol, and many counties there are still “dry,” a fact that no doubt has not helped Texas’ wine industry.
Not having much of a sweet tooth, I chose dry wines. THV estate grapes include Pinot Grigio, Sangiovese, Moscato, Chardonnay, Merlot, and Chenin Blanc. They also buy grapes from other local vineyards to make their Cinque Vino Rosso, Kick Butt Cab and Vino Dolce dessert wine.
2006 Due Bianco Rating: ♠ ♠ ½
A blend of 21 percent Pinot Grigio and 70 percent Chardonnay, this crisp, light little number offers citrus and melon notes but has a slight finish and a rather steely nose. I was surprised that with so much Chard I didn’t get a creamier feel and more oak, but I rather liked that. I hate too much oak. A good, everyday wine with oysters and such.
2004 Cinque Vino Rosso Rating: ♠ ♠ ♠
A very interesting little blend of – no kidding – Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Ruby Cab, Sangiovese and Syrah. Usually you don’t see so much blending of Frog grapes with Eye-tie grapes, but hey, it’s the 21st century and anything goes. The result of this mutt: Pretty good. Lots of berry and black fruit notes with a little pepper on the back end. There’s also a good back-story to this wine. It was originally dubbed “Tres Pisano” and contained only three grapes. Then Gallo, which produces a wine called “Tre Paesano” threatened to sue for copyright infringement. So they added two more grapes and changed the name. Gotta love the wine business.
2005 Syrah Rating: ♠ ♠
Being a Syrah lover I had to try this one. I can’t say I was blown away, but I wasn’t disappointed, either. Certainly better than the syrup they’re mass producing in Australia these days under the rubric Shiraz. This Syrah has a slight but distinctive fruit nose, cream flavors and a short but definite finish.
2005 Kick Butt Cab Rating: ♠ ♠ 1/2
A good food wine, KBC here has a strong, alcoholic nose, and seems to have just the right amount of tannins and spice from being aged in American oak. It’s funny, THV’s website brags that KBC is made from 22-year-old vines. Sorry, ya’ll, but you don’t get to brag about the age of your vines unless they are older than me!
Brushy Creek Vineyards Winegrower Les Constable is the brains behind Brushy Creek Vineyards in Alvord, a few hours Northwest of Fort Worth, just off of US 287. A jolly elder gentleman who reminded me of 19th century “Old Saint Nick” Christmas illustrations, Constable’s goal is, as he puts it, “to make the very best wines that Texas can make.”
It’s a trial and error process. A retired technology professional, Constable has been producing wines for about a decade. He currently grows or works with no less than 36 different grape varieties and produces some 30 wines, mostly in small batches, trying to figure out which will work best in the warm, sometimes humid Texas climate. Unlike coastal California or Northern France, Texas doesn’t usually have the morning chill that gapes of French provenance like so well. And while the afternoons are often hot, they’re not as dry for much of the year. So making California and French-style wines it tricky.
That’s why Constable is experimenting with grapes native to areas of the world whose climates are closer to that of Texas than to France or California: the Black Sea area, Hungary, Romania, parts of Spain and so forth. Smart guy, Constable.
2007 Rkatsitely Rating: ♠ ♠ ♠ 1/2
Rkat-a-what?! Right, that’s what I said. Rkatsitely is a white Black Sea grape, and in Constable’s hand makes a wine that is surprisingly like Chablis – a little metallic, a little citrusy but also a little velvety. This is a total quaffer. Just don’t try to pronounce it. I later drank a bottle with my Texan cousins over dinner: We barbequed their prize pig, Stedman. Rkatsitely, I can tell you, is great with barbequed Stedman.
NV Mirage Table Wine Rating: **
This highly drinkable table vino is 50/50 Shiraz and Mourvedre. Slightly tawny in color with an earthy nose, this is a good any-time-of-day wine.
NV Three Friends Rating: ♠ ♠
A blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Shiraz and Mourvedre, this one has a dull ruby color and was a little fruitier and fuller than the Mirage. Very fruit forward, yet dry, with a short finish.
2006 Tempranillo Rating: ♠ ♠ ♠
Another of Constable’s risk-takers, this Spanish varietal is proving to be a good choice for the Texan soil. With a dense, tawny color and a caramel nose, this wine has a hint of spice as it touches the palate. It’s velvety up front with a tannic finish that should go well with most meat dishes. I definitely got the feeling, though, that after about another year or so in the bottle it would be good for another half spade on our rating scale, maybe even a full spade.
Texas’ wine industry certainly has a ways to go (note that while I visited several wineries, I saw fit only to buy from, and write about, two). But with chaps like Constable taking chances, it’s certainly on its way.
