…
Grape Creek has a tasting room in Georgetown but their winery is Fredricksburg. The have a great Viognier this year. Stop in Hye at the Hye Market next the highway, lots of wineries have tastings in there on the weekend. In Fredricksburg, i recommend stopping at 4.0 Cellars.
FWIW, there are some notes on wines from several Texas producers in the write-up linked below from the 2015 TAPAS (Tempranillo Advocates, Producers, and Amigos Society) tasting in San Francisco. Not sure whether these wineries will be along your route but thought I’d post this since there’s not much on the board about Texas wineries.
TAPAS – 8th Annual Grand Tasting, April 26, 2015
I may get some angry shouts on this but most of the Hill Country wineries are not good. It’s not a good place to grow grapes. It’s burning hot, the summer nights are burning hot, they don’t cool down very much, and I don’t believe the soil is particularly great for viticulture, but I could be off there. Most of the wineries try to grow grapes ill fitted for the climate.
I think maybe some of those wineries actually buy grapes from way out west near Alpine where there is elevation, a more considerable change in temperature from day to night, a little more breeze, and a little more volcanic soil. Still, it’s hot. It’s just so hot. It can be tough to find wines that can hang long enough without getting absurdly high abv. I’ve had a bunch of Tempranillos from various producers, some not cheap (Inwood) that are just nearly medicinal.
I only know one: Pedernales, because my wife went to college with the owners. I’ve had a few bottles of Tempranillo and they were pretty nice.
As much as it pains this native Texan to agree, “this”.
Count me as the 3rd Texan to agree to this. Although I’ve heard from multiple sources in the area that William Chris is by far the best in terms of quality. That being said it doesn’t mean there aren’t some pretty views and cool atmospheres you can experience at some other places, there may even be a decent wine or two made with grapes from further out West.
It’s about the atmosphere and people, definitely not the wines. Tasted hundreds, not a one didn’t make me cringe my face in disgust, except for one… so I bought a case, then forgot in in my trunk for a week in 100+ degree weather and can’t remember for the life of me what it was…oh well.
…
Pedernales and Spicewood were the two that stood out to me at the tasting I attended a couple of years ago. Nothing earth-shaking for sure but the wines were pleasant enough so they may be worth a stop if they’re along your route. Let us know if you find anything worth checking out.
Stick to BBQ.
I agree with the others on the state of Tx wine. But…the area is pretty, some of the locales are interesting, and I have found a few cubic zirconia in the rough. My previous fav from the area was the Becker Viogner until I ran into one vintage (2011 I think) which had a strong chemical aspect. I need to revisit it again as it was a nice poolside wine. Besides that, Fredericksburg is a great small town, especially during Octoberfest, and it’s always fun trying new things!
I’ll agree, the wines I’ve tried range from awful to boring to pretty decent, but nothing earth shattering. I think the best wines in the hill country are actually coming from High Plains AVA grapes in the panhandle, made locally, and especially for producers growing warmer climate varieties like Vermentino and Tempranillo rather than Chardonnay or Cabernet. Duchman winery in Driftwood is solid, definitely check them out.
The local soils in the hill country at limestone, so I’d imagine they could produce great fruit if the climate weren’t so extreme.
One caveat about “Texas” wine - though I hear this is changing. The rules apparently allow non-Texas fruit to be used without exactly stating it on the label, as long as they say “for sale in Texas only.” That’s code for “sorta or totally not Texas wine.” Which is weak.
As a native Texan, agree - I can’t bring myself to pay the tariff on the wines produced here. Doesn’t help that Spanish varieties aren’t my favorite.
I will, however, throw a shout out to Solaro Estates, which I thought actually produced really pleasant Barbera and Marsanne-Roussane a couple years ago - I owe them a visit. Their grapes are grown in the high plains and then the wine is produced in Austin and Houston.
If I could suggest a Texas beverage it would be alone Pint Yellow Rose IPA. A thousand times.
Stick to the beer and BBQ
Texas labeling for brought in juice is nothing new… transporting it doesn’t do the end product any favors though… it’s coming from far away and the vintners aren’t spending big money on vini equip… so added cost for sub par wines… easy pass… granted I’m not interested in anything that isn’t the best wines on earth anyways so maybe I’m a bit harsh… there’s beer for cheap nights, and Texas rocks at that.
They do? Outside of Jester King and a small group of others that make ok to good beer (e.g., Austin Beerworks), I’d say Texas beer is pretty lousy. BTW - I lived there for 8 years.
Houston is/was an absolute wasteland for quality beer, I never understood how people could be so proud of such crap.
Also a native Texan here. Totally in agreement here. I have done 3 tours of wineries in the Hill Country and never found one I really liked. Tried to every time but there was just something not right with most of them. The heat and humidity and probably also bad grape choices seem to be the culprits. Grapes are pretty tolerant and grow in many places but that doesn’t mean they make good wine.