Vino News

Fort Worth's TCU celebrates milestone the best way: with special-edition wine

TCU now has its own celebratory wine.

Courtesy photo

Texas Christian University is celebrating its 150th anniversary with the unprecedented release of two special-edition wines, made by a California winery with a TCU connection.

According to a release, Saarloos + Sons winery in California’s Santa Ynez Valley has created a cabernet sauvignon and a sauvignon blanc to commemorate the university’s sesquicentennial.

The winery is operated by the Saarloos family, a fourth-generation business run by Keith Saarloos — brother of Kirk Saarloos, the head baseball coach at TCU.

"TCU supports my brother, and our family loves this school so much that I immediately said, 'Let's do it,' when we were asked," Keith says.

Keeping with family tradition, Keith's daughter Brielle will attend TCU in the fall.

Normally, Saarloos wine is sold only at the winery, located in Los Olivos, California, or else direct. But they're making an exception for the TCU 150, which will be available in limited quantities at the TCU Campus Store by spring.

“Every one of our wines is an estate wine, which means we grow the grapes, we pick them and we bottle the wine,” Keith says.

Food writer June Naylor Harris, herself a ’79 TCU graduate, provided tasting notes on the two wines, as follows:

Sauvignon blanc: A medium-bodied wine with smooth balance of mineral and acidic tones, softened with notes of stone fruit, honeydew, and fresh herbs. Pair with soft cheese such as goat, feta, and green peppercorn brie, with grapes and granny smith apples, smoked salmon, salty nuts, Thai-spiced shrimp, and herb-grilled chicken.

Cabernet sauvignon: Rich and bold with moderate acidity, dark fruit tones, earthy notes, and a hint of spice and herbs at the finish, with tannins and structure throughout. Pair with spice-rubbed beef tenderloin, lamb skewers with rosemary-blackberry glaze, venison, elk, charcuterie boards with hard cheese, cured meats, & berries, and dark chocolate truffles.

The labels were created by TCU partners using a gold anniversary crest, reserved for limited use. The back of the bottle includes the primary 150th mark in addition to details about the wine.

The sauvignon is $69, and the cabernet is $119. They'll be available at the Campus Store in late February, in limited quantities.

TCU creative director Kris Copeland calls it "a really special year," stating, "not only do we get to create materials that celebrate 150 years of our history, but we're also creating the artifacts that future generations of Horned Frogs will look back on."

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Closure News

Keller's first chef-driven restaurant FNG Eats to close after 12 years

FnG Eats

Fish & chips at FnG Eats

Keller's first chef-driven restaurant is closing: FnG Eats, an upscale restaurant that opened at 201 Town Center in 2012, will close after 12 years.

Co-owner Bob Stephenson, a veteran and colorful chef who previously worked at Cool River Cafe, said that he and partner Carlos Arevalo and the team felt that the restaurant had run its course. They're currently planning on January 18 as their last day.

A statement from the restaurant said, "We came to Keller with a vision to bring the first Chef Driven restaurant. We’ve had a nice run!"

"Like the groceries in your kitchen, the medications on your shelf, sometimes the fashion in your closet….actually, everything in life; restaurants have a shelf life," the post said. "After long discussions with family, partners and our landlords, we feel FnG Eats has reached its shelf life."

The restaurant never fully recovered from the pandemic, and was also besieged by maintenance expenses as well as grappling with the economy.

"The restaurant never truly recovered from the COVID pandemic," the post said. "We were not able to rebuild the off premise and special event business we had pre-pandemic. We’ve also endured tons of repair and maintenance challenges in the last year as many of our regulars can attest to."

"Inflation and the economy also had a role in this decision," the post said. "It is a pure profit loss situation, and a business decision."

FnG was one of the few fancy restaurants in Keller, beloved not only for its food and craft cocktails, but also for being a pillar of the community.

FnG Eats wedge salad.FnG

The menu included a little something for everyone, with wedge salad, chicken pecan salad, Kobe beef sliders, meatloaf, fish & chips, deviled eggs, steak, a burger, and a flatbread whose toppings changed weekly. It was not only nice, but also reasonably priced, with most entrees topping out in the low $20s.

"We want to stay open for one more week to properly run down our food and alcohol on hand, let guests with gift cards come in to use those up before we close, let our regulars come in to say good bye to long term staff, let our staff be able to get a full paycheck before the end of the month, give them a week to find new employment, let us have time to leave the facility in good order so the landlord can re-lease as soon as possible," the post said.

They'll also be reaching out to contacts to help with references and letters of recommendation for all their staff members.

They have two wine dinners scheduled on Wednesday January 15 and Thursday January 16 — for which they still have some seats available.

"It is a bittersweet ending to a very fun and challenging chapter, but this is not the last chapter by any means," they said.

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