At a recent dinner at Avondale Bricks Gallery we were charged with the challenge of pairing wines for Chef Gray Byrum’s on-site cooking demonstration by Echelon Catering. So surrounded by the ambience of the art exhibition, we kept our focus to avoid striking any jarring dissonant chord with a wine that clashed with the cuisine.

It´s easy to dismiss pink wine. After all, most Americans associate rosé with cheap, sweet "blush" wines, like Sutter Home´s white Zinfandel. (Shades of the Country Girl!) This style of wine traces its roots to the early 1970s.

I recently traveled to Austin for wine business, and being somewhat of a connoisseur of wine bars, decided to see how Texas' capital city wine aligned in comparison to other culinary cities. I was surprised to learn that Austin is the 14th most populous city in the U.S.