Drink up! Austinite-by-way-of-Houston Mark Sayre has been named Texas’ Best Sommelier for 2007 by The Wine & Food Foundation of Texas along with The Texas Sommelier Association. A recent hire of the Four Seasons Hotel in Austin, Sayre received his award last night at the Grand Tasting sponsored by Whole Foods Market at the third annual Texas Sommelier Conference. The winner of the statewide competition (which was limited to 25 candidates) was determined through......

TUESDAY [8] music • Bruce Springsteen Tribute with Southpaw Jones, Matt the Electrician, Scrappy Jud Newcomb, Nathan Hamilton, Abia Tapia, Graham Weber, JJ Barron, Nakia at Cactus Café (FREE, 8pm) music • Elf Power, AM Syndicate at Emo's music • Ryan Shaw at Stubb's music • Jimmy LaFave at Waterloo Records (5pm, Free) music • Cathar, Fire vs Extinguisher, Connie Ball at Beerland music • The Mohawk Residency with White Denim, Brazos at The Mohawk......

Talk about getting a bad reputation for no reason! Zinfandel is the quintessential American grape: author Mark Oldman calls it the "great American wine" and describes it as "a varietal with mouth-filling heft and massive alcohol...which offers a lovable, jammy excursion built for immediate gratification." Unfortunately, many casual wine drinkers only associate the word Zinfandel with the horrible pink blush wine that comes out of a Franzia box. To help combat this misguided idea,......

Sixty restaurants, thirty wineries, and you. This is perhaps the simplest way to describe the indulgence that is the Stars Across Texas tasting at the Texas Hill Country Wine and Food Festival. A veritable "who's who" of Texas restaurants each prepare small portions of signature dishes for guests to sample, making the most difficult choice simply what to eat before you run out of room. Last year, we had sushi tarts from Roy's, Shiner-braised......