wine guy wednesday

CultureMap Wine Guy Chris Shepherd uncorks his favorite Austin restaurants and bars for superb sips and bold bites

Editor's note: Long before Chris Shepherd became a James Beard Award-winning chef, he developed enough of a passion for wine to work at Brennan's of Houston as a sommelier. He maintains that interest to this day. When Chris expressed interest in writing about wine-related topics for CultureMap, we said yes.

In this week's column, he shares a few of his favorite places to drink wine in Austin. Take it away, Chris.

I spent this past weekend cooking at Aaron Franklin’s Hot Luck festival, which benefits my foundation Southern Smoke. This weekend, I tried a few new spots with great wine programs and visited a few old favorites.

I know a lot of you visit Austin frequently, so here’s my list.

Let’s start with the OG, June’s All Day. We visit June’s almost every time we’re in Austin for a bottle of wine, some shaved ham, fried chicken sandwich, and happy smiles. Word on the street (also known as their website and wine list) is that all sparkling wines are 50-percent off on Monday nights after 5 pm. Who says Mondays aren’t a good day to start drinking?

Underdog is a new spot in town that's only been open for a few weeks. It’s a bottle shop and wine bar with an eclectic list focused on small producers — some classic and some new winemakers. I’m a big fan of their selection of Veyder Malberg, which is a really amazing Austrian producer of Riesling and Gruner. They also have a fantastic selection of red Burdgundys and Rhone. Their food is Korean-inspired and delicious. The bites we had were outstanding. I look forward to going back to Underdog over and over again.

For a tried-and-true wine spot, go get in line at Birdie’s (Editor’s note: It just won Restaurant of the Year in the 2023 CultureMap Austin Tastemaker Awards). Don’t worry, it moves fast. Husband/wife team Tracy Malechek and Arjav Ezekiel run one of my favorite restaurants in Austin. Both the menu and the wine list are always. I asked Arjav to share a little insight into his wine program:

“The list changes all the time, and we’re really thoughtful about the wines we serve. We put the same effort into sourcing our wines as Tracy does with her ingredients in the kitchen, and we take a lot of cues from the weather. In the summer, we have more rosé, white, sparkling, and orange wines. In the winter, the whites become more full-bodied with more reds on the list,” he says.

“It’s a thoughtful blend of classic producers and new, fun, young guard. Too many wine lists pick a side, and it was important to us to build a list of things we’re excited about — whether it’s a cool new natty producer or a Burgundy that’s farmed correctly and been around for 100 years. We want our program to be a bridge for drinkers, introducing something new no matter what styles they typically drink.”

If you’re looking for a place you can hang out and drink wine all day or if a magnum is your speed at 12:30 pm, Lolo is your spot. It’s a killer wine shop and bar on the East side of Austin with all natural wines. The staff is very knowledgeable and can recommend anything from Pet Nats to orange wines to your large formats of happiness. Pro tip: if you have afternoon meetings, schedule them here! If you’re trying to avoid meetings, this is also the place to be.

Enough about wine! Here are two other spots that you should definitely check out.

Uptown Sports Club is Aaron Franklin and James Moody’s new restaurant, and it’s essentially always open. Walk-ins only, 8am-2am. Here you’ll find great po-boys and gumbo, a strong cold seafood selection, and the cocktails are fantastic. Don’t come here to watch sports. The only TV in the building is an 8-inch tube TV showing black and white baseball reruns from the ‘70s.

Este is the new Mexican seafood spot from the Suerte team. Chef Fermin Nuñez has this place humming. The menu has delightful treats like seafood towers and tostadas, grilled seafood (whole turbo is a must!), and don’t sleep on the Camarones “El Ricas.” It’s the messiest dish on the menu, and it’s Chef Fermin’s favorite. It’s mine as well. The wine list rocks, too!

Enjoy Austin! Keep it weird.

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Contact our Wine Guy via email at chris@chrisshepherdconcepts.com.

Chris Shepherd won a James Beard Award for Best Chef: Southwest in 2014. Last year, he parted ways with Underbelly Hospitality, a restaurant group that currently operates four Houston restaurants: Wild Oats, GJ Tavern, Underbelly Burger, and Georgia James. The Southern Smoke Foundation, a non-profit he co-founded with his wife Lindsey Brown, has distributed more than $10 million to hospitality workers in crisis through its Emergency Relief Fund.

Photo courtesy of June's All Day

June's All Day is one of Chris's favorite spots in Austin.

chefs wine where to drink

Airport News

Both Houston airports would be affected by air traffic slowdown

Photo by David Syphers on Unsplash

Flights at George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston will run travelers about $392 on average.

The Federal Aviation Administration plans to reduce air traffic by 10 percent across 40 “high-volume” markets to maintain travel safety as air traffic controllers exhibit signs of strain during the ongoing government shutdown.

The affected airports covering more than two dozen states include the busiest ones across the U.S. — including Atlanta, Denver, Dallas, Orlando, Miami, and San Francisco. In some of the biggest cities — such as New York, Houston, and Chicago — multiple airports will be affected.

CBS News has a list of all the airports affected and that list includes both DFW Airport and Dallas Love Field. Other airports in Texas that would be affected include both airports in Houston — Houston Hobby and George Bush Houston Intercontinental.

The FAA is imposing the flight reductions to relieve pressure on air traffic controllers who are working without pay during the government shutdown and have been increasingly calling off work.

Controllers already have missed one full paycheck and are scheduled to again receive nothing next week as as the shutdown drags on.

The FAA has been delaying flights at times when airports or its other facilities are short on controllers.

Passengers should start to be notified about cancellations Thursday. Airlines said they would try to minimize the impact on customers, some of whom will see weekend travel plans disrupted with little notice.

United Airlines said it would focus the cuts on smaller regional routes that use smaller planes like 737s. United, Delta Air Lines, and American Airlines said they would offer refunds to passengers who opt not to fly -- even if they purchased tickets that aren’t normally refundable. Frontier Airlines recommended that travelers buy backup tickets with another airline to avoid being stranded.

Experts predict hundreds if not thousands of flights could be canceled. The cuts could represent as many as 1,800 flights and upwards of 268,000 seats combined, according to an estimate by aviation analytics firm Cirium.

Air traffic controllers have been working unpaid since the shutdown began October 1. Most work mandatory overtime six days a week, leaving little time for side jobs to help cover bills and other expenses unless they call out.

Major airlines, aviation unions, and the broader travel industry have been urging Congress to end the shutdown, which on Wednesday became the longest on record.

Staffing can run short both in regional control centers that manage multiple airports and in individual airport towers, but they don’t always lead to flight disruptions. Throughout October, flight delays caused by staffing problems had been largely isolated and temporary.

But the past weekend brought some of the worst staffing issues since the start of the shutdown.

From Friday to Sunday evening, at least 39 air traffic control facilities reported potential staffing limits, according to an Associated Press analysis of operations plans shared through the Air Traffic Control System Command Center system. The figure, which is likely an undercount, is well above the average for weekends before the shutdown.

During weekends from January 1 to September 30, the average number of airport towers, regional control centers and facilities monitoring traffic at higher altitudes that announced potential staffing issues was 8.3, according to the AP analysis. But during the five weekend periods since the shutdown began, the average more than tripled to 26.2 facilities.

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