{"id":1691,"date":"2019-02-17T10:45:25","date_gmt":"2019-02-17T10:45:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/?p=1691"},"modified":"2019-02-17T10:45:25","modified_gmt":"2019-02-17T10:45:25","slug":"texas-reads-new-guidebooks-feature-texas-wines-wildflowers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/?p=1691","title":{"rendered":"TEXAS READS: New guidebooks feature Texas wines, wildflowers"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\u201cThe quality of Texas wine is higher than ever,\u201d writes Andrew Chalk in his compact, authoritative, and controversial <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>Top Texas Wineries: An Opinionated Guide for Wine Tourists<\/em> <\/span><\/a><\/strong><\/u><\/span><\/span><\/span>(Great Texas Line Press, $6.99 paperback, 104 pages).<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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I say \u201ccontroversial\u201d because Chalk doesn\u2019t include every Texas winery, including some of the most popular and productive ones. He focuses on forty-three that he believes are making the best wine using Texas grapes. And then he narrows the list to what he considers the sixteen \u201cbest of the best\u201d and writes longer profiles on those wineries. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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\"A<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

One of the keys in determining which wineries made the author\u2019s list is that they refrain from selling wines labeled (in small print) \u201cFor Sale in Texas Only,\u201d indicating a wine not produced from Texas grapes.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Here are the sixteen wineries, in alphabetical order, which made his \u201cbest of the best\u201d list: Bending Branch Winery (Comfort), Brennan Vineyards (Comanche), Duchman Family Winery (Driftwood), Fall Creek Vineyards (Tow and Driftwood), Haak Vineyards and Winery (Santa Fe, Texas), Hilmy Cellars (Fredericksburg), Inwood Estates Vineyards (Fredericksburg), Kiepersol Estates (Tyler), Lewis Wines (Johnson City), Llano Estacado (Lubbock), McPherson Cellars (Lubbock), Pedernales Cellars (Stonewall), Perissos Vineyard and Winery (Burnet), Ron Yates Winery (Hye), Wedding Oak Winery (San Saba), and William Chris Vineyards (Hye). <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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For the full list of forty-three, or for more details on the sixteen, you\u2019ll have to read the book. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Chalk also had high praise for Messina Hof Winery & Resort in Bryan, calling founder Vincent Bonarrigo \u201cthe Walt Disney of the Texas wine industry.\u201d Messina Hof, Chalk writes, used to feature a good many \u201cFor Sale in Texas Only\u201d wines but in recent years has shifted to 100 percent Texas grapes and is \u201cwinning more medals than ever.\u201d <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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\u201cThe fact that Messina Hof can make the shift,\u201d he says, \u201cserves as a lesson to other large Texas wineries.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Wildflowers: <\/span><\/strong>Adventure Publications has released a handy, inexpensive guidebook called Wildflowers of Texas<\/em> ($9.95 spiral-bound). The author is botanist and nature photographer George Miller, who has written six guidebooks on Texas and the Southwest. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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\"A<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

With a pocket-sized format and thirty-six durable cardstock pages, Wildflowers of Texas<\/em> is a convenient quick-reference book to keep in your car\u2019s glove compartment. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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It is organized by color tabs (yellow to orange, red to pink, white to green, and blue to purple) with eight small color photographs to a page and the popular name and concise three-line description of each flower, 248 of them. For more depth, the author offers an interactive iBook on his web site, Travelsdujour.com.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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\u201cThis Quick Guide,\u201d the publisher writes, \u201cwill help you put a name to the beautiful wildflowers that decorate the state.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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