Posts Tagged Munson Wine Trail

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.sanmartinowinery.com

San Martiño Winery is located north of Rockwall and is owned by Maria C. Perez and Emilio Ramos. Emilio Ramos is the winemaker. They started making wine in 2003 and the winery opened in 2004.

San Martiño Winery is a little difficult to locate because the online maps are usually wrong and some GPS’s don’t get their address. The best way to find the winery is to read the directions on their website. Fortunately they are aware of the situation and give clear directions to the winery.

The first time we visited the winery was on a Friday night and they close at 9:00pm. We arrived around 8:30pm and were told they were done doing tastings for the evening. They apologized and offered us a glass of wine, but since we didn’t know what we would like, we passed on the offer. The last time I was in the area I made sure I visited during the day.

The winery is a very impressive looking building and has a beautiful tasting room. A vineyard sits in front of the winery.

Since it was early during the day on a Friday, the only one in the winery was Cristina, daughter of Emilio Ramos. She greeted me and handled my wine tasting. Cristina commented how it was too bad her father was not at the winery as he would have been glad to give me a tour. You can arrange for a tour if you make an appointment prior to your visit. For groups of 10 or more, private tastings and a tour of the facilities with the winemaker can be reserved for a fee per person.

Tastings are done while standing at the tasting bar. There is a tasting fee for five Texas wines. The wines are poured from the bottle. San Martiño Winery uses corks but also has some wines with screw caps. Tables inside and outside are available to enjoy a glass of wine.

The winery makes mostly red wines although there are a few white wines. Cristina said the winery uses about 75% Texas grapes and there is no hiding where the grapes come from. For example:

• Paulina’s Vineyards located in Rockwall, Texas provides Blanc du Bois
• Newsom Vineyards in Plains, Texas provides Cabernet Sauvignon, Sangiovese, Tempranillo, and Albariño
• Palacios Vineyards in Brenham, Texas is the source for Syrah, Merlot, and French Colombard
• Chardonnay and Chenin Blanc is from small vineyards across Texas
• Stuart Vineyards in Temecula, California is a source for Zinfandel
• Naggiard Vineyards in Grass Valley, California is a source for Petit Verdot, Mourvèdre, and Syrah
• Gunlash Vineyards in Sonoma, California is a source for Petite Sirah

The winery produces about 7,500 cases of wine a year. There is a small gift shop present and a wine club is available.

Music events are held during the week and dinners are held regularly. An event center is available which can be rented for events such as weddings.

San Martiño Winery is on the Munson Wine Trail. I would suggest the next time you are in the Rockwall area to stop by and visit the beautiful facilities and enjoy San Martiño Winery’s Texas wine.

http://www.crwinery.com

CrossRoads Winery is located in Frisco and is owned by Bob and Darlene Leiker. The winery was originally opened in 2005 and then purchased by the Leikers in 2010. The previous winemaker, John Otis, continues to work at the winery making Texas wine.

The first time we visited CrossRoads Winery was on a Friday night. We had planned on visiting a few wineries that Friday and since CrossRoads Winery was opened the latest, it was going to be our last visit of the evening. As it turned out, it was a great decision as we had the most fun ever at a winery. As a result of that evening, CrossRoads Winery was awarded our “Most Fun at a Winery” award in our first TX Wine Lover awards.

The problem we had though, especially in the dark, was trying to find the winery. We set our GPS to the address and in the dark we were led down a driveway which ended in front of a house. We knew it was wrong so we resorted to the dreaded phone call to the winery, “Where are you located?” We were given directions and headed further down the road. We thought we had gone too far and turned around. Once again even though I didn’t want to (I’m a guy – I don’t ask for directions), I called again to find out where they were. We finally found the winery and can understand why we didn’t recognize it from the dark road. We were looking for a separate building and CrossRoads Winery is the end building in a set of warehouses.

Hoping whoever we saw inside didn’t recognize my voice as the person who couldn’t find the winery, we entered the winery and were greeted by Darlene Leiker.  We had the option to do a tasting at a table or at the tasting bar. We decided to sit at the tasting bar.

Darlene handled our wine tasting and it didn’t take long to learn she is a lot of fun. She is originally from the Houston area so we had that in common too. Her husband Bob was busy with other customers but did stop by to say hello earlier and later visited with us too. As most wine folks are, they are a very friendly and cordial couple.

Bob and Darlene Leiker

Darlene poured the tastings from the previously corked bottles. There is a tasting fee for 5 wines or a higher tasting fee for all of CrossRoads Winery’s Texas wines (14 the last time I visited).

While enjoying the different CrossRoads wines, a musician was performing in the corner of the winery. Darlene explained every Friday night is live music night at the winery. Since it often gets crowded on Friday nights, reservations are recommended.

There is a nice selection of food from which to purchase to either eat during the tasting or later while enjoying a glass of wine and listening to the music.

We were enjoying our tasting when Darlene asked us if we ever had a jalapeño shot. We were confused and said no. She asked if we liked jalapeños and Gloria replied that she did. For me, if it’s not too hot I can handle it. Darlene said it was the best part of Friday nights for her as she could do them along with the customers. She then explained the shot to Gloria. A jalapeño shot is a glass with a small amount of CrossRoads Winery’s Sunfusion wine. Sunfusion is a blend of Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, and Muscat Canelli. A candied jalapeño pepper is then placed into the wine. The object is then to pour it all in your mouth but not swallow anything, chew the jalapeño , and then swallow both the jalapeño and wine at the same time.

Gloria was a trooper and did the shot with Darlene. They of course then wanted me to try it. They promised it wasn’t too hot so what the heck, you only live once. Darlene served up another round for the three of us and we all did the shot. I have to admit it wasn’t that hot and it was actually pretty good. I keep asking Gloria when we see candied jalapeños in stores now if she wants to buy some.

The rest of the evening was just as much fun drinking wine and talking with Bob and Darlene. Darlene mentioned they have In Home Wine Tasting Parties where she will bring the wine to your house. The party can be purchased for $99 for 2 hours of fun. Since Darlene occasionally makes trips to Houston, we are definitely keeping the party idea in the back of our minds.

A nice gift shop is present with wine accessories and other items. CrossRoads Winery also has a wine club and special events are held like grape stomping, murder mystery dinners, cooking classes, and more. The winery can be rented out for special events with the venue holding up to 150 adults. CrossRoads Winery has a barrel program where you can have your own wine made by CrossRoads Winery complete with your own private label and a bottling party.

We said our goodbyes as we closed down the winery and vowed we would come back the next time we were in the Frisco area. Gloria has not had a chance to re-visit but when I went to Dallas to attend a conference, I had to make sure I stopped in on the Friday night.

I had arranged with fellow wine blogger Dave Potter of The Grapes Around Texas (http://thegrapesaroundtexas.com) to meet him for the first time at the winery. Since he lives in the area, he is good friends with Bob and Darlene and a frequent visitor at the winery. He warned them I was coming and ensured we had a reserved table waiting.

When I arrived, Darlene met me at the door and even though it had been months, it was like Gloria and I had recently visited. I decided I wanted to do a full tasting and this time Bob handled the tasting. Dave had not arrived yet so Bob and I had a great conversation about various topics including, of course, wine.

CrossRoads Winery gets most of their grapes from Generation Grape Growers in Seymour, Texas owned by Larry and Pattie Bratcher, and also from Square Cloud Winery in Richardson, Texas owned by Jackson Anderson. Later I was introduced to Jackson Anderson who had arrived and he has an interesting vineyard. He is experimenting with different types of grapes and currently grows nine red grape varieties and four white grape varieties. The winery is not open yet but I will definitely arrange a tour of the vineyard the next time I am in the area or perhaps even visit the winery at that time if it is open.

Dave Potter arrived and he, Bob, and I had a fun time talking and drinking wine the rest of the evening. The idea of the jalapeño shot came up and surprisingly Dave had never tried one. That meant there was no doubt we were going to do one. Darlene set us all up and we proceeded to do the shot. I had a little problem this time because I drank the wine accidentally first. I don’t know what happened to Dave though as he suddenly lurched back from his chair and started coughing. Of course that brought laughter and the poor guy received the brunt of harassment the rest of the evening from one of the winery workers. What a great sport he was though.

Jeff, Dave, Bob

I closed the winery again (do I detect a trend here?) with Dave and the others, and we all bid each other a fond farewell.

If you are ever in the Frisco area, you definitely need to stop by CrossRoads Winery for a fun time, especially on a Friday night while you can enjoy live music. CrossRoads Winery is part of the Munson Wine Trail.

http://www.parisvineyards.com

Paris Vineyards is located in Paris, Texas, which is probably the most northeastern winery in Texas. Larry and Denise Dority are the owners of the Texas winery and vineyards. The vineyards are located about eight miles northeast of Paris and the tasting room is located in the square of Paris which they call Paris Vineyards Winery on the Square.

Doing my usual research, I found out from their website the winery opened at 11:00am. It also stated tours were available at the vineyard by appointment only. I tried calling and emailing a couple times to confirm tasting room hours and to see if I could get a tour of the Vineyard but never got a reply. I was hoping for an interesting tour of the vineyard in addition to getting the second Texas Winery Passport code.

I arrived to the tasting room at 1:10pm after a long drive and was immediately floored when the door had a “Closed” sign and the hours were listed as opening at 1:00pm. What? I had even arrived after 1:00pm. I stood there in disbelief not knowing what to do, but fortunately within about a minute, Matthew McCormick, who is the manager of the tasting room, walked around the corner and opened the winery. Whew!

Matthew apologized and admitted the website was out of date and explained how they had hired the wrong person to create it and paid too much. They would like to update the website but they don’t have the FTP password in order to even log in and update any files. I informed him I was a web developer so if they ever got the information, I could help them out. But until that time, the website still says they open at 11:00am, but they really open at 1:00pm.

I inquired about visiting the vineyard. Matthew said his brother used to give the tours at the vineyard but he has since moved elsewhere so no tours are given now. He admitted there wasn’t much to see at the vineyard anyway since there are only two acres of vines. That was disappointing as it would have been interesting to see the vineyard and production facility. Since there is a different Texas Winery Passport code for the Vineyard, the tasting room should have it available for those who make the far trip to visit Paris Vineyards, especially since you are unable to visit the actual vineyard now.

Matthew said the tasting room opened in 2007 and he thought the vineyard was started in 2004. He said 85% of the grapes used for the Texas wine are Texas grapes, while the rest come from New Mexico. Some of the Paris Vineyards wine labels do not have the word Texas on it which usually means those particular wines are not made with 75% Texas grapes. Matthew ensured me though they were Texas wines. He said they purposely did not put Texas on the label just in case they needed to use non-Texas grapes in the future and hence did not need to change the label. That is one way to cut costs, although it doesn’t really inform the consumer as to what they are buying and drinking. More about Texas on the labels can be found at The Wine Curmudgeon’s post.

Before I visited Paris, I was told I had to see the Eiffel tower which has a cowboy hat on top. Fittingly, the Paris Vineyards label has that same tower. All the Paris Vineyards bottles are corked.

There is a fee for tasting six wines. The tastings are poured from the bottle while you sit at the tasting bar. There are also tables available to enjoy a glass of wine. A small gift shop is present in the tasting room. Paris Vineyards also has a wine club.

I asked Matthew for directions to the Eiffel tower and began my trip to find the landmark. After asking someone else along the way (a guy can ask for directions), I found the tower and I can now say I’ve seen the Eiffel tower, at least one version of the real thing.

Paris Vineyards Winery on the Square is on the Munson Wine Trail.

http://www.landonwinery.com

Landon Winery has two locations, the square in McKinney and in the city of Greenville. Owner Bob Landon opened the first location in McKinney as a D’Vine Wine winery. After a year he then opened in 2005 what we know today as Landon Winery.

We were first introduced to Landon Winery from the Texas Winery Passport program. We had reached the reward level where wineries start giving rewards and our first reward was a private wine tasting with a winemaker for ten people. The winery giving the reward was Landon Winery and we were given a choice to have the private tasting at either Landon Winery location. Since we live over four hours away from McKinney and even farther from Greenville, we chose the McKinney location. Trying to get ten people together for the private tasting was very difficult but we did finally accomplish the feat.

Note: Since the Texas wine marketing budget was cut, there have been rumors that the Texas Winery Passport program will end. Wineries are now even telling customers to submit your Texas Winery Passport codes before September 1st, 2011. We are trying to get confirmation, but if you have any full Passport booklets, be sure to get them submitted before September 1st just in case.

Update! Word is the Texas Winery Passport program will continue. Read more here and here.

Private Wine Tasting

McKinney

Landon Winery is very easy to find in McKinney since it is located in the center of town. The hardest part was finding a parking spot on a busy Saturday since McKinney itself is a tourist attraction with its quaint shops.

Brian Keffer is the general manager of the McKinney location and is also one of the three winemakers at Landon Winery. When we arrived at the winery, we learned he was going to hold our private wine tasting. After all our people arrived, we were seated in the barrel room and Brian introduced us to some of their different wines to taste. There were also cheese and fruit trays available to enjoy during the tasting. Brian gave us a little tour of the production facility in the back of the winery and all of us were able to sample a wine from one of the stainless steel tanks. Overall, everybody had a great time as Brian and Landon Winery were wonderful hosts.

Since we had not done a public wine tasting, the next time I was in the McKinney area I did just that. We had not spent a lot of time at the Greenville location so I decided to do a full tasting in Greenville and a smaller tasting in McKinney. The pourer in McKinney on my last visit was Nichol.

Tastings are held while standing at the tasting bar and there is a fee for tasting five wines. I asked the percentage of Texas grapes used in their wines but Nichol did not know. We counted the wine labels and six wines were labeled as Texas which should mean 75% of the grapes used in the wine are from Texas.

You can buy a cheese tray to eat along with your wine. There is a gift shop available with wine accessories and more. They also offer personalized labels you can put on their wine. The barrel room or the entire winery can be rented for private events.

Outside is a nice sitting area overlooking the McKinney square. Live music events are held every Friday and Saturday at the winery.

Greenville

The Greenville location for Landon Winery opened in 2010. The location is set up as a large restaurant to serve both lunch and dinner. When I first walked in around lunch time, I was asked if I was ready for lunch. Sorry, I was interested in just doing a tasting. It was early for lunch so there were not too many people present in the winery at that time. Later on, the winery started filling up.

I was directed to sit at the tasting bar where Kathy helped me and also provided some information. As in McKinney, there is a fee for tasting five wines. All the wine is corked and Kathy poured from the bottle. The first pour was kind of funny because it was like a normal glass of wine. I said, “Wow, that’s a taste?” She laughed, corrected the mistake, and gave a normal portion for a tasting. I shouldn’t have said anything!

Landon Winery gets their grapes from the Lubbock area, but Kathy wasn’t sure either what percentage of grapes used in their wines are Texas grapes. They make at least these 100% Texas wines: Viognet, Tempranillo, Gewurztraminer, and a Tawny port that came in at a whopping 22% alcohol level. That was the largest percentage I have encountered yet in a Texas wine, and it was good!

I was asked if I wanted an appetizer while I tasted but I declined. Water was served during the tasting. Landon Winery has a wine club and I was told the many benefits of the wine club which are also described on their website.

The production for Landon Winery is done at both the Greenville and McKinney locations, including an Ivanhoe location, although the plan is to soon move all production to Greenville. Landon Winery also helps other local wineries with the production of their wines.

Tours are available at the winery if someone is available to give one. There is a small gift shop available at the winery. A large outside patio is available in addition to numerous inside tables.

Like McKinney, live music is also held Fridays and Saturdays. There is a room and mezzanine which can be rented for private events.

If you are in the McKinney or Greenville area, be sure to check out Landon Winery. Landon Winery’s two locations are on the Munson Wine Trail.