Lone Star Reserve

Put away your prejudices: there is such a thing as a fine Texan wine. I know for I have tried it. Admittedly, my eureka moment, on a visit to quaintish town Fredericksburg in the heart of the Hill Country wine region, followed more than half a dozen tastes of sickly sweet reds that I wouldn't have wished on anyone.

But the Lone Star Reserve (Super Texan), from D'Vine Wine, was worth the wait. Barrel aged for over six months, this wine is a blend of 50% Sangiovese, 30% Cabernet Sauvignon and 20% Merlot, and boasts flavours of American oak, chocolate and a hint of plums.

I wanted a bottle but the $34.95 price tag put me off. Fortunately, D'Vine, which ships grape juice in from suppliers before crafting its own wines on site, also sold Lone Star Reserve by the glass - or by takeaway plastic cup.

I know plastic cups are strictly frowned upon as wine vessells, and usually I'd agree, but the prospect of walking down Main Street drinking freely in a way that could see me arrested in less hospitable parts of Texas was too great a temptation.

As I wandered with my cup of Lone Star, it was the chocolate that stood out first - this is a highly sniffable wine. Tasting revealed flavours of black cherries and sturdy oak. It was rich, to be sure, but without the cloying sweetness of others I'd tried. You might even have described it as light bodied, had you been there.

The winery suggests trying Lone Star Reserve with smoked brisket, and I say it would be churlish not to. Until then, I plan to acquiant myself more thoroughly with Sangiovese, the Italian grape variety that functions as Lone Star's main ingredient, and to which I have hitherto paid little attention.