Drink Texas Wine Ep. 3- Majek Opal

This episode of Drink Texas Wine is about Opal from Majek Vineyard & Winery in Moravia, TX.

This is an off dry Orange Muscat/Muscat Blanc blend that is absolutely perfect, if not downright necessary, for the hot summer months ahead!

Drink Texas Wine!: Ep. 2- Freedom

Welcome back, y'all!  Today, we discussed Freedom Red, an amazing, wonderful, complex, yet smooth blend of Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Malbec from Singing Water in Comfort, TX!  Freedom is a top 10 seller at our store, and one sip, it's easy to see, or taste, why!



FYI- this is a great time to mention that with valid Military ID, you can take 10% off of all bottles purchased here at The Rustic Grape!



Cheers Y'all!

Mind Bottling! Chapter 1: Texas Black Spanish

Something that all these pictured Texas wines have in common, is a grape called Lenoir (Len-wah), or better known in Texas as Black Spanish. This American hybrid grape is believed to have started in South Carolina dating back to the 1830's.  However, legends will state the Spanish missionaries may have brought the grape to Texas as early as the late 17th century, and for many decades, was the main grape used in making Communion Wine.

  

Lenoir gained it fame during the late 1800s when an outbreak of Phylloxera, microscopic louse that eats the roots of vines, infected many grape vines in Europe. As the infection spread it was nearly impossible to save the vines, so Europe had to outsource. That is when Lenoir came to the rescue! To think, this unique, relatively unknown varietal saved the European wine industry!  The American hybrid grape was found to be immune to Phylloxera. It was later found that Lenoir is also immune to Pierces disease, which is a deadly disease caused by a bacteria spread by sharpshooters in the southern USA. 

With all that being said, Black Spanish is not well known, especially outside Texas.  This hearty grape has a unique and bold tasting profile, and an intense dark color. When this grape is on its own, it is full bodied and musky with a strong taste of dark fruit, acidity, tobacco, and spice. When drinking Black Spanish in a stand alone wine or blended with others, we suggest aeration and/or decanting to dramatically open up the beautiful and unique flavors.

Here in the Lone Star State, it is also common to see this grape in a Port Style, rich with notes of vanilla and chocolate and subtle earthy tones.  Black Spanish also picks up secondary notes from aging very well, and one can note beautiful aromatics of toast, oak and tobacco in the dry, sweet and Port style labels. 

Come on down to The Rustic Grape to embark on a fun wine journey into what we call the Unofficial Official Grape of Texas!  Kristina will wow you with her intense fondness of Majek Vineyard's Lenoir!  It is excellent pairs with Eastern European flair, and is equally as good with a perfectly grilled steak.  Be sure to also try Besitos De Chocolate by Los Pinos out of Pittsburg!  We lovingly nicknamed Besitos, Chuck With a Tan, and this sweet Black Spanish has a liquid chocolate infusion and reminds most of drinking a chocolate covered strawberry.

**While we pride ourselves on knowing a lot about Texas wines, we will admit first hand that we aren't the fountain of knowledge!  We have learned a lot from the following websites, and invite you to take a look at them, as well!

http://www.homebrewtalk.com/profile-of-the-black-spanish-grape.html

http://www.wine-searcher.com/grape-2045-black-spanish-lenoir

http://winefolly.com/review/no-cure-for-grape-phylloxera/

** A special thanks to Lynne Majek for her wonderful plethora of information regarding Black Spanish!

Drink Texas Wine! Ep. 1: Texas Legato Sweet Peggy Sue

Welcome to the first episode of Drink Texas Wine!  It's only fitting that we feature our top selling wine from our very first winery, Texas Legato!  

The Story of Charlie

Perhaps one cannot understand part of the culture of The Rustic Grape without knowing Charlie.  Charlie adopted us about 6 weeks ago, and will soon be moving to her permanent home with Karen.  We sure will miss Charlie around the shop, but know it's in her best interest to have a better home like setting.

Anyone who comes into The Rustic Grape knows that Carla, Kristina, and Karen find that wine and animals make the world go 'round.... along with a fair dose of kindness and good jokes. The gals discovered Charlie, then unnamed, a few months ago.  She was half her size, and was perceived to be a boy kitty.  After a couple of weeks of nourishing her with salami and leaving water outside, the name Charles was decided for the friendly, yet skiddish feline. Charles quickly started imposing in on the shop more and more, and no one really seemed to stop the cat.  Naturally, the girls did what all animal loving crazy cat people would do, they purchased cat food, flea meds and wormer.  Convinced that we were wrong about the gender, it was confirmed, that Charles was a girl.  The name quickly changed to Charlie.  

The gals down at the shop became more and more lenient with Charlie, as she moved the modems and boxes of wine glasses to create comfortable bed area away from heavy feet and clinks of glasses.  She would drift in and out of the exhausting snoozes to greet customers, meow for food, receive pats on the head, and solicit new customers with her intoxicating personality.  At one point, all who visited the shop were convinced that Charlie was pregnant.  They were all fooled as it was discovered that Charlie had become a happy and fat cat. 

In the meantime, Charlie has been escorted, rather unwillingly, to the vet, and has been giving a sparkling clean bill of health.  The girls have absolutely fallen in love with their rotund kitty.  Y'all have just a few short weeks left before Charlie will be moving to her new home!  Make sure to come in for a strained meow, and stay for a glass or two!