During his five years of writing about wines for the Austin Chronicle, Wes Marshall kept turning up amazing stories of struggle and success among Texas winemakers. Plus, the state's 40-plus wineries had become competitive in the worldwide wine market. Wes's writing caught the attention of California's eminent Robert Mondavi, who called the column one of the best in the country.
So Wes started out to pull the Texas wine story together. With his wife, Emily, taking notes for maps to wineries in far-flung places like New Deal and Pilot Point, Wes set out from his home in suburban Austin. During the course of more than a year, he put 5,500 miles on his car as he traveled from Big Bend's Davis Mountains to the bayous of East Texas, from Dallas to Del Rio, Galveston to Lubbock, meeting the vintners and tasting their wares.
The result is The Wine Roads of Texas: An Essential Guide to Texas Wines and Wineries. In the 216-page book Wes appraises more than 400 Texas wines, and chooses his favorites at each winery. He tells the stories of survival and triumph of the individual winemakers, and describes their operations, and checked out convenient restaurants, hotels and B&Bs to help others plan their own trips.
The book's 102 illustrations include samples of wine labels Wes picked up on his journeys plus pictures of vintners and wineries he took with his trusty digital camera. |
