Rare wines, reasonable prices

Chris Shepherd checks out a Spring Branch wine bar loaded with vintage bottles

A few weeks back my wife Lindsey and I decided to have a date night and only went to places we had never visited before. We had heard about a wine bar that we needed to check out — thank you Erin Smith, you were right! The name of the place is The Library. It’s a quaint little spot on Long Point Road just down the street from our friends at Feges BBQ (hence, the suggestion from Erin, who owns Feges BBQ with her husband Patrick Feges).

This place is about as legit as a wine bar gets — the list is awesome. The depth of varietals, producers, and vintages is quite impressive, and the staff is about as nice and knowledgeable as they come.

It took me quite a while to narrow down our choice, but we settled on a bottle of Maison Harbour Meursault 1er Cru “Blagny” 2018. It was absolutely delicious. This wine comes from a producer that I am not familiar with, but that’s okay. Different sections on the list highlight some of the staff's favorite producers.

“Our ‘featured producers’ are chosen based on the ridiculously subjective criteria of producing wines that are, in our humble opinion, ‘soulful,’” general manager Brennan Harmeier explains. “They produce distinctive wines that tell a story no one else is telling and contribute an important chapter in the historical context of a region. These are wines that move us, and we think they have the ability to make a connection with others, too. Subjective? Yes, but wine can do that to you.”

The list is heavy on Old World selections which means a large collection of European wines from France, Italy, Spain, Germany, Austria and others. Price points are really fantastic — you can go in and spend anywhere from $35 to whatever your heart and budget desire.

Why was I so impressed? I feel like this list was built for me, because so many of the older and really good vintages are available for very fair prices. They have vintages that date back to the ‘60s, which means you can try wines that are 40-50+ years old. I like to drink stuff that has some age on it, 10-20 years, and this list is chock full of choices.

Older white and red Burgundy, Bordeaux, Barolo, domestic Cabernet Sauvignon, and vintage Champagnes are all over the place in this small spot in a strip center on Long Point next to a hair salon across the street from a carniceria. This is Houston, and I am here for it!

Courtesy of The Library

Find vintage bottles at The Library.

Brennan and owner Jason Eubanks worked for two years before The Library opened to build up their inventory. It’s become a favorite of wine professionals — thanks again, Erin — looking for rare or unusual bottles.

“It is wonderful to be able to share our wines with our guests and give them the opportunity to purchase vintage wines that they normally wouldn’t have access to unless they find themselves in a high end steak house or part of some waitlisted wine club where people are fighting tooth and nail to get their hands on a library release,” Harmeier said. “Honestly, it is hard to pick just one that I am looking forward to opening for our guests. But I have always favored older Champagne, and we do have a 1985 Krug that I wouldn't mind having the opportunity to taste.”

Brennan’s Three Favorite Wines on the List:

2002 Ployez-Jacquemart "Liesse d'Harbonville" Brut. “I normally don’t go to Ployez as my go-to Champagne, but this particular wine is SINGING. I honestly want to hold one in storage for another 10 years and see where it goes.”
2017 Arnaud Lambert Saumur "Clos de l'Etoile.” “Such a fabulous producer in Loire, and I don’t feel like enough exposure in our city is given to the wonderful red wines ofthis region. I could honestly go the rest of my life with just drinking the red wines from Saumur and Chinon.”
2017 Von Winning Ruppertsberger Reiterpfad Riesling Trocken. “I feel like if you ask any sommelier what their favorite white wine is, they will all say Riesling. But there is a reason for that. The complexity of this particular one is just top tier. One you can sip on for hours and the only time you will be disappointed is when you pour out the last drop.”

Why Long Point? Brennan says that owners Jason and Laurie Eubanks are longtime residents of the Spring Branch neighborhood and wanted to open a wine bar that was both close to home and the kind of place they’d want to go themselves. A deep wine list with heavy emphasis on the Old World, older vintages, friendly and knowledgeable service, great glassware, reasonable pricing, and a casual environment were all important details. Equally important was that The Library be a comfortable and welcoming neighborhood spot for Spring Branch locals who wanted a great glass of wine, regardless of price point.

Long Point has very good visibility for almost every Spring Branch resident. New restaurants are popping up with some regularity that are also driving people to Long Point who may have previously gone to other neighborhoods for a night out.

When you leave make sure you pop in a few doors down to Loose Cannon and say hello to little Bobbie McGee, the bar kitty, and have a frozen Pina Colada or any other of your favorite Tiki drinks. It’s an old school bar that I wish was next door to our house.

Loose Cannon bar cat Stop by Loose Cannon to say hi to Bobbie McGee.Photo by Chris Shepherd

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What’s other hidden gems should our Wine Guy visit? Tell Chris via email at chris@chrisshepherd.is.

Chris Shepherd won a James Beard Award for Best Chef: Southwest in 2014. The Southern Smoke Foundation, a nonprofit he co-founded with his wife Lindsey Brown, has distributed more than $11 million to hospitality workers in crisis through its Emergency Relief Fund. Catch his TV show, Eat Like a Local, every Saturday at 10 am on KPRC Channel 2.

nightlife wine

oh bevin

Houston bartender's new book celebrates cocktails and sexuality

Photo by Troy Ezequiel Montes

Bevin Biggers writes about sex and cocktails in her new book, Aphro.

“There's a lot of stigma about sexuality, especially with black women.”

Louisiana-born, Houston-based mixologist/multidisciplinary artist Bevin Biggers says as she’s flipping through the pages of her literary debut Aphro: A Cocktail Book on the Sexual Response Cycle. A veteran of Houston’s bar and restaurant scene, who has worked nightspots from Montrose to the Heights and collaborated with big-name alcohol brands (and who also isn’t afraid to call out shady establishments), Biggers has created a project that’s part cocktail manual and part Black, female sexuality manifesto.

“We already have a lot of other s**t going on and then, on top of that, it's sex, too,” says Biggers, while sipping on a drink at a Midtown watering hole. She points out that, when it comes to media representation, Black women have been stuck with many stereotypical caricatures/portrayals throughout the decades: maids, baby mommas, lesbians, jezebels, sistas who are just plain ol’ angry. But as for Black women who freely explore their sexuality with no shame or repercussions, the culture usually comes up empty.

“[White women] can be explorative and do all these different things. Black women do it and it’s ‘she’s a whore’ or whatever, right? So, all these caricatures kind of negatively impact how we live, and I talk about all of that here,” she says.

Aphro originally began a decade ago as a bar concept. After years of becoming a pro in the mixology game, even honing her craft-cocktail skills while living in New York (where she became a fan of the city’s Museum of Sex), she wanted to make it a full-fledged business. Unfortunately, this hasn’t been a good time to open a bar (“Bars are expensive,” she confirms).

Eventually, it morphed into a book project where Biggers drops sex talk, cocktail recipes, and surprising bits of African American history. “There's a lot of Black bartenders back in the day who freed their wives, their children, and themselves from slavery, using bartenderships,” she says.

The sex lives of African Americans during and after slavery is a subject Biggers has done extensive research on. Last November, she gave her Substack readers an Aphro taste when she posted a lengthy study on chattel slavery and its impact on the orgasm gap. “It's still a real cocktail book – there are still many pages of recipes,” she assures. “But, here, I talk about stereotypes, caricatures of black women, the orgasm gap, chattel slavery, and how things almost connect to current times.” She also included a questionnaire she sent women regarding orgasms. “I asked very specific questions, and I got a lot of f—ed-up answers, which was the whole point ”

Funded by a grant from Houston Arts Alliance, Biggers worked with Toronto-based Sure Print & Design to put Aphro into book form. She collaborated with local photographer Rosebeth Akharamen in serving up glorious color shots of the suggestively-named cocktails, made from “aphrodisiac ingredients,” Biggers had conceived.

Drinks range from “Late Night Cinemax,” (consisting of mezcal, corn puree, chipotle honey, coconut, and a popcorn garnish) to “Locally Deflower” (which includes Texas sized herbs and “delicate floral notes to evoke a softer intimacy”). These 20 recipes are the result of Biggers spending over a decade getting to know more about classic cocktails and modern bartending techniques.

“I come from Hiram Clarke, where it’s just Hennessy, Alize, Crown Royal,” she says. “And, then, when I came to start bartending, I was learning about Fernet and Montenegro and IPAs and good considerations of beers, and I was like, what the hell is all this? But I want to learn. I want to know what y'all know,” she says.

We also get seductive shots of Biggers herself, all glammed up in several swanky locations, including her own living room. “I didn’t see any of these photos when she took them because we were in a rush, because of the makeup artists, and I had to do my makeup all over again,” she says. “So, this was all trust, and she knocked it out the park.”

For Biggers, it’s all worth it if her fellow cocoa-colored beauties buy her book and start feeling more grown, Black, and sexy about themselves. “The inspiration is always being curious about this topic, but it was such a big deal in my community, of not wanting to be accused of being fast,” she says. “Even something that's mutual, it's always, what did you do to him? If it's kissing, it’s you kissed him, and it's not like, y'all kissed each other, you know. There was always punishment for something that's kind of natural. Then, when you're curious about something like that, you start to learn about it in dangerous ways… You learn through strangers, because your parents are not telling you anything about this stuff. You learn through movies. You learn through putting viruses on the f—ing computer, because you typed in the wrong thing, and now, the home computer, the family computer is f—ed up.”

Biggers ordered a limited run of Aphro volumes that she sells on her website, which also has related merch like color prints and an adult coloring book. She still has dreams of turning her book into a watering hole one day. Until then, she’ll continue her mission of instructing women (and men) on how to stir up your sex life – as well as a stiff drink.

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Biggers will host an Aphro book release party/talk at Los Perros Cafe on Friday, April 17, at 7 pm. RSVP here.

books cocktails