Vineyard - Texas Wine Lover

Brushy Creek Vineyards and Winery

April 22, 2013 by Jeff Leave a Comment

http://www.brushycreekvineyards.com

Brushy Creek Vineyards and Winery is located in Alvord and is owned by Les and Ann Constable. Rachel Cook shares in the wine making duties with Les Constable. Rachel also manages the estate vineyard in addition to several other vineyards that supply grapes to the winery.

Brushy Creek - outside

I arrived at the winery which is located behind the vineyard with four of my friends. We took a quick look at the vineyard first which had an owl standing guard over the vines. The sign for the tasting room also had an owl so the logo for the winery is definitely an owl. As we learned later, the owl logo concept was originally derived by Les Constable and the original graphic was designed by Delia Cuellar, wife of Vintage Texas wine blogger and author Russ Kane.

Upon entering the tasting room, we met Cyndi Stutts, tasting room manager, and Candy Roos, wine club manager. We all found a spot along the bar and began our tasting with both Cyndi and Candy handling our tastings. There are stools available at the tasting bar if you want to sit during your visit.

Brushy Creek - inside

There is a tasting fee for 5 wines and a higher tasting fee lets you taste 6 wines and also keep the wine glass. If you buy three bottles of wine, the tasting is free. I believe we all opted for the higher selection of wines. At least I know I did because I came home with a Brushy Creek wine glass. They offer a selection of more than 20 wines to select from to taste.

Tastings are poured from the uncorked bottles and crackers are available for cleansing your palate. You can also buy cheese and salami trays.

Brushy Creek - wines

We started our tasting and after a few wines the question of a tour was asked. They called Les Constable who lives next door and he showed up at the tasting room to give us a tour. This gave a nice break during our tasting and Les toured us around the winery first to the Owl’s Nest, Brushy Creek’s event center. From the porch you can see vineyards below the winery surrounded by the nice countryside. He showed us where they are currently expanding the winery and then went below the tasting room to where the winery is located.

Les Constable

There were bins of wine fermenting in the winery and Les commented how it was time for us to get to work as the wine needed punching down. Punching down is done to keep the fermenting wine and skins mixed up during red wine fermentation. As the wine ferments, the skins rise to the top and form a thick cap. The cap needs to be broken up a few times a day to increase the extraction of color and flavor, and to prevent the cap from drying out and/or developing bacterial problems. Punching down is done with a tool which looks like a big potato masher.

Shelly Ware and Dave Potter jumped to the task and began punching down the wine which we learned was Tannat and Carignane (most commonly spelled as Carignan). The rest of us watched the guys at work and I believe someone made the comment it was just like Tom Sawyer getting others to whitewash his fence. I had never punched down before so I stepped up to do a little, say I did it, and then handed the tool back to Dave. Hey, I can’t be totally fooled!

Brushy Creek - punching down

While this was going on, Les Constable, a young 68 year old said, “I want to do the best I can with a particular grape.” We learned Les started making wine in 1991 and the winery was opened in 2002. Brushy Creek uses both French and American oak barrels. They produce 2,000 cases of wine a year.

Brushy Creek only uses 100% Texas grapes in their wines. Les said he first brought Tannat into Texas but now gets his Tannat from Reddy Vineyards. Most of their grapes come from the Clear Creek Vineyard and Reddy Vineyards, but they also get grapes from Klassen Vineyard and grapes from Casa de Christobal Vineyard are used in their Texas Grand Rouge wine. Other vineyards used are Martin’s Vineyards in Hockley County and Skinner Bridge Vineyard in Canton, Texas. In their 10 acre estate vineyard, Brushy Creek grows Tempranillo, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Carnelian, Chambourcin, Mourvèdre, Rkatsiteli, Roussanne, Malbec, Tannat, Grenache, Dolcetto, Carignane, Cabernet Franc, Palomino, and Riesling. Les enjoys experimenting with different wines and grapes which will help others.

We were then able to sample some wines not quite ready including a sweetened version of Chambourcin (Cinful Blush Sparkling), Muscat Giallo, Malvasia Bianca, and Rkatsiteli. Les said he has been growing Rkatsiteli for years and said that it is a grape more widely grown in the world than Chardonnay. He said the best part of Rkatsiteli is he does not need to do much with it at all. Les said it grows very well in Texas and personally thinks it is better than Viognier.

Brushy Creek - winery

The tour was done and we thanked Les for his time as we headed back to the tasting room to finish our tasting.

Popular wines at Brushy Creek are:

Chardonnay
Roussanne
Cabernet Sauvignon
Carignane
Chambourcin
Merlot
Tannat
Tempranillo
Blanc du Bois
Texas Rosé
Dessert wines like Boom Chocolatte, Orange Moscato, Ports, and Texas Sparkling Wine

Brushy Creek has a wine club and with their event center often have live music. A gift shop is available with wine accessories, books, and other items. Brushy Creek Vineyards and Winery is on the Cross Timbers Wine Trail.

Our tastings and tour turned out to be a 3.5 hour visit but we enjoyed every minute and would definitely go back again.

Filed Under: Wineries Tagged With: Cross Timbers wine trail, Texas Wineries, Tour, Vineyard, West Texas, Wine club

Arché

April 15, 2013 by Jeff Leave a Comment

http://www.archewines.com

Arché is located in Saint Jo in the Red River Valley and is owned by Howard and Amy Davies along with their son Grayson who is the winemaker. To clear the pronunciation up, Arché is pronounced ar-KAY and is a Greek word meaning the beginning or origin. They decided to call the winery that because they are the first generation of their family to make wine.

Arche - outside

Arché started growing a vineyard in 1999 and opened the winery in 2007. Today they have an 11 acre vineyard and the winery is located in the middle of the vineyard. Grapes grown are Chardonnay, Marsanne, Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Viognier. All wines are made from estate grapes except for their Roussanne which comes from Plains, Texas. But that will be resolved in the near future as they will be planting Roussanne along with Granache, Mourvèdre, and Dolcetto. They want to be a 100% Estate winery in a few years.

The weekend I decided to visit Arché with four of my friends, both Arché and Blue Ostrich Winery & Vineyard were co-hosting an event in the evening. We decided to visit the wineries earlier so we could do a normal tasting and meet whoever might be there without a crowd present. The plan worked well but we spent a little longer at Blue Ostrich than anticipated and arrived at Arché near the end of the first part of the event with the first group of people. Our friend Laurie Ware had previously talked with Amy Davies about us coming because of the event happening, and even though they were finishing up with the first group of people, they had arranged for Grayson to do a tasting with us.

Arche - inside

Tastings are normally done at the tasting bar or tables, and since the bar was busy with the event people, Grayson set us up with tables in a side room of the tasting room. There is a tasting fee for four wines but for a higher priced tasting fee you can also keep a logo wine glass. You can also finish your tasting by paying a little more for a dessert tasting which is paired with Arché chocolate.

Tastings are poured from the uncorked bottles and crackers are available for cleansing your palate. Cheese plates are also available for purchase.

Howard and Grayson Davies

Grayson explained how he took over as winemaker in 2010. He said they believe they’re going to be known for their Syrahs. Arché produces 1,300 cases of wine a year. They use French, American, and Hungarian barrels in addition to using Flextanks. This was my first exposure to Flextanks which are plastic wine tanks that replicate all the key features of a barrel but without the higher cost. They are also more space efficient in addition to other features.

Arche - tanks

Speaking of tanks, we were fortunate to be able to taste tank and barrel samples of Roussanne, a Rhone blend, and the 2012 Syrah. Popular wines at Arché are:

Roussanne
True Friends (Chardonnay & Roussanne)
Rosé
Ryan’s Red (Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Merlot)
Merlot
Syrah
Cabernet Sauvignon
Tempranillo and Cabernet Port dessert wines

There is a wine club at Arché which is called Club 228. Why is it called Club 228? The reason is because the winery is located on 228 Wagner Road. One week each month they offer the club members a bottle of their featured wine, glass of wine of the member’s choice, and hors d’oeuvres for $20. Arché also holds wine dinners and there is a small gift shop at the winery with wine accessories. Arché is on the Red River Wine Trail.

Amy Davies

We all had an enjoyable time at the winery and I would love to go back to visit during a regular time without an event happening at the same time. The winery has remodeled the tasting room since our visit, so it would be nice to see the changes.

Filed Under: Wineries Tagged With: Red River Wine Trail, Texas Wineries, Vineyard, Wine club

Blue Ostrich Winery & Vineyard

April 2, 2013 by Jeff 1 Comment

http://www.blueostrich.net

Blue Ostrich Winery & Vineyard is located in Saint Jo and is owned by Patrick and Julie Whitehead along with John Fredrick, Jr. Patrick Whitehead is the winery manager, Julie Fredrick Whitehead is the tasting room and business manager, and John Fredrick is the vineyard manager. For people wondering about the relationship between John Fredrick and Julie Fredrick Whitehead, they are cousins. The winery opened September 2011 and has already made headlines with awards from wine competitions.

I saw people commenting on the great time they had at Blue Ostrich and could not wait to make a trip to the winery. I met John Fredrick’s wife Danna at the Texas Wine and Grape Growers Association (TWGGA) Grape Camp last year and Julie Whitehead at this year’s TWGGA Conference. Of course like most people in the wine industry, both were very nice and I was more excited to make the trip to Blue Ostrich.

I finally had the opportunity to visit Blue Ostrich with four of my friends. The weekend we chose to visit Blue Ostrich, both Blue Ostrich and Arché were co-hosting an event in the evening. Even though the event sounded great, we decided to visit the wineries earlier so we could do a normal tasting and meet whoever might be there without a crowd present. It turned out to be a great idea.

Blue Ostrich - outside

We arrived at Blue Ostrich which is located in the Red River Valley on a former ostrich ranch. Yes, there are actually ostriches at the winery as John Fredrick has raised ostriches for nearly 15 years. Right now there are five female and two male ostriches at the winery. They used to be kept in the rear of the winery and vineyard but due to popular demand from customers wanting to see the ostriches, some are kept in the front of the winery now.

When we entered the tasting room, we were welcomed by Julie Whitehead and Danna Fredrick. The tasting bar was free of customers at the moment so we all lined up to stand at the tasting bar to do a tasting. We learned that the tasting room and winery was originally an ostrich hatchery which has now of course been remodeled.

Blue Ostrich - inside

There is a tasting fee for four wines and you can get additional tastings for $1 each. A higher tasting fee will allow you to taste five wines and you get to keep the logo wine glass. The tastings are poured from the uncorked bottles and crackers are available for cleansing your palate during the tasting. You can also buy a cheese board to enjoy at the winery.

During our tastings we met Patrick Whitehead and because they were getting ready for the evening’s event, John Fredrick was available to visit with us too. We talked about the grapes and wines produced. Blue Ostrich uses approximately two thirds of their grapes from Texas with the rest of the grapes coming from New Mexico and Borra Vineyards in Lodi, California. Since they are not yet using 100% Texas grapes, they said instead of using substandard fruit and producing bad wine, they prefer to bring in out of state fruit to produce quality wine.

Blue Ostrich currently has seven acres of vineyards with Tempranillo, Viognier, and Cabernet Sauvignon. They are planting one acre of Merlot and Moscato Giallo. They were able to get Zinfandel grapes from Tanglewood Vineyard near Brenham, Texas and produced 40 cases of the wine. Since the wine has been so popular, they are having it available only for the wine club but we were fortunate to be able to taste the Zinfandel. Join the wine club!

Patrick and John then gave us a tour of the winery. We learned in 2012 they produced 1,300 cases of wine and are hoping to double that number in 2013. Since Patrick is the winemaker and John is the vineyard manager, as we entered the production facility we learned the difference between a winemaker and grower in August is 50 degrees. *rimshot*

Blue Ostrich uses both French and American oak barrels in their winemaking. We were able to taste both unfinished Malbec and Orange Muscat which are going to be good. John showed us the vineyard located behind the winery.

Blue Ostrich - production

We returned to the tasting room after our tour and looked at the gift shop which includes clothing, wine accessories, and more. As mentioned previously, there is a wine club available for customers.

Blue Ostrich prefers to give a story on the back of their wine bottle labels. Popular wines at Blue Ostrich are:

Sweet wines such as Sweet Serendipity (Muscato), Cielo (fantastic red), Lantana (Gewürztraminer)
A blush called Poppy’s Garden (Merlot)
Dry whites like Sparkling White Wine, Viognier, and Roussanne
Dry reds like Cabernet Sauvignon, Meritage (Merlot and Carménère), Tempranillo, and Syrah

After a tasting, you can buy a glass of wine and enjoy drinking it at a table inside the tasting room, or better yet if the weather is nice sit on their large patio under a pergola.

Danna and John Fredrick, Julie Fredrick Whitehead and Patrick Whitehead

We all had a wonderful time visiting Blue Ostrich and enjoyed the hospitality from everybody there. After our visit in the tasting room, a couple of us had to go say hello to the ostriches near the winery.

Blue Ostrich Winery & Vineyard is on the Red River Wine Trail. I would highly recommend making a trip to Blue Ostrich Winery & Vineyard and enjoy the wine and hospitality.

Blue Ostrich - ostrich