Here is what a general map of the Wine Road 290 looks like, and the wineries available in that stretch:
We went to a winery called Grape Creek Vinyards, "the Tuscany of Texas" was thier slogan. And it really was. I was very impressed with not only their facilities, but their wine was amazing too! They have recieved 100 medals in the past two years, in competitions ranging from San Fransisco to New York. Usually placing 7 out of 9 or 11 out of 13 wines in all competitions they enter. Grape Creek is a bit smaller winery than some, yeilding only a maximum of 10,000 cases a year.
Here we are standing by a small portion of their vinyard:
For just $6 we got to sample 6 different wines, included was a complimentary wine glass. I tried the (Dry White) Pinot Grigio, Vionier, (Dry Red) Cabernet/Syrah, Bellissimo, and the (Sweet) Riesling, and the Grand Rouge. Of course, as I suspected, the Dry Reds were my favorite! Kyle tried the (Dry White) Viognier, (Dry Red) Merlot, Bellissimo, (Sweet) Grand Rouge, Cabernet Blanc, and the Port.
Interesting fact: The Cabernet Blanc is also known as the "hot tub wine," it is the perfect drinking wine while soaking in the hot tub!
Have you ever tried a Port wine?! Here is a description, "This rich and elegant Port imparts complex dried fruits, walnut, almond, and cinnamon spice characteristics." With a splash of Brandy. I did NOT like it, but Kyle was a fan. It is for sure one of those "sipping" wines that you can only have one glass per night of. I think between the two of us, we both agreed we liked the Bellissimo wine the best. Here is the description, "This Super Tuscan style Sangiovese/Cabernet Sauvignon/Merlot blend yields cherries, spices, and toasted oak with hints of vanilla!" It really was delicious.
After we tasted all the wine, we signed up for the Barrel Tasting Cellar Tour. Grape Creek offers a tour of the winemaking facilities and barrel cellar and allows you to taste the wine aging in the French and American oak barrells. They only use the barrells 3 times before they get new ones.
At the start of the tour, we were able to see their storage for their cases of wine. It was a cool 60-something degrees in there, compared to the 97 degrees outside!
and the machine that bottles the wine and puts labels on: (costs roughly $150,000)
After a bottle is filled with wine, it is set in its case in the storage unit to "settle." As our tour guide put it, "wine does not like to be bottled," so it needs to settle and get all the fruit, skins, and tannin all back to its normal levels.
We were then led to the fermentation room. This is what it looked like:
Depending if it was a white wine or red wine, they had different days of how long they needed the fermentation process. Each "cooler" was set to 56 degrees F and, for red wine, had to sit about 10-14 days in the fermentor, stirring occasionaly. The room had a very bitter, almost sour smell to it; obviously from the fermentation.
After the fermentation room, we headed down into the cellar to see the barrells. It smelled delicious! Just how oak barrells should smell. After seeing and hearing the explenation behind the "French" and "American" barrels, we got to try some, straight from the barrell!
Here our tour guide is using what is called a "Wine Thief" to get the wine out of the barrell.
You would never guess how many gallons of wine can be held in one barrell. Here is a sheet taped to one of the barrells as proof: 480 Gallons!
We enjoyed the tour very much, and learned alot. We also got 2 more wine glasses, so we now have a set of 4 Grape Creek Vinyard wine glasses!
After the taste testing and the tour, Kyle had his share of wine and we started out again on the road heading into Fredericksburg for our next adventure......to be continued: fredericksburg...part 3 (German Town)
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