A group of writers used Twitter to renew our friendships and taste wines together. This was our first tasting together since February 4th in Napoli, Italy. This time we tasted four Messina Hof wines. The day also reminded Kathy and me about our first Drink Local Wine Conference that was held in Texas and featured Texas wines. The Messina Hof Winery is in Bryan, Texas and owners Merrill and Paul Bonarrigo provided wines that would represent the grapes grown in Texas. Both Paul and Merrill were with us in Napoli. Their winery derives it name from their ancestors. The ancestors of Paul lived in Messina, Sicily while Merrill’s ancestors lived in Hof, Germany.

With others from our blogger/media IWINETC group, we tasted four wines. Our blogger friends are spread out from Southern California to New England as well as Canada, the United Kingdom, France and Spain. The wines chosen by Messina Hof Winery were an excellent representation of what can be produced with Texas grapes. I noticed that the Cabernet Franc was fruit forward with no herbal traces. Not only can they ripen Cab Franc in Texas but the grape also develops some nice phenolics.

Our tasting and tweeting lasted for 90 minutes and everyone enjoyed the wines. Keeping what is becoming a signature of my wine comments, I wrote a haiku for each of the wines tasted.

Port Haiku:
Port, jammy, fruity
Drinking from a Port sipper
Now for a good book

2011 Late Harvest Moscato Haiku:
Floral aroma
Orange blossoms, smooth, ginger hint
Pair with summer temps

2009 Cab Franc Haiku:
Vanilla dark fruit
Texas can ripen Cab Franc
Velvet, fruity, spice 

2009 Merlot Haiku:
Merlot black cherries
Fruity, violets, spicy
Delicious right now

This experience once again proves that wine is better when enjoyed by friends. Twitter is a vehicle that brought us together even though separated by thousands of miles.

Cheers,
Terry