The Wine Society of Texas Announces Scholarship Grant Program

The WST will provide up to $4,500 in assistance for the education, internship or field study, and appreciation of wine

On Monday, 1 MARCH 2010, The Wine Society of Texas (WST), a 501c3 non-profit educational organization announced that it is accepting applications for its annual Scholarship Grant Program.  In order to apply for the grant, individuals must be: (a) attending institutions around the State of Texas studying viticulture and oenology, or (b) pursuing winery internships in Texas, or (c) involved with Texas winemaking or field studies.  Grants may be given depending on the quality of requests in the amount totaling up to $4,500 by the WST to promote the wine education focusing on improving grape growing and wine making in the State of Texas.  The scholarship program is consistent with the founding idea of WST and its continued mission to enhance the appreciation of wines, foster the knowledge of oenology and viticulture, support charitable activities, promote winemaking, and to educate wine tasters throughout the State.

FOR MORE INFORMATION GO TO SCHOLARSHIP PAGE........

www.winesocietyoftexas.org/Scholarship/tabid/89/Default.aspx

The Wine Society Celebrates its 13th Birthday, "Southwest Style" at Haak Vineyards

The Wine Society of Texas celebrated its 13th anniversary, "southwest style" in the beautiful Haak winery and vineyard on May 2, 2009. The winery is a replica of an old Texas mission and is located in a tranquil, rural setting in Santa Fe Texas, which is near Galveston. Wine Society members from the Houston, Permian Basin, Dallas Fort Worth and Hill Country Chapters started their evening with an exclusive, personal tour of the winery by Raymond Haak. During the tour, he discussed winemaking techniques for the unique South Texas maritime climate and delighted the group with a story about his “underdog” Texas Madeira. This Haak Jacquez Madeira "held its own" in competition with some very expensive and top ranked madeiras from the rest of the world. Later on, the group was delighted as the Haak Madeira showed up as the wine served with dessert. After the exclusive tour and tasting, the Wine Society members entered the Haak barrel room, where they were treated to a four course meal paired with wines from the estate.

The first course, an appetizer, paired the Haak dry Blanc Du Bois with toast points, smoked mozzarella and tomato marmalade. The Haak winery is known for its Blanc Bu Bois, which it releases in both dry and off dry (semi-sweet).  The Blanc Du Bois grape is an excellent grape for Texas, because it grows well in hot climates and is very aromatic and crisp to pair well with the hot Texas summers and bountiful seafood near the gulf coast. The Blanc Du Bois reserve was served with a spring mix salad containing goat cheese. The reserve Blanc Du Bois is similar in style to a Chardonnay, so it went very well with the goat cheese. For the main course, the Haak Tempranillo was perfectly paired with garlic peppercorn crusted pork loin. The tempranillo grape is also fairly new to Texas, but will eventually find its perfect expression here because of the Texas Mediterranean climate. Finally, for the last course, the Wine Society members were treated to a completely unique dessert, which looked exactly like a cigar in an ashtray with a cup of coffee.  Of course, the dessert tasted a lot better than an cigar and coffee, plus it provided a showcase for the Haak Madeira. The Haak winery was also kind enough to provide an extra sip of their Texas White Port for everyone, which put a great nightcap on the entire evening.

Beside the wonderful food and wine, the Haak event also featured a silent auction to benefit the Wine Society Scholarship fund. Several Wine Society members were happy to bid on some nice wine items, including a vintage bottle of the Madeira, kindly donated by the Haak family. All in all, the evening was a great success. If you see Houston members who helped with the event, including Chapter Chair Ed Dent, thank them all for a fantastic evening!

President's Column - Simple Pleasures

Right now, in most of our Texas cities, we are broiling with 90 degree plus heat. Summer vacations away from the heat seem to be a distant dream for some of us, who are locked into "staycation" mode because of bad economic circumstances. However, there are always a few simple pleasures in our lives which help us to endure, even in hot, tough times. These simple pleasures don’t cost a lot of money, but lead to great satisfaction. In the summer, three of my simple pleasures are my gas grill, fresh vegetables from the local farmer’s market and cool, aromatic white wines, such has Viognier and Riesling. Some new grapes which are also starting to appear along these lines include Albarino, primarily from Spain and Torrontes, from Argentina. Normally, a red wine drinker, I gravitate toward white wine during the summer when the temperature in Texas tops 80 degrees. All of these wines go well with lightly grilled fish and chicken. Recently, I discovered that some of my favorite grocery stores have a turkey version of bacon wrapped filet mignon, which pairs well with white wine and tastes wonderful on the grill.

Even though many of us are enjoying turkey mignon instead of steak nowadays, we don't have to give up the wine events that we love. It is a myth that wine events have to be expensive. All of our Wine Society of Texas local chapters work hard to put on affordable, yet high quality wine events. Therefore, support your local chapter by attending its latest event.

For those of you in the "staycation" mode, it is not difficult to locate a Texas winery or tasting room near you.  A weekend or even a day among the vines or in the atmosphere of a tasting room is one of the great affordable pleasures that anyone can have for a small tasting fee.  So support your local Texas wineries, which are presently struggling with the usual threat of intense heat, plus the additional threat of the economic downturn.

However, for those who are not in "staycation" mode, the Wine Society has a great opportunity for you. As you may know, the Wine Society always features wonderful wine travel. In the past, the group has gone to Tuscany Italy, Australia/New Zealand, Oregon, Napa/ Sonoma, and the Texas Hill Country (twice). On September 26 - October 1, the group will go on a Paso Robles wine tour to California, to some of the best wineries in the area, which features "Rhone style" wines with a California touch. We have 6 more spaces available at this time. Contact Lori Parker with the DFW Chapter if you are interested. She has also posted information on the website under Upcoming Events.  Lori's e-mail is lap76107@gmail.com if you need more information. Come join us for a great time of fun, friendship and a little bit of wine education!

Whatever way to escape and beat the heat that we chose this year, let us enjoy the simple pleasures of this life and be thankful for what we have. Wine and friendship go a long way toward enriching the quality of our lives, regardless of our circumstances.

- Elizabeth Lutton, President, Wine Society of Texas