Posts Tagged wine bar

http://fourpointwine.com

4.0 Cellars is located in Fredericksburg and is a collaboration between three Texas wineries: Brennan Vineyards (Comanche, TX), Lost Oak Winery (Burleson, TX), and McPherson Cellars (Lubbock, TX). The owners of each winery are together the owners of 4.0 Cellars.

The name 4.0 Cellars is inspired by the three separate wineries that came together to form a matchless fourth winery, but the name also includes their common goal of striving for 4.0 perfection. Each of the three wineries strives to carry on the history of Texas winemaking and their tasting room showcases the three wineries winemaking techniques and products in making their Texas wine.

When we took our last big Fredericksburg road trip at the beginning of December, Todd Webster, winemaker at Brennan Vineyards, wanted me to take a photo of the current construction of 4.0 Cellars. The building was framed including the structure of the outside tower. There was obviously still some work to be done. I made a couple one day road trips to Fredericksburg after that and each time could see the continuing construction of 4.0 Cellars. The place was looking good and I could not wait for them to open so we could visit.

Through email I contacted Kelly Davis Aldridge, general manager of 4.0 Cellars, and she told me the winery was to open on Wednesday, April 11th, so we made plans to visit the following Saturday. Unfortunately there were some delays with the opening and it got moved to Monday, April 16th. Since we were originally scheduled to be in Fredericksburg for the weekend, Kelly graciously planned for us to still visit on Saturday.

We arrived at 4.0 Cellars and there were cars in the parking lot and workers were still finishing the landscaping. With the amount of cars present, we were unsure if other people were also invited like we were. We met Kelly inside the tasting room and there was a staff of about 18 people present. She explained they were there finishing training so they would be ready for the opening on Monday. As it turned out we were the very first customers at 4.0 Cellars.

Kelly took us outside and gave us a tour of the property. There is a large covered event space area available for weddings, receptions, birthday parties, and other events. Kelly’s background is hotel management and event planning so when she first saw the property, she immediately started thinking of the weddings and other events which could take place. The covered area also has a fireplace for the winter. Cooling stations will be used to help during the hot summer days. A full service wine bar is outside which can do tastings for overflow, but primarily will be used for people who want to buy wine by the glass or bottle and enjoy sitting in the outside area. Next to the outside wine bar is where they will store their sherry. 4.0 Cellars will be making a sherry and it will probably be the first 4.0 Cellars label available. Most likely McPherson Cellars will produce the sherry and it will be hand bottled on site.

Wine bar and storage

Eventually a vineyard will be planted but it will be mostly for show. After the outside tour we went back into the tasting room and Kelly showed us a private tasting room which can be reserved for tastings or wine pairings. With advance reservations 4.0 Cellars can get local food available for pairings. The private tasting room has a television which will be broadcasting a 12 minute video of the three winery owners talking about their own wineries. The video should also be available on the website which will be updated in a couple days.

It was time to go to the tasting bar and taste some wine. I was waiting for this part because even though we have visited many wineries, we have yet to visit any of the three wineries which make up 4.0 Cellars. We will visit two of the three early next month though when we do the Way Out Wineries wine trail.

At the tasting bar was a gentleman already drinking some wine and we were introduced to Kim McPherson, owner and winemaker of McPherson Cellars. That was a nice surprise. One fun thing we were told is 4.0 Cellars will have the various owners of the three wineries occasionally come into 4.0 Cellars so customers can meet them.

Kim McPherson

We were next introduced to our tasting guide Kassie McPherson, Kim McPherson’s daughter. Kassie will remain at 4.0 Cellars as a tasting room server and was very knowledgeable about all three wineries.

Looking at the tasting menu we learned not every wine from each winery will be available at 4.0 Cellars but there will still be a large selection. Initially on the tasting menu each winery has five wines. A tasting fee will get the visitor a sampling of 6 wines which includes a 4.0 Cellars wine glass. Every week they will have a complimentary wine that is not on the menu for a total of 7 samples. There are also 10% case discounts.

We started our wine tasting and the wines were poured with measured pourers. McPherson Cellars and Brennan Vineyards use some screw caps in addition to corks but Lost Oak Winery only uses corks. Initially on the tasting menu are 5 white wines, 8 red wines, a blush, and a sweet white.

Since we still are primarily white wine drinkers first, we started with the 2011 McPherson Cellars Roussanne. This is McPherson Cellars signature white wine. We then ran into a little situation. For some unknown reason, Gloria seems to be very sensitive to the taste of any wine which has Viognier in it. The rest of the white wines all had Viognier so she moved on to the red wines while I went next to the 2010 Lost Oak Winery Viognier. I have wanted to try this wine since it had recently won a Double Gold medal in the San Francisco Chronicle International Wine Competition. After trying it, I could see why, as it was excellent and a little unlike other Viogniers I have had.

We enjoyed moving through the tasting menu, asking questions, getting answers, and overall having fun with the staff. Serving at the winery for the staff is more of a challenge since they need to learn about each of the three wineries and hopefully be able to answer any question about them. At other places the staff only has to concern themselves with information about one winery.

If you are hungry, cheese boards can be bought which will include local and international cheeses, crackers, fruit, and chocolate. A sampling of a cheese board was provided which we enjoyed, especially after we jokingly learned they had just finished making the cheese the night before. We told you they were a fun group!

On the tasting menu is McPherson Cellars Sangiovese which Kassie informed us was often noted as their signature red wine. The Sangiovese grapes still come from Kim McPherson’s father’s original Sagmore Vineyard which got its name because the original trellis wires sagged noticeably.

Lost Oak Winery will still have bottles there with the Lone Oak label until they are gone since the change in the winery name was recently done. That change also adds an extra challenge to the staff to remember to use the correct Lost Oak name, especially those who have been familiar with the Lone Oak name for some time.

Brennan Vineyard’s wine was represented very well with their version of Viognier, Three White Chicks, and the 2009 Buffalo Rhome. We are constantly learning about Texas wine and wine in general as we learned the Buffalo Rhome is a Rhone style wine which also includes the Cinsault grape, a blending grape we had not yet heard of.

We had a great time tasting the various wines 4.0 Cellars offers. We decided to get some bottles of wine and learned the prices at 4.0 Cellars are the same as if someone had gone to the individual wineries themselves.

4.0 Cellars has a small gift shop including clothing and wine accessories. Two wine clubs are offered, a Dean’s List and an Honor Society. Note the 4.0 theme?

I am sure the information will be on 4.0 Cellars’ website but their hours will be Monday through Saturday from 10am-6pm and Sunday from 12pm-5pm.

Before we left, we were asked to be the first people to sign the guest book. If you visit, make sure you sign the guest book too!

Overall, it was a great experience at 4.0 Cellars and definitely well worth the wait for them to open. There is no doubt we will definitely be stopping in the next time we are in the Fredericksburg area. If you happen to be doing the Wine Road 290 trail, make sure you include 4.0 Cellars in your wineries to visit.

I belong to the Texas Wine Lovers group on Facebook. I had been watching how Hi-Tek was arranging a #txwine Twitter tasting at GenuWine in Magnolia with Retreat Hill Winery for March 30th.

We happened to be in Retreat Hill Winery’s area the week before and stopped by to visit. Owner/winemaker Billy Cox was there serving his wines. There is a #txwine Twitter Tuesday scheduled for April 4th (Wednesday) where we are supposed to bring our favorite local wines, in my case Texas wines. Since Billy Cox is on Twitter, I decided to get one of his wines and ask if he could participate on Wednesday. He is interested and hopefully he will be online.

So when Hi-Tek arranged the #txwine Twitter tasting at GenuWine, I was interested since I already had some Retreat Hill wine. It turned out Friday night I was alone and I was trying to decide with a couple friends what to do. One choice was the GenuWine event and since they live in the Woodlands, we decided to meet there.

I arrived at GenuWine and my friends were already there along with Billy Cox. I met Hi-Tek aka Jim (@ctsv) and his wife Elaine (@IamAlyce). A projector was set up to show any tweets with the hash tag #txwine. GenuWine is a wine tasting room and it seemed very nice. There were not too many people there at 6:00pm but at the end of the evening, most tables were full. I definitely wish it was closer to where we lived.

First up was Retreat Hill’s Chardonnay. It was a nice start to the evening’s tastings. I asked Billy where the Texas wine grapes came from and he told me it was from the Fort Stockton area.

GenuWine serves many varieties of food and we enjoyed a nice cheese, fruit, and meat plate while tasting Retreat Hill’s wine. The last wine from Retreat Hill’s was a Merlot. This wine was made from grapes from Lodi, California.

The tasting was over and we decided to get a bottle of wine. Our sommelier mentioned his favorite Texas wine was 1836 from Llano Estacado. I had just heard about it a few weeks ago when I met one of Llano Estacado’s winemakers at a wine tasting. I decided to treat my friends to this blend of Texas wine which is made from mostly Syrah and Cabernet Sauvignon with some Mourvedre, Carignan, and Grenache.

While we were enjoying the bottle of wine, live music had started which added to the ambience. After we finished the bottle of wine, it was time to head home and we all agreed we had an enjoyable evening. If GenuWine has any future events like this, we most likely will be participating. They do hold weekly tastings which also sometimes include live music.

http://www.sandstonecellarswinery.com

Sandstone Cellars Winery is located in Mason, north of Fredericksburg. The winery is owned by Scott Haupert and Manny Silerio with Don Pullum as the winemaker. Since Don was mentioned in the previous blog post about Junction Rivers Winery, it was only fitting Sandstone Cellars Winery is the next winery to spotlight.

Don Pullum

In 1998 Don Pullum was looking for a place to grow grapes in Texas. He was a former venture capitalist and banker, and decided he wanted to grow grapes and make wine. He spent almost a year looking for property for the vineyard, and Mason had everything he wanted with the right soil, water, and being in a growth direction near Fredericksburg. He planted the first vineyard in Mason County called Akashic Vineyard. Now there are nine grape growers in Mason County with 150 acres of vines.

Scott Haupert

Don planted his first acre with Grenache, Primitivo, Sangiovese, and Mourvèdre which Don loves. A neighbor then planted at Don’s suggestion Touriga. Don said, “I have become enamored as a winemaker with Touriga.” As a result you will find Touriga used in many of Sandstone Cellars wines in some percentage.

Also in 1998, Scott Haupert and Manny Silerio being best friends while attending college in San Antonio opened Santos Taqueria (http://www.santostaqueria.com) in an old gas station building in Mason. This is not your typical Tex-Mex restaurant because the food is made the Old World way. The reason for this is because Manny’s mother, Santos Silerio, originally from Durango, Mexico, runs the restaurant using her recipes along with Manny’s sister.

Scott and Manny met Don and the rest you could say is history. With the restaurant needing parking space, they bought the building next door for parking space and then thought perhaps a winery might work to serve the needs of the community. So with winemaker Don Pullum they started the boutique winery of Sandstone Cellars Winery in 2004.

On our last visit I had pre-arranged to meet Don Pullum (@akashicvineyard) at the winery. He handled our tasting and gave us a very informative history of the winery and Mason County. We also got to meet Scott Haupert again and eventually met Manny Silerio.

There is a tasting fee for whatever wines are available which people want to taste. You stand at the tasting bar in the winery and the uncorked Texas wines are poured from the bottle. Crackers are available to cleanse your palate.

All of Sandstone Cellars Texas wine is made from 100% Texas fruit from Mason County. Most of their red wines are chilled because the proper temperature for serving most red wines is between 55 and 65 degrees. Even when they go to festivals they take ice to keep their wines in so the wine is served at the right temperature. Sandstone Cellars Winery only makes red wines so to complement their wines, they sell other Texas wines which they particularly like.

During our tasting, Don showed us the production facility, a room located in the back of the winery. The stainless steel tanks and oak barrels are kept there and with the 300 square feet of production space, Sandstone Cellars Winery produces 500 cases a year. This is obviously big enough to handle their award winning Texas wines.

Don explained how the first wine he did was oaked for nine months but then he changed the style. He is now keeping about 50 percent in oak for three or four months and 50 percent in stainless tanks. The stainless keeps the fruit character and the oak gives the oak flavors and adds complexity. He then swaps them out with another varietal before he starts blending.

Besides helping Junction Rivers Winery as mentioned earlier, Don Pullum also consults with Torre de Pietra Winery winemaker Ken Maxwell on his wines.

We discussed the labels for Sandstone Cellars Winery. The backdrop for the primary labels is the painting “Kindred Spirits” done by local artist Bill Worrell. Another Bill Worrell painting called “My Way” is used on their Port style dessert wine. Both paintings hang in the winery. Also on the labels are the grapes used and the percentages.

Manny Silerio

Instead of names, the wines are labeled with roman numerals. I asked Don about the naming of their wines. Don said, “Scott, Manny, and I were talking about how we may do different blends every year, so we’re going to have to come up with a bunch of proprietary names because every bottle is going to be different. We don’t want to call it something and it’s going to change every year. We came up with 10 or 11 names and checked them out on the computer and they were all taken. Manny got frustrated and said, ‘Why don’t we just number them?’ I thought, ‘That’s brilliant Manny. Let’s do that.’ So that’s what we’re doing because we’re changing the blend with every wine.”

A gift shop is present in the winery with art, pottery, and sculptures also by Bill Worrell. They are in the process of putting together a wine club.

Don brought us to the building next door to the winery which is the second oldest building in Mason and was Lucia Holmes house. It was a Sunday house for farmers. Lucia Holmes wrote a diary which was published which talks about the Indian fights, cowboy shootouts, and life in Mason, Texas when it was part of the Wild West in the 1870′s. The building is now a wonderful wine bar for the winery. The rooms in the house have tables where patrons can enjoy their wine. Customers often walk from the wine bar to the winery and then to Santos Taqueria on the other side of the winery. The wine bar sells wines by the glass and local foods like cheese plates.

We thank Don, Scott, and Manny for our excellent visit at Sandstone Cellars Winery. Next time you are in Fredericksburg, set some time aside to take the short drive north to Mason and visit the winery, wine bar, and Santos Taqueria.

http://farinaswinery.homestead.com

Farina’s Winery & Cafe is located in the heart of Grapevine on Main Street and is very easy to find among the other stores and restaurants. The winery opened in 2007 and is owned by Gary Farina.

I visited Grapevine on a Friday night and when I walked in, I discovered the winery is also a fairly large restaurant. There was a large crowd already seated eating dinner and the bar to the left was also full of patrons. When asked if I wanted a table, I explained I would just like to do a wine tasting. We were able to find a seat at the end of the bar for me to do my tasting.

Stephanie introduced herself and helped me with the tasting while she also helped the other bar patrons. There is a fee for tasting three wines: Farina’s red and white wines plus a choice of another Texas winery’s wine for a third. The tastings are poured from the uncorked bottles and a generous portion is given to taste.

Water is served during the tasting and with Farina’s Winery & Cafe being primarily a restaurant specializing in Italian food, you can buy food during the tasting.

Farina’s Winery makes two wines, a red and a white, and both use 100% Texas grapes from Lubbock. The wines are produced at CrossRoads Winery in Frisco.

The winery/restaurant is decorated with gorgeous antiques including a European bar from the 1800′s and a large glass grape cluster chandelier. Live music is held Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights and space is available for special events.

Farina’s Winery and Cafe is on the Grapevine Wine Trail. If you make it to Grapevine, which is the best place in Texas to visit multiple wineries within walking distance, stop in for a bite to eat and have some of Farina’s Texas wine.

http://www.georgetownwinery.com

Georgetown Winery is located in historic downtown Georgetown and is owned by Dan and Becca Marek with Dan providing the winemaker duties. The winery opened in 2007 and is located on the square in Georgetown in a 126 year old building.

The first time we visited Georgetown Winery was at night. We arrived and the winery had quite a few people present sitting both at tables and the tasting bar itself with the sound of live music filling the winery. We found a place to sit at the tasting bar and met Dan and Becca Marek working behind the bar. Fortunately we were able to talk to both of them and had a fun conversation for the rest of the evening.

There is a tasting fee for a selection of three wines. For a little more money, you can get a Georgetown Winery souvenir glass. The bottles are corked and the tastings are poured from the opened bottles. Food is available for cleansing your palate and you can also purchase additional food which will pair well with your chosen wine.

Georgetown Winery has a large selection of wines available to choose from to taste or enjoy a nice glass, especially while listening to the live music which is held every Friday and Saturday night. The winery has won many awards both in and out of state.

The winery also offers private events, wine club, personalized labels, and a very nice gift shop with wine-related gifts and cigars.

Months later we made a trip to nearby Salado and were sitting in a winery doing a tasting. In walked Dan and Becca Marek to visit and imbibe in that winery’s wine. There really isn’t the notion of competitiveness among wineries and they all seem to help each other when possible.

We said hello to Dan and Becca and their opportune arrival allowed us to ask some questions. 65% of the grapes Georgetown Winery uses in their Texas wines come from Texas with the remaining usually from California. This year, 2011, they are buying some grapes from Chile for the first time. All of the Texas wine is produced at their location in Georgetown. In 2009, Georgetown Winery did their first planting of Black Spanish and Blanc du Bois on their 3 acre vineyard in Rockdale.

Georgetown Winery is part of the San Gabriel Wine Trail. Next time you’re in the Georgetown area, or driving along I-35 between Austin and Fort Worth, stop in and say hello to Dan and Becca and enjoy their Texas wine.