Posts Tagged book

http://www.hilmywine.com

Hilmy Cellars is a new winery located in Fredericksburg and opened March 17, 2012. It is owned by Erik Hilmy who is also the winemaker producing Texas wines.

Erik Hilmy planted Sangiovese in 2009 which is in a vineyard beside the winery. They also plan on planting a vineyard in front of the winery. In the vineyard on the side of the winery you can see guinea fowl roaming around which makes for excellent pest control. Because of the birds’ appetite for insects, Hilmy Cellars does not need to use pesticides on the vineyard.

We arrived at the winery and opened the large wooden door at the front of the winery. You can see a photo of the door on their website and the hinge on the door is not on the very edge like most doors, so it makes for a unique entry into the winery.

At the tasting bar were two guides and the one who primarily helped us introduced himself as Mark Hilmy, Erik Hilmy’s younger brother. He showed us the tasting menu which included four wines we could taste. All of Hilmy Cellars wines use 100% Texas grapes. If the grapes do not come from their vineyard, then they use either Lost Draw Vineyard or the Young Family Vineyards, both located in the High Plains.

There is a tasting fee which includes all of Hilmy Cellars Texas wines right now, a total of four. If you buy a bottle of wine, the tasting fee is complimentary. Hilmy Cellars use corks and screw caps in their wine and tastings are poured from the bottle. You do the tastings standing at the tasting bar but there are some tables available to sit and enjoy a glass of wine.

The first wine tasted was Doo-Zwa-Zō which is a blend of Chardonnay and Chenin Blanc using fruit from the High Plains. There were 330 cases made of this wine.

The next wine was a Muscat Canelli also from the High Plains and there were also 330 cases made. This is a semi-sweet Muscat Canelli which is purposely served in the middle of the tasting so people do not associate a Muscat Canelli as always being a sweet dessert wine.

Before we started tasting, Mark called his brother and during our tasting Erik Hilmy arrived at the winery to say hello.

Erik Hilmy

The red wines came next and the first was called The Temp which is a blend of Tempranillo, Mourvèdre, Sangiovese, and Carignan. The grapes came from the High Plains and 330 cases were made.

Finally was Hilmy Cellars’ Tempranillo made of grapes from Lost Draw Vineyards and 220 cases were made. The Tempranillo used a second generation barrel instead of a first year. We learned Erik does not like a lot of oak in his wines, hence the second generation barrel.

Soon to come is a wine called Persephone which is a proprietary white from the High Plains and Politics & Religion, a proprietary red blend also from the High Plains.

After our tasting, Erik took us to the back of the winery in the production room where the barrels and tanks are located. He pointed out some barrels of wine made from California fruit which he may never make available. He also had a tank with Gewürztraminer and after learning we liked Gewürztraminer, he let us sample some from the tank. It was cloudy but even at the young stage you could tell it was going to be a great wine.

Erik is a perfectionist and it shows with the quality of his current Texas wine. When we had arranged to meet him in December and were unable to, he admitted he was kind of glad because at the time he only had two wines ready. He thought letting us taste four of his Texas wines would give a better impression.

Hilmy Cellars has a gift shop with food items such as crackers, cheese, bread, brownies, soft drinks, etc. A pizza kitchen will soon be available when the permit is done to offer other food to purchase. Also available in the gift shop are paintings, pottery, and books. Noticeable were copies of Russ Kane’s book, The Wineslinger Chronicles, and they said some of his books available to purchase were autographed.

Since there is somewhat of a theme involving birds at the winery, Hilmy Cellars has a wine club called the Flock.

Hilmy Cellars is located on US Highway 290 and when you are visiting the other wineries located on the road, be sure to stop at Hilmy Cellars.

Most people know Russ Kane as VintageTexas, the self-proclaimed Texas Wine Czar. @VintageTexas is his Twitter name and accordingly he writes a blog called Vintage Texas in which he imparts his knowledge of Texas wines and his experiences traveling throughout Texas and other wine regions in the United States.

I was visiting a Texas winery near the start of my winery visits and after talking to the winemaker for a while, he said I should really follow Vintage Texas as I would learn a lot. That is exactly what I did and indeed I have learned quite a bit from reading Russ’s Vintage Texas blog.

I learned Russ Kane also lives in Houston and since that time we have run into each other occasionally. On a recent meeting, I asked Russ about his upcoming book called The Wineslinger Chronicles.

Russ explained he started the Vintage Texas blog in 2008 primarily as an exercise to write. He soon realized that the stories he posted there could be the basis for a book. Russ worked on a book proposal and received a book contract in 2009 with Texas Tech University Press. He finished writing the book at the end of 2010. The next year was spent editing the book back and forth with the publisher. Now The Wineslinger Chronicles is scheduled to be available to the public mid-February, 2012.

When I was talking with Russ, he was excited because he had just received the first real copy of the book. I got the chance to hold it and flip through the pages. I had ordered my copy when it was first announced that pre-ordering was possible, so I was excited myself to see what I would eventually be receiving in the mail. Bottom line is I am impressed.

The book is a lot thicker and heavier than I had imagined. This is not a cheap quality book. I can only imagine all the stories Russ has told. Russ talks about the Spanish origins of Texas wine, the history of Texas winemaking, and includes stories of modern day growers and entrepreneurs with his travels around the state. He has been gracious to post excerpts of the book on his Wineslinger website.

If you have any interest in Texas wine and the history of Texas wine, I would highly recommend ordering your copy. The book is available for pre-ordering at most online bookstores and you can even order an autographed copy directly from Russ himself at his website. The book will also be available as an eBook.

Now I’m even more excited and cannot wait to get the book I ordered!