Golden Oak Micro Cellar

We first visited Golden Oak Micro Cellar in November 2020. It was the last winery we visited on a day that eventually ended up pouring rain during the dark evening when we visited. We vowed to return to the winery, and I am so glad we decided to do that.

Golden Oak Micro Cellar was founded in 2016, when Danhong and Alex Bader obtained 13 acres of land in New Waverly. A horse ranch with a farmhouse at the core was where they started their estate vineyard in 2015. Today, the vineyard is growing Blanc du Bois, Syrah, Merlot, and Camminare Noir. The winery opened in October 2020.

When we visited the winery previously, the tasting room was also in the production building. We arrived to one of our first stops on the Texas Bluebonnet Wine Trail and were surprised when the “tasting room” sign pointed to the house instead of the production building.

We met Danhong Bader in the tasting room and she said Alex actually remembered us visiting that dark, rainy night almost three years ago. We also learned that Danhong prefers to be called Catherine. She said Alex was in the production building, so we all walked to the building to meet with him. Once we got to the production where the tasting room used to be, she remembered our time previously visiting during that dark night.

The winery has now turned the production building into just production, although events can be held in the barrel room along with the front covered porch next to the vineyard. Alex confirmed that he still makes all the wines. They had just received some grapes that were fermenting in bins and were waiting to receive the last grapes.

Alex and Catherine Bader

During our conversation with Catherine and Alex, we learned that Alex is from Austria while Catherine is from China, and they happened to meet in Detroit. They then ended up in Texas and started Golden Oak Micro Cellar, and we are thankful for that.

It was time now to taste some wine, so we headed back to the tasting room. These are the wines that were available to taste at the time of our visit:

2021 Blanc du Bois – Texas
2020 Blanc du Bois Reserve – Texas
2021 Setarosa Rosé (Blanc du Bois, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot) – Texas
2021 Montepulciano – Texas High Plains
2021 Cornelius Red Blend (Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc) – American
2020 Merlot – Texas High Plains
2022 Mona Gold (semi-sweet Blanc du Bois, Lenoir) – Texas
2022 Mona Pink (sweet rosé Blanc du Bois, Petite Sirah) – Texas
Mango Peach Wine (75% Peach, 25% Mango)

Even though not all the wines are 100% Texas wines, the winery is hoping to use more Texas grapes in the future. This was the first year that Golden Oak Micro Cellar is using Tempranillo, so we are excited to see how that turns out.