The Vine

Premier wedding venues are always needed, and it helps when that venue is a destination complete with a tasting room. Located in New Ulm of Southeast Texas, approximately one hour from Houston, is The Vine owned by Jason and Christy Brown.

The Vine started as a wedding and corporate event location in 2015 complete with a Barrel Barn with reclaimed additions throughout, a Union Bell chapel, and bridal and groom cottages. Also on the property is an estate vineyard growing Blanc du Bois and Lenoir. They currently sell the grapes to other wineries, but there are plans to do wine production onsite.

The tasting room opened March 2021. It is a very comfortable tasting room with a wraparound bar with a fireplace on the opposite wall along with couches, tables, and large televisions. Behind the bar are bottles on display with spirits on one side and wine on the other side. At that time, I knew this was more of a regular bar instead of the typical winery tasting room, especially since I didn’t see any wine bottles labeled with The Vine.

I sat at the tasting bar and perused the tasting menu. The front side had a large wine selection at the top two-thirds with sections Cabernet Sauvignon, Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Red Blend, Intriguing Whites, Intriguing Reds, and Sparkling & Rosé. Then came two sections titled Texas Reds and Texas White & Rosé. These were the sections I was interested in.

At the time of my visit, these were the Texas wines being poured:

• Becker Merlot – Texas High Plains
• Becker Tempranillo – Texas
• Becker Iconoclast Cabernet – Texas
• Bending Branch Tannat – Texas
• Rancho Loma Toro – Texas
• Fall Creek Chenin Blanc – Texas
• McPherson Cellars Viognier – Texas
• Becker Rosé Saigon – Texas
• C.L. Butaud PaPa Frenchy – Texas
• Duchman Family Winery Vermentino – Texas

A Texas Wine Flight could be done with three two-ounce pours, and a Premium Wine Flight (non-Texas) could also be done with three two-ounce pours. Glasses of wine could also be purchased. Also on the front were the Bourbon and Scotch that was available, and the back of the tasting menu offered Texas beer, non-alcoholic drinks, bites, and pizza.

Since I had tasted all those Texas wines before, I opted for a glass of the PaPa Frenchy white blend. I asked the tasting guide what the blend was, but she wasn’t sure. They used to have a notebook with that information about the different wines, but it wasn’t there anymore.

We had a nice conversation talking about Texas and the new Texas Wine Lover mobile app. I asked who the usual patrons are for the tasting bar other than possible event customers, and the answer was people come from Houston to enjoy a glass of wine or spirits, and also people who are doing the local wine trail. I, for one, was visiting wineries on the Texas Bluebonnet Wine Trail so that matched my reason.