By Laurie Ware
My husband and I spent a beautiful spring Texas day walking around the square in Granbury, Texas, drinking wine at the 2013 Granbury Wine Walk. Seventeen wineries were on the list to offer tastings at the Granbury Wine Walk and for a fee of $25 at the gate ($20 if you ordered online ahead of time) you received an etched festival wineglass and a map with 10 tasting tabs.
We arrived early to help some friends at a couple of wineries get their tents and tables set up. When it was about time for the festival to start, Shelly and I made our way to the main gate to secure our tickets. Still with some time to spare we decided we’d start on the lawn behind the Langdon Center where Arché (Saint Jo), Landon (McKinney), Calais (Dallas), and Barking Rocks (Granbury) were set up. In their cluster was also Texas Hill Country Olive Oil Company, a retirement center selling artisan breads, a wine barrel furniture company, and an artist.
Flat Creek Estates – Rick Naber
The next cluster of vendors we visited was right on Pearl Street just down from the ticket booths. Brushy Creek (Alvord), Bluff Dale Vineyards (Granbury), Flat Creek Estates (Marble Falls), and Los Pinos (Pittsburg) were all very busy pouring their wines as the lines snaked down the sidewalk. Interspersed between the wineries were other vendors. W.I.N.E. was selling cork jewelry and Eagle Mountain Cheese. On the corner was Wenzel Lone Star Meat out of Hamilton and he was sampling and selling his cheese and jerkies. He also had some dry rubs and sauces available. The final vendor in this cluster was Texas Toffee. He had some fantastic toffees, some covered in chocolates and chopped nuts. Oh yes! A package of dark chocolate covered toffee with chopped pecans found its way home in our bag!
On the opposite corner was another cluster of wineries and vendors. Brennan Vineyards (Comanche), Blue Ostrich (Saint Jo), Dionisio (Houston), and finally Sunset (Burleson) were also very busy all afternoon pouring their delicious wines. The vendors were Accents 2, L3 Glass, Round Rock Honey, Rogue4-Art, and Texas Cheese House. So many beautiful items and yummy honey and cheeses.
Texas Legato – Sulynn and Bill Bledsoe
The final cluster down the West End Alley had Lost Oak Winery (Burleson), Haak Winery (Santa Fe), Fiesta (Lometa), and down on the end across from the ticket booth on the City Hall lawn was Texas Legato (Lampasas). There were other vendors scattered in the alley as well including Veldhuisen Cheese (Dublin), a Mexican restaurant, and some other crafty things. The businesses that had doors to the alley pulled some of their wares out and made them available to the foot traffic as well.
We sat for a few minutes and had a couple of tacos and went over our “to purchase” list, narrowing down the choices and making sure we would get what we really wanted without going overboard.
For those reading this as an e-mail, please go to the website for a slideshow of photos.
