restaurant - Texas Wine Lover

Rising Star Vineyards – Salado

March 5, 2013 by Jeff 2 Comments

http://www.risingstarvineyards.com

Rising Star Vineyards has two locations. The main location and winery is in Rising Star and a tasting room is in Salado. The winery is owned by Michael and Vicki Oubre and Michael is the winemaker.

Rising Star Salado - outside

The Rising Star winery opened in 2006. The tasting room in Salado opened in May 2011 which makes the Rising Star wines more accessible since it is located along I-35. When we first visited the Salado location, Vicki Oubre was operating the tasting room. This post is about our visit at that time so things may have changed. We tried visiting recently for an updated view but the tasting room did not open on time and we had to leave after waiting for 30 minutes.

Rising Star Salado - inside

Tastings are done while sitting at the tasting bar. The tastings are poured from the uncorked bottles. There was no tasting fee at the time and we were able to taste all their wines. Food is available to cleanse your palate between tastings.

All the grapes used in Rising Star’s wines are from Texas. The Rising Star Vineyards label is 100% estate wines while their Dodd’s Creek Wines label is for grapes not from their vineyard.

Rising Star Salado - gift shop

There is a small gift shop in the tasting room.

Since our initial visit, a cheese deli and bistro is now available. Cheeses come from Texas such as Veldhuizen, Brazos Valley, Latte Da Dairy, and Watonga. Soups, salads, sandwiches, and pasta dishes are available to eat and you can eat in the cheesery, garden area, or tasting room.

Rising Star Salado - Cheesery

The Salado location is on the San Gabriel Wine Trail.

Filed Under: Wineries Tagged With: cheesery, restaurant, Texas Wineries, Way Out Wineries

Day Trip to Some Bluebonnet Wine Trail Wineries

January 4, 2013 by Jeff Leave a Comment

We met up with some wine friends to visit a few Bluebonnet Wine Trail wineries during a day trip. It all started with Gloria and me deciding to go to Messina Hof for New Year’s Eve. Laurie and Shelly Ware from Cleburne decided to do the same. Dave and Kelli Potter from Frisco were going to be visiting family in the general area so we all decided to join up and visit a few wineries.

Day Trip - diner

We met at the Southern Flyer Brenham Airport Diner which is a very popular restaurant designed with a 50′s décor. We tried eating there one time but the restaurant had a long waiting time so we never got a chance. This time the plan was to all meet when they opened so the line was not a problem. After a good lunch, we headed to our first winery of the day: Windy Winery.

Linda Meitzen

Owners August and Linda Meitzen were just opening the winery and welcomed us to sit at a table to do the tasting. They were both very friendly and informative about their wines. We learned that Champanel, one of the grapes they plant, is a great plant for an arbor. They also grow Blanc du Bois and Lenoir grapes. We learned that they are one of a couple Texas wineries who produce their own sparkling wine from Texas grapes in Texas. Special equipment is needed to produce a sparkling wine and other wineries that sell sparkling wines have them bottled out of state. Brushy Creek Vineyards and Winery is the only other winery we are aware of who does the same.

Pleasant Hill Winery

It was now time for Pleasant Hill Winery, our second winery of the day. Co-owner Jeanne Cottle was present to help the six of us through a tasting of their wines. While waiting for the tasting, we all enjoyed looking through the expansive gift shop items. Shelly and I also enjoyed looking at their corkscrew collection while there. Overall it was a pleasant time at Pleasant Hill Winery, no pun intended.

The last stop was Saddlehorn Winery. Gloria and I have stopped at Saddlehorn Winery before and have met owner Steve Morgan at wine festivals with me even helping their table at a wine festival this past fall. Steve has promised a tour of the winery but we were never able to get the timing correct so he was present whenever we stopped by. Before our day trip I contacted Steve to see if the winery was going to be open and if he was going to be around. It was a yes on both questions.

Steve Morgan

We arrived at Saddlehorn and the tasting bar was already almost filled to capacity. Steve was the only one working and we had no problem waiting while the earlier customers were taken care of. He did start a tasting for us while the other customers finished up and we were eventually left alone in the winery. Steve then took us to the production room and showed us around.

The event center room is almost finished and it looks great, especially the Saddlehorn logo on the floor. Another extension to the back of the winery has been built and the stainless steel tanks will be moved into that room along with storage for cases of wine. Saddlehorn Winery has grown nicely in the couple years since it has been open.

It was the end of our short day trip and we all said goodbye until the next time we get together to visit wineries and enjoy great Texas wine.

Jeff, Gloria, Shelly, Laurie, Kelli, Dave

Filed Under: Trips Tagged With: Bluebonnet Wine Trail, restaurant, road trip, Texas Wine, Texas Wineries, Vineyard

New Year’s Eve at Messina Hof

January 2, 2013 by Jeff Leave a Comment

Gloria and I decided to do something for this past New Year’s Eve instead of sitting at home so the decision was made to attend Messina Hof’s Winter Wonderland New Year’s Eve Celebration. Wine friends Laurie and Shelly Ware from Cleburne decided to join us.

Laurie and Shelly had visited Messina Hof once before but never had the chance to take a tour. We decided to go early to Messina Hof to enjoy a tour before the evening’s festivities. Unfortunately it was a cold drizzly day so the tour was modified a little as we could not stand out in the vineyard and quickly walked from one building to the next. Skye was our tour guide and she still gave all the tour information while we stood in other areas. I can’t count how many Messina Hof tours I have taken but the tour guides are usually different and I learn something different every time. At the end of the tour Skye presented four wines for the group to taste ranging from dry to a Port style.

Shelly and Laurie enjoying the tour from Skye

We all then went to a nearby hotel to check in and get ready for the evening. Dinner reservations at Messina Hof’s Vintage House restaurant were at 8 pm. We were seated and it was a very nice three course meal served with a different wine for each course. The first course was a delicious butternut squash soup, followed by a cranberry salad, and then a choice of three entrees: quail, mahi mahi, or petit filet of beef. It was a wonderful meal to start the evening.

2012 New Year's Eve - wine bar

Next we headed upstairs where a wine bar was set up with at least ten wines from which to select. We each selected a wine and went to find a seat at a table. All the tables were decorated with either candles or a nice centerpiece. A DJ was present playing a nice variety of music ranging from country music to Glenn Miller to new line dances.

2012 New Year's Eve - Paul & Merrill Bonarrigo

Paul and Merrill Bonarrigo

At the beginning of the dancing Paul and Merrill Bonarrigo arrived, walked around to each table, and greeted each person. A trivia game was played in the middle of the evening and a guessing of the number of M&M’s in a jar was done.

2012 New Year's Eve - Us & Wares

The countdown to midnight started and as the clock hit midnight, a new year had begun. More dancing was continued but then it was time to call it a night. Once again it had been another great event at Messina Hof.

Thanks to Paul and Merrill Bonarrigo for their photo.