Saturday 18 May
OKG Newsletter
Greg Horton
Beauty and brawn
Pinot Noir comes in two distinct styles, and the brawny one may be for those who don’t think they like Pinot.
Food and Drink Features
Greg Horton
Sometimes oversimplifications are good, and in the case of Pinot Noir, reducing the varietal to two distinct styles is helpful: fruit baskets and brawny, big boys.
Uncommonly revealing
Grenache, a ubiquitous grape most often used in blends, nudges its way onto state shelves and menus.
Food and Drink Features
Greg Horton
Depending on whom you believe, Grenache (Garnacha in Spain) is either the first, second or fourth most common grape in the world. The grape is relatively easy to grow and is one of the most frequently blended grapes in the world.
Little monsters
Petite Sirah can be a huge beast of a wine, but in the right hands it becomes one of the richest, most uncommon diversions from the ordinary.
Food and Drink Features
Greg Horton
Alder Yarrow is a wine critic known for his work in and around San Francisco, as well as his highly respected and frequently visited wine blog, Vinography. Recently, he wrote an entry on Petite Sirah, a grape that has its problems, both with popularity and with unskilled winemakers.
Cork and canvas
A new business combines classic paintings, art instruction and wine to create an evening of culture, learning and fun.
Food and Drink Features
Greg Horton
Most of us grow up with art of one sort or another. Rare is the refrigerator not graced with the crayon scrawls of a fearsome crimson or sky-blue beast that is actually just the family cat or dog. Scraps of bad poetry are stuffed under beds and in drawers, and doodles in spiral notebooks get tossed with the biology notes.
Discrimination contemplation
A recent study provides evidence of LGBT employment discrimination in Oklahoma.
News
Greg Horton
A new study from The Williams Institute, a think tank affiliated with University of California School of Law in Los Angeles, provides evidence of discrimination against LGBT people in Oklahoma. The study, titled “Employment Discrimination against Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender People in Oklahoma,” combines data from national surveys and state statistics.
Think pink
Valentine’s Day presents a perfect opportunity to pick up a bottle of sparkling rosé to color coordinate your romantic meal.
Food and Drink Features
Greg Horton
Wild Turkey Finer Wines & Spirits, 12021 N. MacArthur, is home to one of the best sparkling selections in Oklahoma City. Manager Chris Burrows has been at the store since it was Smitty’s, and he still oversees an impressive wine selection. Prices range from less than $10 all the way up to the $200-$300 range for Champagne and sparkling wine.
Evolution alternatives
State Sen. Josh Brecheen wants ‘valid criticisms’ of evolution allowed in Oklahoma classrooms with his bill modeled after Texas standards.
News
Greg Horton
One month after the release of Gallup poll data showing increased nationwide support for evolution, Oklahoma has two new bills some critics are calling “anti-evolution.” State Rep. Sally Kern, R-Oklahoma City, and Sen. Josh Brecheen, R-Coalgate, filed House Bill 1551 and Senate Bill 554, respectively.
Italian nights
Bellini’s Ristorante celebrates its 21st birthday by refocusing on what made it great: Italian wine and Italian food.
Food and Drink Features
Greg Horton
Italian reds, for the most part, aren’t meant to be sipped on the patio or enjoyed by a crackling fire. They’re made to complement food: hearty Italian food. Drinking them without the accompanying meal usually leads to two conclusions: tastes like a sour cherry, and too much acid.
Redbud blooms
Chase Healey applies his ale expertise to a new Oklahoma City brewing company
Food and Drink Features
Greg Horton
Chase Healey thinks of himself as an Oklahoman. His family moved to Jenks from Iowa when he was 6. He spent his entire public school career in Jenks, and later went to the University of Oklahoma.
Rep. Kern clarifies science education bill, denies it endorses religion
Opponents claim it backs intelligent design
News
Greg Horton
State Rep. Sally Kern, R-Oklahoma City, has issued a press release to clarify her intentions in authoring House Bill 1551, the Scientific Education and Academic Freedom Act.
White water
Washington’s Columbia Valley moves away from some American styles to produce white wines with an Old World sense of restraint.
Food and Drink Features
Greg Horton
Reason No. 1 to shop the Washington section of your favorite wine shop is probably price. According to Wine Spectator magazine’s Augustus Weed, “Exploring Washington’s white wines can be easy on the wallet, with most of the bottlings … priced at $20 or less.”
Grape forecast
Food and Drink Features
Greg Horton
City wine professionals give us their best prognostication for trends in the new year.
Growth chart
Food and Drink Features
Greg Horton
Grower Champagne is finally available in the metro, and yes, you will be happy about it.
Wine on a dime
Food and Drink Features
Greg Horton
Demystifying French wine is easier when the price is as low as it is with these wines.
Valley forge
Food and Drink Features
Greg Horton
Now available in Oklahoma, Columbia Valley has quickly reinvented itself as one of the premier winemaking regions in the U.S.
