It's been a while since I took a look at
a Texas winery.
Mandola Estate Winery is a new winery in Driftwood Texas that offers a variety of wines including less well-known grapes such as Nebbiolo and Canto Felice. The winery was created by Damien and Trina Mandola who have owned and worked in a variety of restaurants in the Houston and Austin areas and are seeking to bring a little Tuscany to Texas. The Mandolas have partnered with Drs. Stan and Lisa Duchman, a cardiologist and optometrist respectively, who have a passion for all things wine. The winery is now open for business and they are currently pouring a 2004 Viognier and a 2004 Sangiovese among others. The wines are in the $14 to $20 range.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Q man Dec 30th 2006 6:18AM
There are so many things wrong with this. 1. A $14 wine from Texas featured in a 'luxury items' blog? 2. Canto Felice is not a grape varietal - it's bad Starbucks-italian name for a mix of "Sangiovese, Syrah, and Pinot Grigio grapes for a lightly sweet wine that is easy and fun to drink" ??!!?(according to the Austin Chronicle). Nebbiolo may be "less-well-known" in Lubbock, Texas, but it is the foundation for the famous Barolo and Barbaresco wines. 4. of Piedmont, Italy, not Tuscany, Italy. Give these guys 100 years and they may have something worth comparing to poorer vineyard sites in the Langhe.
The wines on this list are usually so bad (unless they have diamonds glued to a limited-edition bottle-cozy) that it takes some washed-up b-list former sports personality to flog them (Mike Ditka, Nick Faldo, Prince Charles are you listening?). Start reading Parker or the Wine Spectator rather than just poaching their press releases and maybe we'll start to see some good drops here in the future.