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To everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under heaven. In June of 2025, such a time has come for my wine writing adventure.
In the summer of 2008, the editor of my local newspaper, the San Angelo Standard-Times, challenged me to write a wine column that would entertain and inform the average wine buyer. The “buyer” part was important because the weekly column would be an anchor on the Wednesday food section of the newspaper and advertisers wanted information about wines customers could buy in local stores.
And so a wonderful adventure began. By September I had written enough test drafts to find a voice, approach, and word length to prove to myself I could pull this off. Imperatives included a word length to fit into the news hole on the front of the food section, a commitment to file well in advance since the section often was one of the first to be processed in the newsroom, never to miss a deadline, never to lazily submit a previous column even if my well of ideas was dry. I take pride in hitting every single one of those marks the past 17 years.
It was pleasing when sister papers of the Standard-Times—in Corpus Christi and Abilene—picked up the column. Then the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal, which was not part of the company at that time. Then came newspaper sales and consolidations and, soon, I was providing columns for the new mothership, Gannett-USA Today. Now the column appeared all over the United States, from Florida to California. Those were heady times for a wine writer in San Angelo, Texas.
That was the case for more than a decade. I was a nationally syndicated wine columnist and expanding into non-Gannett-USA Today newspapers since I own the rights to my work and only sold papers the rights to use my work in print and online. The money was nice, the audience was more important.
At the same time, I was online almost from the beginning. I owned an advertising agency that made websites, so from the first months my columns and wine reviews were available in a searchable, free website— Link —and on Facebook. Then Twitter (X). Eventually Bluesky and LinkedIn.
Wide exposure brought delightful benefits. Winemakers around the world sent me samples to taste and write about. I got to interview and be interviewed by notables in the wine world. When I visited wineries, I got special treatment. I told many folks, this was one of the best writing gigs in my more than 50 years as a professional writer. And I could toast my good fortune with a high-quality bottle of wine the maker had begged me to receive for free.
Much of this delicious adventure continues, but in 2025 one chapter closes. Local daily newspapers throughout the United States have entered hospice protocols. Gannett is doing its best to remain viable, but clearly denouement looms. At first, because of shrinking space, my wine column stopped running weekly and became episodic, especially in the non-Texas newspapers. Then in the Texas newspapers. Invoices went unpaid. When I queried editors about the situation, silence.
In correspondence with Dave McIntyre, who ended his weekly wine column in The Washington Post this January after 16 years, I realized we faced similar pressures in a changing newspaper environment. “Despite our efforts to spread the appeal of wine, a wine column is aimed at a niche audience,” he wrote, “while newspapers increasingly grade the success of an individual article on the number of readers who click on it.”
This is not a valedictory column. I enjoy writing about wine and reviewing wine and do not intend to stop. I just face the reality that newspapers no longer are one of the vehicles to reach readers.
In some ways, I celebrate new freedom. I no longer am subject to the tyranny of a 450-word count. I no longer am confined to a once-a-week schedule. That likely does not mean fewer columns/posts, likely more, but not always on Wednesday.
To the newspapers that carried my column for most of the past 17 years, thank you. It has been a joy of my life. To all my readers/followers, this is not goodbye. See you on the internet.
Links to where to continue to find Gus Clemens on Wine are below.
Last round
Ancient Egyptian architect: “Do you know how to build a pyramid?”
Ancient Egyptian builder: “Well, yeah, up to a point.”
Wine time.
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We know wine is magnificent paired with food, enhancing qualities of both. Wine and food also can be a welcomed pairing when dealing with the vicissitudes or triumphs of life. Examples:
• Emotionally wrought day with friends or family. Pair movie theatre popcorn and a bottle of buttery chardonnay and a stupid comedy movie.
• Signal success at work or in your family life after overcoming obstacles. Pair a bottle of expensive Champagne, a tin of caviar, or—if you are not into salty fish eggs—white chocolate truffles and the movie The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind.
• Mind-numbing day dealing with mundane, pedestrian issues. Pair a bottle of quality pinot noir from the Willamette Valley, camembert or gruyère cheese, and an intellectually challenging documentary from the BBC.
• A foolish argument with your loved one, followed by an embarrassing resolution. Pair a bottle of premier merlot, gourmet burgers, salty french fries, and the movie Sideways.
• A gritty, muscle-aching day of physical labor you want to forget, even though there is some pride you survived. Pair a high-alcohol California zinfandel from Lodi and the movie Rocky.
• A difficult day writing programming or fathoming spread sheets fellow workers could not comprehend or sorting out gibberish in a note from your boss or a client. Open a bottle of dry gewürztraminer or pouilly fuisse because you like the white wine and you know how to correctly pronounce the name, pair with honey-glazed, smoked salmon and the movie A Beautiful Mind.
• An outdoor meal with a swaggering braggadocio who will tell you repeatedly how much the Kobe beef he is grilling cost and how lucky you are to have been invited to share a slice. Pair with the movie The Wolf of Wall Street and a quality Portuguese red costing less than $20—many exist—but do not mention the cost until he praises the pairing.
• A lovely warm day with gentle winds, beautiful clouds, the faint smell of rain, all shared with a loved one. Pair light fare, a spring salad with fruit slices, a circle of brie, a dry Provence rose, and whatever sappy movie she wants to watch on The Hallmark Channel. See what happens. Trust me on this.
Tasting notes
• Markham Vineyards Merlot Little Cannon Vineyard, Napa Valley 2021: plush, elegant merlot from exceptional Oak Knoll vintage. Vivid aromatics, soft tannins and acidity check all the boxes for marvelous. $67 Link to my review
• Champagne Ayala A/18 Le Blanc de Blancs Extra Brut 2018: sleek, superb, pure chardonnay, vintage-dated effort, something of a rarity in Champagne. Excellent fruit. $85-130 Link to my review
Last round
Autocorrect is my wurst enema. Wine time.
Gus Clemens on Wine is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a paid subscriber. No matter how you subscribe, I appreciate you reading.
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This is the weekly column
As May flowers fade, the more stern months of summer saunter into our lives and our wine drinking regimen.
Time to lay down big, bold reds and celebrate the buys of summer. Rosés. Lighter whites. Lighter reds, maybe chilled, maybe even with an ice cube floating in the glass. Wine punches like sangria come into play, so refreshing on a warm picnic, backyard soiree day.
Stokesiren photo
This also can be the time for wines in a can. Perfect for sipping in a boat or by a pool where glass is déclassé or on a picnic or hike where you don’t want weight to slow your gait. After sailing or rowing or motoring or splashing or trekking to a scenic rendezvous, sipping on a light, refreshing Bacchus elixir can become part of a long-relished memory.
This also is a time for wines typically not considered for summer. Sherry, for instance. In Spain—where true sherry is made—there is a long-standing tradition of summer sherry. Consider sherry with ice, a splash of citrusy soda, and a fresh mint leaf. In the lower Adulucía, they mix sherry with well-chilled carbonated water and a mint leaf. Use the lighter sherry styles—fino and manzanilla.
Red wines can be served very well chilled or on ice to beat the heat. Gamay and pinot noir, light red wines, are the most appropriate candidates. Pour inexpensive stuff. Use a large ice cube—like you would do with bourbon. Alternatively, chill the wine in your refrigerator (usually 35º F).
Easy peasy warm weather wines (all served well chilled): rosés, sauvignon blanc, pinot grigio, un-oaked chardonnay, albariño, vinho verde, assyrtiko, dry riesling, gewürtztraminer, verdejo, vermentino, grüner veltliner.
The best summer wines combine brisk, refreshing acidity with regional flavors. But it must be acknowledged we are privileged to live in an era when summer heat can be relegated to a passing nuisance. If you must, crank down the AC, dig in to your fatty beefsteak and massive Napa cab. As long as you are discreet, no one will shame your for it.
Tasting notes
• Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars Aveta Sauvignon Blanc, Napa Valley 2023: Distictive interpretation of sauv blanc from famous, quality maker in a stellar vintage in Napa. $30-38 Link to my review
• Three Sticks Casteñada Rosé, Sonoma 2023: Polished, demure, elegant; fresh, fruity; polite tannins, refreshing acidity, and complexity justify its premium rosé status. It is the highest priced rosé made in Sonoma. $45-55 Link to my review
Last round
I am through with Amazon. I ordered grain for my chickens. Then, after I got it, they sent me an email asking for my feedback. Wine time.
Gus Clemens on Wine is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a paid subscriber. No matter how you subscribe, I appreciate you reading.
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Cava is Spanish sparkling wine made using the traditional method developed in Champagne, right?
Not so simple. In 1872, Spain’s first méthode champenoise sparkling wine was made in the Penedès region of Catalonia, the steadfastly independent northeastern area of Spain with Barcelona as its capitol.
France insists traditional method sparkling wine can only be called Champagne if it is made in Champagne. So Spaniards came up with “Cava” and establishing the Cava Denominación de Origen (DO). Although not a strict cava requirement, the Spanish grapes xarel-lo, madabeo, and parellada were the predominant grapes, in the same way chardonnay, pinot noir, and pinot meunier are primary grapes in Champagne.
Keith Williamson photo
Cava holds a middle-niche in the sparkling world. French Champagne is the aristocratic pour, almost always costing $50 or a lot more. Italian prosecco is everyman’s sparkling, made using a tank method that keeps prices in the $9-18 range. Cava hits the price point between, $15-35.
Spain had a winning hand. Makers could argue they matched Champagne quality at half the price, while being more sophisticated than prosecco. Spanish makers made impressive manufacturing modernizations that reduced labor costs without sacrificing quality. Production soared to 250 million bottles, led by mega-producers Freixenet and Codorníu.
So far, so good, except cava production spread throughout Spain. While the Penedès region remained the heart and soul of cava, starting in the 1990s the cava brand stopped identifying Penedès sparkling and became a generic term for Spanish sparkling. Cava stood for a Spanish production method rather than a specific terroir.
The Penedès region struck back. In 2012, makers established a distinctive wine category—Classic Penedès—to celebrate and proudly identify the Catalan winemaking identity. Classic Penedès requires wines to be organic and estate-bottled. Each bottle must be vintage-dated, include the disgorgement date. They must age for at least 15 months. Oh, and it has to be produced in Catalonia’s Penedès region.
In 2017, the requirements were formalized with the creation of the Corpinnat collective. The name etymologically means “born in the heart of Penedès.” A Corpinnat spokesperson explains: “We’re spreading the message that our place makes the wine, not just the method. Corpinnat emphasizes location over production technique.”
Fastidious care of the land is part of the deal. In 2025, Penedès will become the world’s first wine region to become 100% organic.
Spanish cava is a delicious value. But if you want the highest quality—a quality that rivals Champagne at much less the price—look for wines with Corpinnat on the label.
Last round
How much do rainbows weigh? Not much. They’re actually pretty light. Wine time.
Gus Clemens on Wine is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a paid subscriber. No matter how you subscribe, I appreciate you reading
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The wine industry faces the first headwinds it has faced in half a century. Inevitably things get snippy in the previously collegial competition among makers.
When the rising wine tide raised all boats, generosity and altruism were easy. Comity expected. Neighbor-helping-neighbor commonplace. Now sales are in decline. Competition thins the herd. Makers search for an edge, sharp elbows replace pats on the back.
Texas is an example. From the state’s humble wine beginning in the 1970s until the 21st century, Texas was the gangly youngster learning how to walk. Its wineries had modest production. Texans bought almost all of it. Texas was a beer and whiskey and Tex Mex and fat, juicy steaks place. Not really wine-centric country. No need for others to play in that sandbox.
Nothing stays the same. Texas population boomed, overtaking New York as the second-most populated state in the U.S. in 1994. Texas has four of the largest population cities: Houston #4; San Antonio #7, Dallas #9, Austin #11. There is a charming old German Hill Country town easily accessible for all of them—just over an hour from San Antonio and Austin.
Fredericksburg, Texas (Larry D. Moore photo)
Fredericksburg became the center of the Texas wine industry. Texans grew grapes on the High Plains in West Texas, but put their tasting rooms and wineries in and around Fredericksburg. They had a highway—US 290 that mirrors Napa’s SR 29. Today, the Texas Hill Country AVA around Fredericksburg is the second-most visited AVA in the U.S., trailing only Napa. Meanwhile, Texas winemakers hit their stride. The state has a vast wine vine growing region in the west with high altitude (3,000 to 4,000 elevations), significant diurnal shifts, sandy soil that vexes phylloxera aphids, brisk dry winds that thwart powdery mildew, water from the Ogallala Aquifer, and plenty of money to invest in lifestyle businesses.
As a result, Texas now ranks fifth in U.S. wine production. The state is far behind the big four—California, Washington, New York, Oregon—but the state has the wine market’s attention.
In 2024, Halter Ranch, a Paso Robles winery, opened a tasting room in Fredericksburg and planted an organic vineyard nearby. Needless to say, some Texas winemakers who sweated through decades of learning what works in Texas and building a market in Texas while skeptics laughed at their efforts were not ecstatic.
With challenging times comes challenging competition. Texans strived to run with the big dogs. Now they are. Watch this space.
Last round
When you apply insect repellent, do you realize you put on Off and you put Off on? Wine time.
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Gus Clemens on Wine is a reader-supported publication. To support my work, consider becoming a paid subscriber. No matter how you subscribe, I appreciate you reading.
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Mother’s Day easily can be promoted as “Buy Mom Some Wine Day.” There is the cliché joke: “buy mom wine because you are the reason she drinks.” But there is a less jejune reason to do the right thing—moms who enjoy alcohol drinks overwhelmingly prefer wine over spirits and beer.
According to polls over several years, women make up some 60% of wine buyers. Gallup in 2021 reported women choose wine 49% over liquor 26% and beer 23%. Multiple surveys show women are the dominant consumer group in wine sales.
So, if part of your Mother’s Day strategy is gifting her an alcoholic drink—accompanied by flowers, candy, cards, and obsequious fawning—then your safe choice is wine. Especially the wine she likes to drink. And if you do not know what wine that is, you have work to do.
According to a superfluity of surveys, the “little woman’s” favorite is not automatically insipid white zinfandel or cloyingly sweet plonk or vanishingly ephemeral rosé. Moms like wines. Bold reds paired with the fat-dripping grilled steak she cooked for you. Mineral and saline whites from Santorini with the Mediterranean white fish she serves on special occasions. An etherial Willamette Valley pinot noir with the turkey she baked for your Thanksgiving feast. Nothing wrong with white zin, but that decidedly is not the momma whole story.
In short, there is no timid stereotype female wine drinker. According to a cascade of scientific studies, women are gifted with more sophisticated and discriminating tasting resources on their tongues than men. Mom gets it that wine is a wonderful and appropriate companion to a meal. Especially one with the family where she was the lead character in the creation. Next Sunday, act accordingly if she is your mom or you are the reason she is a mom.
Tasting notes:
• Lake Sonoma Winery Alexander Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2019: Stays true to soft, round, easy drinking Lake Sonoma style. $25-29 Link to my review
• Beringer Private Reserve Chardonnay, Napa Valley 2022: Outstanding, subtle richness, wonderful fruit, respectful, restrained winemaking. Creamy mouthfeel. $35-48 Link to my review
• Tenuta di Arceno Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG 2020: Serene tannins, solid backbone of acidity frames impressive medley of dark fruits. $36-45 Link to my review
• Sokol Blosser Estate Pinot Noir, Dundee Hills, Oregon 2020: Easy going, easily slurpable, eager-to-please wine from Dundee Hills pioneering winery. $44 Link to my review
• Goldeneye Pinot Noir, Anderson Valley 2022: Superb cooler climate effort. Enchanting finish. Benchmark New World pinot noir. $45-62 Link to my review
Last round
God promised men they could find women who were good and obedient in all the corners of Earth. Then God made the Earth round. Wine time.
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Links worth exploring
Diary of a Serial Hostess Ins and outs of entertaining; witty anecdotes of life in the stylish lane.
As We Eat Multi-platform storytelling explores how food connects, defines, inspires.
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This is the weekly column
Wine has been a staple of food and culture for 8,000 years. It is not going away. But the wine industry’s exhilarating days of the past 50 years are fading. Let’s explore.
Gino Colangelo is the founder of Colangelo & Partners, a leading PR force in the wine, food, and spirits industry worldwide. I asked him about the state of the wine world today.
Gino Colangelo
What are the biggest threats to the wine world?
Gino: “Depends on the day of the week. Tariffs are looming. Economic uncertainty is certainly an issue. But I still see the anti-alcohol movement as the biggest existential threat. If a 25-year old today decides that health risk starts at one glass of wine/day, what does that do to the lifetime consumption of that person? We need to fight back hard against the misinformation and propaganda surrounding wine and health. That’s why I started, together with esteemed wine writer Karen MacNeil and wine PR pro Kimberly Charles, two wine advocacy campaigns: Come Over October ( Link ) and Share & Pair Sundays ( Link ). Both campaigns will be annual. Creating a positive narrative around wine will take years.”
Your wine elevator pitch?
Gino: “Wine has a unique ability to bring people of all ages and backgrounds together. Wine is social, cultural, historical and sustainable. Wine is good economics for rural populations—farmers —around the world. And, ultimately, wine is food. It belongs on the dinner table.”
Wine pricing?
Gino: “I think there will always be a place for sub-$10 wine but Americans are appreciating better wines—which is a good thing. Most of our clients are at $15-$25. That seems to be a strong part of the market. There is a lot of trading down now from $50+, for example, among large segments of the wine drinking population. Besides, there’s a world of very good and interesting wines at $15.”
Wine trends?
Gino: “I think rosé is trending down. Low/no-alcohol is certainly trending though there’s much work to be done on the quality/taste front. Thousands of vineyard acres are being ripped up in California. I think this is an inevitable correction in the supply of wine grapes. ‘Natural wine’ continues to trend among some demographics—though I still haven’t heard a clear definition of the category. Movement away from 15 percent+ wines to more restrained styles is a positive trend, I would say. Also, interest in indigenous varieties, whether that's Saperavi from Georgia or Nero d’Avola from Sicily is still trending.”
Last round
Let’s eat kids. Let’s eat, kids. Commas are important. Wine time.
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Answers to common wine questions:
• What is the difference between my home refrigerator and a wine refrigerator?
Your home frig’s internal temperature is around 35 degrees, while a wine frig is between 50 and 60. Your home frig is designed to extract humidity, a potential danger to wine corks. A wine frig strives to have a cork-friendly 45-60 percent humidity. Your home frig likely uses a compressor that causes vibration. A wine frig likely uses a thermoelectric cooling system without moving parts, thus no vibration. A constant temperature between 50-60 degrees, a humidity of 45-60 percent, and no vibration is the ideal way to store wine. Your home refrigerator or a cool, dark closet will work to store wine, but a dedicated wine frig is the ideal way to go.
• What affects the sensation of “body” in a wine?
Wine is described as light, medium, and full. Milk provides an easy comparison. Skim milk is light body, whole milk is medium body, and cream is full body. Higher alcohol typically results in fuller-bodied wine. Higher tannins, residual sugar, glycerol, and polysaccharides (from yeast and grape cells) contribute to fuller bodies wines with richer texture. The grape variety also influences the sensation of weight and body.
• Can I ask for a taste before I order wine by the glass in a restaurant?
Depends on the restaurant. Some restaurants will offer a very small taste, but offering a taste usually is to determine if the wine is off or flawed, not to give you a chance to see if you like it. BTW, if you plan on drinking two or more glasses of the wine, it usually is cheaper to buy the whole bottle. If you do not finish the bottle, you typically can take the corked bottle home, often covered in a bag. Put the partially consumed bottle in the trunk when driving.
• Is there a difference between table grapes and wine grapes?
Absolutely. If you taste a wine grape, it is much sweeter, juicier, and softer than a table grape. Wine grapes also have thicker, chewier skins, and prominent seeds. Table grapes usually are bigger, more crispy and more crunchy. Table grapes have thinner skins and smaller seeds or no seeds at all. Table grapes are picked sooner to capture the acidity and freshness—and to allow for travel and handling before sale and eating. Wine grapes are picked later to achieve ripeness and juiciness. They begin processing the grapes in the winery within hours of their harvest.
Last round
What do you call a lazy kangaroo? A pouch potato. Wine time.
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This is the weekly column
Some answers to common questions:
• What does “fruity” and “sweet” mean in a wine review?
They are two different concepts. Fruity or “fruit-forward” wine is one where fruit flavors dominate over other flavors such as vanilla, oak toast, minerality. Sweet wine has perceptible residual sugar because not all of the grape sugar was converted into alcohol or sugar was added after complete fermentation.
Confusion arises when a dry wine with little or no residual sugar has very ripe fruit flavors. Our minds and tastebuds associate vivid fruit flavors with sweetness. We think the wine is sweet, even if lab results show there is little or no residual sugar. Most table wines are dry or off-dry (0-35 g/L). Dessert wines such as sauternes, porto, and sherry usually have significant residual sugar (120 or more g/L).
• What do “perlage,” “mousse,” and “bead” mean in sparkling wine?
Broadly, they all refer to the bubbles. Perlage can indicate finer, softer, smaller bubbles. Mousse can imply creamier bubbles. Bead can refer to the trail of bubbles rising in the glass. There is no hard definition and the terms can be used interchangeably.
• What should I do if I break my wineglass at a restaurant?
Notify a staff member immediately. No need to be embarrassed or make excuses; this happens all the time. The staff will want to clean it up themselves so you won’t cut yourself and make the situation even worse. The staff has the tools and experience to make the problem go away quickly. You might sweeten the tip, however.
• What is “structure” in a wine?
Structure is an abstract term that is hard to define. Structure is about the relationship between all the components in a wine—tannins, acidity, alcohol, body, glycerol, and more. When a wine has “good structure” it means all the parts work together harmoniously. Tannins are the base element of wines with good structure, but structure is the sum of all the parts of a wine. You may not be able to define it, but you will know it when you taste it.
• How do I open a bottle of wine with a wax seal?
Ignore the wax seal, insert the worm through the wax into the cork and twist it down. Pull the cork. The wax seal will shatter to bits and fall away. If some wax clings near the opening, peel it away before fully pulling the cork.
Last round
May your troubles be less, your blessings more, and nothing but happiness come through your door. I think that means a wine delivery. Wine time.
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Wine has an image problem that is both its biggest asset and its Achilles heal. Wine is the most complex alcohol drink.
If you examine wine’s consumer base, wine drinkers tend to be older, better educated, upper-middle class or above. The popular image: wine drinkers are old, snotty, rich people. Not an ideal demo if you are a marketeer striving to expand your winery’s customer base.
Let’s admit the basic truth behind the stereotype. Wine is complicated. I don’t need to know where the hops or barely or water came from to slam back a light beer. Just put the 18-pack in the cooler and start pulling pull tabs. Most wine drinkers do not approach wine that way.
As Baby Boomer wine drinkers began to savor the complexity of wine in the 1980s, words like “terroir” and “new French oak” and “malolactic conversion” and “whole cluster fermentation” and “carbonic maceration” and “sur lie” and “bâttonage” and “solera system” became part of their vocabulary. Not words typically blurted out by beer Bubbas at the local dive bar during happy hour.
As wine appreciation soared beginning in the 1980s, so came slick wine magazines, wine books, wine websites, wine gurus, wine tourism, wine clubs, and states opening up to direct-to-consumer wine sales from an exploding number of winemakers dedicated to quality. Ah, what heady times those were.
No trend lasts forever, although it can be argued that after 8,000 years wine hardly is a trend. But the wine world certainly faces headwinds in the 2020s. Wine is not going away, but the intoxicating wine burgeoning of the last 40 years appears to have reached an apogee.
And so winemakers have to assess who they are and what their product is. I suggest embracing wine for what it is—complicated, sophisticated, and still down-to-earth enjoyable. Dumbing down will not convince 21-something newbies to spend $18 on a bottle of wine instead of $10 on a six-pack of beer, hard cider, or malt beverage. But when, by happenstance, they experience a quality meal with a quality wine, then comes the “ah-ha” moment. This is what wine is all about.
Tasting notes
• Domaine Bousquet Malbec, Tupungato Uco Valley, Mendoza, Argentina 2022: Fresh, crunchy, flagrantly ripe fruit. Simple but decadently indulgent in pleasuring your palate. $10-14 Link to my review
• Bonterra Sauvignon Blanc, California 2023: Easy drinker, nice introduction to famously food-friendly sauv blanc. Round, smooth, happily approachable, pleasurable mouthfeel. $15 Link to my review
Last round: My wife told me: “I never listen to her.” Something like that. I don’t recall exactly. I don’t pay that much attention to what she says. Wine time.
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Followers of my wine writing know I do not do negative wine reviews. I consider myself a curator rather than a critic. If you want snark about a particular wine, others are happy to satisfy you.
Why this conscious choice? There is limited space and time in my newspaper columns, online posts, podcasts—and my life, for that matter. I choose to spend that allotment on subjects you may enjoy and convey positive commentary about wines, people who make them, and where they are made. The world has a plethora of people engaged in putdowns and callous comments. I am not among them.
That said, there are wines I do not savor, and I have flirted with mentioning them in the 16-plus years of this column. Excellent wines do not have to be expensive, but they are seldom cheap. If you spend less than $10 on a bottle, the odds are good it will not be undrinkable, also not remarkable. Wine is a business. You get what you pay for.
“Supermarket wines”—frequently touted as exclusive although they often are generic commodity wines with a catchy label slapped on a “shiner” bottle. But they are drinkable. They oftentimes have added residual sugar—no winery goes broke making sweetened wines—and ramped up alcohol. Fine. If you enjoy, it is good wine for you. Just know, quality wine can be more, especially when married to a quality meal.
There are boxed wines—really a bag in a box—that are environmentally responsible to the Earth and fiscally responsible to your budget. Bota Box and Black Box certainly have more than drinkable offerings, and there are others. There also are several bag-in-a-box wines that are plonk made only so the wedding party or the charity gathering will juice up the participants while not bankrupting the hosts.
Quality wines cost money because they take time, effort, skill, and luck to make them. Those are the wines I print/post about. It is a wonderful privilege to receive many of these wines free from the wineries who want me to review their effort. I also purchase wines to review. In all cases, as I sip and stare at the screen on my computer, my thought is “would my readers and followers find joy and pleasure?” If yes, I write. If no, I delete.
Wine is a special food that has enhanced human life for 8,000 years. All I want to do is a small part in advancing that mission.
Last round
If cats could text you back, they wouldn’t. Wine time.
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Spring is here. What wines are especially suited for the warming days and the return of plants from dormancy? There are many happy choices.
Bright acidity, floral aromatics, freshness, lightness, and lower alcohol are hallmarks of wines that pair with the dynamic character of the season. Here are some classic suggestions:
• Sauvignon blanc. New Zealand efforts burst with lime and passionfruit and aromas of freshly mowed grass. Efforts from France’s Loire Valley lean more toward flinty minerality. West Coast sauv blancs can be silky with notes of honeydew melon. All work with spring salads, seafood, goat cheese.
• Riesling. Dry versions from Germany’s Mosel region deliver floral aromas and crisp apple, sometimes honeysuckle and nectarine. Very versatile. Pair with a picnic.
• Vinho verde. Portugal’s light, high acidity, slightly effervescent, lower alcohol wine is another picnic pleaser with citrus and apple notes. Seafood is classic pairing, so is a fresh tomato and cucumber salad. It also pairs well with spicy foods. Serve well chilled.
• Dry rosé. Of course. Provencal styles deliver strawberry, watermelon, lemon-lime, grapefruit, delicate whiffs of roses and other flowers. Light bodied, crisp, refreshing. Another very versatile food wine and can be enjoyed sipped by itself during a lovely spring afternoon.
• Pinot noir. The light red is versatile. Enjoy ripe strawberry flavors amid silky tannins.
• Gamay. These wines from France’s Beaujolais can be slightly chilled. They deliver vibrant flavors of strawberry, raspberry, cherry, and cranberry. Thanks to carbonic maceration—where fermentation begins inside the intact berry in an oxygen-free tank—you also may get banana, kirsch, or bubblegum. Usually light bodied with good acidity, low tannins, low alcohol, silky mouthfeel, refreshing. Another very versatile food pairing wine.
Not all wines are well suited for spring. Wines to think twice about before opening:
• Heavy, full-bodied reds. Grippy tannins and higher alcohol of cabernet sauvignon, syrah/shiraz, mourvèdre can make them awkward springtime wines.
• Mass-market blends with residual sugar. With candied fruit flavors, thick, syrupy textures, and elevated alcohol they are not sprightly in spring. Or any season, some would argue.
• Heavy-oaked chardonnays and viogniers. Butter and vanilla notes easily overpower spring’s lighter fare. Save those for winter.
Tasting notes:
• Rabble Sauvignon Blanc, Central Coast 2022: Nuanced, balanced, impressive interplay of tartness and hint of sweetness with plenty of fruitiness. $18-21 Link to my review
• Mendes & Symington Monção e Melgaço Contacto Alvarinho Vinho Verde DOC 2023: Bright, refreshing, great minerality, outstanding quality. $22-27 Link to my review
• Maison Sainte Marguerite Symphonie Rosé, Côtes de Provence 2022: Elegant, refined, classic, harmonious Provence rosé. Finesse, freshness with minerality, bright acidity. $24-28 Link to my review
Last round
A book fell on my head. I can only blame my shelf. Wine time.
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Sixty years ago, Texas wine was a curious microdot in the wine world. Two Texas Tech professors piddled around with a few grapevines, originally intending to make grape jelly to supplement their income.
“Doc” McPherson, a chemistry professor, and Robert Reed, a horticultural specialist, wondered if the Texas High Plains around Lubbock could diversify regional crops beyond cotton and corn. Texas Tech encouraged them. In 1969, the pair planted a vineyard with more than 140 different grape varieties to see what worked.
Texas stereotype: it is too hot and too dry for grape production. Flawed stereotype. Yes, there are hot summer days, but at elevations of 3,300-4,000 feet—that’s why it is called the “High Plains”—the diurnal shift, a significant factor in quality wine, could be 40 degrees. There was fast-draining, phylloxera-free soils. A major aquifer to provide irrigation. Relatively cheap land and Texas money to buy it.
Jon Lebkowsky
Today, the Texas High Plains grows some 85% of Texas grapes in a wide range of varieties. The palette available to Texas grape growers is a signature feature. Heat-tolerant Mediterranean and Rhône varieties tempranillo, mourvèdre, viognier lead the way, but there are many more—likely 75. Texans are still figuring it out.
California dominates U.S. wine with 85% of the market, followed by Washington State with 5%, New York State with 3.5%, Oregon with 1.5%—closely followed by Texas and Virginia also with 1.5%.
From humble beginnings, Texas now has more than 1,000 licensed wineries, 430 full commercial operations. By comparison, Napa has 500 physical wineries. In another comparison, the Texas Hill Country AVA, centered around Fredericksburg, is the second-most visited AVA in the country, trailing only Napa. The Texas wine industry annually contributes more than $20 billion to the state’s economy, supports 75,000 jobs.
Texas is not going to challenge the West Coast wine behemoths. It does have a solid niche in Texas, where most Texas wine is sold. Wider distribution will come. Right now, Texans can kick back at a charming Fredericksburg tasting room and note the state has come a long way from curious profs planning to sell grape jelly between semesters at Texas Tech.
Tasting notes:
• William Chris Vineyards Purtell Vineyard Grenache, Texas High Plains 2020: Smooth, easy drinker from a top Texas winemaker and leading Texas wine grape grower. Delivers svelte sophistication of grenache. $21-25 Link to my review
• Wedding Oak Winery Chenin Blanc, Texas High Plains, Phillips Vineyard 2023: Vivid citrus, tree fruits in clean, precise manner. No interference from oak, nice depth, complexity. $30 Link to my review
Last round
What happens when a microscope crashes into a telescope? You have a kaleidoscope. Wine time.
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It used to be simple. Good wine had a natural cork. Cheap wine had a screw top. Not any more.
The 1990s wine boom stressed cork production and engendered an increase in “cork taint” caused by the chemical compound trichloroanisole (TCA). By some measures, 5% or more of cork-closed bottles exhibited the musty, wet cardboard aromas of cork taint.
The wine industry responded. Natural cork makers focused on sanitation and quality control. The problem lessened but cannot be totally eliminated. Alternatives blossomed, but all closures proved to have some problems.
• Screw tops eliminated TCA, but in low tannin wines there can be a reductive process that produces sulfur odors. Wet cardboard was replaced by rotten-egg smells. Careful use of sulfur and liner improvements have reduced this issue. Today, 90% of wines made in New Zealand and Australia employ screw tops.
• DIAM corks are made by dismantling natural cork into fine granules, then reconstituting with polyurethane binders. The process eliminates TCA and can be fine-tuned for oxygen ingress. But that fine tuning can introduce variables, including the same sulfur issues as screw tops, muted aromatics, and thin, flat flavors. DIAMs also cost significantly more than natural cork.
• Synthetic corks. Eliminates TCA, but can prevent the micro-oxygenation desired in aged wine. There also is an environmental trade-off. Synthetic corks rely on non-renewable plastic, contributing to microplastic pollution.
• Glass closures. Vino-Lok glass stoppers eliminate TCA and create a seal that virtually prohibits oxygen ingress, a good or a bad thing depending on the wine. The stoppers require significant modifications to a bottling line, a hurdle for smaller producers. They also require specialized bottles, which can cost 20-30% more than a standard Bordeaux bottle.
• Natural corks are made from the renewable outer bark of the cork oak tree. When a tree reaches 25-30 years old, its bark can be harvested every 9-12 years for 200-plus years. Cork closures have been the gold standard in closures for centuries. Cork tree forests sequester a significant amount of carbon dioxide, up to 14 million tons of carbon dioxide annually. Because of the renewal of bark, harvested trees absorb 3-5 times more carbon than non-harvested trees. Cork trees also support Mediterranean biodiversity and sustain rural economies in Portugal and Spain. Deep roots systems stabilize the soil and retain moisture.
Bottom line: there are advantages and disadvantages to each type of closure. Natural cork-based products still close almost half of the world’s wine bottles and 70% of premium wines. Natural corks are not going away any time soon.
Last round
Perfect pairing: I like wine. Wine likes me. Pull the cork, twist the screw top.
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I find Perplexity a useful AI tool researching wine and other topics. In an act of hubris, I challenged it to evaluate Gus Clemens on Wine.
Today’s column addresses some of the Perplexity results. You can generate your own evaluation of the column at the site, or evaluate yourself if you have an online presence and the nerve to so venture. Here I address Perplexity’s principal findings:
• No wine scores. From the start of my wine writing in the newspapers and online in 2008, I chose to emphasize narrative, backstory, nuanced tasting notes. I consider 100-point systems falsely specific, while acknowledging their marketing value. Perplexity: “By focusing on narrative-driven evaluations and contextual insights, Clemens aims to demystify wine appreciation while resisting the homogenizing effects of score-driven criticism.”
• No negative reviews. Perplexity accurately portrays me as a curator rather than a critic. If I do not like a wine or find it underwhelming, I do not publish a review. If I publish a review, it means I found something worthwhile in the winery’s effort, as may you. I do not waste your time with negatives. I also snarkily note: “If you want snark, watch cable news.” Life is too short for me to savor putting down other people or their products.
• Texas wines. Perplexity gives me more credit than I deserve for promoting Texas wines. For the first decade, I rarely visited Texas wine, reflecting my original Texas editor’s dictate to write about wine that people could find and afford, an approach I agreed with. At that time, Texas wine was challenging to get and often over-priced. Times changed. In 2019, I devoted several columns and online wine reviews to Texas wineries and wines, reflecting the significant emergence of Texas in the wine world. My audience now reaches well beyond Texas—where I live—but I have no shame or reluctance in telling today’s Texas wine story.
• Welcomed kind words. Perplexity generally delivers positive reports. Indulge me as one of its conclusions affirmed what I hope readers get from my work: “Following Gus Clemens offers more than wine recommendations—it’s an invitation to join a global conversation about wine’s role in culture, history, and daily life. His work bridges the gap between expert critique and everyday enjoyment, empowering readers to explore with confidence. Whether dissecting Texas’ emerging wine scene or decoding Portuguese Porto production, Clemens equips his audience with knowledge, humor, and ethical clarity.”
Last round
How do you throw an egg at a wall without breaking it? It does not matter. Eggs do not break walls. Wine time.
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By best estimate, there are some 10,000 different grape varieties in the world. If you tasted a different one every day, it would take you more than 27 years to complete the task. Thankfully, the world of wine is confined to a smaller number.
About 6,000 grapes belong to the principal fine wine species Vitis vinifera. Only about 1,300 are actively used in winemaking. Only 13 varieties make up one-third of global winemaking; 33 varieties make up more than half of global use.
The variety of grapes is significantly different depending on the country. Italy apparently has the most diversity, home to more than 1,300 varieties used in wine making. Sangiovese is Italy’s most-planted grape, but it only accounts to around 8% of grapes grown.
In contrast, New Zealand cultivates around 30 varieties, with sauvignon blanc accounting for 78% of production. Sauv blanc, pinot noir, pinot gris, and chardonnay account for more than 90% of New Zealand’s wine grape production.
The wine industry in the United States is so large and chaotic we do not know how many wine grape varieties are grown, and there are some native wine grapes that are not Vitis vinifera. We do have an idea about the top 10, which account for more than 80% of grape production. The numbers are rough because there are 50 different wine producing states with 50 different counting regimens. And the numbers change every year according to the vagaries of agriculture.
According to the best-available numbers, there are 457,700 acres planted in the top ten varieties in the U.S. What follows are acres and percentages of the total:
• Chardonnay: 106,000 (23.2%)
• Cabernet sauvignon: 101,300 (22.1%)
• Pinot noir: 61,800 (13.5%)
• Merlot: 51,900 (11.3%)
• Zinfandel: 47,000 (10.3%)
• Syrah/shiraz: 22,000 (4.8%)
• Pinot gris: 19,800 (4.3%)
• French colombard: 19,700 (4.3%)
• Sauvignon blanc: 17,300 (3.8%)
• Rubired (used in bulk wine): 10,900 (2.4%)
Tasting notes
• Stoller Family Estate Chardonnay, Willamette Valley 2023: Presents without complications of oak or excessive malolactic fermentation. Simple, clean, pure. $19-25 Link to my review
• Beringer Knights Valley Cabernet Sauvignon, Sonoma 2021: Drinks like a Napa, priced like a Sonoma. Go-to rich red wine play year after year. $25-35 Link to my review
• Chateau Ste. Michelle Cabernet Sauvignon Canoe Ridge Estate, Horse Heaven Hills 2019: Consistent cab made by Washington State’s largest winemaker; tasty tannins, generous fruit. $30-36 Link to my review
• William Chris Vineyards Mourvèdre Reserve, Texas High Plains 2018: Solid, silky presentation of mourvèdre, a grape that found a home in Texas. Good balance of fruit, acidity; reserved, elegant tannins. $35-38 Link to my review
Last round
I tell everyone about the benefits of eating dried grapes. It’s about raisin awareness. Wine time.
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It is a new year and there are sweeping changes in wine bottle sizes in America. Yep, wine makers and glass blowers have a whole new tool kit to entice you into experiencing whatever elixir they have conjured from grape juice and yeast and wood and whatever else the white-coated wine wizards have procured.
Last year your bottle choices were limited. Wine could only be sold in 187 mL single-serving bottles (think airplane or rip-off hotel frig), 375 mL “half bottles,” 500 mL bottles, standard 750 mL bottles, and 1500 mL magnums. Also way-oversized bottles named for Biblical figures and mythological kings (Midas is the largest size, equivalent of 40 standard bottles of wine—almost 8 gallons).
David Herrera
The days of limited sizes are no more. Regulators replaced restriction with confusion. It now is legal to package wine in the following new categories:
• 180 mL
• 300 mL
• 330 mL
• 360 mL
• 473 mL (16 oz.)
• 550 mL
• 568 mL (19.2 oz)
• 600 mL
• 620 mL
• 700 mL
• 720 mL
• 1.8 L
• 2.25 L
Welcome to 2025, the Wild Wild West of wine packaging.
The change allows American winemakers easier entry into some international markets where bottle sizes have been different for years. New sizes help harmonize U.S. packaging with international standards. It gives consumers more choice, albeit at the expense of confusion. What is the difference between a standard 750 mL bottle and a 720 mL bottle? The answer is about one fluid ounce.
Expectation: it will not make much difference in the short term. A 750 mL bottle will remain the standard. There are tens of millions of those bottles already on the shelves or in the production pipeline. The plethora of finished product will take years to work its way through the consumer digestive tract.
Big producers likely will offer some of these new sizes, they may have bottling lines producing them now for the international market. Small producers may not make any changes, or only to the one or two sizes that generate the most demand.
Retail—wine stores and supermarkets—will be an even bigger challenge. Stores have limited shelf space. If a store stocks three different bottles sizes of one brand, two different brands will have to go. The most likely way you will be able to purchase the new, non-traditional size bottle will be directly from the winery, if they offer the new size.
And so it goes in the wine world.
Last round
The police executed a surprise raid on the psychics’ wine social. Interestingly, none of the psychics saw that coming.
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Valentine’s Day cometh, time for expressing love and affection, although one can argue that should be on your to-do list every day.
The celebration has roots as far back as ancient Rome. It was then called Lupercalia, a day dedicated to Lupercus, the god of shepherds, and aimed at promoting health and fertility. As do many celebrations, Lupercalia-Valentine’s links to seasonal change. In the Northern Hemisphere, mid-February typically marks the end of the coldest nights of winter. Spring starts five weeks later.
The pagan festival fell out of favor with the fall of Rome. In 494 CE, Pope Gelasius I officially banned the festival. Two years later, however, the same pope set things in motion for today’s celebration when he recognized a Christian martyr, Valentine, as a saint. Executed around 270 CE, Valentine supposedly wrote an affectionate letter to his jailer’s daughter and signed it “from your Valentine.”
And then came the so-called “Dark Ages” and Lupercalia and St. Valentine were largely lost in the mists of memory. Until cometh Geoffrey Chaucer and his poem “The Parliament of Fowls” in the 1380s. Wrote the English poet: “For this was seynt Volantynys day, when euery byrd comyth there to chese his make.” His effort may have been an effort to celebrate the engagement of King Richard II of England to Anne of Bohemia.
Chaucer’s effort inspired others. By the 1400s, February 14th, the day in 496, when Gelasius canonized Valentine, the day became roughly the Valentine’s Day we know today. The story is somewhat muddier, of course. There are three saints named Valentine and the Catholic Church removed St. Valentine’s Day from its official calendar of feast days in 1969 due to lack of reliable information about the saint. That should not stop you from celebrating love and affection on February 14.
Wine, of course, can be part of your celebration. Classic pairings:
• Sparkling rosé. Can be expensive Champagne or the many alternatives. Clever folks will pair the rosé with a dozen roses and note their love always sparkles.
• Rosé in general. Non-sparkling, “still wines,” can still indicate you are still the love of my life.
• Ruby or tawny port paired with dark chocolate is classic.
Tasting notes
• Avaline Rosé, Vin de France: Light crowd pleaser made with cavalcade of classic rosé grapes, led by grenache. $16-20 Link to my review
• Kopke 20 Years Old Tawny Porto: Archetypal tawny made by the oldest Port house in the world (1638 founding). $70-80 Link to my review
Last round
What did the light bulb say to the switch on Valentine’s Day? You really turn me on. Wine time.
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Wine columnists are expected to have opinions, and I have many. Here are four to rile up readers.
• Stemless wine glasses. They do hold wine and they are harder to break and easier to clean than traditional stemware, but they also commit three cardinal sins for wine enjoyment. First, you have to hold the bowl to use them. That means fingerprint smudges on the glass, diminishing a vital part of wine enjoyment—admiring and evaluating the wine’s color. Second, it is somewhat harder to swirl wine in a stemless. Third, bowl holding warms the wine, diminishing the taste of the wine. See, swirl, smell, sip, and savor are classic—if simplified—elements for tasting wine. Stemless glasses mess with three of the five elements.
• Over-inflated prices and heavy bottles. You produce a decent $30 bottle of wine. Then you put it in a very heavy bottle and charge $60. Studies indicate if people know the price and feel the bottle weight, they consider the heavy bottle, higher-priced wine a better wine than the exact same wine poured from a lighter bottle with a lower announced price. Price is an imperfect indicator of quality. Bottle weight has no impact on wine quality.
• Commodity/supermarket wines with added sugar, high alcohol, and oak. I get it, many people, especially occasional sippers, enjoy wine with those qualities. If that is good wine for you, enjoy away. But sweetness, high alcohol, and big oak are the enemy of wine’s best place in your life—paired with food. Also note, added sugar, elevated alcohol, and oak are proven ways to hide flaws of inferior wines.
• The ABC (Anything But Chardonnay) crowd. I once was part of that throng when the chard I tasted was suffused with butter and overladen with oak. Thankfully, those days are passing, and many California chardonnay makers have seen the humiliating error of their ways and now strive to strike a balance between reasonable and food friendly alcohol, complex layering of fruit flavors, and a lingering finish. Chardonnays with no oak are lean and crisp with stone fruit flavors. Chardonnays with appropriate oak present fuller body and a creamy mouthfeel. If you have lingering antipathy toward chardonnay, try one of today’s quality chards to change your mind.
What are your gripes and opinions?
Tasting notes
• Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars KARIA Chardonnay, Napa Valley 2022: Graceful, fruit forward, some depth and complexity. Nice Napa chard from historic maker. $36-50 Link to my review
• Austin Hope Cabernet Sauvignon, Paso Robles 2021: Plush, smooth, powerful cab. Luxurious instead of smack-your-face power. $56-75 Link to my review
Last round
My four food groups: cabernet, chardonnay, malbec, Champagne.
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This is the weekly column
Wine labels and wine reviews may include various references to wine blending. Some are specific and informative. Others are distinctions without a difference. Let’s explore the most common blending terms.
• Blend. Broadest term. It includes combining various fruits or vinifications to create, develop, or enhance a wine using more than one grape variety and/or vintage. It includes growing and fermenting different varieties together, blending grapes immediately after or years after harvest, combining various vintages, combining wines fermented using different yeast clones, fermenting techniques, and aging regimens.
• Field blend. Mixture of varieties that are grown, harvested, and fermented together.
• Non-vintage. Involves blending grapes from different years. This is designed to reduce vagaries of different vintages to produce wine true to a distinct house style, ensuring consumers they will enjoy a consistent experience. Non-vintage is very common in Champagnes, Porto, and sherry. It can include blending of different varieties, but also a single variety from different vintages.
• Assemblage. Blending of vinified wines before bottling. This term often is used in Bordeaux and Champagne. Term may have been coined by 17th-century monk-winemaker Dom Pérignon.
• Marriage. Synonym for assemblage. A combination of wines blended before bottling.
• Meritage. Portmanteau created to designate high-quality American wines that pay homage to Bordeaux blends. It combines “merit” and “heritage” and rhymes with “heritage.” It is not a French word with the pronunciation of the last syllable sounding like “garage.” Red meritage must be a blend of at least two varieties—cabernet sauvignon, merlot, cabernet franc, malbec, petit verdot, St. Macaire, gros verdot, or carmenère. White meritage must be a blend of at least two varieties—sauvignon blanc, sémillon, or muscadelle du Bordelais. American winemakers must follow strict guidelines to use the term.
• Cuvée. All-purpose term with no regulated definition. A cuvée is wine made from a blend of different grapes, vineyards, or vintages. Basically, another word for blend.
• Coupage. Another synonym for assemblage, except can have a negative connotation when it describes a wine were other wines were added just to increase the quantity of the wine.
Tasting notes
• M. Chapoutier Belleruche Côts-du-Rhône Blanc 2022: Vibrant, fresh blend led by grenache blanc, also roussanne, viognier, clairette, bourboulenc. $14-18 Link to my review
• Carpineto Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG 2019: Field blend of at least 80% sangiovese; some canailo and other red grape varieties. $25-29 Link to my review
• Flat Creek Estate Buttero Red Wine Blend 2018: Blend of sangiovese, primitivo, montepulciano from Texas winery. $35-48 Link to my review
• Syncline Wine Cuvée Elena, Columbia Valley 2021: Classic Rhône blend of syrah, grenache, and mourvèdre. Sophisticated and approachable. $65 Link to my review
Last round
Wine flies when you’re having fun.
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Links worth exploring
Diary of a Serial Hostess Ins and outs of entertaining; witty anecdotes of life in the stylish lane.
As We Eat Multi-platform storytelling explores how food connects, defines, inspires.
This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit gusclemens.substack.com/subscribe - Laat meer zien
