Flat Creek Estate Vineyard and Winery is located in Marble Falls and is owned by Madelyn and Rick Naber. Flat Creek planted their vineyard in 2000 with six acres and 6,000 vines. Today there are nearly 20 acres of vineyards among the 80 acres of property. Grapes grown are Shiraz, Sangiovese, Montepulciano, Tempranillo, Muscat Canelli, Pinot Grigio, Pinot Blanc, and different Portuguese Port varietals.
The winery opened in 2001 as a 5,500 case winery. It was later expanded to a 10,000 case winery in 2009 and today they produce about 10,000 cases of wine a year.
Flat Creek Estate won the category of best tasting room in our first TX Wine Lover Awards. We were not disappointed in our choice during our last visit when we entered the tasting room. You enter the tasting room on the second story and have to walk downstairs or take an elevator to the first floor of the tasting room.
We were the only ones in the winery at the time since it was on a Thursday and that was fine with us as we could enjoy the quietness while we did a tasting. You do a tasting while you sit at a table. There is a tasting fee for your choice of six wines which includes the wine glass and your choices are brought to your table. The tastings are poured from the bottles and Flat Creek Estate uses both corks and screw caps. Crackers are available for cleansing your palate and chocolate is available for the sweeter wines.
Flat Creek Estate uses 50% estate grapes, 10% Hill Country grapes, and 20-30% High Plains grapes. The remainder can come from California regions depending on the year’s Texas grape harvest.
During our tasting, we had the pleasure of meeting Madelyn Naber. We talked about new wineries which have opened and which ones we were going to visit next. It was a nice conversation with a very pleasant lady. We had previously met her husband Rick at the 2011 Houston Wine Fest.
Rick Naber
I mentioned to our tasting guide how I had previously tried to find out if tours were available for just two people. We learned tours are available only for groups of 8 or more. Luckily since it was quiet and Tim Drake, Flat Creek’s winemaker, was handling the cold fermentation in the nearby production room, we got a short impromptu tour with him which was nice. Tim Drake joined Flat Creek to become the winemaker and vineyard manager in the summer of 2011.
The gift shop is very nice with olive oils, wine accessories, and you can also purchase soda or water for non-drinkers. A wine club is available.
A bed and breakfast is available along with a restaurant which is open Fridays and Saturdays. Flat Creek Estate does not advertise they have a bed and breakfast on the website because it is one room and is booked a lot for weddings. It can be reserved for up to 6 people. There is a full kitchen and patio with grill. They also book their Vintner’s Quarters often on the nights of their special dinners which is done on the first Saturday of every month plus a few additional theme dinners throughout the year.
An event center, now the bistro, was built in 2005. The bistro is open from 11am-4pm Tuesday-Sunday. The event center still holds private dinners, receptions, and weddings. Outdoor events such as weddings are held in a nice stone Pavilion.
If you get the chance, we recommend taking the trip to visit Flat Creek Estate. Flat Creek is on the Texas Hill Country Wine Trail.
My wife and I spent our anniversary in the hill country for our first five years, it’s been about 7 years since we have been down from McKinney.
I want to see if your B&B is available Feb 1 for my brides birthday?
Do you serve a breakfast, she loves sweet potato pancakes w/bacon.
Thank you,
Michael Winders
Captain
Flexjet/Bombardier
Michael, you will need to contact Flat Creek themselves to get your answer. The link to their website is above which will have their contact information.