Cresson Bluff Winery and Vineyards

While I was in North Central Texas, I made a point to visit Cresson Bluff Winery and Vineyards located in Cresson, Texas. The winery and vineyard were easy to find just southwest of Cresson, directly off US Highway 377.

After parking next to the winery, we could see the vineyard overlooking a lake with some bluffs after that. We could see how that would make a peaceful place to sit on the patio and enjoy some Texas wine. We learned later that the lake is spring-fed and the bluffs were made of limestone.

We met co-owner Karen Blaylock in the tasting room, who was helping current wine lovers, and we began looking at the tasting menu. There is a good selection of wines, and the winery is very transparent about where the particular wines come from, whether that be from California, Mississippi, Italy, or Texas.

Cresson Bluff bought their six-acre property in 2015 and planted their four-acre vineyard in 2016 where they planted three acres of Tempranillo and one acre of Viognier. The tasting room opened March 16, 2024, and they recently celebrated their second anniversary.

Since the winery was new, they needed wines from various places to offer local wine lovers. Karen Blaylock’s father, Scott O. Galbreath, Jr., founded the Mississippi winery Old South Winery in 1979. The family-owned winery specializes in Muscadine wine and also makes one blueberry wine. Karen’s brother, Scott Galbreath III, has since become the winemaker and owner of Old South Winery.

Cresson Bluff Winery is also a family-owned winery with Karen having the general manager role while her son Robert Blaylock handles the operations of the winery. Since Cresson Bluff had recently opened and needed wines, they reached out to Scott Galbreath, who helped provide some wines from Old South Winery. These are the wines on the tasting menu from Mississippi when we were there:

Carlos (dry Muscadine)
Blueberry (semi-sweet)
Royal Blush (semi-sweet Muscadine)
Miss~A~Sippin’ (sweet Muscadine)
Noble (sweet Muscadine)

For additional help with Texas wines upon opening, Cresson Bluff reached out to Bending Branch Winery and Red Caboose Winery. Bending Branch helped with a 2024 Viognier, and Gary McKibben helped make a 2020 Estate Tempranillo from Cresson Bluff’s vineyard. Scott Galbreath also came to Cresson Bluff to help make the wines at the winery.

The winery has seven more Texas wines that are in progress. Robert Blaylock is learning to be the winemaker for the winery and is the winemaker for the upcoming Sangiovese.

Besides a Napa Sauvignon Blanc, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Red Blend, there are wines on tap: Pinot Grigio from Italy and a Pinot Noir from Willamette Valley, Oregon.

The winery does not yet have a wine club, but they are planning on providing one.