Under the Texan Sun

PUBLISHERS WEEKLY 1 MAR 2005

Texas is now the fifth largest wine-producing state in America, and its production rates are increasing. Part guidebook, part cookbook and part public relations tool, Cloos's volume is the perfect souvenir for visitors to the region-one to be kept and used long after the trip itself has ended. The heart of the book is organized winery-by-winery: each entry includes addresses, phone numbers, Web sites, hours, selected wines, a reproduction of a wine label and two or three recipes. Cloos also provides a page or two of narrative, including descriptions of the buildings and landscape, information about the owners and/or winemakers, visiting highlights and recommendations, and trivia, such as which Texas wines were "airlifted to China, where they were served at a Texas-style barbecue hosted by President and First Lady Bush." In addition to the winery selections, Cloos includes a chapter of recipes from area chefs and another from her own collection. (A recipe index also makes it possible to search by ingredient.) Most of the recipes include fewer than five ingredients and are wonderfully straightforward-one simply calls for brownie mix and a bottle of port. Thus, the selections reflect both an emphasis on good, easy food-wine pairings as well as the no-fuss spirit of Texas itself. This is not a book for snobs; there's a chatty, casual feel to the writing, even down to the sommelier-author's instructions on how to evaluate clarity, color, legs, smell and taste. In her practical "Tips on Touring Wineries in Texas," Cloos hints at a possible business motivation for writing the book: "If the winery has a bed-and-breakfast facility, by all means try to book a room there ... vintners are generally fabulous chefs, so breakfast will most likely be divine." But even if it was conceived as a public relations tool, Cloos's volume is strong enough to stake out a reputation of its own.