If I make my own wine someday, I want Kevin Tong to design my labels. He’s an illustrator of band posters and book covers among other things. Check out some of my favorite examples below.
All images are his copyright. Check out all his stuff at tragicsunshine.com
I was excited to read this news at austin360.com today:
Food & Wine magazine and the company behind the Austin City Limits Music Festival will produce the first Austin Food & Wine Festival in March 2012, organizers announced Tuesday.
The magazine, which has about 1 million subscribers, has been hosting the Aspen Food and Wine Classic in Colorado for almost 30 years, and it is involved with more than a dozen other events around the country, including food festivals in South Beach, Fla.; Los Angeles; New York; and Atlanta . The new festival, slated for March 30-April 1, will absorb the Texas Hill Country Wine and Food Festival, which ends its 26-year run.
My wife and I have always wanted to go to the Aspen Food & Wine Classic. It’ll be great to have a similar event here in Austin. And it sounds like they’ll pull in some heavy-hitters.
Grdovic said the Austin festival will be similar to the South Beach Wine & Food Festival, the February soiree in which many of the biggest celebrity chefs in the country and their legions of followers descend upon Miami for events such as a tasting village on the beach that is three blocks long.
“It is like the mosh pit at Lollapalooza,” said Tampa Tribune food writer Jeff Houck . “South Beach has become the template by which other festivals have been born and compared to,” he said.
Along with the magazine and C3, the new festival is a collaboration with chefs Tyson Cole of Austin and Tim Love of Fort Worth and Austin restaurateur Jesse Herman of La Condesa and Malverde.
“Knowing the kind of powerhouse that Food & Wine magazine can bring to Austin, that was one of the huge incentives for us to do this,” said Cathy Cochran-Lewis, president of the Hill Country festival.
See you there in 2012!
via @DeniseFraser
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Yes, that’s Wonder Woman’s invisible plane. Fat lot of good it does her. A woman flying through the air in seated position is pretty conspicuous, don’t you think?
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Price: $13.50
Tasting notes: Nearly invisible color. Grassy, citrusy nose, but not in-yo-face about it. Light-bodied on the palate with more citrus fruit flavors and a faint steeliness at the core. Not quite as crisp as I expect (and prefer) in a Sauvignon Blanc.
Overall impression: Serviceable Sauv Blanc, but not one I’d seek out again. B-
I haven’t been doing a great job of keeping up with #MourvèdreMonday posts and tweets lately. But mon amie du vin, Lisa Dinsmore (@DailyWine) is a Mourvèdre-lover extraordinare and often picks up the slack via Twitter. Since I don’t have a new Mourvèdre post for you (yet again) today, check out her awesome recent post at Daily Wine Dispatch on a blind tasting of 2007 Paso Robles Mourvèdre from 11 different producers. Wish I could have been there!
Her overall winner was the Anglim ‘Hastings Ranch’, which I reviewed very favorably in this post last year. I also posted about one other wine in her lineup: the Calcareous Estate Reserve.
Drink More Mourvèdre!
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The photo above is of the BBQ pit at Smitty’s in Lockhart, Texas, one of my absolute favorite BBQ joints. This fire sits practically in the middle of the hallway as you enter and the smell in this little room is heavenly. Put this place on your bucket list.
Image credit: jstorer via Flickr
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Tasting notes: Practically glowing red at the rim. Bright berries and plum on the nose, with a heavy aroma of wood smoke and ash, like in an old-school Texas BBQ joint. The wine is a bit simplistic on the palate, with spice-sprinkled red fruit. Medium-bodied, with dry tannins and a very satisfying sense of earth and stone on the finish.
Overall impression: At $10, this is VERY solid. B
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CORRECTION: The country of origin was originally mislabeled as Chile. It has been corrected to Argentina.
Price: Around $25
Image link: http://www.flickr.com/photos/dobrych/4552132976/
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I’m experimenting with this new review format. I thought it would be cool to take the free association image I would typically insert in a post and give it more impact by making it the primary feature, with the text for bottle info (just the basics) and my tasting notes layered on top. I’m digging it, but let me know what you think.
Cheers!
Jim