Drewholick.net

Saturday

Nothing opens until at least 10 AM.  That makes for a relaxed and slow morning.  Warm up a muffin, get some orange juice and make sure the coffee is on because coffee drinkers can be cranky.  We did get rolling around 10, headed back up 290 to Grape Creek Vineyards.

I would say Grape Creek is at the top of their game, I think this winery set the bar for some of us in the group (okay, me).  We made our way into the tasting room and it was a little crowded, after we had paid for out tasting (and complimentary wine glasses) we were told that another area was available… score!  After browsing the gift shop, the room actually emptied a bit and we made our way to the bar.  Grape Creek has a rather long list of really good wines.  Liz and I split the wines and were able to tasty pretty much all of them.  I think the telling moment was when we were offered chocolate to taste the Port.  I know, that’s what is supposed to happen… but this was Brazilian dark chocolate… and it’s port-chocolate-port, in case you were wondering.  Liz and I also bought a bottle of their 2009 Bellissimo.  It’s a blend of Sangiovese, Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon and has a distinct peppery taste.

After Grape Creek, we headed down to Rancho Ponte.  Rancho Ponte is a relatively new winery to the area and coming from Grape Creek, it was a bit of a let down.  It might be a bit unfair, but we really didn’t connect with our server and the tasting room could really have benefited from some seating.  It was a single large room with a central bar which left a lot of unused space in the room.  Some nice leather couches and a few tables would be a good addition… or make the bar area larger.  The wines offered by Rancho Ponte were decent, but none really left a lasting impression.  Many of the wines I tasted exhibit strong flavor on the tip of the tongue but that flavor diminished dramatically as you drank the wine.  Needless to say, no one bought any wine here.  I will say the cheese and chorizo plate was very good.

Our next stop was for lunch and traveled back into Fredericksburg to dine at the Altdorf Biergarten.  As a group, we had eaten here before and I recall really enjoying the meal and the flavor.  This time around, I just wasn’t impressed.  Not that my meal was bad, I enjoyed my sandwich and chips.  I enjoyed the beer and the service was good.  This is my problem, a member of the group has some dietary concerns (allergies, stuff like that) and when she attempted to find substitutions, the waiter revealed that a lot of food is pre-seasoned, pre-battered, and in the case of the vegetables, pre-cut.  About the only thing the restaurant did was heat it (that was my impression at least).  How can that be authentic german flavor?  In addition, I did make a comment about the presentation of some vegetables which just proves I watch way to much Food Network and Travel Channel.

After lunch we loaded back up and took 290 West, out to the Chisholm Trail Winery.  It’s a bit of hike to get out to this place, but Chisholm Trail’s tasting room is not like any other in the area.  It’s more like a honky-tonk or an Old West influenced man-cave.  Chisholm Trail has a couple of really good wines.  Liz and I purchased a bottle of the 2007 Lone Wolf.  The 2008 variety was a medal winner, but the 2007 was the better wine in my opinion.  Chisholm Trail also happens to be a distributor of Kinky Friedman Cigars.  I picked up a few Rum Runners and a couple Willies.  I haven’t tried the Willie yet, but the rum runners were very pleasant.  After leaving Chisholm Trail, we headed back into town to stop at the house and freshen up; get ready for the evening’s activities.

 

After a quick refresh, our next stop was the Woodrose Winery.  Woodrose must be having some success. When we first visited Woodrose, the owners had just completed building their tasting room.  It was a decent size building, very pleasant.  We were able to chat with our servers (who I think were the owners) while tasting the wines.  A very memorable experience.  This time around, Woodrose was just completing a tasting hall… classic old Texas dance hall style.  While this was a nice facility, I did miss the closeness of the previous one.

Our next stop after Woodrose was dinner at the Alamo Springs Cafe.  I can’t really tell you where this restaurant is located because it is literally in the middle of nowhere.  It is however, adjacent to a bat cave.. so if you can find the bat cave, you can find the restaurant.  Alamo Springs made the Texas Monthly Top 50 Burgers list and I think it is rightly deserved.  Liz and I split a bacon-cheese burger and it was delightful (nice thick bacon, good bun, just enough grease).  We also had some awesome chips and guacamole.  The chips were freshly fried corn tortillas and the guacamole was out of this world.  We happened to stumble in on a CD release party and the band was playing live.  It made for a great segue into our next stop…  Luchenbach (or is that Luckenback or Luckinbak…  I don’t know, I think it means cold beer and live music in german).  We caught up with Doug Moreland in Luchenbach.  He put on a good hour to an hour-and-a-half show with some great music coupled with awesome story telling.  We even stuck around and listened to the headliner (Doug was technically the opening act).  It was a guy named Billy Joe Shaver who has been writing songs and performing on stage for a very long time and I think he still has it… has a good Elvis impersonation, too.  He is one of those guys that you don’t recognize until you hear that one song and then you go, “Ooooooh, now I know who he is”.

We ended the night around midnight and trucked on back to Fredericksburg.

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