All TX Vino-lovers--

I'll be in Austin on business for the first three weeks in March. Anyone want to get together??

RRV

So, brocolli, Mother says you're very good for me. Well, I'm afraid I'm no good for you!

Me and the spouse should be around. Chicago Wine Geek drops in periodically as well.

Also a good chance you can hit a Mirabelle wine dinner which are usually on Tuesdays.

I can forward you the menu's for the past two dinners to see if they interest you.

I am roborlauryl*AT*sbcglobal.net.

funny wine quip goes here.

Well, if y'all are going to be around, we should get together for some dinner and vino. I am assuming that TX is a BYO state, so I will be able to pack some 'friends' to bring along.

What are some good vino-friendly restaurants in Austin?

RRV

So, brocolli, Mother says you're very good for me. Well, I'm afraid I'm no good for you!

Wink used to have no-corkage Tuesdays. Not particularly my "type" of place, but undeniably good.

Castle Hill is also really good and offers $10-$15 corkage although their wine list is so reasonably priced (near retail) I usually allow their waitstaff to turn me on to something new. Mirabelle is almost identical.

Here is the menu from a recent Mirabelle wine dinneras well...

Bordeaux Chateau Owner Tour
Tuesday, January 20th, 2004   7pm
 
Reception
Smoked Trout and Brie Rillettes
with Chive Flat Bread
2001 Chateau Carbonnieux Blanc
(Saint-Emilion / Antony Perrin)
 
Menu
Venison Terrine with with Frisee and Sage Shallot Dressing
2000 Chateau Corbin, Grand Cru Classe
(Saint-Emilion / Annabelle Bardinet)
 
Seared Sea Scallops with Wild Mushroom Stew
1998 Chateau Carbonnieux Rouge
(St. Emilion / Antony Perrin)
 
Seared Squab with Star Anise Sauce
1995 Chateau d'Issan (Margaux)
(Margaux / Emmanuel Cruse)
 
Stuffed Veal Breast with Perigueux Sauce
Haricots Verts and Lyonaise Potatoes
1989 Chateau LaGrange (Saint Julien)
(Saint Julien / Marcel Ducasse)
 
Dessert
Roasted Pear French Toast with Sabayon
and Pear-Sauternes Sauce
 
$85.00 per person (all inclusive). Reservations only, 346 7900

Shoot me an email or something and I'll get ya my contact info...

funny wine quip goes here.

"Legally" you can only bring wine into a restaurant in Texas that does not sell hard liquor, but I've seen it done.

Keep me posted. I haven't been to an offline, but it sounds fun. We need an excuse for a little cellar diminishment.

RRV, I forgot to mention that I used to live in Portland. It would be nice to hear what's been happening in the last 6 years. Have you been to Austin before? In March you'll need both a jacket and shorts. One day it'll be 80, the next 45. Great golf weather.

TXTaster-

I've been to Austin 2x before, but that was before I became smitten with the grape.

And I'll make ya a deal -- I'll fill you in on Portland happenings when get together for some vino!

RRV

So, brocolli, Mother says you're very good for me. Well, I'm afraid I'm no good for you!

quote:

---

Originally posted by txtaster:

Keep me posted. I haven't been to an offline, but it sounds fun. We need an excuse for a little cellar diminishment.

---

txtaster:

Any byob secrets here? Or sweet corkage deals?

I'm still a relative noob here in Austin, and ATX forumites are well...let's just say I think there's two of us now.

The first week of March I'm AWOL but the rest of the month looks good.

Let's keep this alive.

funny wine quip goes here.

I was able to talk the staff of Roy's into letting me bring in a couple of magnums of wine and about 4 750's of zin for BellaBaby's birthday dinner, after toting the wine half way across the country. But I haven't heard of anyone being able to get in there with wine since.

Good luck on finding BYOB places and let us know what you end up doing.

I just called and Wink is still waiving corkage on Tuesdays if that is of any interest. I have eaten there and it is quite nice. I had the crispy duck breast and it was freaky-good. My wife had some tuna thing that melted in my mouth. Geez now I'm getting hungry. It is smallish so reservations would be a must.

Click the link in my earlier post for menu etc.

For $0 corkage it'll be hard to beat, imho. As far as Tuesday is concerned I'm self-employed so it works for me. Tuesday, Friday, hell it's all the same for me.

I could call Mirabelle as well, they might be willing to work with us but it would depend on the numbers which I'm guessing will be small - but often times corkage there is up to the server's discretion. The best bet there will be a Tuesday night wine dinner, prolly.

Thoughts?

funny wine quip goes here.

I think Wink was featured last night on Food TV for it's Chocolate Soup...

---------------------------
www.winebid.com

We know the folks at Wink so they never charge us for corkage. Of course, we bring extra to share and bring something special. They have even designed a tasting course around our wine. I love Wink.

Well, ok, here it is so far:

1) Dinner at Wink (from what you've described, I need to go there)

2) Dinner at Roy's

3) Somewhere else?

I'm there for 3 weeks, so I think more than one dinner is required! I'll have to bring another suitcase just for the vino!

RRv

So, brocolli, Mother says you're very good for me. Well, I'm afraid I'm no good for you!

Sounds like Wink is locked and loaded.
Put me down with one (1) spouse.

Dates anyone?

Stick with a no-corkage Tuesday?

I'm easy.

We can decide on some wines as we get closer to RRV's departure date. I've got a magnum of tickle pink to get us started!

KMP.

funny wine quip goes here.

I now have something scheduled for Friday March 12th.

funny wine quip goes here.

I'm in for Wink, + spouse.

I'm involved in the wine program at a place called 219West. They're starting a weekly wine happy hour every day from 5-9, along with their usual great happy hour prices. Also, Wednesdays will feature one of Wine Spectator's Top 10 Wines of 2002, but that program is still being developed. Their website, 219West.com, should have more info soon.

I would like to plan several outings, if you don't mind, so one of them has to be to Wink on a Tuesday.

So either the 2nd, 9th, or 16th will have to be at Wink.

I am open to other wine friendly places as well.

Is Austin BYO, or are there some restrictions?

RRV

So, brocolli, Mother says you're very good for me. Well, I'm afraid I'm no good for you!

I'm thinkin' the 9th or the 16th since there is still a good possibility I'll be in Louisiana on the 2nd.

As March draws nearer we can explore additional options as well. I'd like to check out txtaster's recco on 219west too. FYI - the Mirabelle wine dinner next week is on a Thursday (2/19) and the featured wine and winemaker is Foppiano.

funny wine quip goes here.

There are basically two types of liquor licenses for restaurants here: one is beer and wine only, the other adds hard liquor. So long as the restaurant only has a beer and wine license, you can bring your own wine. However, if they have a hard liquor license, which most restaurants do, it is against the law to bring in outside wine, (unless you have a distributor's license). But sometimes it just depends on who you know, what you're bringing, how nicely you ask and how busy they are, or aren't.

Wink and Zoot, which are owned by the same people, just have beer and wine licenses so it's always ok to BYO.

Do any of you feel as inspired by the Chicago off line as I do?

I would be in for wink +1. I am new to all of this so I may need to be schooled on the etiquette of this dinner. Feel free to let me in on how this will work. We are always up for good wine, food, and conversation.

I would be in for wink +1. I am new to all of this, so I may need to be schooled on the etiquette of this dinner. Feel free to let me in on how this will work. We are always up for good wine, food, and conversation.

pardon the double post. I have no idea what happened.

quote:

---

Originally posted by bdub:
I would be in for wink +1. I am new to all of this so I may need to be schooled on the etiquette of this dinner. Feel free to let me in on how this will work. We are always up for good wine, food, and conversation.

---

We are now at:

Wino4ever + spouse
txtaster +spouse
RedRedVine
bdub +1
7 total.

I'll have to admit this is shaping up to a nice representation from the A-town folks. Nothing like a Chi-Town event, but of course those people are just freaky, wine-swillin' purple-toothed crazed hard-core wino types.

bdub: Welcome to the boards. As far as etiquette, well, that's not my bag.

I'm guessing we will need to bring at least one bottle per person. Right now (at 7) we are in the gray area of 7 big tastes/7 small glasses per bottle. We can decide on a theme, if any, as we get closer to the date (3/9 or 3/16)

AFAIK, general protocol for these offline events is simply bring wine(s) you are comfortable with sharing and do so. You can purchase them or pull them from your "secret stash". We can just post up here what we plan on bringing and see how things shape up.

IIRC, Many Wink appetizers and such may go nicely with a white and I really have little to offer in that arena, both in knowledge and collection. I've only been to Wink once but I seem to recall many of their menu items working well with Pinot noirs and Merlot's.

txtaster: as you seem to have a connection there would you mind making the rezzies as we get closer to firming this up?

Here are some wines I'll throw out as possibilities for me (this means I'll set the bar kinda low) Right now I am thinking I may bring a couple of nice Cali Merlots to go head to head.

'00 Shafer merlot vs.'00 Turnbull Fortuna vineyard merlot
'01 Martinelli Reserve PN
'01 Martinelli G&L Zinfandel
'00 Lewelling Cab (The'01 Neal is kinda young)
I also have some Ridge Carignan and Grenache that may fare well with Wink food. I also have some tasty Rosenblum zins.

Thoughts/comments?

funny wine quip goes here.

I have an amazing 98 Franciscan wild yeast chardonnay to add to the mix as well as time to shop for a yummy red or two