Over the past several years, we've visited nearly all of the wineries on the Texas Hill Country Wine Trail. But we never could quite make the ones on the northern-most edge of the tour; just too far for a day trip. So we took a long weekend to complete the circuit.
Bruce found us a lovely old B&B in Burnet (the Airy Mount Inn), where we stayed in a coverted farmhouse. Unfortunately, the nappy carpet in our second floor room harbored flocks of sticker-burrs, like little pebbles with thumbtacks pointed straight up. After one punctured my heel, I deployed shoes. We figure a small, annoying, long-haired dog (say, a shih-tzu) paid a previous visit, rolled around in the dessicated grass outside, then came in and shed stickers like comet dust. Other than that, we found the inn quiet, comfortable, and private.
On the way up, we stopped by our favorite Hill Country winery, Flat Creek Estate. It's about half an hour outside of Marble Falls (a two-hour drive from our house). So we don't get here on most of our day trips with friends. We arrived at 11:00 so we could try their new bistro (Friday-Sunday 11:00 am-4:00 pm).
Chef Sean Fulford's full menu includes both lunch and brunch items. We ate our meal in a very pastoral setting, overlooking the well-stocked kitchen garden and watching a couple of hummingbirds having a snack just outside the window. My grilled cheese was rich, buttery, and tasty, and I am certain that the lettuce was in the ground not a half hour before. Bruce's quail (pictured above) featured mustard seed flowers and a balsamic reduction.
After lunch, we meandered down to the tasting room. We love all their wines, particularly the Super Texan and their almond sparkling wine. I am not a "super-taster" and usually can't accurately describe flavors like "black cherry" or "tobacco." I just know what I like. I recommend visiting their websites and letting their experts describe the wine.
Two other wine tour recommendations:
- Take a cooler, especially in the summer. Despite growing well in it, wine does not like Texas heat. You do not want to spend your hard-earned dollars purchasing several bottles, then pouring them down the drain at home because they were overheated in the car.
- More and more stores (especially Central Market and Gabriel's Liquors) are carrying Texas wines....a good thing. So find out from the tasting room staff which wines they only sell at the winery. Concentrate your purchases on these varieties.
All the vineyards featured a welcome splash of green in the midst of a drought-weary region. Only the prickly pears seem to thrive right now, absent irrigation.
Next we headed to the other side of Lake Buchanan to visit Fall Creek. Lake Buchanan looks positively piteous. It's down 21 feet. We quit counting the number of high-and-dry docks, with water nowhere around. (There's not a lot more useless-looking things, let me tell you.) It is going to take a powerful lot of rain to fill it back up again.
The entry into Fall Creek featured a long, cooling drive through the vineyard (pictured). Our favorites included their riesling and Ed's Sweet Red. You can enjoy a glass of wine and a cheese plate on their lovely patio (complete with fans and misters), but at 100 degrees, we decided it was way too hot.
Suppertime! Burnet is surprisingly bereft of (non-chain) places to eat. We finally found the Burnet Feed Store BBQ; nothing spectacular to report.
Our Saturday started out with lots of Tour de France text updates from my friend Shauna. (I am a Tour fanatic; when I am away, I deputize someone to keep me updated, since my smart phone took a swim in the toilet.) We took an unplanned side trip to The Czech Stop, on IH-35 in West (just north of Waco).
The Czech Stop occupies a non-descript storefront behind a gas station. You might easily drive past it...until you notice the hordes of cars and streams of people going in and out. The aromas of freshly baked bread wafts out the front door. They have some of the best kolaches in Texas, in huge variety. Their sausages and sandwiches are equally fabulous. We bought too much, then headed back into wine country.
Another post tomorrow with the rest of the trip!
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