Posts Tagged Fredericksburg

The next TXwine Twitter Tuesday will be held on Tuesday, May 8th, at 7pm CST. Normally TXwine Twitter Tuesday is held on the first Tuesday of the month so please make note of the date for May.

The wines of the new 4.0 Cellars will be featured and representatives and their winemakers will be available to talk about the new winery, its wines, and answer your questions.

Since we were fortunate to be there prior to its opening, I can attest the winery is a fantastic addition to the Fredericksburg growing list of wineries. Even though the next TXwine Twitter Tuesday is featuring one winery, it is in fact featuring the three wineries which make up 4.0 Cellars: Brennan Vineyards (Comanche, TX), Lost Oak Winery (Burleson, TX), and McPherson Cellars (Lubbock, TX).

Pick up your favorite wine from any of the three wineries and join us for the Texas wine chat and tasting. All three wineries have participated before in a TXwine Twitter Tuesday chat so it should be a very informative, fun, and lively chat.

Please see the Vintage Texas blog (http://vintagetexas.com/blog/?p=6219) for more information and we hope to see you online!

Unfortunately it’s a fact of life. Businesses open and close all the time due to various reasons. The winery business is not exempt from this process. In the effort to maintain the “latest and greatest” list of all Texas wineries, in addition to adding new wineries which are opening, we also have to update the lists for those wineries that have closed.

Sometimes it is known why a winery has closed and other times it is not disclosed. Perhaps there may have been personal reasons or perhaps there just weren’t enough customers buying their Texas wine. With the DrinkLocalWine 2012 conference next week, it has brought to my mind how we all should support our local wineries as much as we can. Maybe our little effort of supporting our local winery might help them remain in business.

Khatter Vineyards

http://www.khattervineyards.com

The picture above was taken when we visited Khatter Vineyards before opening hours. Unfortunately now it represents the winery’s state since their website now says they are closed.

Khatter Vineyards was our first experience of visiting a boutique winery located in a neighborhood subdivision in Parker. A small vineyard was in the house’s half-acre lot and a building had been built next to the house which housed the tasting room. We had a nice visit with owner Carolyn Khatter and enjoyed her Texas wines. Khatter Vineyards was on the Munson Wine Trail.

Lost Creek Winery

http://lostcreekvineyard.com

Lost Creek Winery unfortunately had their loss due to Mother Nature. The winery was owned by David Brinkman in Sunrise Beach.

On June 26, 2007, floods reaching 30 feet tall invaded Lost Creek’s tasting room. The flood destroyed almost everything in the building and washed away thousands of cases of wine and inventory.

In January 2008, David Brinkman started rebuilding on higher ground and in June they were finished with the lower level and reopened to the public. Now Lost Creek Winery is primarily the Tree House Bistro which is a restaurant. They still serve their original wines and wine from around the world with a full bar. Be sure to stop at their restaurant when you are near.

Lost Creek Vineyards & Tasting Room & Gourmet Foods

In the meantime, Lost Creek opened Lost Creek Vineyards & Tasting Room & Gourmet Foods in Johnson City. We stopped there a couple times on the way back from Fredericksburg. They sold other Texas wines along with sauces, oils, and other food products. When we drove by last week we were going to visit and take some photos but unfortunately they have now closed. The closure must have been recent as there is still a wine barrel by the curb with Lost Creek wine bottles glued to the top.

D’Vine Wine of Austin

When I visited Lakeview Winery, I was also planning on visiting nearby D’Vine Wine of Austin. I’m glad I visited Lakeview Winery first as the owners told me D’Vine Wine of Austin had just closed. They were not certain why but it is unfortunate another winery had closed its doors.

Help Us Help You: As mentioned previously, we are trying to maintain the latest list of Texas wineries on the website. The above closed wineries are still listed on a lot of locations on the Internet. If you see any new ones we do not have or unfortunately hear of any that are now closed, please let us know so we can update the lists. By helping us keep the correct information, we can all help one another learn about new wineries to visit and ones which have closed.

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.

http://fourpointwine.com

4.0 Cellars is located in Fredericksburg and is a collaboration between three Texas wineries: Brennan Vineyards (Comanche, TX), Lost Oak Winery (Burleson, TX), and McPherson Cellars (Lubbock, TX). The owners of each winery are together the owners of 4.0 Cellars.

The name 4.0 Cellars is inspired by the three separate wineries that came together to form a matchless fourth winery, but the name also includes their common goal of striving for 4.0 perfection. Each of the three wineries strives to carry on the history of Texas winemaking and their tasting room showcases the three wineries winemaking techniques and products in making their Texas wine.

When we took our last big Fredericksburg road trip at the beginning of December, Todd Webster, winemaker at Brennan Vineyards, wanted me to take a photo of the current construction of 4.0 Cellars. The building was framed including the structure of the outside tower. There was obviously still some work to be done. I made a couple one day road trips to Fredericksburg after that and each time could see the continuing construction of 4.0 Cellars. The place was looking good and I could not wait for them to open so we could visit.

Through email I contacted Kelly Davis Aldridge, general manager of 4.0 Cellars, and she told me the winery was to open on Wednesday, April 11th, so we made plans to visit the following Saturday. Unfortunately there were some delays with the opening and it got moved to Monday, April 16th. Since we were originally scheduled to be in Fredericksburg for the weekend, Kelly graciously planned for us to still visit on Saturday.

We arrived at 4.0 Cellars and there were cars in the parking lot and workers were still finishing the landscaping. With the amount of cars present, we were unsure if other people were also invited like we were. We met Kelly inside the tasting room and there was a staff of about 18 people present. She explained they were there finishing training so they would be ready for the opening on Monday. As it turned out we were the very first customers at 4.0 Cellars.

Kelly took us outside and gave us a tour of the property. There is a large covered event space area available for weddings, receptions, birthday parties, and other events. Kelly’s background is hotel management and event planning so when she first saw the property, she immediately started thinking of the weddings and other events which could take place. The covered area also has a fireplace for the winter. Cooling stations will be used to help during the hot summer days. A full service wine bar is outside which can do tastings for overflow, but primarily will be used for people who want to buy wine by the glass or bottle and enjoy sitting in the outside area. Next to the outside wine bar is where they will store their sherry. 4.0 Cellars will be making a sherry and it will probably be the first 4.0 Cellars label available. Most likely McPherson Cellars will produce the sherry and it will be hand bottled on site.

Wine bar and storage

Eventually a vineyard will be planted but it will be mostly for show. After the outside tour we went back into the tasting room and Kelly showed us a private tasting room which can be reserved for tastings or wine pairings. With advance reservations 4.0 Cellars can get local food available for pairings. The private tasting room has a television which will be broadcasting a 12 minute video of the three winery owners talking about their own wineries. The video should also be available on the website which will be updated in a couple days.

It was time to go to the tasting bar and taste some wine. I was waiting for this part because even though we have visited many wineries, we have yet to visit any of the three wineries which make up 4.0 Cellars. We will visit two of the three early next month though when we do the Way Out Wineries wine trail.

At the tasting bar was a gentleman already drinking some wine and we were introduced to Kim McPherson, owner and winemaker of McPherson Cellars. That was a nice surprise. One fun thing we were told is 4.0 Cellars will have the various owners of the three wineries occasionally come into 4.0 Cellars so customers can meet them.

Kim McPherson

We were next introduced to our tasting guide Kassie McPherson, Kim McPherson’s daughter. Kassie will remain at 4.0 Cellars as a tasting room server and was very knowledgeable about all three wineries.

Looking at the tasting menu we learned not every wine from each winery will be available at 4.0 Cellars but there will still be a large selection. Initially on the tasting menu each winery has five wines. A tasting fee will get the visitor a sampling of 6 wines which includes a 4.0 Cellars wine glass. Every week they will have a complimentary wine that is not on the menu for a total of 7 samples. There are also 10% case discounts.

We started our wine tasting and the wines were poured with measured pourers. McPherson Cellars and Brennan Vineyards use some screw caps in addition to corks but Lost Oak Winery only uses corks. Initially on the tasting menu are 5 white wines, 8 red wines, a blush, and a sweet white.

Since we still are primarily white wine drinkers first, we started with the 2011 McPherson Cellars Roussanne. This is McPherson Cellars signature white wine. We then ran into a little situation. For some unknown reason, Gloria seems to be very sensitive to the taste of any wine which has Viognier in it. The rest of the white wines all had Viognier so she moved on to the red wines while I went next to the 2010 Lost Oak Winery Viognier. I have wanted to try this wine since it had recently won a Double Gold medal in the San Francisco Chronicle International Wine Competition. After trying it, I could see why, as it was excellent and a little unlike other Viogniers I have had.

We enjoyed moving through the tasting menu, asking questions, getting answers, and overall having fun with the staff. Serving at the winery for the staff is more of a challenge since they need to learn about each of the three wineries and hopefully be able to answer any question about them. At other places the staff only has to concern themselves with information about one winery.

If you are hungry, cheese boards can be bought which will include local and international cheeses, crackers, fruit, and chocolate. A sampling of a cheese board was provided which we enjoyed, especially after we jokingly learned they had just finished making the cheese the night before. We told you they were a fun group!

On the tasting menu is McPherson Cellars Sangiovese which Kassie informed us was often noted as their signature red wine. The Sangiovese grapes still come from Kim McPherson’s father’s original Sagmore Vineyard which got its name because the original trellis wires sagged noticeably.

Lost Oak Winery will still have bottles there with the Lone Oak label until they are gone since the change in the winery name was recently done. That change also adds an extra challenge to the staff to remember to use the correct Lost Oak name, especially those who have been familiar with the Lone Oak name for some time.

Brennan Vineyard’s wine was represented very well with their version of Viognier, Three White Chicks, and the 2009 Buffalo Rhome. We are constantly learning about Texas wine and wine in general as we learned the Buffalo Rhome is a Rhone style wine which also includes the Cinsault grape, a blending grape we had not yet heard of.

We had a great time tasting the various wines 4.0 Cellars offers. We decided to get some bottles of wine and learned the prices at 4.0 Cellars are the same as if someone had gone to the individual wineries themselves.

4.0 Cellars has a small gift shop including clothing and wine accessories. Two wine clubs are offered, a Dean’s List and an Honor Society. Note the 4.0 theme?

I am sure the information will be on 4.0 Cellars’ website but their hours will be Monday through Saturday from 10am-6pm and Sunday from 12pm-5pm.

Before we left, we were asked to be the first people to sign the guest book. If you visit, make sure you sign the guest book too!

Overall, it was a great experience at 4.0 Cellars and definitely well worth the wait for them to open. There is no doubt we will definitely be stopping in the next time we are in the Fredericksburg area. If you happen to be doing the Wine Road 290 trail, make sure you include 4.0 Cellars in your wineries to visit.

http://www.westcavecellars.com

Westcave Cellars Winery is located in Round Mountain and is owned by Allan and Margaret Fetty. Allan is also the winemaker. They opened the winery in May 2011 but that was not the start of their Texas wine experience.

Allan and Margaret started their vineyard in 1999 by planting three acres of cabernet vines. After three years, they began selling their grapes to local wineries. A number of years later, they decided they could make wine themselves from their grapes. They started making wine in 2010 and officially opened the winery on Mother’s Day 2011. Westcave Cellars Winery on their 65 acre property now has about 7 acres of vineyard.

The winery is open Friday through Sunday but will open by appointment only on the other days. On the way back from Fredericksburg, we stopped on a Sunday to visit the winery. With the help of our GPS, the winery was easy to find on a country road. When you drive through the gate, you are greeted with a large vineyard to the right. A house and the winery are located to the other side of the driveway.

When we walked into the winery’s tasting room, another couple was already enjoying the Texas wine at the bar and Allan and Margaret greeted us. Margaret started a tasting for us while we enjoyed a nice conversation with both couples.

Allan and Margaret Fetty

The wine bottles are corked and you taste while seated at the tasting bar. There is normally a tasting fee for 5 wines, but the day we were there they let people taste all 7 of their current wines. The tastings are poured from the bottle and you get to keep the free glass. Private tastings with the winemaker can also be held for a higher fee. Crackers are available to cleanse your palate during your tasting.

Westcave Cellars Winery uses 100% Texas grapes including about 30% of their own grapes. They are hoping to continue using 100% Texas grapes but the Merlot grapes which they get from the Tony Hendricks Vineyard, which Woodrose Winery also uses, might be tough to get in 2012.

Tours can be reserved for 6 or more people. If it is a slow day and Allan is around, it might be possible to take a tour for less people. That is what happened when we arrived on a wet and cold day. Allan showed us the back room where the wine production is done. It is a small room so they have to move equipment around depending on what they need at the time. For example at bottling time, they open the doors and set up the bottling line. Some equipment is stored upstairs in the production room. A recent equipment purchase from Grape Creek Vineyards has made their production time a lot easier and faster.

An adjacent room has the wine barrels and stainless steel tanks. Allan explained he only uses French oak barrels because after some experimenting with American oak, he believes it gives their wines a softer finish. He hopes to expand the production part of the winery someday. They do not have plans on becoming a much bigger winery though and will continue to concentrate on making great Texas wine.

In 2010 they produced 1,300 cases of wine including varieties of Cabernet Sauvignon, Viognier, Merlot, Tannat, Muscat Blanc, and Vermentino. They produced 800 cases of wine in 2011 due to the Texas draught reducing the grape yields.

I really wanted to try their Tannat, but we were unable to try it when we visited since the following Wednesday they were doing a wine education class with just a Tannat tasting. They held one case of their Tannat back for the event and other Texas wineries Brushy Creek Vineyards and Winery provided their Tannat in addition to Bending Branch Winery. They would also have a California and French Tannat available to taste for the event.

They were going to have a contest among different art work to decide what to use on the next label and we saw the original art which could be used. They were wondering about their label which has a matte finish, but we both agreed it was definitely a nice looking label and unique from most labels which have a glossy finish.

Live music is held with a barbecue under a nicely shaded area of oak trees. They have seating for about 60 people with picnic tables and chairs, and do what they call “Grillin’ and Chillin’ with Friends” where they supply all the food and sides just for donations and grill barbecue. The large grill is also used to roast a whole hog for certain occasions. You can bring a picnic, sodas, water, and chairs too for enjoying a relaxing day. Other special tasting events are held throughout the year.

There is a small gift shop with wine accessories and nicely made up baskets with wine and other items. A wine club is available called the Cellar Dwellers which includes four shipments of wine per year plus other benefits and discounts.

Westcave Cellars Winery is on the Texas Hill Country Wine Trail. It is definitely worth a trip to find this up and coming winery on the back country roads.