Larue Vineyards

Larue Vineyards is in Lewisville and is owned by Gillian Goldthorpe and Cleve Joiner. The urban winery located in the middle of Dallas-Fort Worth, opened in November 2015 and Cleve does the winemaking. The name Larue Vineyards come from the name of the family owned property near Larue, Texas.

I arrived at the winery located in a set of warehouses in the early evening. After walking in the door, I walked past a painting and wine course being held and found myself in the tasting room, which was also the production room.

Tastings are done while standing at the tasting bar, and I ponied up to the bar to do a tasting of Laure Vineyards wine. The tastings are poured from the uncorked bottles and are served in a disposable plastic shot glass.

Right now, six wines are available plus a port-style wine. All juice for the wines come from Chile via Canada. These are some of the wines that were available:

• White wine (Blanc Des Chateau)
• Red wine (Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Zinfandel)

Each of the wines are available in dry (oak chips in three months), one year aged in a barrel, and then sweet. The wines are available by the glass or bottle. Currently the winery is producing 1,500 cases of wine. The wines are called Me & You, and of course that required a question from where the name came. It was explained when Gillian and Cleve were talking about things, at the end of the day, “It’s just me and you.” I love it!

Larue Vineyards has a deal with nearby Witherspoon Distillery where Witherspoon uses 600 gallons of Larue Vineyards’ red wine to make their brandy. Witherspoon in turn gives back half the brandy to the winery, and they use it to put in the wine to kill the yeast, which makes their port-style wine.

Larue Vineyards plans to start a vineyard in three years in Larue at their great grandparents’ land and then that will be their first Texas wine.

Before then, the plan is to move to Old Town Lewisville, which is a nearby revitalized downtown district. This will give a much bigger facility for Larue Vineyards, and also allow the winery to have a bed and breakfast.

Larue Vineyards is currently available for weddings, parties, anniversaries, and more. Winery tours are given on the hour during the weekend and I was able to enjoy a tour given by Cleve. He gave a very educational complimentary tour for the customers visiting the winery.

Stop by the winery for one of their Paint & Sip events, or simply to enjoy their wine and hospitality.