The fourth annual Hill Country Wine Symposium held from January 11-12, 2018 at the Horseshoe Bay Resort was another huge success. The number of people attending grows every year and even though the event was sold out in advance, there were still people hoping they could attend.
Seminars were held during both days, and each seminar time offered a choice of two topics so attendees could select from their favorite. There were topics about Business, Vineyards, Marketing, and Winemaking. Some seminars had single presenters of a topic while others had a panel with a moderator.
In between seminars, a breakout session was held where a large number of exhibitors could be visited. Lunch was served each day as part of the admission. During the first lunch, Andy Timmons gave a High Plains Winegrowers Report. Needless to say, 2017 was a great year for grape harvests with the exception of a few vineyards who had received hail. Friday’s lunch had the Texas Hill Country Wineries Awards Presentation to students studying in a wine related field.
The ever-popular Grape Exchange took place on Thursday night with growers reversing the roles with wineries presenting tastings of finished wines made from their grapes, and the opportunity to taste and learn about their bulk wine programs.
During the middle of the Symposium, Texas Hill Country Wineries held their Annual Owners & Membership Meeting. During the meeting, voting took place and some new board members elected. This is the list of 2018 board members:
- Andrew Sides (Lost Draw Cellars), President
- Jennifer McInnis (Bending Branch Winery), Vice-President
- Gina Ross (Stone House Vineyard), Secretary
- Denise Batek (Hye Meadow Winery), Treasurer
- Allan Fetty (Westcave Cellars), Member at Large
- Doug Kitchens (Grape Creek Vineyards), Member at Large
- Karen Bonarrigo (Messina Hof), Member at Large
Oh yes, there were two new wineries added to the Texas Hill Country Wineries bringing the total number of wineries back to 52 members. The two wineries are:
Coincidentally, we recently wrote about these wineries (see links above). Be sure to visit them and all the wineries of the Texas Hill Country Wineries.
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