Peach Creek Vineyards

Peach Creek Vineyards is located in College Station and is owned by Ken and Donna Stolpman. Donna handles the tasting room while Ken does the winemaking.

They first planted a test vineyard of 1/2 acre in January 2008 with Muscadine and Lenoir grapes. In January 2011 they planted an acre each of Noble and Magnolia Muscadines, one acre of Lenoir, 1/2 acre of Lomanto, and some Mustang grapes. Today they have a total of 5 acres of vineyards. Peach Creek Vineyards was bonded in June 2011 and the tasting room also opened in 2011.

I first visited Peach Creek Vineyards on New Year’s Eve 2012 with a couple of friends. I recently re-visited and since that time a large event pavilion had been built adding to the winery. This event area became helpful when Peach Creek Vineyards became part of the Bluebonnet Wine Trail in 2013 and they had their first wine trail event.

I arrived at the winery and upon entering the tasting room, Donna Stolpman greeted me. Tastings are done while sitting at a table or the tasting bar. There is a tasting fee for three wines which also includes a souvenir wine glass. The tastings are poured from the uncorked bottles. Crackers are available to cleanse your palate and chocolate is served if tasting the Rudy’s Red or Sunset Portejas wines to enhance the pairing.

A Peach Bellini made with a frozen drink mix and their Starry Night wine is also served which makes for a very refreshing drink. A Sangria frozen drink mix is also served.

Food and beverage items can be purchased such as Taza Chocolates, cheese and crackers plate, mixed nuts, Tortilla chips, non-alcoholic beverages, and more.

Peach Creek Vineyards uses only 100% Texas grapes. If they do not use grapes from their own vineyard or locally, they get grapes from the High Plains. They use a co-op where they get the grapes and the facility also gives Ken the opportunity to make the wine right there. Ken makes the wine at the winery if they use grapes locally such as from Mound Prairie Vineyard, Nettles Creek Vineyard, and Grovener Estate Vineyards, or their own vineyard.

For the 2012 harvest at the vineyard, they produced enough wine for about 200 cases, and with the grapes from the High Plains they produced around 500 cases. For 2013, from grapes grown at the vineyard and purchased from other local vineyards, they anticipate producing 1000 cases at the winery and approximately another 500 from the High Plains grapes.

Wines that were available at Peach Creek Vineyards when I first visited were:

• Bodacious – Cabernet Sauvignon blend
• Fireside – semi-sweet red blend
• White Heron – off-dry Chenin Blanc
• Starry Night – Muscat
• Rudy’s Red – sweet red
• Sunset Portejas – Zinfandel port-style

Since then they have added three more wines including a Merlot (Tailgater) and Ruby Cabernet. The wine Rudy’s Red is actually named after their longhorn cow Rudy which is in the pasture behind the winery.

Besides Peach Creek Vineyards wines, you can also purchase some Haak Winery and Texas Star Winery wines.

One interesting thing which Peach Creek Vineyards does is have an Adopt-a-Vine program. They started the program on their own for the past two years but were recently invited to be part of a worldwide Adopt-a-Vine (www.adoptavine.com) program. In the program, you “foster” a grapevine for the coming year and receive a certificate, and a name plaque is placed next to the vine. Special events are held during the year like vine training, pruning, harvesting, plus other benefits are received.

Events are held at the winery such as wedding showers, bachelorette days, and birthday, anniversary, and graduation parties. Tours are available on Friday and Saturday afternoons if Ken is at the winery. There is a nice gift shop with wine accessories, wine freezer drink mixes, wine glasses, and clothing.

Make a point to stop by Peach Creek Vineyards the next time you are in College Station. Peach Creek Vineyards is on the Bluebonnet Wine Trail.