Tempe Creek Vineyard & Farms

Located near Lake Livingston outside of Sam Houston National Forest is Tempe Creek Vineyard & Farms owned by Michael and Jennifer Cook. Tempe Creek Vineyard & Farms first opened in 2019, but we all know what started at the beginning of 2020. They closed and later reopened in August 2020.

I visited Tempe Creek Vineyard & Farms previously, and we revisited this time as one of the wineries while using the Texas Bluebonnet Wine Trail passport event. As we parked, we noticed a number of cabins that were near the parking lot that we didn’t remember from our previous visit. We found out later those cabins are currently the production area for the winery. The current tasting room, a little walk from the parking lot on the other side of the outside pavilion, will become the production area. At that time, the cabins will become cabins for overnight stays.

The estate vineyard growing Blanc du Bois is directly in front of the parking lot and pavilion.

We met Jennifer Cook in the tasting room and she commented how we saw each other recently at the 2023 Sage’s Vintage Symposium.

She started us on a tasting, and this is what was available at the time of our visit:

2020 Riesling – Texas High Plains
2022 Blanc Du Bois Estate – from the estate vineyard
2002 Grandpa’s Sipping Wine, Moscato – Texas
2022 Black Spanish Sangria – off-dry
2021 Black Spanish Rosé – off-dry
Clyde’s Red Blend (2020 CA Pinot Noir, 2021 Black Spanish Texas) – off-dry
Blueberry (100% blueberry juice) – dry

Near the end of our tasting, Michael came into the tasting room, so we had the chance to meet him again. He confirmed that he is the winemaker, and they bottle everything on site.

While tasting the Blueberry wine, it was mentioned they had made a Watermelon wine before. She loves watermelon juice and she mentioned that to Michael and Jennifer. They didn’t have any more Watermelon wine for tastings or for sale, but they did have one last bottle. They opened it up! I was very appreciative we were able to taste the last of the Watermelon wine.