Terry County Grape Capital of Texas Vineyard Festival Preview

The annual Terry County Grape Capital of Texas Vineyard Festival is planned and ready to begin! Terry County, officially named by the state as the Grape Capital of Texas for its over 3,000 grape acres, is proud to show off the finest grapes in the world in a gorgeous setting. This annual event, sponsored in part by the Brownfield Chamber of Commerce, is set for August 4th and 5th. This event is a well-planned and always well attended affair.

Freshly harvested Albariño grapes from Castaño Prado getting ready to head to McPherson Cellars

On Friday, August 4, the fun begins at 7:00 p.m. at the annual Food and Wine Event. This year, the evening will be hosted by a new venue in town – The 380 Vineyard Event Center at 2149 Tahoka Road, just east of Brownfield, square in the middle of Reddy Vineyards 300 acres of beautiful thick vines, heavy with grapes of all varietals. V.J. Reddy has been working on a masterpiece of an event center. This inaugural event should be fantastic!

Featured entertainment will be none other than country recording star, and Brownfield’s own favorite son – Gary P. Nunn. Gary graduated from Brownfield High School and got his feet wet in the music industry back in the 60s in garage bands. It didn’t take long for Gary to find out that this music life was exactly what he wanted and his career has been good to him, as well as to the rest of us! Gary’s website states, “And now, more than half a century since he first started playing music, Nunn enthuses, “I’m having more fun now than ever. It just feels good. When you have a great band behind you and the audience is out there on the dance floor, you just say, ʻYeah! This the reason I got into this in the first place.ʼ I love it more than ever.”

The event will feature food from the Back 40 Grill, a Lubbock, Texas favorite hangout where the food is great and the atmosphere is always fun. Also featured will be Las Brisas, another long-time Lubbock favorite and great friend to the wine industry.

Last, but certainly not least – Brownfield’s Triple D Restaurant will be there. For great food, great wine and great fun, the Triple D or just The D as it has become known locally, is your destination. Mary and Ty Wilmeth, owners of Diamante Doble Dos Vineyard are the owners of this fine restaurant right on The Square in Brownfield. Even if you miss the festival, make a stop at “The Triple D” first on your list when you come through Brownfield.

Steve Newsom and Nick Seaton look over some freshly harvested grapes at Farmhouse Vineyards

Also featured will be McPherson Cellars, Landon Winery, Llano Estacado Winery, Bingham Family Vineyards, and Pheasant Ridge Winery. All these wineries feature wine made with grapes grown in Terry County. This event will be taking place just as the grape harvest is beginning. Expect to see vines loaded with sweet fruit, and maybe even some harvest equipment around awaiting the call.

On Saturday, August 5, vineyard tours will be held. Buses will begin loading at the Terry County Senior Center on Tahoka Road at 4 p.m. Tickets for these tours are $45. The tours will visit three local vineyards and Texas Custom Wine Works where grape crushing and bottling take place. Reddy Vineyards, Bingham Family Vineyards, and Narra Vineyards are all a part of the tour this year. All these vineyards have grown award winning grapes.

Wine will be available for purchase at each vineyard. Expect fun, photo ops, and lots of learning at each stop.

At 8 p.m., the buses will arrive at Diamante Doble Vineyard where there will be fine food, wine, and great music. A relaxing evening under the stars in great West Texas, where the days may be warm, but the evenings cool down and make sitting outside a pleasant experience.

Crew at Farmhouse Vineyards ride the harvester to check out how well it is working

Tickets are available at the Brownfield Chamber of Commerce at 211 Lubbock Road in Brownfield, or you may call 806-637-2564 for more information. The Chamber may also be reached at www.brownfieldchamber.com.

The event is also sponsored by McGowan & McGowan, Brownfield HOT Funds, Texas AG Plus, Carter & Company Irrigation, BIDCorp, Diversity Irrigation, The Triple D, Capital Farm Credit, Ag Texas Farm Credit Services, and Terry County Tractor.

Hope to see you there!