Dallas Wine Chick

The good, the bad and the funny of celebrity wines

Rarely does a story write itself. But it was bound to happen when I found myself attending a celebrity-wine tasting by Jasper Russo, the fine wine buyer for Sigels in Dallas, during the same weekend that Christy Lemire, a friend and the film critic for the Associated Press, was staying at my house.

Jasper planned for three flights of wines for a total of 27, which we tasted blind. Before we began, I asked Christy what she anticipated the persona of these wines to be. Interestingly, I discovered she wasn’t too far off on several once I started tasting them.

Jasper and I talked about how celebrity names often sell wine to people who don’t usually buy it. There is also a group of collectors who buy only for novelty.

When I first began collecting wine, somehow I managed to acquire 10 years of Marilyn Merlot wine. One day I opened them and wondered why the heck I gave these bottles so much shelf space.

Ironically, Christy’s quote for the Marilyn Merlot 2010 was, “So potent it will make you feel like your skirt is flowing up on a hot summer night.” Or not.

We kissed a lot of frogs during our tasting that day. Below are the best quotes or wine highlights.

Whites/Rose

Andrea Bocelli, Bocelli Family Selection, Prosecco Extra Dry NV

Christy: Very flowery. A light dessert wine to drink when socializing with friends not worried about taste.
Me: I am a big fan of Andrea’s prosecco. It is evident the Bocelli family has a winemaking background and is not just banking on his stature.

Angelina Jolie/Brad Pitt, Chateau Miraval Rose 2012

Christy: You can feel good about getting drunk because all the proceeds will go to the children they have yet to adopt.
Me: I really wanted to hate this Brangelina wine, but I couldn’t. In fact, it was in my top three. If you read my blog much, you know I am not a huge fan of rose.

Drew Barrymore, Barrymore Pinot Grigio 2011

Christy: Washes across your palate, and you will forget about it.
Me: Not a lot of there, there.

Reds, Beyond Just Cabernet

Maynard James Keenan, Arizona Stronghold Cabernet/Merlot/Cabernet Franc 2010

Christy: It will alter your DNA. (Tool fans will get it.)
Me: One of my favorites of the flight. Go Arizona.

Adam Carolla, Sledgehammer Zinfandel 2010

Christy: Direct, full-bodied with little nuance or subtlety.
Me: My second favorite of the flight. Changed dramatically in the glass. An interesting wine.

Sting, Tenuta Il Palagio Sangiovese, Cabernet, Merlot 2007

Christy: I hope that someone gets his message in a bottle.
Me: And it tastes better when they do. I do think this wine is better with food, so I’d be willing to give it another shot with some wines more in its genre.

Nigel Lythgoe, Villa San Juliette Syrah, Cabernet, Merlot 2011

Christy: It’s a little pitchy here and there, but he made it his own, and you look so pretty tonight.
Me: The package was pretty.

Cabernets

Charles Woodson, Twenty Four 2008

No quote from Christy, who didn’t know enough about Woodson to make a joke.
Me: I adore this wine. Had it on Valentine’s Day. It’s a splurge, but man it is good.

Drew Bledsoe, Doubleback Cabernet 2009

No quote from Christy. We tried a Saints fan, who gave us something we couldn’t use for a family publication.
Me: Drew clearly hired a great winemaker and is letting him do his thing. My second favorite of this flight.

Mario Andretti, Andretti Cabernet 2009

Christy: It will get your drunk very, very fast.
Me: And like a flash on the palate, it’s gone.

So, of the 27 wines tried, I marked down seven, which means 75 percent of these celebrities should keep their day jobs.

Drew Barrymore's Pinot Grigio is forgettable.

Photo by Wilson Daniels

Drew Barrymore's Pinot Grigio is forgettable.

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Pizza News

Yonx Pizza seduces north Dallas suburbs with New York-style pies

Yonx

Yonx Pizza, by the slice.

A pizzeria with a dedicated following has debuted in Melissa: Yonx Pizza Bar & Co., an indie spot that does New York-style pizzas as well as pizza by the slice, has opened a location at 1521 McKinney St. #700 — an address that had pizza history as it was home for nearly a decade to a Palio's Pizza, which closed in 2025.

Yonx is from Robert Hede, a restaurant veteran who was previously involved with the Village Burger Bar chain, where he was a partner. He switched from burgers to pizza in 2022 when he connected with NY Pizza and Pints, a small local pizzeria chain, opening a location in Wylie at 1125 FM 544 #800. After two years, he broke off from the chain to found Yonx at the same address.

Yonx does the kind of New York-style thin-crust pizza that Dallas-Fort Worth loves, in a standard 14-inch, as well as a massive 24-inch "Kong" size. They also do slices, which can be ordered as a lunch with a Caesar salad for $9.99.

Varieties include familiar favorites like pepperoni, as well as slightly gourmet options with New York-inspired names such as:

Balsamic on Bleeker St., with garlic sauce, mushrooms, shaved ribeye, mozzarella cheese, arugula, and balsamic drizzle
Bronx Bomb, with Sicilian marinara, mozzarella, meatballs, mushrooms, and ricotta cheese
Brooklyn, basically a meat-lovers with Sicilian marinara, mozzarella, sliced ham, chopped meatball, beef, & pepperoni
Greenwich Garden, a vegetarian with Sicilian marinara, mozzarella, red & green bell peppers, white onions, mushrooms, spinach, & black olives

Prices range from $16 for a 14-inch cheese pizza to $46 for a NY Giant Supreme Soho with Sicilian marinara, mozzarella, pepperoni, sausage, beef, red & green bell peppers, white onions, sliced mushrooms, & black olives.

Yonx Pizza soup in a bread bowl.Photo courtesy of Yonx

There are also sandwiches on house-made toasted focaccia such as the Italian tower with melted provolone cheese, sliced ham, salami, lettuce, red onion, pepperoncinis, & sundried tomato aioli.

Appetizers include comforting soups served in a bread bowl including tomato basil and jalapeno cream soup with charred jalapenos. Plus wings, garlic knots, and "Brooklyn Ballers" — their signature meatballs in marinara, made in-house. topped with whipped ricotta and Parmesan, served with pesto and focaccia ends.

A full bar features frozen margaritas and frozen mojitos made with agave gold tequila. The best day to order those is "Frozen Fridays" from 11 am-10:30 pm when the blueberry mojitos are $6 and the margaritas are $5.

The Melissa location opened in January, with the same menu as the Wylie original, and has been met with an unprecedented wave of positive reviews on Facebook: one comment after another raving over how great the pizza is, and what a godsend it is — positive reviews that began to stack up even before the place had officially opened, the likes of which have been rarely seen.

This location boasts almost double the size of the original in Wylie, with a covered patio where they'll host live music on the weekends outside.

Hede, who has been hands-on at the Melissa location since it opened, says he's all-in on these northernmost suburbs of Dallas.

"I like this area — I feel like all the growth is heading out in this direction, there's just a lot of activity up here," he says.

pizza openings