Columns

Three wines, three continents

By Ron Bechtol

Published: 3/11/2009

Types: Food & Drink

It’s no news that the temperature has already risen to above 90 degrees in San Antonio. And though this doesn’t mean you need to yank the cover off the backyard barbie quite yet (you might want to rid the grate of the remnants of last season’s steak, however), the thermal rude awakening does suggest...[MORE]

Valentine vino

By Ron Bechtol

Published: 2/11/2009

Types: Food & Drink

Valentine’s Day brings out the silliness in some, and this writer is no exception. Some winemakers, alas, are goofy year ’round, and one such is Bonny Doon’s Randall Grahm — who would counter that his wines are entirely serious, even if he isn’t.   We can start with his Syrah Le Poseur. P...[MORE]

Seriously seeking sherry

By Ron Bechtol

Published: 1/14/2009

Types: Food & Drink

Americans rarely think seriously of sherry. At best, we might equate it with that bottle of dark and sticky stuff your grandmother kept at the back of a kitchen cabinet for “medicinal purposes.” Or with the somewhat lighter, but still noticeably sweet, potion produced by a favorite professor (the on...[MORE]

2008 riesling redux

By Ron Bechtol

Published: 12/17/2008

Types: Food & Drink

It’s the end of the year, the time when lists appear. Best of, worst of, most underappreciated … that sort of thing. My editor hates lists — or so she says. So this will be a list disguised as a resolution: I hereby resolve to learn more about German and Alsatian wines in 2009. Yes, I’m as daunted a...[MORE]

Wine wars

By Ron Bechtol

Published: 11/12/2008

Types: Food & Drink

Keep your eyes open and your palate primed; the wine world in San Antonio may be about to undergo some changes. This should come as good news to VV readers. The first recent clue to the shifting sands was the opening of Gabriel’s-Spec’s Wine & Liquor Outlet opposite the outlet malls in San ...[MORE]

Fine wines for hard times

By Ron Bechtol

Published: 10/15/2008

Types: Cover Story, Section Cover

It’s ironic, given the recent massive bailout of Wall Street in the guise of making nice to Main Street, that some of the best advice on inexpensive wines should come from The Wall Street Journal. “Tastings,” by Dorothy J. Gaiter and John Brecher, recently examined Italian primitivos (often cited as...[MORE]

OK Chardonnay: (champagne taste, beer budget)

By Ron Bechtol

Published: 8/13/2008

Types: Cover Story, Section Cover

OK, enough already; we’ve collectively beaten up on Cali chardonnay for so long now that it’s about time for a comeback. (Some things, like Hummers, don’t deserve the reprieve they may get via an Indian manufacturer, but that’s another issue.) So here they are, the first recent words out of my mouth...[MORE]

Vinos Sin Ley

By Ron Bechtol

Published: 7/9/2008

Types: Cover Story, Section Cover

It was the label that first got to me. Make that labels, plural. Not only are these labels intensely graphic and eye-grabbing, but they are also extremely complete. The winemaker is listed on the front. The graphic designer is credited. The growing region and grape varietal are featured prominently ...[MORE]

Getting screwed

By Ron Bechtol

Published: 6/11/2008

Types: Food & Drink

“I’m over it,” declared Central Market’s Heidi Holcomb. She was referring to her lack of surprise upon opening yet another case of wine to find that the producer had turned to screw-cap closures. Many of the rest of us aren’t yet accustomed, however, so a little history is in order. Ironically...[MORE]

Water2Wine puts you in charge of the juice, and produces award-winning wines while they’re at it

By Ron Bechtol

Published: 3/12/2008

Types: Cover Story, Section Cover

The recent list of winners from the 2008 San Antonio Wine Competition was surprising from a number of standpoints — not the least of which was that a Texas pinot noir, the Bell Mountain Vineyards Estate Bottled Pinot Noir Reserve, won a gold medal in its category. We aren’t supposed to be able to gr...[MORE]

New World second labels: (champagne taste, beer budget)

By Ron Bechtol

Published: 2/13/2008

Types: Food & Drink

The Judgment of Paris, as the infamous 1976 competition has come to be called, proved to the world that California wines could not only stand up to the French, but that they could beat them blind. The competition kick-started the California wine industry and established an instant, American wine ari...[MORE]

What to drink this holiday season: (champagne taste, beer budget)

By Ron Bechtol

Published: 12/12/2007

Types: Food & Drink

VV is an unabashed partisan of Champagne and sparkling wine at all times and for all occasions, feeling that they are extraordinarily flexible with food — and, of course, that they’re just plain fun. But the Christmas/Chanukah/Kwanzaa/New Year’s constellation does seem to suggest ginning up the bubb...[MORE]

Sipping into the holidays: (champagne taste, beer budget)

By Ron Bechtol

Published: 11/14/2007

Types: Food & Drink

Tis the season for the wine industry to pull out the big guns at industry taste fests featuring way too many wines to ever evaluate seriously — a deplorable situation which requires a strategy. At a recent Glazer’s tasting at the San Antonio Country Club, mine was to concentrate on Champagne and to ...[MORE]

Rosé redux: (champagne taste, beer budget)

By Ron Bechtol

Published: 8/8/2007

Types: Food & Drink

It was dicey there for a while, but proper pink has finally prevailed over pink plonk. Sales of rosé are up as much as 45 percent in the U.S. this year. Bracingly dry and thrillingly complex wines, in subtle shades of pink, salmon, and copper, have been made for generations in France, and...[MORE]

Lunch with the winemakers

By Ron Bechtol

Published: 7/11/2007

Types: Food & Drink

Just as you’ve suspected all along, there are some perks to this gig, and one of them is having lunch with the occasional winemaker. First, you are tasting wines with food, and second, you get to pose all kinds of potentially embarrassing questions. (Turns out that asking a winemaker if he...[MORE]

Value Vino: Online wine

By Ron Bechtol

Published: 3/14/2007

Types: Culture, Food & Drink

According to Gourmet magazine, one in every four bottles of wine sold in the U.S. is produced by E.& J. Gallo Winery. Even accounting for the slipperiness of statistics (Does a jug count as a single bottle?), this is a startling number. And while it’s true that there are some very good...[MORE]

Value Vino – Great wines for under $15: Chenin's charms

By Ron Bechtol

Published: 2/14/2007

Types: Culture, Food & Drink

Chenin Blanc has been called “probably the world’s most versatile grape variety” and “France’s answer to Germany’s riesling” by none other than Jancis Robinson in her Oxford Companion to Wine. In its home territory of France’s Loire Valley, it is ...[MORE]

Value Vino - Great wines for under $15

By Ron Bechtol

Published: 6/5/2007 12:06:04 AM

Types: Food & Drink

The wannabe wine wonk with a budding Bordeaux bias might do well to quit his or her job now and start drinking. Just kidding, but Bordeaux is the world's biggest wine-producing region - turning out more than 700,000 bottles in a good year - and it is also one of the world's most complex. Ther...[MORE]

Value Vino - Great wines for under $15

By Ron Bechtol

Published: 5/9/2007 12:03:40 AM

Types: Food & Drink

The wannabe wine wonk with a budding Bordeaux bias might do well to quit his or her job now and start drinking. Just kidding, but Bordeaux is the world's biggest wine-producing region - turning out more than 700,000 bottles in a good year - and it is also one of the world's most complex. Ther...[MORE]

Value Vino – Great wines for under $15

By Ron Bechtol

Published: 4/11/2007 12:03:10 AM

Types: Food & Drink

Statements such as the following drive the cynic in me nuts: “[famous European winemaker’s] love for the soil grew into a love for mother earth, and he began to champion the well-being of the planet … ” The romantic in me, on the other hand, wants to beli...[MORE]

Value Vino – Great wines for under $15

By Ron Bechtol

Published: 5/8/2007 12:06:06 AM

Types: Food & Drink

Statements such as the following drive the cynic in me nuts: “[famous European winemaker’s] love for the soil grew into a love for mother earth, and he began to champion the well-being of the planet … ” The romantic in me, on the other hand, wants to beli...[MORE]

Value Vino – Great wines for under $15

By Ron Bechtol

Published: 3/14/2007 12:03:57 AM

Types: Food & Drink

According to Gourmet magazine, one in every four bottles of wine sold in the U.S. is produced by E.& J. Gallo Winery. Even accounting for the slipperiness of statistics (Does a jug count as a single bottle?), this is a startling number. And while it’s true that there are some...[MORE]

Value Vino – Great wines for under $15

By Ron Bechtol

Published: 4/10/2007 1:06:04 AM

Types: Food & Drink

Great Boutique Wines You Can Buy Online By Catherine Fallis, Robert M. Cohen Silverback Books $12.50, 248 pages According to Gourmet magazine, one in every four bottles of wine sold in the U.S. is produced by E.& J. Gallo Winery. Eve...[MORE]

Value Vino Old world wines

By Ron Bechtol"> Ron Bechtol

Published: 3/10/2005

Types: Food & Drink

Value Vino Wot noble rot, Cupid!

By Ron Bechtol"> Ron Bechtol

Published: 2/10/2005

Types: Food & Drink

Value Vino Zinfandels with zip

By Ron Bechtol"> Ron Bechtol

Published: 1/13/2005

Types: Food & Drink