Wine

From Pucks to Pairings

by Team Eric

Sommelier: Eric Hastings, Eddie V’s Prime Seafood Houston

Blogger: Kristi Willis, Austin Farm to Table

Photographer: Marshall Wright, Eat This Lens

Facilitweeter: Carla Crowner, Austin Urban Gardens

A group of Austin food writers and photographers are huddled around the back room of Uchiko on a rainy, chilly Sunday afternoon. You can feel a slight undercurrent of nervous energy as we wait to find out what is in store for us during today’s inaugural Keeper Collection Wine Ride.

Five Sommeliers from around the state are partnered with a team that includes a blogger, photographer and tweeter with the mission of traveling to four restaurants and food shops to pair food and wine, picking a perfect pair at each stop. The dishes and wines are a surprise, and only the Sommelier can taste, the rest of team relying on them to tell us what they are experiencing – an added challenge since we just met Eric Hastings, Sommelier of Eddie V’s Prime Seafood in Houston.

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What happens when five top Texas sommeliers team up with Austin photographers, bloggers, and tweeters for a high-speed afternoon of food and wine pairings for a Wine Ride? Well, we found out. Five teams were formed, four locations were chosen, wine and food options were selected, and off we went. Team June was led by June Rodil, Beverage Director of Congress Austin, with photographer Loren Root of Loren J. Root Photography, food blogger Lisa Lawless from lisa is cooking, and facilitweeter Megan Myers of Stetted. Each team traveled to the four chosen locations in a different order and was carefully timed for a brief ten minutes at each spot as the sommelier tasted, pondered, and shared insights before declaring a best pairing from two wines and multiple food options presented. The goal of the Wine Ride was to educate everyone in attendance about the wines and how the pairings were chosen. At the end of the race, each sommelier discussed their pairings and were videotaped. Voting for the sommelier and viewing of those video presentations is taking place at sommsunderfire.com. The winning sommelier will win a spot to compete in the first ever Somms Under Fire. The second part of this event concerns a blog post submitted by each team. The winning team’s photographer, blogger, and facilitweeter will each win an all-access media badge to Somms Under Fire. Voting for the Team Blog Post is found at keepercollection.com, and we hope your vote will be for Team June!

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Reluctantly crouched at the Uchiko line, engines pumping and thumping in time. The green light flashes, the glasses go up.  Sipping and tasting, they yearn for the cup. We’re going the distance.  We’re going for the #wineride.  Join Mark Sayre of the Trio at the Four Seasons, John Knox (@windaddict/@hopsafari), Rachelle King (@blindedbite), and myself (@misohungry) for a fabulous wine ride journey.  Photos and video by John Knox (@windaddict).

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Posted by Team Blogger, Adam Brower – Hungry In Houston.  Contributing Team Members include Sommelier Scott Barber, Photographer Jo Ann Santangelo, & Facilitweeter Marshall Jones – @WineFoodTX 

Wine makes food taste better.  Food makes wine taste better.  How do you find that perfect pair?  The 2011 Wine Ride – An exciting race of wine pairing challenges from the brilliant minds at Keeper Collection that offered the perfect opportunity to see just how this is done. This weekend, I participated in the first Wine Ride, a series of wine pairing challenges at different Austin locations,  and my team witnessed firsthand the thought and creativity that goes into every food and wine pairing.  Think of the Wine Ride as an “Amazing Race” for foodies.  Five teams, each consisting of a Sommelier (or Somm), photographer, tweeter (or facilitweeter), and blogger competed in the race. 

Our team consisted of our Somm, Scott Barber of Centennial Fine Wine & Spirits in Dallas; photographer, Jo Ann Santangelo, Jo Ann Santangelo Photography; facilitweeter, Marshall Jones, the ED of the Wine & Food Foundation of Texas (and our race driver for the day!); and me, Adam Brower, HungryinHouston.com blogger.  The race began with the reveal of our team’s 4 destinations: 

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