Tasting Through WONDRY Wines from North Texas

You may have heard of WONDRY last year, especially if you watch the television show Shark Tank. Texas-based husband and wife team of Whitney and Chaz Gates were on the show pitching their brand of unique cocktail wines and creams. Dallas’s own Mark Cuban struck a deal with the couple and the brand has made wonderful strides since then.

During my recent trip to North Texas wineries, I stopped at Grayson College in Denison and visited Viticulture and Enology Program Director Andrew Snyder. While I toured the teaching winery and distillery, I learned that Whitney Gates from WONDRY was a graduate of the viticulture program at Grayson College under the instruction of Andrew. We discussed WONDRY and the cocktail wines and creams, and that’s when I discovered that Andrew himself was part of the WONDRY winemaking team.

There is no tasting room for WONDRY, otherwise I would have made that visit during my trip. Instead, Andrew was able to provide a sampling of wines for me to try when I returned home as if I was visiting the winery.

These are the wines I was able to taste through:

• Mango Tropical Spritz (Cocktail Wines)
• Peach in Peace (Cocktail Wines)
• Watermelon Rosé (Cocktail Wines)
• Sangria Especial (Cocktail Wines)
• Southern Country Strawberries & Cream (Cream Collection)
• Creamy Chocolate Martini (Cream Collection)

The Cocktail Wines and Cream Collection wines are semi-sweet and fruit-forward. All the wines are made from grapes with natural fruit flavorings. The red wines are made from a blend of red grapes and the white wines and creams are made from a blend of white grapes.

I tasted the wines with someone else and we had various thoughts throughout the tasting. The Mango Tropical Spritz had a little effervescence and was fruit forward with a strong mango aroma. I wasn’t quite sure about the mango taste since I do not eat a lot of mangoes, but it was a wonderfully balanced wine and one of my favorites.

The Peach in Peace was naturally a peach wine with a higher viscosity and slightly syrupy. I enjoy a good Peach wine and this fits in that category nicely. The Watermelon Rosé was similar to the Peach in Peace as having a higher viscosity and was definitely a rosé with some watermelon flavors.

Sangria is always a favorite and the Sangria Especial definitely tasted like sangria. There was no fresh fruit available in the house, but it would have been interesting to taste it with fruit like most sangrias have.

It was time to try the cocktail creams. The Southern Country had Strawberries & Cream flavors and was very tasty. If you like creamy liqueurs similar to Baileys Irish Cream, this is the cocktail cream for you. The Chocolate Martini tasted exactly like one and those cocktails are always popular at parties.

Overall, I was impressed with the quality of the wines and how balanced they were. I understand how WONDRY has impressed and gained followers from the sweeter wine audience.

WONDRY has now expanded beyond Texas into Georgia and Arkansas with plans to soon include more states. The wines are available in retail stores such as Total Wine & More, Sam’s Club, Target, Kroger, and H-E-B.