A Christmas Tasting

The other day, my DIL Helen and I headed up the road to Hye TX to meet her cousin for a wine tasting. It was a beautiful day and we had plenty of time so we headed northwest on the backroads of Texas.

It was so nice out.....a perfect winter day for south central Texas....the Texas Hill Country.

The winter flowers are blooming......

....the vines are not.

The Hill Country abounds in wineries especially the Hwy 290 corridor between Fredericksburg and Johnson City. That is where you will find Hye and the William Chris Winery.

We enjoyed the tasting although it's definitely not our favorite. Our host was a young man and he did a pretty good job walking us through the six wines we tasted. Unlike many other wineries, the tastings menu is set....you don't get to choose the wines. We ordered a small chees plate which was very good and had plenty of cheese, proscuttos, and bread pieces for the three of us.

We stood at this counter for the whole tasting.....some seats would have been very nice.

The tasting room also had a few gift items to choose from. Helen just met her cousin when she joined us for Thanksgiving and she is definitely a keeper. We all had a good time.

It was a nice way to spend an afternoon.

Grape Creek Vineyards....Fredricksburg, TX





Late Saturday morning, Steve, Helen, Angus, and I headed towards Fredricksburg TX. Steve took us cross-country on several back country roads. It was really a nice drive and we saw a surprising number of trees changing their colors. Our first stop was Grape Creek Vineyards on the Hwy 290 Wine Trail. I was amazed at how many vineyards and wineries there are now around Fredricsburg especially along Hwy 290 between Fredricksburg and Johnson City.

My DIL joined the Grape Creek Vineyard after an earlier visit with friends. She gets special deals on wine packages as well as free wine tastings for two when she visits. Steve was the designated driver as he isn't a big wine drinker. The vineyard and winery are very nice.

They have outdoor patios for both members and nonmembers.

They also have a Trattoria where you can order pizza or cheese/cracker trays. We had three different kinds of pizza (personal size) although neither Helen or I could finish ours so we had take homes.

We went to one of the member's patios to do our wine sampling.

We both like the same kind of wines.......definitely not dry.

It was nice enough to be outside for lunch and tastings but they do have an indoor area in the gift shop as well.

It was a really nice way to enjoy several hours.

We only visited the one vineyard on this trip because we also wanted to visit Fredricksburg. We walked around to see the sights and people-watch. Angus wasn't really sure about these fish moving around right under his nose.

Fredricksburg was definitely a busy place.

 

It was great to be back in Fredricksburg but it was way too short so another trip will have to made in the near future. You can't visit here too often....there is always something to see.