Clear Creek Winery, Vineyard, & Resort – Kemah, Texas

Owner David Skinner has kicked off this new winery in the Kemah community.  Many boardwalk visitors may have remembered the D’Vine wine place.  You’ll still see some of the previous D’Vine wine bottles available.  He bought that business back in 2007 and started a new winery with plans for a larger production facility of up to 100,000 cases per year (yes, you can say “wow”).  The grapes are sourced from various appellations of California.  Some of his wines have already won awards at the Finger Lakes International Wine Competition.  There are a lot of wines for tasting available, so pace yourself accordingly.  The tasting fee is per taste and ranges from $2 to $4 per taste. There are a few oaked wines, but mostly unoaked in the selection.  Veteran wine connoisseurs will notice that some of the wines tend to be from younger grapes and have not aged very long before bottling.  The zinfandel Reserve is one of the early Clear Creek labels and has one of the better finishes for red wine lovers.  We found the Sauvignon Blanc to be quite crisp and refreshing. Overwhelmingly, the white wines were quite nice. Fruit wine lovers will love this place as there is just about every combination of fruit wine available. Last but not least, their port is something you’ll want to savor at the end of your tasting. They feature some chocolate and fruit port combinations. There is also a fine bistro next to the winery that’s worth a visit.  This is a nice upscale edition to the Kemah Boardwalk.  It will be interesting to see how the wines evolve over the coming years.

www.clearcreekvineyard.com