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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Our trip began Friday, late in the morning as we caravanned our way toward Austin.  First stop was at the Berdoll Family Pecan Farm just outside of Bastrop.  After filling up on honey and sugar coated pecans and some really rich fudge, we were on our way to the second stop of the trip, Cattelacs Art Gallery in Machaca.  Doug Moreland, aside from his musical and artistic talents, happens to be an old high school running buddy of a member of our intrepid group.  We chatted with Doug for a bit, apologize for interrupting his dinner, and then headed out to grab some lunch.  Our lunch stop was The Salt Lick in Driftwood.  Now, for some reason, the owners of The Salt Lick really don’t like you stepping on the grass.  There must have been three dozen signs about where not to be standing.  Fortunately for us, we were there to eat, not play in the grass.  Now, The Salt Lick serves up some really awesome BBQ and some really tasty sides.  If you have a larger group like we did, I would recommend you order by the pound.  This is the same place was profiled on Travel Channel’s Man vs. Food program.

The wine tasting part of this trip began shortly after lunch.  Luckily for us, The Salt Lick Cellars happened to be opened just next door.  We moseyed on over and tasted a few of the wines bottled by The Salt Lick and planned the rest of the afternoon.

We left The Salt Lick and headed just around the corner to our next destination, the Duchman Family Winery.  Liz and I purchased an Orange Muscat desert wine that was just really special.  It wasn’t overly sweet or heavy on the citrus flavor that most muscat wines seem to have.  Brooke and Jerry picked up a case of wine that I can’t quite recall except that it was on clearance (can’t beat $3 a bottle for a wine you like).  The winery itself was quite impressive.  A long hallway ran parallel with the working side of the building and visitors could watch the action through some large picture windows.  We also picked up some really great tips from our server.  He made some very good suggestions, including one that became our next stop.  Leaving Duchman, we headed toward Blanco to visit the Real Ale Brewing Company.  Real Ale offers a free tasting and tour every Friday afternoon from about 3 to 5.  If you find yourself in Blanco, I recommend you stop.  We were able to sample the current seasonal beer, Devil’s Backbone, and several of their yearly offerings.  My favorite is the Full Moon Pale Rye Ale.  We skipped the tour this time around and just decided to relax and hang out on the benches and taste more beer.

We left the brewery (well, maybe they stopped serving first) and made our way into Fredericksburg to check-in and get our house keys.  After scoping out the house, Liz and I went off to the grocery store while everyone else unpacked and ordered pizza.  We closed the evening with a rather mad game of Farkle.  Let me tell you, if you play Farkle, you need to play with the Piggbacking and 3 Farkle rules.  Just makes the game that much more exciting.

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Sarah Lynn was good for a while, but while racing Celeste, she fell down on the sidewalk and skinned her fingers.  After that, she wasn’t really in the Christmas mood.  Liz took her back to the car and left to get dinner while Celeste and I (with the rest of the crew) waited in line for the hay ride.  The city had cut back a bit due to budget constraints, so there weren’t as many light displays.  In the past, the pond in the park had dolphins done in lights and the entire running trail was lit up (Carlos kept muttering about mushrooms during the hay ride).  Still, it was a great time spent with friends and family.

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We started off on Campus at the Alumni Center to pick up her ring.  It was very bright and shiny.  After that, we headed over to the Chicken to enjoy a couple beers and some soda.  A quick stop at the house to pick up some food and drinks and we high-tailed it over to Liz’s Mother’s place to join the party-in-progress.  After that, the night is mostly a blur spiced with jalapenos and bacon.

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