Wine Trail Events

January 30, 2013 by 4 Comments

I recently published a post about spring and summer wine festivals. A comment was added from Bruce Anderson of Sunset Winery that I should list wine trail events. What a great idea! A lot of Texas wineries are on wine trails and they often have events throughout the year which feature different themes, special activities/wines at each winery, etc. It makes it easy to visit a number of wineries which are in close proximity to each other. Bottom line, they are fun!

So now there is a new page to the website where you should be able to get all your wine trail event information. When you come back to this website, just select the Texas Wineries menu and the Texas Wine Trail Events menu item.

I will keep it updated throughout the year as new events are announced for each wine trail. Enjoy and hit a wine trail today!

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Homestead Winery

August 6, 2012 by 2 Comments

http://www.homesteadwinery.com

Homestead Winery has three locations in Texas: Ivanhoe, Denison, and Grapevine. Homestead Winery is owned by Gabe and Barb Parker who started it to continue the Parker family farming tradition begun by Gabe’s grandfather more than 100 years ago. The main location in Ivanhoe is the oldest continually operated winery located in the Red River Valley of North Texas. Winemaking is under the direction of Dr. Roy Mitchell.

I have had the opportunity to visit all three locations. Each location is a little bit different but the main production for the winery happens in Ivanhoe, although some production happens in Denison.

Common among all three locations is personalized private labels available for you to use on their wines. Homestead Winery has also created two wines, a Rosé and Zinfandel, with a Don Gabriel label which celebrates the Latino culture. A wine club is available at Homestead Winery.

Ivanhoe

Homestead Winery opened in 1989 at the original location in Ivanhoe. This location is in a 100 year old house. Besides being a winery, this location also rents out the bedrooms in the house for up to 10 people.

Homestead - Ivanhoe-outside

The first room you encounter when entering the house is the tasting room. You stand at the tasting bar and there is a tasting fee for a selection of four wines. Tasting Sherry and Port does cost more. Tasting is complimentary though with a purchase of wine. The tastings are poured from the bottle and water is served during the tasting.

Homestead Winery uses 100% Texas grapes except the Champagne which uses grapes from New Mexico. The grapes from Texas come from Levelland in the High Plains. They use both corks and screw caps on their Texas wines.

Homestead - Ivanhoe-inside

Homestead Winery also does the major crush, winemaking operations, and bottling of wines for approximately six other wineries. I was told the bottling process is expensive so the other wineries lease out space in the Homestead Winery production facility so they can make their wines.

There is a small gift shop available for the sale of wine racks, accessories, and wine related items. Tours are available if someone is there to give one. Unfortunately when I visited, there was nobody available to give a tour.

Denison

When we were doing the Munson Wine Trail, it was near the end of a Saturday and we unfortunately learned the Ivanhoe location closes early on Saturdays so we were unable to visit that location. However, since the Denison location is inside Devolli’s Italian restaurant which is open later, we were able to visit there.

Homestead - Denison-outside

We arrived at the restaurant and since it was dinner time, we went immediately to the restaurant to eat dinner and do a wine tasting later. After dinner, the wine tasting was held at the front of the restaurant. Some wine accessories and related items are also available for purchase.

Music events also happen at the restaurant. The Homestead Winery production facility for Denison is located in the old Star Movie Theater which bottles Sherry, Port, and Red wine.

Grapevine

The Grapevine location for Homestead Winery is also in an old house which first opened in 1997. The old house is an 1890′s Texas Victorian home just off historic Main Street and features porch details, old hardwood floors, and a fireplace mantel.

Homestead - Grapevine-outside

When you enter the house/tasting room, the tasting bar is to the right. You stand at the tasting bar to do your tasting. It is a relaxing atmosphere in the old house to do a tasting. You can also purchase wine related items and accessories in the tasting room.

Homestead - Grapevine-inside

Homestead Winery at Denison and Ivanhoe is on the Munson Wine Trail. The Grapevine location is on the Grapevine Wine Trail.

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Wineries Can Close so Drink Local Might Help

April 19, 2012 by Leave a Comment

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 as wineries can close.

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 - sign

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.

Texoma Winery

Texoma Winery is another unfortunate closure. The winery was located in Whitewright and was owned by Bob and Lisa White with Bob White doing the wine making. When we visited, it took a few emails until we finally understood you could not go to their winery to do a tasting, but had to do their tastings at the Dallas Farmer’s Market in Shed 2. This was a unique experience for us, but the foot traffic was probably very good at the Farmer’s Market. Texoma Winery closed in November 2011.

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.

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