The Fort Worth Stockyards are all about cows -barbecue, burgers, and steak, along with the live ones that get driven down the main street at 11:30 and 4:00 every afternoon. (If you've never been to Fort Worth, no, I'm not making this up.) It's decidedly a beer kind of place. But just down the...
Every once in a while, while visiting wineries, I feel like I've uncovered a well-kept secret. I didn't know Marker Cellars was there until I looked on American Winery Guide's Texas winery map to see what was close to Brushy Creek. There was Marker Cellars, in the same city limits -but I didn't...
With tons of family and family history in Wichita Falls, Henrietta, and St. Jo, Texas -on both sides -we drive Highway 287 all the time. All the time. I can't count the number of times we seen the sign for Brushy Creek Vineyards, looked longingly at it, and said, We should stop there sometime....
When my fiancé was a kid, his grandfather lived in St. Jo, Texas. My father's family is from the same region of Texas, the Wichita Falls area, but even I had never heard of St. Jo. Imagine my surprise when I learned that one of Texas' 190+ wineries is located six miles outside of St. Jo! Of...
What do you do with an ostrich farm when the ostriches are gone? Start a winery, of course! That's Blue Ostrich Winery's story in a nutshell. In the 1980s and 1990s, it was a fully operational ostrich ranch. Now, only seven ostriches linger, and their job is to lend their name and serve as...
It seems the owners and operators at Bluff Dale know their audience. Having been around since 2004, they've had some time to learn. Sweet wines are the wines that go over best at Bluff Dale. While we were in the tasting room, several other small groups came through and ordered wine, and every...
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....
Pillar Bluff Vineyards is an absolute find. Located off the beaten path near Lampasas, Texas, seemingly in the middle of nowhere, there lives a winemaker named Gill who knows his wine. Contest judges have recognized it, too; Pillar Bluff boasts several bronze and silver medals and one double...
Salado, Texas is one of those little towns that seems to have a lot to discover. I only spent an afternoon there, but there's shopping, dining, nice scenery, interesting people, and, of course, wineries. Salado has three wineries located on the main road; Rising Star was our third stop....
Salado Creek Winery is tucked into a shopping area of Main Street in Salado. I almost missed it, but fortunately my passenger had an eagle eye. Even better, there were a few shops open at 1:00 on a Sunday afternoon in the same row, so Mom and I bought some Hawaiian jewelry before going into the...
My mom wanted to see Salado. So, one sunny Sunday afternoon on the way back to Dallas from the Austin area, we stopped. Mom is smart; she knew she had a much better chance of getting me to stop than Dad, so she chose to ask during a trip when I was the chauffeur and Dad stayed home to play in...
When you enjoy visiting wineries, you meet a lot of other people who enjoy visiting wineries. You get to recognize the regulars at a particular winery -they usually know just what they want and go straight to their favorite spot. Often the bartenders call them by name, and they'll strike up...