Red, Red Wine

As I mentioned way back in May when I talked about the possibilities for The Backyard Beer, we'd really like to feature Texas specialties at our wedding, from barbecue to Shiner Bock. And of course that extends to the wine. In the past decade, the Texas Hill Country, which is located immediately west of Austin, has earned a reputation for having particularly good wines, so in this case, going local should also mean going tasty.

When Non-Bridesmaid R. paid a pre-wedding trip to Austin recently, we took it upon ourselves to do some wine tasting. We talked to a wine expert at local liquor mecca Spec's, and he suggested two local wines that would work particularly well with barbecue (our wedding meal of choice) and our budget (less than $10 a bottle). One was the Llano Estacado Signature Red Meritage, and the other was Becker Vineyards Iconoclast Cabernet Sauvignon. Here are the two bottles:

Our four wine testers all voted for the Becker Cab, and lucky for us, it checks in at only $7.99 a bottle. Woohoo! Not only that, but its label is infinitely cooler:

Up next, we try four different whites. Wine tasting is just such a burden, you know.

Did you have a party to pick your wines?