Plea to Houston wine stores: Please get some (1) Aglianico-based reds, and (2) reds from the Marche region of Italy!

When I left the northeast almost 10 years ago, I was a tad concerned that it would be harder to find good wine down here. I was dead wrong: Houston is a great wine town, generally speaking.

But almost every place I regularly shop (Spec's, Richard's, Whole Foods, and Central Market) have Italian sections that do not do Italy justice. Spec's, especially, has oodles of wines from Piemonte, the Veneto, Sicily, and, especially, Tuscany, but is spotty as to other areas in Italy.

In particular, these stores seem NEVER to have any reds from the Marche region, where my grandparents were born. The Marche has many excellent reds, most common among which are the kissin' cousins, Rosso Conero and Rosso Piceno. They are made from the Montepulciano and Sangiovese grapes. Typically, Conero has more Montepulciano, Piceno has more Sangiovese. Rosso Conero tends to be far more elegant than its rustic cousin to the south, the Montepulciano d'Abruzzo. They're not exactly common in the stores I used to troll in New England and New York, but they are completely non-existent in Houston.

The Aglianico grape is also M.I.A. from Houston wine stores. In my opinion, this is the very best grape grown in the southern half of Italy. Its most famous DOCs are Taurasi and Aglianico di Vulture. When done right, the Aglianico grape can go toe-to-toe with the Nebbiolo grape for weight, complexity, and balance (especially at present, since the overwhelming majority of big-name Nebbiolo wines, like Barolo and Barbaresco, are now made in the so-called "international style," which means it's hard to tell them apart from $%&^!# merlots) (well, actually, you can tell them apart from $%&^!# merlots by their $50-$100 pricetags).

Marche reds and Aglianico-based wines shouldn't be that hard to find, as the stores I've listed obtain their Italian wines from the same excellent importers who also offer Marche reds and Aglianico-based wines. Heck, Spec's, for example, stocks the Sangiovese, Cabernet, and Ramitello from the southern Italian winery Da Majo Norante -- but fails to stock this winery's very best wine: its "Contado" Aglianico. So it's not like Houston stores can't get these wines, they just aren't doing it.

So please, someone, start looking for and stocking these unjustly overlooked reds.

Wines from Our Vacation

Here are some truncated notes, mostly from memory, concerning wines we had on our trip to visit family in Massachusetts and Connecticut.

2005 Alois Lageder Chardonnay (Alto Adige, Italy) -- This was a VERY minerally, unoaked, refreshing and dry Chardonnay from a region in extreme northeast Italy known for its crisp whites.

2004 Plantate Lunghe ROSSO CONERO (Marche, Italy) -- This was an outstanding red from a region in Italy that nearly every store in Houston overlooks. Probably mostly or all Montepulciano grape, this wine had a complex perfume, and deep, winey-earthy flavors, with a leathery component, and was soft and concentrated.

2003 Bodegas Carrau TANNAT Reserve (Uruguay) -- This grape is used in FRance to make the usually-too-tannic-and-astringent wines from Madiran, and apparently is also used to make too-tannic-and-astringent wines from Uruguay as well.

2005 Poggio Argentiera MORELLINO DI SCANSANO "Bellamarsilia" (Tuscany, Italy) -- Medium-bodied, soft and perfumed, but not that concentrated.

2004 Casa Emma CHIANTI CLASSICO (Tuscany, Italy) -- For a non-riserva Chianti, this was fabulous. Concentrated and tight, yet with a forceful nose of candied cherry syrup and smokey, earthy notes. Very concentrated, with a soft texture despite substantial tannic backbone (the tannins were ripe and soft). Excellent length. Got this one for $16.99 at Spiritus, on Main Street in Hartford. Spiritus used to be one of my favorite wine stores when I lived in Connecticut, and I used to stop in just about every time I had a hearing or conference at the U.S. Courthouse in Hartford, as it is almost right across the street from it.

Central Market (near Highland Village Shopping Center) -- I surrender . . . . I liked it.

Well, despite my general dislike for what I perceive as "hoidy-toidy" (sp.?) stores, I went to visit Central Market (the hoidiest of the toidiest) for the first time in over a year on Monday evening. I didn't wind my way through the whole store, but focused on the wines and the produce, my two favorite subjects. As to wines, I have to admit that Central Market has a very interesting -- even eclectic -- selection. That's a big plus with me. I like stores that put some serious thought into their wine selection. And they clearly do. Lots of my favorite regions were well-represented, including the Rhone and southwestern France, Spanish, Italian, and Portuguese wines. Prices weren't as good as Spec's, but they weren't bad either. I picked up a cheap, interesting Tempranillo to try.

Their produce selection is amazing, and very fresh-looking too. All manner of greens (I picked up some broccoli rabe for pasta). Prices a bit high (like Whole Foods, but seemed even a tad higher). But probably worth it for the selection and the freshness.

And, on a Monday after work, it wasn't that jammed with the high-fallutin', moneyed crowd that usually gives me the willies. (That's why I usually avoid formal wine tastings these days -- I really need to talk to a therapist about this "issue.") So, the bottom line is: I'll be back.

Houston Wine Merchant . . . not a bad choice if it's payday

A commenter asked me what I thought of this store (at the Randall's plaza at Westheimer and Shepherd). Since I hadn't been there in literally years, I stopped in briefly the other night on the way home from work. I was more impressed than I thought I'd be. This store has a well-chosen selection of wines from several countries. I was most impressed with its Australian section, and its Burgundy selection was interesting as well. The mark-ups seemed relatively high for most items (though not nearly as high as Christopher's), but there were still several notable values interspersed throughout the store. This would appear to be a good store to go to if you wanted to find something interesting in the $18 -$50 range, as that seems to where the bulk of its wines are priced. For value, I'm still a Spec's and Richard's guy, but this store certainly fills a niche (albeit a niche for people who like to spend more on wine than I typically do).

Christopher's Fine Wines on West Gray: I don't get it.

What is with this place (formerly known as "Christopher's Wine Warehouse")? Is its motto "Why Pay Less?" Sheesh. I get their newsletter in the mail, and there's no doubt they stock some interesting wines, but their business model seems to be: focus solely on wines generally unavailable elsewhere in the city, and then charge almost restaurant magnitude mark-ups. Between the many Spec's and Richard's locations alone (putting aside other places like Whole Foods on Bellaire and Copperfield's), there simply is no reason except precious pomposity to go to a place like this.

Coming up soon, I will bite the bullet and go rub shoulders with the swells from River Oaks to see what Central Market is doing these days with their wine selection. I was last there about a year ago (I really don't like the crowd there--too many Jags, Range Rovers, and surgically altered bodies), and from what I recall they had a very good selection with generally high prices. I'm interested to see if that's still the case.

Cost Plus World Marketplace: Off My List

This store--located on Richmond adjacent to Best Buy near the Loop--used to be one of my favorite places for wine bargain hunting. NO MORE.

Two primary reasons. First, and foremost, they've actually INCREASED their prices on many wines simply sitting on the shelf. What could possibly be the reason for doing that?? It's one thing if you re-order and your cost has gone up. It's entirely another to simply put a new sticker on an existing wine raising the price 20%. That ticks me off.

Second, the store has gotten much more commercial in its wine selections. My sense is that there are fewer and fewer off-the-beaten-path bargains, and more of the same stuff you see in Randall's or Krogers.

So, I'm crossing this store off my list. If I'm there for other things, I may look at the wine, but no more trips there just to check out the vino.

UPDATE (11/18): Roberto, in response to your comment: Cost Plus's pricing is, in my view, now higher than Spec's almost across the board.