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May 29, 2024 | 
foundingaustin.com | Denise Clarke
Earlier this year, I did a thing. Actually, three friends and I did a thing: our first Viking River Cruise. None of us considered ourselves cruise-types but we were interested in a river cruise, in particular, the Eastern Europe cruise by Viking that went from Bucharest to Budapest, traveling through five countries on the Danube River. We added on Instanbul for a pre-tour excursion, all to help my friend Kate achieve her long-term goal of visiting 100 countries before she dies.
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Mar 6, 2024 | 
foundingaustin.com | Denise Clarke
Got your attention? Great, because I love talking about Texas wines, but to be clear, I won’t suggest that Texas has a signature red or white grape like California has Chardonnay and Oregon has Pinot Noir. Why? Because Texas is as big as France, which has many stunning red and white wines, making it impossible to name just one. Like France, however, there’s no doubt that Viognier is among the top white grapes for Texas.
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Oct 28, 2023 | 
foundingaustin.com | Denise Clarke
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Oct 11, 2023 | 
foundingaustin.com | Denise Clarke
One of the most frequent questions I get from friends and family has to do with pairing wines with certain dishes. My usual response is “drink what you like!” I often pair my go-to white Chablis with most anything, even steaks. However, I can tell you from recent experience, Chablis is not a good pairing with everything. While celebrating my birthday with friends at the Santa Fe Opera House, we enjoyed a bottle of William Fevre Champs Royaux Chablis with a picnic dinner of sausages and sauerkraut.
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Jul 28, 2023 | 
foundingaustin.com | Denise Clarke
Take Me Back to SonomaIt’s been nearly six years since I visited Sonoma – the first time was with my good friend and PR colleague Maddi and we hosted a group of media to run the Napa to Sonoma race while staying in a HomeAway (now Expedia) vacation rental home. My job was to set up winery appointments for the group – tough job but someone had to do it!The Sonoma wine scene reminds me so much of Texas – laid back, comfortable and welcoming tasting rooms.
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Jul 28, 2023 | 
foundingaustin.com | Denise Clarke
Wine Harvest! It’s an exciting time of year for Texas wineries because wine harvest is underway! This week’s column will shed light on the 2023 harvest as well as share other Texas wine updates. As a reminder, Texas is as big as France, which means harvest occurs over a couple of months because of the many different grape varieties we have and the locations of our vineyards – from Texoma to the Gulf Coast and from the Texas Hill Country to the Texas High Plains and far west Texas.
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Jun 21, 2023 | 
foundingaustin.com | Denise Clarke
Take Me Back to SonomaIt’s been nearly six years since I visited Sonoma – the first time was with my good friend and PR colleague Maddi and we hosted a group of media to run the Napa to Sonoma race while staying in a HomeAway (now Expedia) vacation rental home. My job was to set up winery appointments for the group – tough job but someone had to do it!The Sonoma wine scene reminds me so much of Texas – laid back, comfortable and welcoming tasting rooms.
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May 24, 2023 | 
foundingaustin.com | Denise Clarke
May 2023 – Texas Hill Country Wineries Austin Roadshow Highlights In my last column, I shared some new and recently rediscovered Texas Hill Country wineries that caught my attention. With more than 120 wineries in the Texas Hill Country AVA region, however, it’s tough to get to all of them.
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May 10, 2023 | 
foundingaustin.com | Denise Clarke
May 2023 – New and Rediscovered Texas WineriesAll you have to do is drive down Highway 290 in Texas Wine Country between Johnson City and Fredericksburg and you will see new wineries and tasting rooms popping up everywhere. All this growth contributes to the Texas wine industry’s $20 billion economic impact and places it #4 or #5 (depending upon who you ask) on the list of wine-producing states.
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Apr 12, 2023 | 
foundingaustin.com | Denise Clarke
While I am definitely a wine gal, I like to keep my bar stocked with gins and bourbons – my go-to spirits when I am craving a martini, Negroni or Boulevardier. Just like with wine, I like to have some Texas options to enjoy and share with friends. I turned to Matt McGinnis, my friend and owner of Big Thirst Marketing, to get the low-down on the size of the Texas spirits industry. Texas is #3 for the most distilleries with 173 in the state and contributes nearly $2 billion in economic growth.
