Continuing our trek around Texas, we thought we'd share and OLD trip we took back in 2011 to Fredericksburg, AKA Texas Wine Country.First of all, Happy 4th of July everyone!!! We hope everyone is celebrating America and having a blast. Ok, back to TEXAS! When you think of Texas, wine isn't something that comes to mind. Cowboy boots and BBQ... Most certainly, but wine? Interestingly enough, the state of Texas is actually 10th in the US for producing wine and one of the biggest contributing regions, happens to be fewer than 2 hours from Austin proper. Fredericksburg, TX is directly west of Austin about 90 miles. It's a quaint bed and breakfast town littered with restaurants, cafés, fudge shops, and, of course, wineries. The downtown area is absolutely adorable with many historic buildings housing vintage and keepsake stores. Also, Fredericksburg has a ton of German pride! Needless to say, our German roots were showing at the beer garden later that day! Highway 290 is the route Austinites take to get into Fredericksburg and it just happens to be Wine Road. There are 15 different wineries right along 290, making it super convenient to choice some of your favorites without driving all over the hill country. We started on the East end, farthest out from Fredericksburg and headed back west to spend the later part of the day in town. Once there, we toured by foot to help avoid driving after multiple tastings! Chase discovered a cute little Texas Wine Passport and we decided since we didn't know much about wine, let alone Texas wine, we'd just go with the passport recommendations. (Please note, it was 5 years ago when we visited so the passport tour might not be available) We started at Pedernales Cellars. They had the passport books available at participating wineries so we scooped ours up there, did a complete tasting and then took a glass outside to observe the views from their deck. Next was Becker Vineyards. One of the most well-known and award winning wineries in the region. Becker had a gorgeous reserve tasting room with wood beams along the walls and ceiling. It was rather busy but we had a wonderful experience with a knowledgable sommelier who guided us through they extensive and scrumptious wine offerings. We took a short drive to our next winery, Grape Creek Vineyards. They had such a beautiful property with Tuscan charm in every corner. We decided after two tastings already in the day, we'd do a barrel tour and tasting. We took a trolley ride around the property, over to the tank room and then we walked to the barrel room where we tasted wine from three different barrels. That was a really informative experience because we could taste, first hand, how the aging and wood process changed the flavor of the grape. After Grape Creek, we headed back in town to park the car at our adorable Bed and Breakfast and walked into town for lunch. We visited two more wineries in the down town area, Fredericksburg winery (where we tried and fell in love the traditional German spiced wine. We remember it as The Christmas Wine but it's technical term is Glühwein) and D'vine Wine which was a let down for our last stop. They referred to their wines as Jolly Ranger sweet. After trying Sauvignon Blancs, Tempernillos, and Syrahs all day, the artificial sweetness of their wine was overwhelming. (Note: their website says they are currently closed and relocating) The remainder of the day we spent visiting the fudge shops and boutiques. We dined at Crossroads Saloon and Steakhouse and most definitely ordered a local bottle of red. Looking back through these photos, it's easy to see that Texas was extremely dry. 2011 had the worst drought in nearly a century so the landscape (mind you, the vineyards were keeping the grapes watered) was extremely dead and brown. Finally out of drought restrictions, it would be really fun to head back out to Wine Road and see the vivid green grass and trees along the rolling hills. Maybe this fall. Any takers want to join?
Until Next Time, C + D
2 Comments
Danielle
2/3/2017 11:35:21 am
Thanks for checking out the post! The Texas wine country continues to expand so I'm sure there are some more great options to try out! I hope you get to visit soon!
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