Texas Legato Winery Review

Address: 2935 Farm-to-Market 1478 Lampasas,Texas 76550.
Phone Number: 512-556-9600
Tasting Hours: Fri-Sat 10:00-5:00, Sun 12:30-5:00 and by appt.

Region: Texas Hill Country AVA, Texas
Reviewer: Becky Parr
Review Date: 4/4/2013
Reviewer: Becky Parr
Rating: 2

The Review

Texas Legato lies in the northern part of Texas Hill Country, although it’s not terribly hilly in this particular spot just outside of Lampasas. Still, this area of Central Texas is home to many really good wineries, and often you stumble across a gem that you didn’t expect to find.

Unfortunately, Texas Legato is not one of those gems.

The Experience: &nbspHonestly, I expected a good experience. We hadn’t planned to go to Texas Legato, but it is literally next door to Pillar Bluff and shares a vineyard, and the Pillar Bluff winemaker sent us over. Having enjoyed Pillar Bluff immensely, I took this as a credible recommendation.

The Place: &nbspTexas Legato doesn’t look like much from the outside; it looks like a small, off-white house in the middle of a field. I know from experience, though, that great wines and wine experiences are often found at wineries whose exteriors are less than impressive.

The inside of the tasting room was pleasant, with a nice bar, although the green hues of the room and the cabinet behind the bar reminded me a bit of my grandma’s dining room. It was St. Patrick’s Day, and someone had created several green-themed displays. We chose a “coin” out of little leprechaun cauldrons, which ended up getting us a discount – a nice touch.

The People: &nbspThe website indicates that Texas Legato is owned and operated by Bill and Sulynn Bledsoe, but unfortunately they weren’t at the winery when we visited. The tasting room was staffed by a young woman who poured efficiently – that’s a nice way of saying that she breezed through the wines pretty quickly and didn’t tell us much, if anything, about them.

There was one other couple in attendance, obviously regulars. The employee (she never told us her name) obviously knew them and spent most of the 30 minutes of our visit talking to them. She came, poured our tastes, and re-diverted her attention. By kind of inserting ourselves into the conversation, we did determine that this other couple came there often and knew Bill Bledsoe well; we learned that Bill is the twin brother of Gill at neighboring Pillar Bluff. But honestly, the Texas Legato experience was so different than the Pillar Bluff experience that we went home and verified online that the two winemakers actually had the same last name.

The Wines: &nbspTasting at Texas Legato is $5 for everything they have listed on their white board, and the tasting fee applies to a bottle purchase. In terms of the wine list, there was one white wine, a Chardonnay, listed on the board, but the winery apparently didn’t have any left and it wasn’t poured.

All the rest of the tastes were reds. We had Cabernet first, which was fairly pleasant, but it seemed odd to start with a Cabernet rather than a lighter red. After that, in fairly rapid succession, came (I believe) a Petite Sirah, Merlot, Tempranillo, and a red blend. Unfortunately, I didn’t really care for any of the wines that were poured so I may be mis-remembering the varietals. The attendant offered the sweet wines, but by then we were weary of the experience and declined.

Insider’s Tip: &nbspExcept for the revelation about the brothers with neighboring wineries, I really don’t have an insider’s tip. If I could give one to the owners of Texas Legato, however, it’s to reiterate that the service can often make or break the winery experience.