To the Red River Valley We Go: A Recent Texas Wine Trip

I tend to wax nostalgic around this time of year, not just because it is my birthday week, but also because we took our first big Texas wine trip to the Texas Hill Country for my fortieth birthday a few years ago. That trip laid the groundwork for subsequent trips to Texas wineries and also left a big impression on our family because it was the first non visit-family-type vacation we had ever taken. Since then we have taken a couple non visit-family-type trips that somehow always include a winery stop or two. One of these includes a brief but memorable stop at Brennan Vineyards back in May of 2016 (the write-up for this visit has been on the back-burner since but is coming soon!). However, this year we were unable to take a big road trip to celebrate my birthday, but we did take a quick trip to a couple wineries up in the Red River Valley a couple weeks ago. This trip included visits to Arché Winery and Blue Ostrich Winery and Vineyard near the hamlet of St. Jo, which lies a few miles south of the Red River. Though we were only there for a few hours, we had a great time and I will share some memories here.

Arché Winery
This visit to Arché has been a long time coming as I mentioned wanting to take a trip there on one of my first Texas wine blog posts, so my excitement bordered on ecstatic as we drove up the dirt road between rows of vines to their tasting room. We missed the opportunity to take a vineyard and winery tour by one week as harvest is slated to start a little early this year, so we "settled" on a fantastic wine tasting with winemaker Grayson Davies, son of Howard and Amy Davies, owners and operators of Arché. 

Rows of Arché Syrah.

I shared with Grayson that I had been wanting to visit Arché for a good while now and was excited to finally make the relatively short trip from Dallas. He noticed our matching "Texas Wine" tattoos, and told him that we got them from a fellow Texas wine aficionado a while back and thought it apropos to wear them for this trip.

Hurray for Texas rosé!

Our wine tasting stayed on the dry side of their 100% Texas wines and found them to be excellent with the Texas Rose (dry rosé of Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah) to be our consensus favorite. Other exceptional wines included the Roussanne and Ryan's Red (red blend of estate Cab and Syrah).  

Matchy, matchy for #TxWine.

While Grayson attended to other customers in the tasting room who arrived shortly after we did, his mother Amy came by and poured the next wine on our tasting. I forgot how the introductions came about, but she remembered that I had emailed her a few days prior to our visit, so we made our acquaintance, chatted about the vines, and talked 'shop' which included how they want to apply to have their vineyard recognized as their own American Viticultural Area. 

Veraison is well under way.

Amy shared with us some of their future plans that include to pull out and replant a portion of the vineyard near the winery to narrow the space between the rows which currently has a width of 12' (then narrow width to 8'), and then to expand their tasting room area by creating a patio for folks to enjoy both their wine and their scenery. This patio should be ready to go soon, perhaps as soon as this fall.

Future Arché patio, future wine fun!

On our next Red River Valley visit, we hope to take advantage of their vineyard and winery tour so we could not only broaden our Arché experience, because their strive for environment sustainability in their winemaking and viticulture intrigues me, but also to drink more of their amazing Texas wine. Priorities, right?



 
Thanks to Grayson and Amy Davies for an unforgettable first visit to Arché.
Let's just say that my wife and I cannot wait for our next visit!

Blue Ostrich Winery and Vineyard
A short and scenic route from Arché to Blue Ostrich Vineyards took us literally to the edge of Texas-- the Red River was essentially a stone's throw from the Farm to Market road we were on. Our plans at Blue Ostrich involved us arriving in time for a wine tasting and then take a tour of the vineyards and winery, but we instead got caught up in our great tastings and subsequent glass of wine so much so that we totally forgot about the tour. But who could blame us! The live music and gorgeous scenery kept us in the patio for the duration of our stay.

Truth is that there's great wine here!

As it was at Arché, our tastings stayed on the dry side of things though my wife did try a couple sweet whites which she did not find as appealing as she used to try during our early Texas wine travels. 

Each of our tastings were very nice, which I think had to do with how busy the tasting room as our visit also coincided with a live music event in the pavilion (perhaps also a wine club pick up event). Their estate viognier was our first wine to taste, which we enjoyed, but the highlights were a couple extra tastings, that included an inky dark petite sirah that the wife completely loved (huge surprise to me!), and the newly released Brüder, a reserve 2014 tempranillo made from grapes grown on the Blue Ostrich estate, which was released the day of our visit, and one that my wife also loved (another huge surprise!). I'm still awestruck that she loved that wine because she is not a big fan of tempranillos (my fave). I think the 'reserve' nature of the wine, having been aged a little longer in oak barrels, went a long way towards making this palatable for her.

Dig those 80s 'staches!

As wonderful as the wines were, we absolutely loved the view of the vineyard and beyond from our seats in the pavilion. I could not help but notice how much this view reminded me of the environs around Fredericksburg in the Texas Hill Country. Somewhere along the way during our visit there, I picked up a nice brochure that said that this area of Texas is the "north Texas Hill Country." I would have to agree as the views in and around both of these wineries did take my mind back to previous Texas Hill Country visits.

The last of the ostrich Mohicans at Blue Ostrich.

As is the case on our road trips, we do not know what we will see once we hit the road. Whether it was that surprisingly winding and scenic jaunt up FM 677 from St. Jo to Arché, then knowing how tantalizingly close our road was to the Red River on the way to Blue Ostrich, and finally knowing that these locales are so very close to the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, but yet felt so far away in our minds. The pull to make our pilgrimage to the Texas Hill Country and the wineries surrounding Fredericksburg is oh so very strong, but it is very comforting to know that we can hop in the car for an hour and half and experience something quite similar. We ventured up a familiar road but in a different direction, and it made all the difference in our world. It was certainly the wine road less traveled, but it will be one that will become quite familiar in due time.

Blue skies + vineyards = good times with Texas wine at Blue Ostrich!

Umbra Winey's new vine: Umbra Winery at La Buena Vida Vineyards

Umbra Winery sent out a new 'vine', northwest of Fort Worth, when they purchased La Buena Vida Vineyards in Springtown several months ago. For John and Debbie Wilson, owners of Umbra Winery, the "buena vida" (good life) includes the building of a new event center and tasting room at La Buena Vida Vineyards. Their aspirations at La Buena Vida Vineyards will build on the legacy of Dr. Bobby Smith, a pioneer of Texas wine culture who previously owned the property and planted the vineyard more than 40 years ago.

The Wilsons not only bought a 49 acre vineyard, but they also inherited a much bigger wine production facility, and the opportunity to also produce mead. The mead is now on tap at Umbra in Grapevine-- which is fantastic by the way, and is a perennial mainstay at the Scarborough Renaissance Festival in Waxahachie.

We paid our first visit to Umbra's new digs last weekend after having spent a fun (wine) filled day at a couple Red River Valley wineries the day before (write-up here). We've known John and Debbie since their CrossRoads days in Little Elm when their production facility also doubled as a tasting room, so when they told us of this new venture several months ago, we were ecstatic to say the least. Upon our arrival, John took us on a quick tour of their expansive new facility, and I noted that they could fit their old Little Elm wine making facility inside this area a few times over.

Afterwards, John let us wander among the vineyard, which is the third oldest in Texas behind Val Verde Winery in Del Rio, and those of Llano Estacado Winery up on the Texas High Plains. During our short stroll we saw vines of Pinot Blanc, Chambourcin, Syrah, Viognier, and Pinot Grigio. We were told that there are Albariño vines as well.

Is the Syrah getting close to harvest?

We came across the Memory Garden, a lovely place built by Dr. Smith, that greets folks as they come onto the property. The plaque that adorns the garden entrance is apropos for a Texas vineyard.

 

They should be breaking ground on the event center towards the end of July, but the process to dig out the wine cellar is to happen sooner. The event center is tentatively set to open in the spring of 2018. 

In the middle of this picture, off in this distance, is where the new event center will be built. I spy a 'cat'!

This 'cat' is ready to pounce!

As big fans of Umbra's wine, and of course of John and Debbie, we gush about our own personal excitement about their new journey, so we cannot imagine the excitement they feel. But there is still much more work to be done: new ground will be broken, buildings will be erected, grapes will be harvested, and a new Texas wine adventure will soon be born.

Above and below are architectural renderings of the new event center and tasting room. Can't wait!

Space Shuttle Challenger Disaster- My Recollections

On a cold January morning 30 yrs ago today I sat in my 7th grade science class, when our principal made an unforgettable announcement: "The Space Shuttle blew up." (That phrase still stings 30 years later or whenever it bubbles up in my memories.)

As I sat there stunned at my desk, I heard someone ask, "Was this the one with the teacher?" And me being the space nerd that I am, I said "Yes it was." I knew what this shuttle mission was about and I knew what this disaster meant: high school teacher Christa McAuliffe was the first civilian on board a shuttle & would be remembered as never being able to accomplish her mission.

So almost exactly a year after I lost my paternal grandmother, I felt loss again but this time shared with millions of fellow Americans. It would be another 15 years before another Space Shuttle disaster would occur, but the Challenger explosion still stands as a significant blip on my life's radar and one that will last forever. 

To divertirse or not, part II

We planned a Saturday evening out to divertirnos, to have fun, or better yet, to divert our minds from the daily grind and for what lays ahead for my wife's mother, when we got a call from my sister in law worrying about the deteriorating state of my mother in law's health-- she, the subject of my previous blog post. I offered to cancel our plans but my wife said in so many words that we needed this night out. We needed this diversion.

Good thing too, as I also did not want to think about that gut punch of 11-10 loss the Rangers suffered at the hands of the Angels earlier that evening. This loss in my opinion was the second worse loss in franchise history, second only to their infamous game six loss in the 2011 World Series. Thankfully they shook off that loss and claimed the AL West title Sunday afternoon.

Any sports game loss pales in comparison to the thought of my wife losing her mother to cancer. And for the first time since we heard this news, I had a couple moments Saturday afternoon where this possibility overtook the hope I have for her recovery.

We did go out Saturday evening as planned, but the dark cloud of doubt and uncertainty joined us at the restaurant and even at the wine bar. So as much as we tried to divert our thoughts away from this, everything landed back onto the thought at my wife losing her mother. And that in of itself will have few, if any, diversions worthy of the situation.

To divertirse or not

One of my favorite words in the Spanish language is "divertido", which essentially means to have fun. For example, "quiero hacer algo divertido", I want to do something fun. But what I love most about this word is that it looks like the word divert in English, which to me is the true essence of the word: "Let's do something to divert our attention from the mundaneness of our daily existence by doing something out of the ordinary."

For the last several Thursday evenings I have had the opportunity to spend time playing softball with some work colleagues. I'll be the first to admit that we are not very good-- just imagine a bunch of librarians playing softball. Yeah. Exactly. However you would never know we were such horrible softball players. We treated each game with such a naivete that even though we pretty much got slaughtered each game, we still had so much fun. For those of us teammates who are knowledgeable of the game or who have played it before, we recognized our limitations but we nevertheless felt excited to play regardless of the final score. We never let our horrible-ness, as it were, divert our attention from the game itself.

Even with that said I spent many a sleepless Thursday night thinking about every single misplay I made over and over until I fell asleep: "If I had only reacted quicker to that groundball" or "If I had only gotten a hit with RISP." Stupid crap like that while laying in bed. Ad infinitum. Over and over again, until my tiredness took over. I wish my mind would not work like that at times.

As bad as this may sound, tonight I would rather to divert my attention directly to my misplays again, over and over again than to think about the horrible news I got late this afternoon. I want to divert my mind away from some of the most completely devastating news anyone could receive. I will not divulge the nature of the news here but it is as devastating as can get.

I do not foresee many things 'divertido' going on here for a while, but I do hope to have a few thing around to divert me from the harsh reality of the aforementioned news.

Setting Down More Roots: Umbra Winery Keeps Growing

Everyone is welcome at Umbra, especially Walkens.

 UPDATE--
The plans laid out in this post never came to fruition. Please visit newer posts for up to date information on Umbra Winery.

A recent visit to Umbra Winery proved to be fruitful in a few different ways. We tried a fantastic new Cabernet Sauvignon. We found out that owner John Wilson is now the winemaker. And we found out that Umbra is expanding its footprint in Grapevine. Excitement is building, and rightly so, since Umbra has only been open several months.

John Wilson greeted us and said we had to try the soon to be released Roussanne. This lesser known white varietal has shown to be another great white wine that pairs well with Texas terroir. The fruit for this new Umbra wine is grown out in the Texas High Plains at Oswald Vineyards. I personally have been wanting to try it since John mentioned it last year, and it is very good. However the wine that caught my fancy was not this one, but the new Cabernet Sauvignon made by John Wilson himself.

Longtime CrossRoads and Umbra Winery winemaker John Otis recently left Umbra for new adventures out in the Pacific Northwest, leaving John Wilson with winemaking duties. So another hat that John Wilson now dons is that of winemaker. His first wine creation is a Cabernet Sauvignon blend of two vintages, plus a smidgen of Merlot for good measure. This vino shows that John picked up a thing or two over the years from Mr. Otis' winemaking prowess as it is fantastic. If you want a a good indicator of how good this wine is, my wife who is not a fan of red wines and makes a point of avoiding them, utterly loved this cab. Well done, John. Well done.

Picture wine-making materiel in this end of the room.

When Umbra opened its doors on Grapevine's busy Main Street last fall, the actual winemaking facility remained in Little Elm. Over the last week or so I caught wind of some future changes from an Umbra Instagram conversation. Even before I had a chance to ask John about the upcoming changes, he asked us to join him for a quick jaunt outside.

Picture fun wine related events in this side of the room.

John is still awaiting final approval from the city of Grapevine, but behind their Main Street location, is a building that he hopes that will not only house Umbra's wine making apparatus, but will also serve as Umbra's event center for wine club and other entertaining events.

In less than one year John and his wife Debbie have done more than settle into their Grapevine location, but have set themselves up for future success. Grapevine is North Texas' wine hub and Umbra Winery will be a big part of Grapevine's wine destination industry.

Selena: Thoughts y Recuerdos

We all remember where we were when a major event or catastrophe occurred. Whether it was 9/11 or the first lunar landing, those moments are tucked away in the crevices of our brains' memory banks. I remember where I was when Selena died like it was yesterday, and cannot believe twenty years have passed since that dark day. Though I am not an adherent of Tejano music, Selena's passing still resonates with me all of these years later.

I grew up in the Corpus Christi area, but I never saw Selena in concert like some of my friends. Tejano music has never been my music or my scene, although I somehow found myself spending many a boring Saturday night at Tejano music clubs in my early twenties. The things we do for friends, right? But just because Tejano music was not my thing did not mean I was oblivious to Selena and her music.

It was not hard at all to miss Selena's beauty, which was on par with her infectious personality: both equally beautiful. Like many others, I found her music catchy, however, what resonated was that she was not much different than me in a few ways: she was not a native Spanish speaker but picked it up along the way; she did her best to straddled two distinct, predominant cultures in South Texas (American and Mexican); and like me, she had a fondness for classic rock. It would probably surprise some, but Selena was influenced by classic rock artists such as Pat Benatar.

But unlike Benatar, Selena's music career was short-lived and to me she belongs in the group of musicians who left this world way too early: Jimi Hendrix, John Lennon, Buddy Holly, Stevie Ray Vaughan, et al. She had only begun to scratch the surface of crossover success with an album that was released posthumously.

Such as the aforementioned artists, we will miss out on all of the great future-music that was silenced that cloudy spring day in Corpus Christi. I have always imagined how Selena's vocal heft in "Si una Vez" would have translated into rock music, which I think she would've done at some point. Now imagine her covering a Benatar tune. Chills.

Twenty years later, we are left with thoughts and memories of an artist whose life was cut short by a bullet. The sky was the limit for someone whose stardom and talent was partly unrealized. Little did I know that I was only a few miles away from a superstar's demise, a supernova whose presence is still felt all these years later.