Belly up to the wine bar in Ft. Worth: Charles Schwab Challenge, Colonial Country Club, May 23-26, 2024
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I’ve never been to Ft. Worth and have a vague idea that it’s a rustic, cow-friendly exurb about 30 miles west of Dallas. Them’s probably fighting words, so I apologize in advance to the wine-loving citizens of Ft. Worth and hope to visit one day. Sticking with our philosophy of “locals trump chains,” we found a few noteworthy places to quench your thirst during the Charles Schwab Challenge, formerly known as the Colonial National Invitational and long associated with 5-time winner Ben Hogan. We do not know if Mr. Hogan drank wine but we kind of doubt it, even if his eponymous company has licensed his name for wines that are most likely a lot less about perfection than he was.
And if all else fails here in Ft. Worth, see the notes below for Dallas and the Byron Nelson (hint: Pappas Bros Steakhouse).
Restaurants
Grace restaurant looks like the best wine list in town. It’s big, diverse, and loaded with great choices up and down the price spectrum. A tad pricey perhaps on the high end but there are so many options at every budget level you can’t go wrong. Kudos for first Georgian wine we’ve seen in Texas! Someone here has an adventurous palate.
Grand Cru Wine Bar’s list is also full of offbeat options. It’s organized by grape variety and if anything they seem determined to keep you off balance, but in a good way. Uruguay is rare enough as a source of tannat, but here it’s from California. Bonus points for Guilia Negri Barolo.
The Magnolia list is small and noteworthy mostly for its heavy tilt towards Cab. Although we didn’t count the bottles, the Cab category might represent half the total inventory. That’s usually ok with golfers so it makes the cut.
Bonnelle’s Fine Texas Cuisine also has a California-dominant list leaning heavily to reds. With typical Texas swagger it kicks off with a “Trophy Hunter’s Private Reserve List,” featuring about as much Sine Qua Non as you’re likely to see anywhere at prices below current retails. In fact, all the Trophies seem competitively priced so I’d stop right there and skip the ho-hum main list with nary an Old World wine in sight.
Ellerbe Fine Foods can more or less hold it’s own compared to Bonnelle’s in California including again a smattering of Sine Qua Non, but it also acknowledges there is wine made in Europe with a competent if compact selection in most major regions of France and Italy. It would probably be worthwhile to look at Ellerbe and Bonnelle side-by-side if wine was the dominant factor in deciding which of the two to pick on a given night.
Retail
The ubiquitous Texas chain Spec’s has three stores in Ft. Worth. I can’t believe they duplicate inventory in every outlet, so the website might be misleading. Call first before heading to a specific location is our advice or maybe opt for delivery. Remember to hit the link to “Explore All Wines” or you’ll be locked into California reds. (are we detecting a theme here?)
Cadillac Wines is a bit of an overpromise, but there are some decent options in California reds, duh.
