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.

For your main course, you can't find a more elegant, textured and lovely red than the La Posta "Cocina" Malbec from Argentina. Pair with a great cut of lamb, and get swept up in its sanguine aromas and meaty flavors which entice you again and again to take another sip of the wine.

I'll take it to goes¦how often have you said that? Chances are, you weren't referring to your wine. But if you're as persnickety about what you're drinking as I am, then you DON'T want to leave home without it! So what do we need when we travel with wine.

So the Holidays are over, and the realization has hit us: once and for all, we need to make Living a Healthy Lifestyle a major goal for the New Year.

The music of Christmas has really spoken to me this year, more so than any year in past memory. Perhaps it’s the inherent joy that comes through, not only in the old favorites, but in carols of recent discovery.

Long relegated to the subservient stance of pleasing the masses, yet remaining anonymous, Grenache emerges from the shadows to reveal a personality encompassing great range, beauty and amazing strength.

The music of Christmas has really spoken to me this year, more so than any year in past memory. Perhaps it’s the inherent joy that comes through, not only in the old favorites, but in carols of recent discovery.

As Birmingham Weekly is a local paper, I feel it’s important to focus on local people and places that make a special effort to highlight truly interesting wines.

When I was newly into wine in the 70’s, the Big Bold Over-the-Top California wines were all the rage, and I reveled in their all consuming power and hedonistic pleasure.

Long relegated to the subservient stance of pleasing the masses, yet remaining anonymous, Grenache emerges from the shadows to reveal a personality encompassing great range, beauty and amazing strength.