Parr Vineyards is certainly no stranger to
Texas Hill Country wineries. William and Chris Wines, Pedernales Cellars, and
Lewis Wines have all produced some of their best wines from fruit sourced from
this vineyard. Located in the outer frontiers of the the Texas Hill Country AVA
near Mason, owners Robert and Dilek Parr have been transforming their
20-acre ponderosa into one of the most unique and top-notch grape growers over
the last 15 years. Living abroad and experiencing many great ways of pairing
food and wine helped plant those early seeds of one day growing grapes to
produce their own wine. Over the years, Robert dabbled in wine making and grape
growing in Boerne. The desire to have a fine bottle of wine was certainly a
motivator to find a place to grow quality grapes. There are about 16 acres of production vines on
their estate that consist of Mourvèdre, Semillon, Tempranillo, and Touriga
National. The special terroir of this
location consists of decomposed granite lying within the Hickory Sandstone
formation. This allows for not only great drainage, but excellent plant
nutrients for the vines. This coupled
with cool nights to offset the typical brutal Texas heat of summer has yielded
some very fine quality fruit. Robert Nida has been assisting the Parrs with
their winemaking. All fruit is hand
harvested, estate bottled, and non-filtered. You truly get the essence of what
quality work is all about. Their new
Mason tasting room currently features their seven initial estate wines to
sample. Starting off with the whites, we dove into the 2018 Semillon. It has
pleasant aromas, is very fruit forward with a wonderful mouth feel. Next up was
the2018 Mourvèdre Rosé. This wine has a lovely
raspberry light hue with tantalizing acids and nice licorice and blackberry
flavors. For the first red, we tried the 2015 Mourvèdre. This smooth red has
more of a rich dark fruitier flavor with a touch of pepper. The 2015 Touriga is very dark in color with a
great nose and a full mouth feel.
Ironically, the 2016 Touriga seems smoother and more elegant and
interesting with richer dark fruit flavors and a slight pepper finish. The last
two reds we sampled a couple of months ago at Mason’s Hallowine event where we
met the Parrs and talked about their new tasting room opening. At that event,
the wines poured were the 2018 Tempranillo Joven which was drinking quite well
for such a relatively young red wine and we sampled the 2019 Wild Child. This
last red wine is a blend of Touriga, Tempranillo, Cabernet, Graciano,
Mourvèdre, and Viognier. It’s well balanced and a great melding of flavors and
aromas. This was a fantastic launch of
their initial wine releases. First impressions are everything and the Parrs
have made a strong impression with us. Robert mentioned that there may be Syrah
and Viognier vines producing fruit in the future. We left the tasting room full
of delight and eager anticipation of our future return to sample impending new
released in the new year. Visiting this couple in their tasting room and
hearing them share their passion about what they are doing and their story of
how they arrived at their present dream come true was inspiring and delightful.
We’ll be back and look forward to many more great things happening here. Do
make plans to visit them in Mason, you will not be disappointed, and you should
enjoy visiting with them and learning about their journey. The lovely cheese and snacking plates for you
to enjoy with the wines is a great compliment to the conversations. Enjoy and
Cheers!
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