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Thursday, April 15, 2010
Hill Country Wine & Food Fest: Stone House Vineyard luncheon
Bluebonnets and wine are excellent excuses to visit the Hill Country this time of year.
It just so happens that we’re having a banner year for wildflowers, including the beloved state flower, which made the drive out to Stone House Vineyard on Thursday for one of the first Hill Country Wine and Food Festival events even more enjoyable.
Many of the Hill Country Wine and Food Festival events happen in Austin, but a handful, including several sold-out luncheons today, take place at vineyards in the Hill Country west of the capital city.
Started by Howard and Angela Moench 11 years ago, the winery is known for growing Norton grapes, a disease-resistant varietal native to North America that often associated with my home state of Missouri.
With the help of a California-based winemaker, the Moenchs make two wines the Norton grapes: Scheming Beagle Port and Claros, a fragrant, acidic old world-style red whose “bark is bigger than its bite,” as one lunch guest complimented.
“It’s a purist endeavor,” Howard Moench said during a three-course lunch at the vineyard on Thursday. “We’ve made so many advances (since first bottling Claros in 2002), but the character has remained the same.”
Claros was sandwiched between two wines — Buckin’ Horse White and Muscato Blanco — from Flat Creek Estate, a winery just across Lake Travis from Stone House.
To kick off the lunch, guests enjoyed Buckin’ Horse White, what winery owner Madelyn Naber called a “phantom sweet” Viognier, paired with two hot and crunchy shrimp on a tomatillo carrot salad from Hudson’s on the Bend chef Kelly Casey.
Stewart Scruggs, chef and co-owner of Wink and Zoot restaurants, served pork on white truffle-infused polenta, which was a perfect complement to the tannic 2006 Claros.
For dessert, Rebecca Rather of Rather Sweet Bakery & Cafe in Fredericksburg prepared a lemon-lime pudding with a maple pecan shortbread to go with Flat Creek’s not-too-sweet muscato. (As soon as the lunch finished, Rather was headed to the Four Seasons in Austin to prepare for her first appearance at the Culinary Masters Dinner tonight. Her dessert will be capping off a dinner served by chefs David Bull, Elmar Prambs and Kent Rathbun.)
A very fine meal to kick off the 25th Hill Country Wine and Food Festival. There are still tickets available to several of the wine tastings on Saturday, as well as The Big One, the Stars Across Texas Grand Tasting Friday night at the Long Center.
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Michael Pollan to speak at UT in December
Food activist and author (“The Omnivore’s Dilemma,” “In Defense of Food”) Michael Pollan is scheduled to speak at the Bass Concert Hall at the University of Texas in December.
Pollan’s talk is part of a just-released lineup for the 2010-2011 season of UT’s Texas Performing Arts and is presented in partnership with BookPeople and Edible Austin, which will be hosting Eat Local Week that week.
Tickets ($26-$42) aren’t on sale yet, but stay tuned to find out details on when you can buy them.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: Eating locally, Food in the news
