The Inspiring Journey of Watson Vineyard and Brewery

I’m pretty sure if you google “labor of love,” Watson Vineyard and Brewery will be mentioned in the search results —let me explain why.

Realizing a lifelong military career was not the path he wanted to follow after all, Stephen Watson began thinking of ways he could utilize his family’s land in Coleman, Texas, where he was wanting to return. Now add in watching the movie A Walk in the Clouds, a movie featuring a soldier and grape growing, and Stephen’s next path was decided.

Upon completing his military service, Stephen moved to California where he and his wife, Mary Watson, traveled across the state visiting the different wine regions. Stephen enrolled in viticulture and enology classes at the University of California, Davis, and completed his 2½ year winemaking certificate program. During this time, he interned at J. Lohr, gaining valuable knowledge about grape growing and winemaking. In 2010, it was time for Stephen and Mary to move to Texas and begin working on their dreams of planting a vineyard, making wine, and eventually opening a tasting room.

In 2011, on the family land in Coleman, Stephen and Mary planted their first 1½ acres of vines. While more acres have been planted over the years, all the vines have been lost to the sometimes unforgiving and erratic Texas weather. While growing grapes turned out to be quite a challenge, Stephen’s winemaking skills flourished and have garnered many prestigious awards including the Class Champion/Texas Class Champion, Gold Medal for their 2017 Red 1 Delta at the 2021 Houston Rodeo Uncorked! International Wine Competition. Also built on the family land and situated across from the family farmhouse, which was built in the 1930s and is displayed on most of their wine labels, is their production facility and barrel room. With no tasting room at the time, Watson Vineyard wine was sold in local stores and was available for purchase on their website.

The last part of Stephen and Mary’s dream was to open a tasting room, so in 2021, they purchased a building in downtown Coleman that would eventually become Watson Vineyard and Brewery. With the rising cost of labor and products in mind, the Watsons did as much work on the building as they possibly could. The thing to keep in mind about this is that the Watsons live in the Austin area, which is three hours away from Coleman. I cannot imagine how many miles were driven or hours spent on the road going back and forth, but it was all in the name of fulfilling the last part of their dream. Many setbacks and delays left the Watsons wondering if they would make their opening day. In speaking with Stephen, he said that after three years and three months, the ability to open the door to the public came down to the hour before opening time, when the water was finally turned on.

The tasting room has an industrial, vintage vibe with a copper tin ceiling, concrete floors, and exposed ductwork. There are several tables and chairs and a couple of lounge areas in the main area, a multi-purpose room off to the side, a sizeable tasting bar in the back of the room, a small merchandise area in the left-hand corner, a stage in the front where they have live music, and of course a big screen TV perfect for watching sports. Homage to Stephen’s time in the service can be seen throughout the tasting room. The most noticeable place is in the metal cover of the tasting bar which features a cluster of four spades symbolic of the four opposition tanks that were taken out during one of Stephen’s military operations. Another is in the label of Red 1 Delta, a 50/50 blend of Dolcetto and Primitivo, which is a single spade was Stephen’s call sign.

Metal cover of the tasting bar with four spades

Along with being the winemaker, Stephen is expanding his horizons and is also brewing beer, hence, the Brewery part of the name. I don’t always like craft beer as it can sometimes be too hoppy, but I will say I have really enjoyed both of Stephen’s beers I have tried. This helps make Watson Vineyard and Brewery the perfect place to go as you can have wine, beer, or both. Wine can be purchased by the glass or bottle, and they do offer a tasting flight, while beer can be purchased by the pint or growler. Snacks are available for purchase, and they do allow outside food to be brought in.

On my last visit, the wines available were:

2022 Sauvignon Blanc (their only non-Texas wine)
2021 Viognier
2021 Saignèe Rosè (I helped bottle this one, so I am partial to it.)
2022 Cabernet Sauvignon
2019 Mourvèdre
2017 Red 1 Delta
2017 Petite Sirah
2019 Sweet MaryAnne

Keep an eye on their social media pages for special events because aside from having live music, Watson Vineyard and Brewery also hosts special events.