Y Knot Vineyard

A vineyard often starts growing wine grapes at a small size first and then expands the vineyard in later years. This is exactly what Y Knot Vineyard in Seagraves located in the Texas High Plains did. They planted five acres of Cabernet Sauvignon in 2014, added three acres of Graciano and three acres of Petit Verdot in 2022, followed by three acres of Petite Sirah in 2023.

I first learned of their Cabernet Sauvignon when others learned nationally that Bending Branch Winery had produced an Ice wine. Ice wine is made with grapes left to freeze on the vine and that means most Ice wine is made in northern climates like New York and Canada. I have loved Ice wine since I first tried it up north and I was fortunate to buy a bottle from Bending Branch from their limited supply.

Russ Kane of the Vintage Texas blog visited Bending Branch Winery at the time and spoke with owner Dr. Bob Young while doing a tasting of the Ice wine. Dr. Bob said, “After harvesting our Cabernet Sauvignon on the Texas High Plain and onset of a winter freeze, I received a call from my grower saying that they forgot to harvest some of our Cabernet. The grower sent me a photo of a frozen cluster of grapes all encrusted in ice. Then, the question came: ‘Bob, do you still want them?’.”

After thinking a moment, Bob told the grower, “Sure, I’ll take them, but I want you to harvest them while still frozen and keep them frozen during shipment here to Bending Branch.”

That grower was Y Knot Vineyard, and the grapes froze on the vine for three days. Bending Branch produced the wonderful 2020 Ice wine which was the first official Ice wine in Texas. This once-in-100-year event was an excellent decision with the wine even winning a Gold at the 2022 San Francisco International Wine Competition.

Y Knot Vineyard also came into the news when Halter Ranch which had recently opened their tasting room in Fredericksburg declared they had become the first certified organic vineyard in Fredericksburg. Halter Ranch is making some Texas wines using only organic vineyards and currently there are two with more following in the certification process. Those two vineyards are Y Knot Vineyard and Desert Willow Vineyards. Y Knot Vineyard started growing organically in 2019 and they were certified organic in 2022. Halter Ranch is using their Cabernet Sauvignon and will be releasing a sparkling Cabernet Sauvignon Rosé on October 26.

A number of High Plains growers are starting to produce their own wine and Y Knot Vineyard has joined that group. Their tasting room opened this year and on a recent trip to the High Plains, I made a point to stop in and visit the winery.

I met owners Henry and Marie Froese at their impressive winery. Before entering the building, Marie showed me the Petite Sirah growing next to the winery and on the opposite side was the rest of the vineyard, including the famed Cabernet Sauvignon. They explained that 2018 was the last time the vineyard was machine harvested and now all is hand harvested.

The tasting room building is very large with nice seating for those wanting to relax and a tasting bar in the rear.

We went to the tasting bar, and I learned more about their wines. These were the wines available:

• 2022 Sparkling Cabernet Sauvignon Rosé
• 2023 Cabernet Sauvignon Rosé
• 2022 Viognier
• 2017 Sangiovese
• 2021 Cabernet Sauvignon
• 2019 Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve

The wines are made by Bending Branch Winery and the 2017 Sangiovese was actually a Bending Branch Winery wine. The Cabernet Sauvignon wines are wines from their estate vineyard. I asked about wines from their Graciano, but this year was the first harvest of that, so we’ll need to wait a couple more years. There is no wine club yet, but the Froeses are thinking about it.

Henry & Marie Froese

Even though harvest is done for the year, a grower’s life is never done. At an event a few days later, I saw Henry and Marie again. Henry explained how he had missed the previous day’s event because he had been harvesting peanuts.

Y Knot Vineyard is producing excellent fruit from their organic vineyard, and I look forward to tasting more of their wines in the future.