Meierstone Vineyards

The big red ball on 290. ‘Nuff said, right?

If you have driven Wine Road 290 over the years, you might have noticed a big red ball at the gate of a ranch on the east side of Stonewall. All the years that Shelly and I have been coming to the area it has been a landmark that for some reason has just made me smile. I always wondered if it was a big ocean buoy or maybe even an ocean mine.

When I drove by in September, I noticed a small sandwich-board sign that I thought said Vineyards. It was hard to read that small print at 70 mph. So, I looked for it the next time I drove by and yes it did say Vineyards, but I still couldn’t make out whose Vineyards. The next time I drove by I checked traffic, and it was a rare occasion I was alone on the highway, and I slowed down enough to read Meierstone Vineyards. Since I had not heard of them before, I looked them up when I got home. I found out they were a new tasting room that would be having a soft opening the next weekend. I made sure I had some time available, and I reached out to let them know we would be stopping by. I let my friend, and fellow Texas Wine Lover writer, Carl Hudson know of this new location and he was able to meet us there.

I finally got to see the big red ball up close and it is big! We followed the signs to the tasting room parking lot and as we walked up to the bright white tasting room building, we were greeted by Carl and a tall slender young lady who introduced herself to me as Krystal Patel, who turns out to be the lady in charge of the winery operations including the winemaking. Krystal escorted us inside the building and welcomed us to her winery venture. The metal building had a concrete floor and large windows overlooking various other buildings on one side and out toward the highway on the other side. We sat down at one of several wooden tables and were greeted by a young lady named Carson whom I had met at an industry night about a year ago. She got us started with menus, wine club information, and glasses of water. She explained how the tasting would proceed and stepped away to pour our wines. Krystal joined us at that time and began answering our questions and offering her family’s story.

The first thing we wanted to hear about of course was the big ball at the front gate and exactly what purpose did it have? Krystal was quick to let us know that it was her grandfather, Albert Meier’s invention to come up with a land clearing method that involved the casting of a six-foot iron ball with an axel core. This was then connected to two bulldozers on either side by ship anchor chains where each link weighed about 100 pounds. The iron ball would then be pulled to knock down trees and create farmland. This method was used from the Fredericksburg and Stonewall areas all the way up to Marble Falls and even as far as Killeen.

Albert Meier and his wife Dora purchased the J. I. Case tractor dealership in Fredericksburg after they stopped clearing land with the iron ball and they ran that for 20 years. Once they retired from the dealership, he spent his time cultivating this land and restoring antique tractors and cars, many of the tractors you can still see around the tasting room buildings today. The Fredericksburg Antique Gas and Tractor Show were held on the ranch for 13 years. Once the tractor show finally outgrew the Stonewall location, it moved to the Fredericksburg Fairgrounds. Recently the family converted several of the buildings once used for the tractor pulls into the darling Tasting Room, the blacksmith building is now a small group tasting room, and one of the buildings has the distinction of having housed the 2^nd largest steam engine west of the Mississippi River, and it even has a hole in its ceiling to allow for the smokestack.

Come to find out the ranch has been in the Meier family for five generations and the Meier and Stone families have had a presence in the area since the mid-1800s. Over the decades they have raised turkeys, row crops, and are still an active cattle ranch. As we walked up, we did see “signs” of the cattle having been in the area recently as well as hoof prints. Recently it was decided growing grapes on a few of their fields would be a great idea…again. Back in the day, Krystal’s grandmother Dora would make wine from various grape varieties grown in the area as well as local peaches. Like grandmother, like granddaughter!

I’m a history nut, especially when it becomes to personal history, but we were really here to taste some wine!! So, let’s get started and taste some wine!

There are four wines currently on the list. All are proudly 100% Texas grown currently from the High Plains and made in the Hill Country. Carson brought out the wines pre-poured in logo-etched glasses. To start, there is a 2021 Trebbiano that only saw stainless tank time. According to the website it has notes of green apple, apricot, and white peach.

With all of the wines on the table at once, we were able to taste at our own pace, but Carson was always ready to introduce the next wine in the lineup.

The second white wine is a 2021 Roussanne that spent 10 months in French neutral oak. This big white wine is intense with notes of baked pear.

The next wine is a 2021 Sangiovese Rosé which spent nine months in neutral oak. This full-bodied bright rosé is a red wine drinkers rosé and has notes of strawberries and cherries.

Finally, the only red wine on the list at this time is a 2018 Newsom Vineyards Malbec Reserve that spent 46 months also in neutral oak. This is the only wine that was around before they started. This dark red wine has notes of blackberry and leather, chocolate, and dried herbs.

As we tasted our wines, Carson would keep us informed about them and Krystal would work the tables of patrons like a professional making sure everyone felt welcome and had the story shared with them. On one of her passes by our table, she let us know about the plans for Meierstone Vineyards. The current tasting room is a “temporary” space for about a year. The new tasting room will be constructed about two fields east with a new entrance off the highway.

There is so much more history of the Meier-Stone family to share, but I have to save something for you to hear when you visit.

We did visit twice, the first time in September during their soft opening, and again in December to get more information and more pictures. We were able to visit with Santa Claus as he made his way through the Hill Country.