Rias Baixas In the Press (2024)

May 1, 2024

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Raise a glass to the 10 best Dallas restaurants and shops for wine

By Teresa Gubbins

The countdown is on for CultureMap Dallas' 2024 Tastemaker Awards, our annual awards event honoring the best in Dallas food and drink.

Restaurant industry stars have been nominated for awards in 10 categories, spotlighted in a special editorial series. We've already celebrated candidates for Rising Star Chef, Pastry Chef, Neighborhood Restaurant, Patios, Bars, and Bartender of the Year, as voted by our panel of esteemed judges.

There is also our Best New Restaurants category, the only one where the winner gets decided not by judges but instead by readers, in a bracket-style tournament where nominees go head to head. Voting is still open at this link.

One winner will be announced at the awards ceremony on May 16 at the Fashion Industry Gallery, where we'll toast the nominees while indulging in bites and sips. Tickets are on sale now.

This entry pays tribute to the top wine programs in town: everything from casual wine bars to shops with unique selections to acclaimed restaurants with stellar selections.

Here are our nominees for 2024 Wine Program of the Year:

Fig & Favor

Grab-and-go market from the Harwood Hospitality Group features wines from top producers and emerging winemakers. They have labels you don’t find at other retailers, including wines generally available only at restaurants, some so small they don’t even have bar codes. You can get a generous 5ounce glass of their house brand for $5 on-site, and they run a wine club with two levels ($125 or $250).

Leela's Wine Bar

Low key neighborhood wine and pizza spot with eco-friendly wines on tap debuted in 2018 on Greenville Avenue and has since spun off locations in Uptown and Trophy Club. Their wine selection is compact and user-friendly, with a quirky selection of about two dozen wines that check off each varietal: chardonnay, malbec, zinfandel, and pinot noir. Keeping the user-friendly theme, they offer every bottle in 6-ounce pours, 9-ounce pours, or the whole bottle.

Locals / Farmers Branch

Wine shop-cocktail lounge hybrid in Farmers Branch houses Locals Craft Beer & Fine Wine, a retail market with 250 wines, including selections from small and/or natural vineyards. Sommelier Britt Wallace, who spent several years as wine buyer for a a Texas grocery chain, emphasizes fun and accessibility, and that can be seen in the helpful categories they offer, such as price and wine style. They also have a wine club with quarterly shipments.

Mansion on Turtle Creek

Like the iconic Turtle Creek hotel in which it resides, the Mansion on Turtle Creek has won innumerable awards for its service, food, and wine, most recently winning an Award of Excellence from Wine Spectator magazine in 2023. Its massive wine cellar houses hundreds of selections, including treasures from Bordeaux and Burgundy - currently overseen by capable and highly personable wine director and advanced sommelier Brian Huynh.

Neighborhood Cellar

Bishop Arts wine shop and wine bar founded by sommelier Ian Montgomery and his wife Lindsey offers wine by the glass, flights, tastings, charcuterie, and snacks, plus a wine club and natural wines. Prices are about average, but you get a discount if you join their ultra-flexible wine club. They have bites and flights, bring in winemakers, and host generous tastings every month or so - really putting the "neighborhood" in Neighborhood Cellar.

Nick & Sam's

Dallas steakhouse, which recently celebrated its 25th anniversary, features a classic steakhouse wine cabinet with more than 500 labels, including exclusives, world-famous options, and all the old world Cabs you'd ever want to pair with your steak. The thing here is their by-the-glass list, because it offers a relatively affordable way to sample those labels which you could probably not buy or afford by the bottle.

Postino Addison

Sophisticated wine bar founded in Phoenix made its DFW debut in 2021, and currently has locations in Addison and Southlake. In addition to a menu of bites and shareable dishes, they have a small but respectable list of about 30 options, each available not only by the bottle but also by the glass, dominated by Postino private labels such as Perfekt Riesling, Nevermind rose, and Stagedive pinot noir, priced from $11 to $14.

Sister

As part of Duro Hospitality (The Charles, El Carlos), it's a given that this Italian-inspired trattoria on Greenville Avenue is going to have exemplary food, service, atmosphere and wine. The list is compact, but every bottle counts, with hard-to-come-by treasures, most from Italy, one or two from California, that they weave in and out, like the Cesarini Brut Rose, a refined sparkler from northeast Italy, or the Fattoria Montellori Moro, a complex red blend from Tuscany. It would be silly to go to Sister and not eat, but the wine is really good enough to just go and drink.

Sixty Vines

Wine-obsessed restaurant with two locations (Uptown and Plano) from the FB Society restaurant group is a return nominee, and justly so. They feature a collection of 60 wines on tap, an approach that is both user-friendly and eco-friendly, which you can order in different sizes, from a 2.5-ounce sip to a 5-ounce mid-size to an 8-ounce big pour, plus thematic flights that let you sample and compare.

Via Triozzi

The wine list at this small Italian restaurant on Greenville Avenue is notable for its single-minded focus on Italian wines: spumanti, bianchi, rossi, all from Italy, to match the cuisine. Some such as the Barbera Del Monferrato cantine valpane, a red from the Piedmont region, are natural wines, grown organically and fermented without additives. Their list includes a dozen wines by the glass, priced from $12 to $21.

The 2024 Wine Program of the Year award is presented by Rías Baixas Albariño.

March 19, 2024

March 30, 2024

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Digital/Magazine

Wine News You Can Use In April 2024

Lana Bortolot

A roundup of wine news, that this month includes orange trends, better bottles, wine digs and spills, and lots of ways to sip through the eclipse.

PROVENCE GETS [MORE] STAR POWER George and Amal Clooney will join the ranks of super-rich superstars making wine in southern France, joining the likes of Brad Pitt (who released wine under the Miraval label with former wife Angelina Jolie), filmmaker George Lucas at Château Margüi, NBA stars Tony Parker and Carmelo Anthony (respectively, Chateau La Mascaronne and The Seventh Estate), and John Malkovich at Les Quelles de la Coste. The Clooneys bought the Provence estate Domaine du Canadel in 2021, and will release two wines under the Coteaux Varois en Provence Appellation d'Origine Contrôllée (AOC). The estates red and white grapes were previously sold to a cooperative and Wine Spectator reports the Clooneys will start from scratch with new branding for their upcoming rose and white bottlings.

TRENDS LOOKOUT Each year the wine trade heads to Dusseldorf, Germany for ProWein, one of Europe’s largest wine fairs, where old standbys, current upstarts and new trends are on display. This year, Drinks Business, the UK trade publication reports on low-cal/low-al beverages were trending high, as were orange-hued drinks such as Mionetto Aperitivo and a spritz product by the Cava brand, Hola; and Glitter Spritz Aperitivo, from the Flaschenpost Gin brand.

Lightweight bottles are getting attention and gaining approval a big move toward sustainability, as it’s reported that the bottle weight comprises at least 56% of the carbon footprint of wine, with glass contributing 85% of that (more info here from the Spanish GrupoARCE).

DB reports Albariño is trending (again!) With its spiritual home in Spain’s Rías Baixas, where 90% of vineyards are planted to the variety, new styles are emerging, such as aged Albariño. But the wine’s rise in popularity is also sparked by its success in other wine regions, especially in the Southern Hemisphere. Well, hola (again) and ole!

SABOTAGE IN THE CELLAR. The latest act of violence against wine involved the loss of more than 6,600 cases of wine, as it was intentionally spilled from three tanks in the cellars of Cepa 21, an iconic winery in Spain’s Ribera del Duero region. The loss is valued at $2.7 million. You can see the chilling video of the vandal here

ELSEWHERE, ‘DIGGING’ WINE. Archaeologists in France’s Rhône Valley discovered the remains of an ancient winery near the town of Laveyron. While researchers are still studying the site, reports estimate the winery could date back to the first century A.D. Conducted by Institut National de Recherches Archéologiques Preventives, the dig dug up fragments of terracotta that would have been used to store wine in amphorae, and evidence of wood casks. The site is in a region known for ancient winemaking culture, notably by the Allobroges, a Gallic group, loving between the Rhône river and the Alps during the Iron Age and the Roman period. Images of the dig, here, at myscience.org

ECLIPSE SIPS. Numerous wineries are planning are planning special events around the upcoming total eclipse of the sun on April 8. In Hye, Texas, the Ron Yates Winery, saying they are in the “direct path of totality,” will host a day-long party of music, food games and wine. Solar Eclipse Party Farmhouse Vineyards in Texas will offer "The Observer," a limited-edition GSM blend made with grapes harvested during the last total solar eclipse on August 21, 2017. Only 16 cases were produced and you have to be on site with a VIP ticket to sip. The Tiny Vineyards Wine Company in Sonoma made 78 cases of “Eclipse Malbec” to commemorate the event. You can order online, first-come, first served ($40 SRP). IN New York’s Finger Lakes, the Cayuga Lake Wine Trail has created “Sips to the Eclipse,” an assembly of 10 wineries hosting events over the weekend preceding the eclipse. Likewise, the Seneca Lake Wine Trail has organized events on the 7th and 8th.

April 18, 2024

Circulation: 1,099.763 Magazine

The Best Side for a Sandwich? Wine

Kate Dingwall

If you’re settling in for a nice dinner, there are plenty of classic wine pairings that dictate what you should be drinking: oysters go with Chablis, lamb with Syrah, Champagne with caviar. But the majority of us aren’t eating any of the above on an everyday basis. So, how do you pair wine with your daily breads (and everything that fits between them)? We’re talking your lunchtime cheesesteak, your late-night grilled cheese or your sauce-slicked meatball sub. You know, sandwiches.

To help pair the perfect bottle with your favorite sammie, we asked sommeliers to offer their insights. The Best Wine for a Cubano: California Chardonnay and Albariño

Joel Gott, a vintner and proprietor of Gott’s Roadside in St. Helena, speaks from experience he has a Niman Ranch smoked ham Cubano on the menu when says that Chardonnay works best with the rich pork, briny pickles and spicy mustard of a Cubano. His preference is Duckhorn Chardonnay.

Pack prefers Spanish Albariño. “The bright acid in an Albariño hits on the same flavor plane as the yellow mustard and pickles and let’s be honest those are the defining ingredients of a balanced Cubano,” she says. “Albariño is a thick-skinned grape, so it will have plenty of oomph to match the sweet, juicy roundness of the braised pork.” She also finds the notes of lemon, grapefruit and juicy melon pair “beautifully” with the Swiss cheese and buttery notes of that delightfully warm baguette or Cuban bread.

You May Also Like: The Best Albariños to Drink Right Now

Faucheaux, on the other hand, leans towards bubbles specifically those from Bugey-Cerdon, a mountainous region in the French Alps. “There’s lots of rich flavors from the pork, and the mustard and pickle presence is enough to want something fun, fruity and refreshing.” He notes that wines from this region are just that full of bright red fruits, effervescence and a noticeable sweetness. Wine Enthusiast recommends:

Golden yellow to the eye, this wine offers a bouquet of yuzu, fresh sage and saline. It is full-textured with flavors of peach jam, caramelized pineapple, rose water, dried mountainside herbs and oyster shell. Peach and saline notes endure on the palate. 94 Points Mike DeSimone

Forjas del Salnés 2021 Cos Pés Vino Blanco Albariño (Rías Baixas)

In Rías Baixas, Women Winemakers Take the Helm

Samantha Maxwell

April 17, 2024

Circulation: 1,910,284

When you think of Spanish wine, your mind might first land on the full-bodied Tempranillo of Rioja or the salty aged sherries of Jerez de la Frontera. But Spain also boasts options for lovers of light and refreshing albeit concentrated and complex white wines, perfect for enjoying alongside Spain’s coastal, seafoodforward fare. Perhaps the best-known of these whites is Albariño, grown in Galicia, located in the coastal northwest of Spain, immediately north of Portugal. One of the appellations here is known as Rías Baixas, and in addition to its crisp, undeniably delicious white wines, it’s famous for its high proportion of female winemakers over 50% of the winemakers in the region are women.

This phenomenon isn’t anything new, according to Paula Fandiño, winemaker at Mar de Frades. “In Galicia, especially along the Galician coast, women have historically taken on significant responsibilities due to men being away at sea for months at a time,” she explains. Winemaking is a finicky, time-intensive process, and seafaring certainly isn’t a part-time job. Therefore, women took the winemaking helm and have never looked back. This historical reality, Fandiño says, “has fostered leadership skills in women, enabling them to lead major projects today.”

The wine industry is a famously male-dominated space, which makes Rías Baixas a pioneer in this regard. But just because women play a leading role in the region’s wine industry doesn’t mean they are immune to the difficulties that women experience in any professional setting. “The current barrier we face lies within the vineyard,” explains Fandiño. “The viticulturists don’t always pay as much attention to the advice and recommendations that a woman offers regarding vineyard cultivation as opposed to if this

advice were shared by a man.” Despite a long history of women’s winemaking success in the region, sexism still plays a role in shaping the industry. “I would say there is still progress to be made in this area,” says Fandiño.

wholly on their work instead of dealing with sexism. But this is an especially significant challenge for the region, Fandiño says, because the vineyards in Rías Baixas are very fragmented. “We have over 6,000 viticulturists for 4,300 hectares of vineyards, which entails extensive and lengthy efforts in awarenessbuilding and training.”

But even despite the struggles that wine industry women face in Rías Baixas, the region is known for its innovation. “We are an innovative region because it is in our DNA, we carry the spirit of ‘making a way for ourselves’, and this always involves innovation, creativity and improvement,” says Fandiño. “In this regard, women have always stood out; we contribute significantly and push for the region to be a pioneer in new initiatives.” Some of these initiatives include the production of the first wine in th

Albariño wine.

of the innovation and focus the region’s women winemakers bring to the bottle. Their perspective is worth pondering as you reach the bottom of your glass.

March 14, 2024

Circulation: 1,099.763 Magazine

The

Best Dry White Wines to Buy Right Now

Images Courtesy of Fattoria le Pupille, Vinopuro, Wine.com, Millesima, Gruppomeregalli

Dry whites are a quintessential, all-occasion style of wine.

Need to enhance the flavor of a pan sauce or linguine with clams? Check. What about a bottle to pair with a seafood dinner? No problem. A wine to elevate Vietnamese cuisine or even nachos? You got it. Or how about something to bring along to a picnic? Yes, there’s a dry white wine for that, too.

This is because there’s a wide array of styles and flavor profiles that fall under the category of dry white wine, which is essentially any bottle of white that contains little to no sugar and lacks discernable sweetness.

How does one go about picking the right bottle?

Sara Ventiera

“It depends on the mood or occasion,” says Wine Enthusiast Tasting Director Anna-Christina Cabrales. “If I’m going to the beach I want something refreshing with high acidity and maybe some texture or dry extract to keep things interesting. If I’m going to a potluck I want something that has enough complexity and versatility to go with several dishes. If it’s cheese and charcuterie night, something with saline minerality and/or well-integrated oak is fun.”

However, this wide breadth of bottles and styles can make narrowing down one to buy a difficult task. That’s where we come in. From vibrant, easy-drinking Albariño and creamy Chardonnay to electric Riesling that will continue to develop for decades to come, here’s a list of some of Wine Enthusiast’s highest-scoring dry white wines.

Granbazán 2022 Etiqueta Verde Albariño Albariño (Rías Baixas)

Aromas of ripe summer peach, lemon zest, wet river rocks and honeysuckle waft from the glass. This wine is full in the mouth and has brilliant acidity. It offers flavors of orange marmalade, peach pie, lemon, and dried herbs de Provence. Editor’s Choice. 94 Points — Mike DeSimone

$27 Wine.com

12 Budget

Amy Beth Wright

February 7, 2024 Magazine

Whether you're looking forward to a romantic dinner, a girls' night out, or a quiet evening alone, a great bottle of wine is the cherry on top. Here are some delicious, budget-friendly picks for the week to come.

Today’s article comes to us from Amy Beth Wright, a wine, food, and travel journalist most often contributing to Wine Enthusiast, Garden & Gun, The Cheese Professor, and of course, StyleBlueprint. Amy is working towards her certification with the Wine and Spirits Education Trust (WSET). These are the budget-friendly wines she’s excited about right now!

No matter what form your Valentine’s Day takes, February 14th is a day to savor connection whether that’s over a romantic dinner, a fun night with the girls, or a quiet night alone. And a beautiful wine is the perfect accompaniment! To that end, I’m sharing a diverse range of wines to capture Valentine’s Day’s different moods and grooves. These selections all of which I personally have tasted and love are available at consumer-friendly price points and can be found at most local wine shops and online retailers. The first nine picks can usually be found under $20, but in the spirit of indulgence, I included some slightly higher-end splurges, too. Enjoy!

WHITE WINES

Pazo de Lusco Albariño

Albariño, another Spanish grape variety, thrives in the Rías Baixas DO (denominación de origen) in northwest Spain, in Galicia. Albariño tends to express salinity and minerality, reflecting the influence of coastal growing conditions. It often has a beautiful, lemony hue. Pazo de Lusco’s Albariño combines grapes macerated cold for various intervals, some parcels for as long as 12 hours, some for much shorter intervals. The 2022 vintage is bright and refreshing, with aromas of apple and peach in concert with the grape variety’s characteristic saline properties.

Albariño grows in coastal Spain, and proximity to the ocean shapes its refreshing personality. Image: Pazo de Lusco

February 5, 2024

Circulation: 1,099.763 Magazine

How to Pair Wine with Nachos

By Dakota Kim Stocksy

In the 1990s, America’s heartland was obsessed with nacho cheese the golden-yellow, ooey-gooey dip you couldn’t wait to sink your tortilla chips and soft pretzel bites into. Though you couldn’t really call the plastic chip-and-dip platter at the local roller rink, sports game or movie theater “nachos” per se, so many of us cut our teeth on those nacho flavors that it became an unforgettable taste. It seems, too, that it’s back in full force if nachos-centric restaurants like Vamos. Vamos in Santa Monica and fancy snacks like the crab and uni nachos at Empellón in New York City are any indicator.

The ubiquitous dish has so seamlessly assimilated into American culture that many of us forget about its Mexican heritage. The dish was born in the 1940s, in a small town just across the Texas border called Piedras Negras, Coahuila. As the legend goes, a crew of U.S. military wives dropped in and maître d’ Ignacio “Nacho” Anaya couldn’t find the cook, so he hastily threw some fried chips, cheese and jalapeño together under the broiler. The addictive snack spread like wildfire across Texas, and the rest is happy hour history.

Like most bar foods, nachos have been upgraded over the years, from simple renditions topped with cheese and chilis to brisket-crowned versions and even “totchos” that’s tater tot nachos, for those unfamiliar with the lingo. In spite of the dish’s glow-up, it’s still far more common to wash nachos down with beer or a margarita rather than a nice glass of wine a major mistake.

“A beer like Tecate might cleanse the palate and you don’t have to think about it, but for people who love wine and flavor, it’s so much more exciting to layer more flavor,” says Rebecca Phillips, co-owner and wine director of Los Angeles’s Vintage Wine + Eats and Buvette LA. “Wine can have a beginning, a middle and an end with a long finish, and with a beverage that’s so complex and so much on its own, to pair it with a dish like nachos, you’re really cranking the dial. You’ve elevated the whole situation not because it’s fancy, but because of the additional flavor.”

She has a point. If we can dress up nachos with steak and nopales, why can’t we dial it up another level with a well-matched wine? We took to the pros to find out how to do it. Here are the best nacho and wine pairings, according to sommeliers.

WE Recommend

PHOTO BY SCOTT SUCHMAN

The Best Wine for Seafood Nachos: Albariño or Sauvignon Blanc

Seafood nachos can take many forms. Though many versions call on various forms of shellfish shrimp, mussels, scallops and beyond one of the most decadent versions we’ve seen is the crab and uni nachos at Empellón. Noah Small, beverage director at the restaurant, often pairs the dish with sparklers and orange wines. But, if he had to reach for just one varietal or style of wine to match, it would be Albariño. The wine has become a classic seafood pairing because Albariño vines are often planted in soil rich with the remains of old seashells.

“The expressions are bright and crackling with acidity, and those little hints of salinity really tie things together,” says Small. “Albariño is great for anything briny, so uni and oysters are perfect.” Wine Enthusiast recommends:

Do Ferreiro 2021 Albariño (Rías Baixas)

This wine has a bouquet of mango and clementine. It is bright at first sip, with flavors of pink grapefruit, ripe summer peach and a touch of dried Mediterranean herbs that evaporates in a lemon zest finish. 92 Points M.K.

$ Varies Wine-Searcher

Granbazán 2022 Etiqueta Verde Albariño Albariño (Rías Baixas)

Aromas of ripe summer peach, lemon zest, wet river rocks and honeysuckle waft from the glass. This wine is full in the mouth and has brilliant acidity. It offers flavors of orange marmalade, peach pie, lemon, and dried herbs de Provence. Editor’s Choice. 94 Points M.D.

$19 Total Wine

Viña Costeira 2022 Meu Albariño Albariño (Ribeiro)

Not from Rias Baixas but from nearby Ribeiro, this wine has a nose of Fuji apple and freshly chopped parsley and basil. Peach, Granny Smith apple, cocoa-butter, orange-blossom and mint-leaf flavors are set into a full-textured wine that offers a closing note of citrus zest and saline. 93 Points M.D. $ Varies Wine-Searcher

The Best Wine for Spicy Beef and Cheese Nachos: Furmint Spicy is the key word to consider when choosing a pairing for spicy beef and cheese nachos. For Thomas Dunn, general manager and sommelier at LittleMad, a Korean-inspired New American restaurant in New York City, the crisp acidity of a dry Furmint provides an ideal contrast. The varietal, which is best known in decadently sweet Tokaji dessert wines, goes particularly well with those big flavors and all the common toppings.

“The Furmint cuts through the richness of the fats and bold flavors of a spicy, meaty nachos,” he says. Wine Enthusiast recommends:

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