Texas Heritage Vineyard – Fredericksburg, Texas

Downtown Fredericksburg can be a crowded place on weekends with wineries, shops, and food galore.  Just before you get to this “bustling” tourist town, there is a great new winery that’s much easier to get in and out of than a parking spot on main street!  The owners, Billy and Susan Johnson, established their dream venture in 2015 with their first vine plantings of Tempranillo and Tannat which has since expanded to Alicante Bouschet, Malbec, Souzao, and Viognier. They opened their tasting room on highway 290 to the public last May.  Since then, they have gotten the fast lesson on what it is like to be a new winery that everyone wants to visit. Being busy is good for business and they have quite a selection of 100% Texas wines to share with thirsty customers.  The inside of their tasting room is quite spacious with a bar and ample seating. However, the real treat is on the back porch where you will get a fabulous view of the rolling hills on the southside terrain that you would never suspect to see.  The vineyard is separate from their tasting room and is located about 10 miles south of there on Grapetown road where wine club pickup events will be held. John Rivenburgh has been helping the Johnsons out with their initial wine production. In addition to their estate vineyard, they also source about 400 tons from Brownfield.  Their current tasting selection consists of a good mix of white and red wines along with a Rose’ to round out the lot. The first white we tasted was the 2017 Malvasia Bianca. It is quite floral with a soft finish. The other white to try is the 2017 Roussanne with pronounced pineapple notes and quite a long finish.  The 2017 Lizzie Rose’ is a special family treat. Named after Susan’s Great-Grandmother, this 85% Grenache Rose’ has lingering strawberry notes with moderate acidity. For the reds, the 2016 Malbec is quite fruit forward with a touch of leather.  The 2016 Dolcetto is a low tannin red that is soft and easy to sip. For their 2016 Cabernet Sauvignon, you will detect leather and licorice notes. For the wine that has helped put Texas on the map, their 2016 Tempranillo does justice.  It’s full of flavor with a touch of boldness and silky lingering tannins that begs to be paired with a nice Texas ribeye. In the coming months they will be releasing their 2017 Texas Cabernet Sauvignon.  It promises to be a great vintage! This will be followed by a Petite Sirah, Souzao, Trebbiano, and Tannat.  With live music every Saturday and Sunday and a great staff to chat and visit with when you stop in, you’ll be a happy camper here every weekend.  Drop on by and check them out, we do not think you will be disappointed. Enjoy!

www.texasheritagevineyard.com

Mammoth – NV; Valley Mills Vineyard; Waco, Texas

First releases can be a hit or miss for some startup wineries.  Thankfully this wonderful red wine blend was not a miss! It’s a great treat to be able to pull a bottle from your cellar that was purchased when a winery first opened and see how the wine has changed over the years. This five-blend bottle has greatly improved with age.  It’s non-vintage, but our logs say we purchased this wine in 2011. It’s rich in flavor and has not lost anything over time and still retains a tantalizing rich color.  From smokiness to chocolate, the flavors are never ending for this full mouth feel red. This one is well-balanced with just a mild bite towards the end. It’s a cellar worthy red that we were quite surprised and delighted with when we uncorked the bottle and are pleased to report that is can still cellar for many years to come.  Salut!

www.valleymillsvineyards.com

Longhorn Red – 2004; Driftwood Estate Winery; Dripping Spring, Texas

This 50/50 blend of Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah has been sitting around a while in the cellar, possibly longer than we had anticipated, however, it was nice to see what time’s impact was on this Texas classic wine. Surprisingly, the garnet color held up quite well for its age. There was some loss of fruit flavor, but there were still pleasant notes of blackberry, cherry, and pepper.  The tannins had also tapered off to leave a smooth end-to-end finish with a bit of dustiness. The acids were still holding quite nicely for this full-bodied red wine. It was nicely balanced and will still leave you with an enriched full mouth feel. Not bad at all. We were very pleasantly surprised that we were able to sit and enjoy this aged bottle with a nice meal and have no regrets. Hats off to Gary Elliot on this one. Cheers!

www.driftwoodvineyards.com

Sangiovese – 2011; Solaro Estate Winery; Dripping Springs, Texas

This red wine was labeled “Reserve”.  What reserve is supposed to mean and what you get, often depends on the winemaker.  For Solaro, they have put the ‘R’ in “Reserve” to highlight something done “right” with this lovely Sangiovese!  Crafted from fruit produced in the super dry year in 2011 for Texas and you have a fantastic robust red wine that is a pleasure to enjoy.  Cellaring over the years has allowed this wine to soften a bit, yet still shine.  This red is dry with enough tannins to dance around and excite your palate.  Yes, this wine is quite delicious and will entice you repeatedly to take another sip. Your only regret may be, I wish I had more.  However, do not despair because this was a 2011 and its now 8 years old. We can share that the winery’s website is still offering this wonderful vintage to wine club members, so there is still an opportunity for you to get your hands on some of these bottles and see for yourself just how delightful this vintage is in the glass. Enjoy well, our wine friends!

www.solaroestate.com

Crowson Wines – Johnson City, Texas

It is always exciting to catch a new winery at the beginning of their journey. You can hear the owner’s vision, ambitions, and passion about their mission and plans for their business and see that reflected in their wine.  Crowson Wines opened last April by Henry Crowson.  Though he may seem young and the place is new, his wines reflect that of a 30+ year winemaking veteran. Yes, they are that damn good!  But then, Henry is no stranger to Texas wines.  He “graduated” from customer to employee at William Chris Vineyards a few years ago.  Under Bill Blackmon and Chris Brundrett’s tutelage, he quickly learned the art and science of crafting Texas grapes into top quality wine. One thing that interested Henry was letting the natural process of grapes do the work in creating the wine. That is right, he takes a very minimalist approach to putting “extra stuff” in his wines and likes to work with the fruit as it is.  He picked up on the techniques of using the grapes own natural yeast to do the fermentation and adding no artificial chemicals.  Now don’t get this wrong, it is not easy working this way, but with patience and attention to detail one can yield a high-quality wine.  Henry’s work is proof of that!  To give more of that natural wine appeal, the wines are unfiltered, so you will get the unadulterated peak flavors of the grapes.  Henry started with his own line of wines at William Chris in 2016. After getting accolades, he was off to craft his 2017 vintage and start his own business.  He has produced about 500 cases for 2017 and is looking at 1300 cases for 2018.  He has a nice range of 2017 wines to sample right now, including a “sneak-peak” at a 2018 red.  Texas has become a rising star for Rosé and Henry’s version does not disappoint.  His 2017 Rosé is made from Merlot grapes sourced from Granite Hill Vineyards in the Texas Hill Country AVA. The wine has citrus aromas and minerality and a nice lemon note that will certainly be a pleasure for Texas warm winters!  The 2017 Malvasia Bianca was sourced from Nara Vineyards in the Texas High Plains AVA.  Barrel aged for six months, this wine has a grapefruit nose and tropical flavors that are a delight. Unlike most Malvasia Bianca wines, this one is not sweet, but quite delightful. The 2017 Roussanne was skin fermented for 17 months and looks reminiscent of a sherry in the glass and presents as such on the nose, with toasted nut notes and bright acidity.  Sourced from Nara Vineyards, this low alcohol Roussanne (10%) will be a great crowd pleaser and should pair nicely with cheese. You will notice that the Rosé and white wines are “cloudy”.  This is due to the unfiltered approach used for these more natural wines.  By no means does it distract from the aroma and taste. We think it makes them better! The red wines are equally pleasing. Mourvedre has been a great grape for Texas Red wines. There are two versions of his 2017 vintage, barrel aged and concrete aged. Both were sourced from Buena Suerte Vineyards in the Texas High Plains, yet each has a different flavor profile.  Both are equally well structured and packed with super rich flavors. The concrete version tends to express more of the natural fruit than the barrel aged.  The 2017 Tannat was also sourced from Nara Vineyards and is big, bold, opaque, and is incredibly smooth. It is hard to find a single varietal Tannat this excellent from abroad.  Finally, we were able to try a barrel aged Zinfandel from Nara Vineyards. This Zin was made in the nouveau style presenting bright fruit notes and is planned to be an annual release each fall.  The onsite winery is taking shape next to the outdoor covered patio and soon in-house winemaking will be occurring at the tasting room location.  We recommend you call and make an appointment for a tasting as it is well worth your valuable wine time. Tastings are currently by appointment and you can sit and hear directly from Henry. Crowson Wines is off to a great start and makes a fine addition to Johnson City. Henry’s goal is to make the best wines and we believe his creativity, passion, and attention to detail will help him be successful in this endeavor. He is passionate about his craft and we see him as a rising wine rock star in Texas. We look forward to following his journey and tasting more of his future wines as we believe there will be lots of great bottles in his future!

www.crowsonwines.com