The Winery at Willow Creek is located in Abilene and is owned by Brian and Kimberly Scalf. The winery opened in 2012. Hal Sexton does most of the winemaking but Brian helps quite a bit.
I had been watching the winery’s website and Facebook page for a while now and it seemed like the winery has lots of fun with their customers, so I had to make a visit. I also met Brian and Kimberly Scalf at Newsom Grape Day this year and that gave me even more incentive to visit their winery. I found the winery in the south of Abilene between a strip center and a church.
Tastings are done while standing at the tasting bar. There is a tasting fee for five wines and the tastings are poured from the uncorked bottles. Specialty wines are $1 more. Toasted crackers are available for cleansing your palate. If you are hungry, you can purchase food items like:
- Cheese, salami, and cracker platter
- Bagel chips and hummus
- Cream cheese with raspberry chipotle sauce and crackers
- Fruit platter
- Mini cupcakes
If you are a cigar aficionado, a selection of cigars is available to enjoy outside. Mentioning outside, this is where the beauty of The Winery at Willow Creek lies.
There are tables inside where you can enjoy a glass of wine, but if the weather is nice you will want to head outside on their beautiful patio located right next to the flowing Willow Creek. It is a gorgeous setting under the trees to really enjoy a peaceful time. Across from the creek is a golf course and that is why the water is actually there. The golf course pays to keep the creek full so their greens are watered, and The Winery at Willow Creek takes advantage of the creek setting.
I told Brian and Kimberly they were fortunate to have such a great setting for the winery. They agreed and when deciding how they wanted to build and design the winery, they decided to make it like a place where they would want to go. That includes a lot of fun events such as live music with local food trucks, a catfish boil, and grape stomp.
Now that we know they have fun and a great setting, what about the wine? In order to get the winery started, they are making wine from kits, but this year they will be making their first Texas wine from Texas grapes and are excited to be doing so.
They produced approximately 1,900 cases of wine in 2013 and the following are some of the wines they currently make.
- Traditional Wines
- Blush
- White Zinfandel
- Whites
- Moscato
- Riesling/Gewurztraminer
- Pinot Grigio
- Chardonnay
- Viognier
- Reds
- Pinot Noir
- Meritage
- Aglianico
- Merlot
- Tempranillo
- Blush
- Specialty Wines
- White Chocolate Port
- Cherry Chocolate Port
- Bubbly Moscato
- Bubbly Spirtizer
- Sweet Wines (Low Alcohol)
- Peach Chardonnay
- White Cranberry Pinot Gris
- Strawberry White Merlot
- Raspberry Dragon Fruit White Shiraz
- Blueberry Pinot Noir
- Raspberry Merlot
- Pomegranate Zinfandel
- Sweet Wines (High Alcohol)
- Same wines as Low Alcohol
Unfortunately they were sold out of all their red wines which show how people love their wines. The interesting thing with the low alcohol and high alcohol versions are that people will come to the winery to enjoy some wine and buy the low alcohol version to drink at the winery. They then end up buying the high alcohol version to bring home.
The Winery at Willow Creek’s bestselling wines are:
- Pomegranate Zinfandel
- Raspberry Dragon Fruit White Shiraz
- Peach Chardonnay
Brian and Kimberly Scalf
The winery is available for private rental during non-business hours. There is a very nice gift shop present with a large selection of wine accessories and clothing for sale.
For all my friends who used to live in Abilene and questioned where I was going, yes, there is a winery in Abilene and it is called The Winery at Willow Creek.
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