Posts Tagged East Texas

http://www.texasvineyard.org

Texas Vineyard & Smokehaus is located in Palestine and is owned by Rafael and Cheryl Hernandez. The winery opened in 2008.

The winery was not found on our GPS so we used the coordinates we found from Google maps. Fortunately the coordinates brought us to the winery fairly easily as we found the winery on a corner lot in the rural area.

As we entered the winery, Cheryl Hernandez was finishing up with a customer and welcomed us to the winery. She then handled our wine tasting.

There is a tasting fee for 4 wines and an extra fee for their special Sangria by the glass or pitcher. All the wines are corked and are poured with a measured pourer while we stood at the tasting bar. Cheese, crackers, and chocolate are available for cleansing your palate between the different wines.

Cheryl described how they used to live near a large city and they decided to move to the country. Rafael purchased ten acres of land in Anderson County and began to fulfill his dream of making Texas wines. He commuted to Palestine every two weeks to clear the land and the neighbors helped to clear the land too. Rafael erected a building which would eventually become the winery and tasting room.

Cheryl told us all their grapes are grown in Texas and they personally grow about 70%. They have 100 acres of vineyards in the Lubbock area. They use the Homestead Winery production facility in Denison to help produce their Texas wines.

A nice gift shop contains a nice selection of wine related items, candles, and other gifts. Personalized labels are available for wine bottles. A large front porch with a balcony is welcoming for relaxing with a glass of wine.

Music events are held at the winery and tours are available if you make reservations in advance.

Texas Vineyard & Smokehaus is on the Piney Woods Wine Trail. It is worth a drive to the countryside to visit the winery and enjoy their country charm.

As we have mentioned before, the Texas Winery Passport program is definitely something you should be involved with if you are visiting Texas wineries. The rewards get better and better as you visit more wineries. Even though the Texas Winery Passport program will be changing in some way at the start of September, we still recommend collecting passport codes as you visit Texas wineries.

We have reached a passport level where the rewards are now given out by the wineries instead of the Texas Department of Agriculture. The latest reward chosen for us was an overnight stay and private candlelit wine dinner for two in the barrel room at Los Pinos Ranch Vineyards. This of course sounded great to us, and it didn’t hurt that Los Pinos Ranch Vineyards is one of our favorite wineries.

The challenging part was trying to arrange a date that would work for both Los Pinos and us. Andrea Taylor from Los Pinos was very helpful in arranging a date. The issue was that Los Pinos currently has one cottage available and we had to find an available night where other guests had not already reserved the cottage. In addition, we had to choose a time period where harvesting would not affect the barrel room dinner. We decided on a date which should have fit between two harvest periods and have availability of the cottage.

Our overnight stay was going to be on a Saturday night but since we were driving four hours to the winery, we decided to see what else we could do during the weekend. We headed to East Texas Friday night and went to KE Cellars in Tyler. I had arranged with Twitter friend Darlene for us to meet her and her husband Roger there to enjoy some of the Texas wine KE Cellars offers and to listen to the live music.

We arrived earlier than expected but enjoyed looking at the variety of Texas wine KE Cellars sells. We bought a bottle of Llano Moscato and found a table in the live music room to wait for Darlene and Roger. It was not a long wait as they soon arrived. None of us had met before, but after almost two hours of a fun conversation it seemed like we had previously been friends. Upon leaving, we all said we would have to get together again when one was in the others part of the state.

The next morning Gloria and I decided to do something a little thrilling – zip lining. I had previously done it near Austin but it was Gloria’s first time. Wired (http://www.ziptheusa.com) claims to have the tallest towers and longest zip lines in Texas. They definitely were taller, longer (longest being 1,115 feet), and faster than the previous ones I had done. Fortunately we had decided to get there at 8am because as expected, the heat eventually got extreme. Gloria had a fun time and said she would do it again.

After making a nice visit to Crump Valley Vineyards (post to come soon), we headed to Los Pinos Ranch Vineyards. As we drove down the narrow bumpy road to their winery, I received a phone call from Gerald Jones, their Sales Director, asking if we were there yet. Talk about timing. It turned out he was on the road again with a refrigerated truck and probably wouldn’t be back at the winery that evening. He was checking to see how late we would be staying in the morning. We said we could wait until he got back. In the morning however, he texted us saying he probably would be much later than he had anticipated. It turned out to be another missed opportunity to see Gerald again. Gerald, if you’re reading this, just request us to help work your table at the next Old Town Spring SpringFest.

We checked in at the tasting room and met Andrea who I had been corresponding with, so it was nice to put a name with a face. She told us earlier in the week that harvesting was unexpectedly happening sooner than normal because of the heat, so we probably could not have the barrel room for the dinner. We were given a choice to either reschedule or just eat in the main dining area. The dining room was fine for us. We were told to pick any table and they would reserve it for us for the evening. We chose a nice corner table in the rear where it was a little more private but still had a nice view of the stage where jazz would be happening later in the evening.

Andrea said the barrel room and production facility was busy at the moment with workers harvesting Sangiovese which had just come in. She brought us in to show us what was happening and they were loading the grapes into the destemmer. Owner Jeff Sneed was helping out and said hello to us. I mentioned how we saw they just came out with a Moscato and couldn’t wait to try it. He told us he thought it was the best label yet on their wine. That made sense because when you see the label, it has a picture of Jeff on it. Yes, he’s one funny guy.

We received the key to the cottage and checked it out. The cottage was very nice and romantic, complete with Jacuzzi. After unpacking, we headed back to the tasting room to quench our thirst.

After sitting at our table, our waitress asked what we would like for dinner. We had a choice between the normal tapas menu or the Chef’s Special that evening: scallops in prosciutto cups with sautéed spinach and potatoe crispadoros. That sounded delicious so it was an easy choice for us. We also would receive a bottle of wine and the Chef’s Special menu said the vintner recommended either the Chardonnay or Moscato Reserve. This was working out perfectly so we of course chose the Moscato.

We chose to get a pizza margherita as an appetizer. The bottle of Moscato arrived but we decided to do a tasting of their sweet and dry wines first to decide if there were any other wines we would like to drink later or buy to take home. As mentioned previously in the Los Pinos Ranch Vineyards post, the tastings are done a little differently than other wineries since they are served at once in test tube-like bottles. We are normally white wine drinkers but we really liked the Sangiovese and Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve, so we decided to ask later to get some bottles to take home.

We finished our tasting and the scallops arrived. The dinner tasted as delicious as it looked. The jazz trio started and we enjoyed listening to the music while eating dinner and of course enjoying the wine.

After we finished dinner and the band had taken a break, we were pleasantly surprised when Jeff Sneed sat down at our table. He apologized for the way he looked since he had come from finishing the grape harvesting, but he looked fine to us. We had an enjoyable and fun conversation talking about wine, wineries, problems creating wine labels, and how they used to have themed events. One event he held was how he met his wife who is now the Chef at the winery. He said the Sangiovese from last year was made with New Mexico grapes, but the current one which they had just crushed was from Texas. He could not wait to get that wine bottled and have 100% Texas wine. He thought the band was on a really long break, so he excused himself to check on them.

We had a fantastic evening listening to jazz, eating dinner, drinking wine, and feeling like we were part of the family. Staying in the Los Pinos Ranch Vineyards cottage was an even bigger plus. After a peaceful night of sleep, we packed up and headed for the long trip home.

If you ever get the chance to visit East Texas, we highly recommend spending some time at Los Pinos Ranch Vineyards. Tell them Jeff and Gloria sent you!

http://www.lospinosranchvineyards.com

Los Pinos Ranch Vineyards is located in Pittsburg and is owned by Jeff Sneed. The winery opened in 2001.

We first learned about Los Pinos when we volunteered at a wine festival in Old Town Spring and they were there with a table. We met Sales Director Gerald Jones and he gave us his business card. He said when we make it to the winery, please let him know in advance and he would try to meet us. We contacted him prior to our visit and he was hoping to be at the winery that day, but being the Sales Director, he was going to be on the road most of the day. There was a chance he could be back by the time we arrived, so he wanted us to keep him informed. Unfortunately in the end Gerald was not able to get back in time.

When we arrived in Pittsburg, we saw a billboard giving directions but instead we followed our GPS which led us down a side street which perhaps was probably faster.

We wanted to take a tour of the winery and the last tour on the Saturday was at 5:00pm. We were being held up a little where we currently were so we called Los Pinos to confirm the last tour time and to let them know we were on our way, and fortunately they said they would wait for us.

When we arrived at the winery, we quickly took an outside photo before it got dark and went to find where the tour was starting at 5:00pm. The porch tables outside the winery were almost full so we went inside. The room inside was large with tables and a band stage at the end. We found a man at the cashier and said we were there for the tour. He asked if we had called about catching the tour and we said we had. I knew in advance the owner and winemaker was Jeff Sneed, so I asked if he was Jeff and he confirmed he was.

Jeff Sneed ended up giving the tour and since it was only the two of us, it turned into a private tour. Jeff gave a very interesting tour explaining the production process and the history of Los Pinos Ranch Vineyards. They will be expanding the production facility and making improvements. He also explained the oak barrels are used twice, and soon perhaps just once. Last year, Los Pinos Ranch Vineyards used 85% Texas grapes and this year he is hoping to use 100% for their Texas wine.

Jeff has a sharp wit with humor and it was fun listening to him explain things. Gloria doesn’t do too bad herself so she was often coming back with retorts. Jeff explained he got married in 2006 after he met his wife Dana at one of his winery events. Dana is now the Chef at Los Pinos.

After a fun and insightful tour, we were ready for a tasting. For the tasting, you can sit inside or outside. Since the porch has a beautiful view of the vineyards and it was a nice day, we decided to sit outside.

There is a tasting fee for five wines, dry or sweet. The tastings are done in the most unique way we have seen so far. The five wines chosen by Los Pinos are delivered in a dry flight or a sweet flight in small tubes with a removable cork, almost like test tubes. Since both flights contained red wines and we wanted to taste a combination of dry and sweet whites, we asked Ronnie, our server, if we could mix and match the wines. It must not have been a common request so she said she would check. Fortunately when she returned, she was able to bring one flight of a mix of wines for us. We assume she got permission from Jeff Sneed. One wine which she brought but was not in the list of dry or sweet flights was a Sweet Chardonnay. She said that was the vintner’s choice and that was fine with us.

After a nice tasting, we decided to stay and eat dinner. You can buy food and there is also a Chef’s special meal for dinner every Friday and Saturday. Even though the special chicken dinner sounded great, we usually do not eat much so we decided to share another entrée.

Live jazz events happen in the large inside room and the music is piped outside to the porch tables. The live music was about to happen but we had a long day so it was time to leave. While buying some bottles and paying for dinner and the tastings, we took a look around.  We didn’t see a gift shop but we could have missed it.

There are two cottages available at the winery to stay overnight. One was being renovated and we tried to stay in the other, but it was already reserved. That problem will be resolved this weekend as we will be staying at Los Pinos Saturday night. Through the Texas Winery Passport program, we reached a passport level where the reward chosen for us was dinner and an overnight stay at Los Pinos Ranch Vineyards. We can’t wait and we will talk about our stay in the next blog post.

Los Pinos Ranch Vineyards is on the Piney Woods Wine Trail.

http://www.fairhavenvineyards.com

Fairhaven Vineyards is located in Hawkins and is owned by Ron Winters. The vineyard was started in 2004 and there are now 11 acres. The winery itself opened in 2009 and is very easy to find in the back roads of East Texas.

When we arrived at the winery, there was a pourer helping a few people. Since the tasting bar is small, we looked around the room and the adjacent winery production area while waiting for our turn. There are tables in the tasting room where you can enjoy a glass of wine and the production area makes for nice viewing while there.

It was time for our tasting and the pourer started us out. The tasting is done standing at the tasting bar and the wines are poured from the uncorked bottles. There is a tasting fee per wine and it depends on the particular wine as to what the cost is. They do give a generous amount of wine for tasting.

Ron Winters, the owner and winemaker, came in soon and told the other person how he saw a few cars at the winery, so he came down to help out. He then took over pouring duties for us. Since we had the owner helping us, we were able to ask some questions and we knew we could get the correct answers.

As we mentioned previously about the vineyard, Fairhaven Vineyards grow their own grapes in addition to using Hill Country grapes and about 15% Napa grapes. Ron stated there was almost no chance of using 100% Texas grapes in their wines.

One thing about the winery which we have not experienced before was the winemaker making negative comments about other wineries. Usually all Texas wineries are very complimentary of other Texas wineries and go out of their way to help promote them. For example, when Ron was talking about his winemaking process, I mentioned how one winemaker in the area had told us one part of how he does his process, primarily because it is a smaller winery. He had to guess the name of a winery which was wrong, but we thought it was in bad taste to put down another winery, especially one on the same wine trail. Later he said how one customer went to a big winery on the wine trail and said the wine tasted like kerosene. He commented how some wineries make bad wine and just keep making it year after year instead of learning it is bad and changing the process. We asked for the name of that winery, but at least this time he would not say.

You can buy food to eat during your visit to the winery. Music events are also held at the winery, including being able to rent out the winery and vineyard for private events, weddings, parties, business meetings, or social events. A small gift shop is present at the winery and there is a wine club available. Fairhaven Vineyards even offer a service where they will install a vineyard at your location.

Ron did say if we were still learning about wine that we should check out his website since he has research information on there. He does have some informative knowledge there. On our way out, Ron asked if we were going to be in the area again soon and gave us two tokens for free tastings. We thanked him and left the winery. When we looked at the tokens later, we were not sure if they are good for a complete tasting or just one wine. Perhaps one day we will find out.

Fairhaven Vineyards is on the Piney Woods Wine Trail.

There has been a lot of discussion lately on Texas wine competitions, the best Texas wineries, and so forth. Since we have visited over 100 Texas wineries, we decided to put together a quick list of the first TX Wine Lover awards to highlight the Texas wineries we feel is best in a certain category. Please realize these awards include only the wineries we have visited. We are also going by memory, some of which is over a year ago, so we apologize if we may have misplaced a winery with the same characteristics as one discussed. The next time we produce an awards list and have visited more wineries or re-visited favorites, the list may change.

Best Tasting Room

Flat Creek Estate (http://www.flatcreekestate.com). This tasting room is reached entering the winery from a top level and taking a set of stairs down. The tasting room has tables where you taste instead of standing uncomfortably at a tasting bar. A person helps you select which wines to taste. If you want to enjoy the fresh air, you can exit the side door to an outdoor patio where you can enjoy more wine.

Most Unusual Tasting Room

Fawn Crest Vineyards (http://www.fawncrest.com). The tasting room is actually in the owner’s house and is in the bar area. It is a nice pleasant experience but not your usual tasting room.

Best Wine Tasting for the Price

Colony Cellars (http://www.colonycellars.com). The best wine tasting for the price is obviously free. Most wineries now charge a fee and if you want the better wines it is kind of expected to have to pay a little. If all you care about is getting the most tastings for free, then Colony Cellars is the way to go. There you can get 12, yes 12, tastings for free. And they’ll even throw in some crackers to help you cleanse your palate during your tasting.

Best Palate Cleansing Food

Cross Timbers Winery (http://www.crosstimberswinery.com). Cross Timbers Winery in Grapevine gives cheese and crackers during your tasting. It helps make the transition between wines a little easier.

Best Live Music

Torre Di Pietra Winery (http://www.texashillcountrywine.com). A lot of wineries have live music happening most weekends so it is tough trying to decide on the best, especially since we haven’t had the opportunity to listen to a music event at every winery. Most wineries seem to have their music events Sunday evenings which makes for a nice end to a weekend, but a little tough to get up the next morning to go to work. However, Torre Di Pietra Winery has music every Saturday during the day, in addition to an occasional festival.

Best Events

Messina Hof Winery & Resort (http://www.messinahof.com). Messina Hof always seems to have something going on, whether it is festivals, dinners, wine bar events, and even wine classes.

Best View

Driftwood Estate Winery (http://www.driftwoodvineyards.com). There are some beautiful wineries with views but we believe Driftwood has them all beat. You have to drive up a dirt road to get to the top of the hill where the winery is but once there, the view overlooking the valley and surrounding hills is breathtaking, especially at sunset.

Best Vineyard Next to a Winery

Tara Vineyard & Winery (http://www.tarawinery.com). A lot of wineries get their Texas grapes from the Lubbock area or other parts of Texas. Most wineries, if they are able to, have at least a little vineyard near the winery. A lot of vineyards look great next to the winery, especially during the summer when the grapes are growing. This award is a tough one to call. Enoch’s Stomp Vineyard and Winery almost took this one with its winding road up through the vineyard to the winery. However, we like the view of the vineyard at Tara Vineyard & Winery. The view from the entrance with the vineyard leading up to the old beautiful home nestled among the vineyards is a great sight to see.

Best Entrance

Fall Creek Vineyards (http://www.fcv.com). If you have not had the chance to visit Fall Creek Vineyards, just go to their website and you’ll see right away why we think this is the best entrance to a winery. The tree lined road leading to the winery is a picture out of a book, especially when the trees are in full bloom. You’ll find yourself stopping at the entrance and taking a photo.

Best Prices

Fall Creek Vineyards (http://www.fcv.com). Most Texas wineries have to charge more for their wine since they make smaller productions. These are the prices we were used to until we arrived the first time at Fall Creek Vineyards and saw the prices of their wines. Even though they do make wines which cost more, you can still find a considerable number of wines under $10. A couple other wineries have been able to reach this price point, but we’ll give the nod to Fall Creek Vineyards where we first encountered great wines for under $10.

Best Restaurant

Messina Hof Winery & Resort (http://www.messinahof.com). Not all wineries have a restaurant, and for those that do, we have not had the chance to eat at every one. Savannah Winery & Bistro had very good food, but as far as atmosphere and excellence in food, it has to be Messina Hof. The atmosphere with the dining tables surrounded by the wine barrels is fantastic. If you want to really splurge, try the Chef’s Table where you will get a five course meal especially prepared for your likes and each course is paired with a different wine.

Best Gift Shop

Tie: Haak Vineyard & Winery (http://www.haakwine.com), Grape Creek Vineyards (http://www.grapecreek.com), and Torre Di Pietra Winery (http://www.texashillcountrywine.com). This category is so difficult to decide. Most wineries have some form of gift shop and it is difficult to determine the best gift shop. Ideally you want to have a gift shop where customers can spend time looking at the various items including tasting some jams, jellies, and salsa. You want to have useful items like wine accessories but not have too many items which are just plain unusual. These wineries have enjoyable gift shops.

Best Tour

Singing Water Vineyards (http://www.singingwatervineyards.com). If we have time and can catch scheduled tour times, we will take a tour. Even though we have been on quite a few tours, we seem to learn something new every time. We had a very interesting tour at Los Pinos Ranch Vineyards given by the owner Jeff Sneed, but we’ll have to give a slight nod to Singing Water Vineyards. The tour was given by an elderly gentleman from who we learned quite a bit about winemaking.

Best Place for a Wedding

Messina Hof Winery & Resort (http://www.messinahof.com). What would we look for in a winery to hold our wedding? It would have to have a beautiful location or multiple locations to select from. A reception area or restaurant would be necessary after the wedding. Even a place to stay would be great. But to top it all off, how about a famous winemaker who can even marry you? We’re then talking about Messina Hof where owner/winemaker Paul Bonarrigo can legally perform a marriage.

Best Landscaping

Duchman Family Winery (http://duchmanfamilywinery.com). Quite a few wineries are beautiful outside with the landscaping and grounds. We have to choose Duchman Family Winery as the most beautiful with a large fountain, benches, seating under big trees, etc. It is as beautiful during the day as it is at night with the lighting.

Best Fruit Wine

Sweet Dreams Winery (http://www.sweetdreamswinery.com). A number of wineries concentrate on making wine from fruit instead of just grapes. Interestingly, there are a large number of these wineries in East Texas. Hence there lies our favorite winery for fruit wines which is Sweet Dreams Winery. 90 percent of the wines they make are from local fruit and they make wine from almost any fruit you can think of.

Best Unique Wine

Rohan Meadery (http://www.rohanmeadery.com). There are wineries making wines out of a lot of different ingredients but we have to choose Rohan Meadery as the most unique as all their wines contain honey. They started with mead which is primarily made with honey and are starting to branch out with more traditional wine which still includes some portion of honey.

Best Wine Closest to Italian Moscato

Sister Creek Vineyards (http://www.sistercreekvineyards.com). By far Sister Creek has the closest thing to a sparkling Italian Moscato in Texas. Llano Estacado Winery has recently come out with their Moscato which is close but Sister Creek still holds the award. We pulled up to the winery and a member from another winery was there. When we asked why, the answer was they know how to make Muscat Canelli. Who are we to argue with the experts out there? Sister Creek Vineyards make a Muscat Canelli and a Muscat Canelli Reserve. You can probably find the regular Muscat Canelli in your local big liquor store, but not the Reserve. To get that, you will need to visit the winery.

Best Place for a Texas Winery Passport Code

Grapevine, Texas (http://www.grapevinewinetrail.com). If you want to collect some Texas Winery Passport codes, the best place to get a few is in the middle of Grapevine. There you can get a Texas Winery Passport code within walking distance from Homestead Winery, D’Vine Wine (as long as you do not have another D’Vine Wine passport code since they are all the same), and Farina’s Winery. If you feel like doing more walking, you can walk to Su Vino Winery and La Buena Vida Vineyards too.

Most Fun at a Winery

CrossRoads Winery (http://www.crwinery.com). We have had a lot of fun at different wineries but the most fun is when you can interact with the owners. To that end, CrossRoads Winery has to be our number one choice. We visited on a Friday night when they have live music. Darlene Leiker, co-owner, handled our tasting and she was a blast. When you get introduced to jalapeno shots by the owner, and so you don’t feel left out she does them with you, what a fun time! We’ll talk more in a future blog post about CrossRoads Winery, but briefly a jalapeno shot is a candied jalapeno pepper in a white wine shot glass.

Best Pourer

Lone Star Wine Cellars (http://www.lonestarwinecellars.com). Some pourers handling tastings just go through the motions to do the tasting and yet there are others who make your tasting really enjoyable. The most bubbliest pourer we have met is Rubye, an elderly lady at Lone Star Wine Cellars. The next time you’re in McKinney, call ahead and see if Rubye will be working.

Well?

So there is our first TX Wine Lover awards list. What are your comments or suggestions on our choices? Are there any other categories we may have forgotten? We’d love to hear from you.