I was wondering if folks had some recommendations for local wineries that they consider to be the best in the area. I am a member of Grape Creek and also enjoy William Chris and Pedernales Cellars. Anybody else have any recommendations? Also, has anyone been to Bending Branch in Comfort? I have heard good things.

I tend to enjoy robust, well structured reds. But I also like whites like Pinot Grigio. I tend not to enjoy really sweet wines. Thanks.

You might try Perissos.

Rosewood and 4.0 are my favorites.

Hye Meadow or Hilmy

Becker Vineyards has a few good ones.

Thanks, Perissos is on the list. I just haven't gotten off 290 yet.

For the rest off 290, thanks. That's enough for a couple of trips and I'll check them out!

I also agree with thirty-two on Hilmy. I feel like they have the best wine, but I like the atmosphere and 4.0 and Pedernales better.

Lewis and Kuhlmann. Both are appointment only.
Lost Draw
Compass Rose
Perrisos

There's a good one in Spicewood. I think it's Spicewood Winery

4.0 in Fredericksburg
Bending Branch in Comfort

HTown,

I have been following your comments on the the wine cellar thread which I found after I started this one. Thanks for the recommendations. I haven't even heard of a couple of those.


Looks like 4.0 is getting some love as well.

Kuhlmann and Lewis are new, and aren't fond of the bachelorette/party bus crowd. They're pretty serious about making high quality wines.

Lost Draw just opened about a month ago. They own one of the largest and better vineyard sites in Texas, and started making some of their own wines. Their Tempranillo and Sangiovese wines are outstanding.
We used to go to 4.0 a bunch, but they've quit carrying a lot of the McPherson wines, and those are the ones we usually went for.

HTown,

There was some love for Inwood early in the other thread, but I don't see anyone mentioning it here. Your thoughts on Inwood?

Anyone else?

I like Inwood, but you have to like tannic, European style wines.

Somewhat of a drive but you may try the Driftwood area by the original Salt Lick. Several of good wineries in the area including Trattoria Lisina.

Trattorina Lisina isn't a winery; its a very good Italian restaurant. The winery next door that you are thinking of is Duchman. Their wines are pretty good, and have gotten better in recent years.

Hilmy has some wonderful wines and it's always a great atmosphere in the tasting room. Best Viognier I've had.

William Chris is good but you already knew that. Not to mentioned that it's Aggie owned.

Becker has won a bunch of awards in Texas and in US competitions. The winery itself is always crowded and can be hit or miss sometimes but that's what happens when you're popular.

I am a member with Lewis Wines and they are serious about their product. Great releases but a very small location.

Pedernales Cellars has great wine and in my opinion, the best view of all other wineries in the Hill Country. It's the place to take 1st timers. Nothing beats their viewpoint but you already knew that too.

Hawks Shadow is completely new and the owners couldn't be friendlier. Try the Tres Robles.

Duchman Family Winery is also a great spot to visit. Not to far away from the Salt Lick BBQ and they've won awards for their Montepulciano, Tempranillo and Dolcetto. Beautiful tasting room and grounds.

Other places to consider in the Hill Country:

Try getting a tour of Garrison Bros. Distillery. They've won some pretty serious awards for their bourbon and the tour is fantastic. Plus, if you get there early, they have beer and wine for purchase that you can drink on the tour. This is in addition to all whiskey tasting that you'll be doing of their product.

Stop by Texas Olive Oil Company - Aggie Owned! They do free samplings of the olive oil and balsamic vinegars and John Gambini is the co-owner and he is a great Aggie. They also carry a large stock of hill country wines for you to taste. It's totally worth a stop when you're out tasting.

SA,

Thanks for the info! I had no idea about Texas Olive Oil. I will definitely add that to the list. One of the folks in my usually tasting group is an oil aficionado and would love this.

My family and I went to Perissos today and joined their wine club. There were a couple that I found to be just ok, but some were truly great. I bought a bottle of estate Malbec, the Petite Sirah, and the Aglianico. Definitely some of the best I have had. Some of their whites were good but they didn't blow me away. I like dthe Lucy and Rousanne, but their reds were really the stars. Their quality was definitely up there compared to several other I have tried.

I also went to Flat Creek. They have a great variety that would appeal to a large group of people. I bought a couple of bottles of their Tempranillo, which was really great, and the syrah. We also bought a bottle of their sparkling almond wine, which I thought would make a great desert wine. They were definitely middle of the road in most of their wines, but they have a few that really shined. Being so close to Austin, its a nice place to visit.

Edited for coherency.

Glad you liked it... We had a good time visiting out there.

Definitely. I liked the atmosphere, pace, and staff. Thanks for the rec.

I'm certainly not a wine connoisseur, but you should also check out Driftwood Estates out in Driftwood. It's relatively close to the Duchman winery mentioned on here. The wine is pretty good (again, I'm not authority) and the atmoshpere/landscape is awesome to sit out and have a bottle.

Thanks res, I will check them out. I went to Inwood Estates this weekend with a few friends. It was all wine made from high plain grapes. Their atmosphere was a little off for my taste. Maybe the cheesy background music was playing because it was V-day, who knows. They had snacks sitting out for folks and the ladies in the group tasted for free that day. I really liked their 100% Tempranillo and picked up a few bottles.

There is a place next door called The Vineyard at Florence that had several acres of vines their on site. The lady at Inwood said that they shared the same winemaker but not the same grapes. We tried to go over there but they were closed for a special event. It looks like you can rent out the whole vineyard for weddings, parties, etc. They also had a few "villas" on site that you can rent out and stay there. I guess that is needed if you want to host an event in Florence. Anyway, couldn't try the wine but it looked like he had some interesting varietals there.

You didn't miss much. Their wines haven't been that great.

William Chris and Bending Branch are our two favorites. Bending Branch's Texas Tannat is quite good, if you're in to a somewhat offbeat wine. Sister Creek is also good, but has been up and down over the years (it's currently in the up-trend).

going to be checking out flat creek this weekend since it is close to where i live. Any tips for a first timer to a winery and tasting room

Bookmarking this. Thanks

quote:

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going to be checking out flat creek this weekend since it is close to where i live. Any tips for a first timer to a winery and tasting room

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Buy a bottle of wine if you find one you really like, but don't get suckered into signing up for the wine club

I like some of Flat Creeks wines and went there again last saturday. I bought a couple bottles of their Tempranillo and their Super Tuscan over the two times I was there.

I wish their tasting room was a little bigger. The first time I went, it was pretty crowded. It took a lot of time in between rounds of the tasting. I also don't like that they force you to chose between certain wine options. For example, during one part you have the option to try either their Super Texas or their Tempranillo. If you like reds, those are the ones you are going to want to try. They have a better chance to sell more if they allowed you to try both. But, they have about 20 different wines there, so I can understand not going through all of them. I would prefer for them to allow you to pick a certain number of them to try. That way you can exclude whites, or reds, or sparklings, if you so chose.

But, I found the staff to be nice and knowledgable. The lady I had this weekend had some quirks, but she pulled out a glass of Sangiovese that they are in the process of aging. It was really good an made us feel like we are getting part of the premire of the wine. I think it will be great here in a few months.

I guess my advice would be plan to spend a little time there and go with someone you don;t mind sharing a glass with. That way, you can get both options in a tasting section and try both wines. I haven't tried the food there yet, but that was recommended to me as well.

4.0 in f-burg
Bending branch in comfort

Dry Comal Creek (New Braunfels area) is one of my favorites. LIttle, but makes some excellent wines.

Their Lenior grape wines look interesting. Thanks for the heads up.

Ok, I checked out Bending Branch and Dry Comal Creek today. For those who recommend BB, what do y'all love about it? I tried some good wines and bought a couple of bottles, but I wasn't blown away by the Tannat (which I thought I would be from what I have read). The lady conducting the tasting mentioned they had some other wines not available for tasting, so I was wondering if those are a that much different. Their tempranillo was good as well.

Dry Comal Creek was fun. It is much smaller, kind of just tucked away next to a road, but they had some pretty good wine as well. I left with six bottles. They definitely have a much more low key vibe there, and I am looking forward to tasting their Black Spanish after I have had the chance to decant it. Thanks for the rec.

Update:

I have added a few more to the list I wanted to share.

The first is Lewis Winery. This place was nice. It is appointment only, so call ahead. It is a relatively small tasting room and winery just west of Johnson City off 290. It was nice to sit out side on their patio and they had a decent view of the valley. The staff was really great and the folks that poured us the wine actually were part of making it. They weren't some diva explaining how you are mispronouncing the varietal.

As far as the wine goes, it was really good, but I will add a qualification. Not much on the tasting list jumped out at me. Their whites were good, but not as good as some of the others I have had around the area. Then they got to their Tempranillo blend. It was ok, not great. Our server then explained that they had a few extra bottles open that weren't on the menu. They were the single estate vintages that also went into the blend. They were really great. One of the estate ones I did not like, and I think it was the one that pulled down the blend on the tasting menu for me. The rest were great and you will recognize the names of the vineyards, like Newsom and Lost Draw. Really nice and full bodied, yet mellow enough to enjoy on their own. We bought several bottles of each and joined the wine club. I hope to keep getting bottles like that in the future.

Our server then recommend Calais. It is owned by a french guy just up the road. We called ahead and he said to come to the room and gave us his address. We turned into a driveway which had no marker other than a truck with a sign parked out front. We drove past the small tasting room. The place was such a small, dug-in bunker looking building that we thought it wasn't the tasting room. But, the doors were nice and upon further review we realized it wasn't just storage. Anyway, we get out and went inside. It was basically just this guy from Calais, France who is in their making wine. He was in Dallas but moved to the hill country to start again. It was a cool experience. He was fermenting grapes at the back of the room and we talked about different wine, politics, etc, with him and the other two folks there. He is all about living the American dream and enjoying making wine here. We liked several of his wines but I was the biggest fan of his barrel aged Rousanne. Very few places in Texas age their whites in oak and to find a buttery, creamy roussane with a great flavor was nice. I was hoping he had a rose, but he already sold out. After laughing about the need for a Frenchman to have a good rose, he commented that he was really surprised when he moved here. While in Dallas, no one would buy his rose. When he got here, he sold out of it very quickly. Anyway, I would recommend this place if you really want to get off the path and enjoy a more intimate experience enjoying good wine with a guy who just loves making it. He sources most of his grapes from the high plains.

Kuhlman, also an appointment only place just a little further up 290, but they said they were expanding to have more casual experience in another tasting room. They had a pretty unique experience. Your wine pairing was served with small bites of food with different flavors. Our server was a certified sommelier who walked us through each wine. Then you would take a bite and you could see how it changed the profile of the wine. She then explained what type of wines go with what type of foods, etc. I loved it. My drinking partner found it to be a little too structured. They just wanted to drink wine. But, the wine was good, and we bought several bottles and joined the wine club. Some of their juice is still sourced out of the Sonoma, but several were sourced from the high plains. It was fun.

Finally, Lost Draw. Their tasting room is next door to the HEB in Fredericksburg. It was fun as well. They have some of the largest vineyards in the state up in the high plains, and decided to start making wine. It was unpretentious and some of the wines were pretty good. If you could only visit one winery, this wouldn't be the one I recommend. But definitely worth a visit if you are in town. I enjoyed their tempranillo and they had a pretty good rose. I think they are definitely one to come back to because I think they are going to get better as they keep making wine.