U BAR Wines

U BAR Wines was founded by Edwin and Jessica Ueckert on family land owned since the 1880s in Bellville. The winery was opened March 2020.

The Ueckerts were originally going to plant a vineyard onsite but opted instead to purchase grapes from the Texas High Plains. However, there are still plans to eventually put in a show vineyard.

I arrived at the winery and was greeted by an entrance sign with a Texas Longhorn. As I was soon to find out, longhorns are raised on the land. Not only that, but they are affiliated with the wines too, but more on that later.

I met Lori in the tasting room who offered me a tasting. Edwin Ueckert was in the nearby office and soon joined our conversation because he was going to be leaving shortly. Edwin gave a nice introduction to the winery and then turned me over to Lori for the tasting.

Tastings include four chosen wines for a small fee and are served in small plastic glasses. These are the wines that were available at the time of my visit:

• Pinot Grigio
• Viognier
• Riesling (sweet)
• Sunset Rosé (semi-dry)
• Merlot
• B2 Hardy Red Blend (Tempranillo, Malbec, Merlot)
• Cabernet Sauvignon (light-bodied)
• Sweet Red (fruity sangria with oranges and peaches)
• Strawberry Fields (sweet sparkling)
• Cattleman’s Choice Sparkling (semi-sweet)
• Merry Berry (seasonal, semi-sweet cranberry)
• Peach wine

All of the wines are Texas wines with fruit from the Texas High Plains, except the cranberry wine where the cranberries come from New Hampshire. The wines are made by working with Thirsty Mule Winery & Vineyard.

Food is available such as charcuterie, spinach and artichoke dip, and mixed nuts. Other drinks are available for non-wine drinkers.

All the wines have Texas Longhorns on the bottle label and as I learned, all the longhorns shown are the actual cattle being raised. More than just that, the names of those particular cattle are the actual grape names! For example, the name of the longhorn on the Merlot bottle is Merlot! How cool is that?

Go check out U BAR Wines, and don’t miss the famous Texas Longhorns there.