- Blog on a more regular basis, dropping at least three per month.
- Well, at least two.
- Make it back to Napa and Sonoma, and the Texas Hill Country. Especially the Hill Country. It’s close and there’s a lot of good folks in the trenches fighting the good fight in the face of drought everywhere, and Dicamba in the High Plains.
- Resume doing group blind tastings. There’s no better way to judge wine and I love the personal interaction.
- Become even more of a regular at Porta’Vino. Superb food and great value — still no entrees over $29 — and BYOB, although Bill Floyd’s small, splendidly curated wine list beats every place in town hands-down price-wise.
- Call bullshit more often on ridiculous wine-pricing markups. Except I rarely frequent the ripoff artists, and we have plenty, unless I’m invited.
- Find a way to schedule more tastings at the Alliance Francaise in our nicely redone — or at least repainted — salon. The late, great Bear Dalton made the Alliance an important gathering place for local oenophiles and we sorely miss him. (I say we because I’m the president of the board of directors.)
- Broaden my wine-drinking horizons although my doctor would probably recommend doing the opposite. But, as Willie Nelson is wont to remind us, “There are more drunks than there are old doctors so, brother, let’s have another round.” Hey, Willie just turned 90. I’ll have what he’s having . . . except the stuff that has to be smoked. All in gummies, however. The wines pictured above? I’ve never tasted any of them, but that’s going to change over the next few days, er weeks.
- Expend more energy badgering producers to go to screwcaps. For 99 percent of the wine produced annually, they makes way more sense.
- Dig even deeper than I already have into Italy’s Piemonte, my favorite wine region on the planet. Especially the new Nizza DOCG, where the once lowly barbera is attaining Grand Cru status. I’m excited about leading a http://gourmettours.biz trek through that beautiful region in late May/early June. Still have two spots open, folks!
The Sports Page
Raising a glass to . . . the Texans
Whether or not they make the playoffs, and it all comes down to their game against the Colts in Indianapolis Saturday, this season has been a stunning success. C. J. Stroud is having one of the finest rookie seasons ever for an NFL quarterback despite playing behind an injury-decimated offensive line, and Will Anderson Jr. has already broken J. J. Watt’s franchise rookie record for sacks. (Right, blasphemy!) There’s no question that DeMeco Ryans deserves serious consideration for coach-of-the-year honors. And it couldn’t happen to a nicer bunch of guys, starting with DeMeco himself. I loved conversing with him as a player back in the day.
H-Town happenings
Tastings Every Saturday at French Country Wines: Noon-5 p.m. Free. http://frenchcountrywines.com
Tastings Every Wednesday at Montrose Cheese & Wine: 5-7 p.m. Free. http://montrosecheeseandwine.com
Tastings Every Thursday at Cueva in the Marriott Marquis Houston: 6:30-7:30 p.m. $40 http://eventbrite.com
Symposium Saturdays: 4-5 p.m. at Stella’s Wine Bar in the Post Oak Hotel. $75. http://eventbrite.com
Truly Greek, Truly Unique wine tasting: 6:30-8:30 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 18. at JMP Wine Tasting Room http://eventbrite.com
Texas Wine Market: Noon-4 p.m. Jan. 24. Bluebonnet Tasting Room, 401 Commerce St., Tomball, $30 presale, $40 at the door. https://checkout.square.site/merchant/MLF89X8DCFFR0/checkout/SSO7TMRRWB7F5JCKE44MGPDX
Red wines from our cellar pairing dinner: 6 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 8, at Atkins House. http://eventbrite.com
Follow me
Instagram: http://@sportywineguy
Facebook: Dale Robertson
Podcast: Sporty Wine Guy, wherever you get your podcasts. A new one, hosted by Jeremy Parzen (yep, that’s us pictured above, sharing a bottle of Marchesi di Grésy Barbaresco in the Piemonte), will be dropping over the weekend. You can follow Parzen’s own blog at http://dobianchi.com. (Huge kudos to Jeremy and his wife Tracy for continuing to fight the good fight against a heinous neo-Confederate “monument” marring the landscape in her home town of Orange.)
Friends of mine to follow
Sandra Crittenden: http://winelifehousthon.com
Russ Kane: http://vintagetexas.com
Jeffrey Kralik: http://drunkencyclist.com
Katrina Rene: http://thecorkscrewconcierge.com
The Sporty Wine Guy 