Blue Lotus Winery and Texas Mead Works

You might be wondering why I put these two wineries together in one post. As I learned when I visited Blue Lotus Winery in Seguin, they are one and the same and are owned by Michael and Melissa Poole. They first opened Texas Mead Works in January 2011 and in September 2012 Blue Lotus Winery was opened.

I found the winery at the end of a long driveway and entered the building which was the production facility. As I learned later they will be building a tasting room in front of the winery so tastings are currently done in the winery.

A group of visitors were just finishing up a tasting and I met Melissa Poole who handled my tasting. I learned from Melissa they first started Texas Mead Works and later decided to open Blue Lotus Winery. She suggested I start a tasting with the wines from Blue Lotus Winery.

There is a tasting fee for five wines and a higher fee for ten wines. There is an extra fee to taste the estate wine. You do a tasting by standing at the tasting bar in the production facility and the uncorked bottles are poured with a measured pourer. Crackers are available for cleansing your palate.

The winery wants to use 100% Texas grapes and they already get some grapes from the High Plains. They have a five acre vineyard and currently grow Black Spanish, Champanel, Blanc du Bois, Norton (Cynthiana), Lake Emerald, Lomanto, America, Roucaneuf, and Mortenson. There were some grape names here I have not heard of before and I was impressed how the Pooles are trying to determine new grapes which can grow in Texas. In addition to grapes, they also grow blueberries, blackberries, and peaches. Guinea hens run free in the vineyard to help reduce the insects.

The wines available from Blue Lotus Winery at the time of my visit were:

• Grande Blanc (Viognier, Chenin Blanc, Blanc du Bois, Lake Emerald (from FL))
• Malvasia Bianca – from New Mexico
• Viognier – from the High Plains
• Late Harvest Riesling – from the High Plains
• Primitivo – from New Mexico
• Carmenere – from New Mexico
• Champanel
• Black Lotus – estate Black Spanish

I learned the winery does have meetings held there and they will eventually be able to handle weddings. There is a conference room and art gallery and they hold events such as an annual Grape Stomp Festival.

Next up was looking at the menu for Texas Mead Works. The honey Texas Mead Works uses comes from Walker Farms. I was told that meads also age longer than wine.

The different meads which are available at various times are:

• Traditional Mead – dry
• Semi-Sweet Mead
• Minstrel’s Mead – sweet blend of cover, Orange Blossom, Wildflower, and Yopan honey
• Apple Mead – semi-sweet with fruit from Washington State
• Peach Mead
• Cyser – sweet blend of honey and apples
• Blackberry Mead – semi-sweet
• Raspberry Mead – semi-sweet
• Honeymoon Bliss – sweet mead which is bourbon barrel aged for three years made from the rare tupelo honey
• Bochet – full flavored mead

The last two meads are available for tasting at a little higher price. Those are also meads which will improve with age over 10 to 50 years.

The winery has a small gift shop with homemade soap and Walker Farms honey. They have also recently started a wine club.

I was impressed with the different wines available and the grapes grown at the vineyard. On top of that, you have a large selection of meads available so I can easily recommend visiting Blue Lotus Winery and Texas Mead Works when you are in Seguin.