It's All About Soul--William Chris Vineyards

           “Put your ear down close to your soul and listen hard,” claimed poet Anne Sexton.

            Yes, those who listen can hear souls.  The souls of people…the souls of animals…the souls of places.  Places do have souls.  The soul of a location is a reflection of its past, a representation of its present, and an anticipation of its future. 

William Blackmon and Chris Brundrett have found the soul of Texas in the wines they produce at William Chris Vineyards.  The two make wines that represent the soul of Texas itself.

Texas is known for its independence.  The state has flown under six different flags in its history—including being an independent republic for a time—yet has always fought to be its own, unique place.  Statements like “everything is bigger in Texas” and “don’t mess with Texas” are still around because they truly show the soul of the state.

This stubbornness, this strength, this individuality are all evident in William Chris wines.  The characteristics began with Bill and Chris, both good, strong Texans living their wine dreams.  They did it not in the way this dream would be lived in France or California, but only in the way it could be lived in Texas...a dream as unique and persistent as these two winegrowers themselves.

Chris in the tasting room.

Bill has over thirty years grape growing experience in Texas.  His agriculture degree at Texas Tech set the stage for him to be a Texas winemaker from the time he graduated in the 1970s.  He grew vineyards all over the state before finally settling in Hill Country and planting Granite Hill Vineyards, now a William Chris estate vineyard.

Chris is just as much an example of a Texas self-made man.  He went to Texas A&M to earn his degree in horticulture and gained experience in wineries all around Hill Country.  He helped his own family establish a quality vineyard—Brundrett Family Estate—which also grows estate fruit for William Chris.

Though from two different generations, the souls of these two Texans recognized similarities in each other.  They formed William Chris Vineyards in 2008 and began the journey to make wines unique to Texas and to Hill Country, to show the soul of the region.  They truly believe that “wine is not made, it’s grown,” and they strive to make “wines with soul” that show Texas terroir. 

 

Tasting barrel by barrel in the production area quickly showed this soul of the Texas terroir that Bill and Chris strive to display in every bottle.  It starts by growing grapes that fare well in Texas, even though these grapes may not be what’s coming out of California. 

Bill and Chris grow grapes that thrive in Hill Country and the High Plains, like Rousanne, Orange Muscat, Blanc du Bois, Cabernet Franc, Petite Verdot, Mourvedre, and Carignane.  These vines love the Texas heat and still withstand some of Mother Nature’s crazy antics every year.  They express the headstrong character of Texas.

William Chris also shows the soul of Texas hospitality by inviting people to the quintessential Texas tastingroom—a 1905 farmhouse.  When renovating and adding to the farmhouse, hundreds and hundreds of shoes were found under the floor.  These acted as old-fashioned insulation, and once again, added to the personality of the property.  The tasting space has many cozy rooms for sipping, as well as an indoor area with a beautiful view of the rolling Texas hills and an outdoor area for Texas-style picnics.

 

After experiencing this soul and hospitality, choosing only a few wines as super stars is difficult.  Every wine sipped, whether from barrel or bottle, was unique to the terroir yet true to the grape…a goal for which excellent winemakers strive.  William Chris produces everything from stellar blends, to single varietals, to rosès, to pet nat (petillant natural) sparklers.  There are so many excellent examples from which to choose, but here are a few that stood out as exceptional. 

            Shining Star Wine One:  2014 Mourvedre—Bill and Chris know that Texas can grow great Mourvedre.  Lighter bodied than one might expect, but filled complex flavors and smells of smoke, dust, dried fruit, coffee, and spice, this is a great wine.  (I am saving it for a year or two, but can’t wait to have it with a medium-rare ribeye…what a truly Texas pairing!)

            Shining Star Wine Two:  2014 Carignane—sourced from the High Plains of Texas, the red fruit, tart cherry, and orange pith join the dust and talc on both the nose and the palate of this wine.  That dust and talc are a sure sign of the Texas terrior that Bill and Chris like to showcase, one that I enjoyed identifying in many of WC’s wines.

            Shining Star Wine Three:  2014 Mary Ruth—this is a blend of white grapes:  Orange Muscat, Blanc du Bois, and Muscat Blanc.  The nose is full-on sweet honeysuckle, yet the palate is surprisingly filled with fresh flowers.  A light yet complex wine that would pair well with a Texas afternoon or a cheese plate, it is a worthy example that shows Texas can produce quality whites, too.

            Shining Star Wine Four:  Tatum Rosè—yes, another rosè makes the list of shining star wines, perhaps showing my bias for the color pink.  However, this pink is the prettiest shade of barely-there, baby pink.  This is assistant wine maker Josh’s “baby,” his special project for the tasting room. It is even named after Josh’s baby, his daughter Tatum.  It is a wonderfully dry rosè that would give any Provence pink a run for its money.

 

            William Blackmon and Chris Brundrett put their ear to the ground of Texas.  They listened to the land. They listened to their vines.  They listened to their surroundings. They listened to their customers.  In doing so, they found the soul of Texas wines, the soul that shows in each unique bottle of William Chris wine.  By putting their hearts into their home state of Texas, they found the soul of the Texas wine industry. 

Wineaux’s Lazy Sunday

Sunday.

The word and the day mean different things to different people.

To many, it is a day of church. To others, a day for football on television. Still more think of it as a day of fun. In fact, Sunday Funday is one meaning of the word I have wholeheartedly embraced, and I love to enjoy outings and general merriment on this day, as well.

However, today, I am using yet another connotation of the word: Sunday as the day of rest.

Today I have rested. I have taken it easy. I have allowed myself some down time.

Okay, honestly, today I have done basically nothing. I have been flat out…lazy!

And it has felt so good.

In our society, the constant hustle and bustle often has us competing with each other how busy we are all the time. Bragging about the amount of work we accomplish at home, in business, for kids…it sometimes consumes us.

But a day off is truly good for the soul. So good that many don’t know how to fully enjoy this day of relaxation. Well, here is the instruction manual.

A Wineaux’s Day of Leisure: Otherwise Known As—The Lazy Sunday

Step One: set no alarm. Absolutely none. Instead, make it a goal to sleep at least one hour longer than usual.

Step Two: coffee. Good coffee. Break out the French press, the good beans, and the milk frother. Fire up the espresso machine.

Step Three: more coffee. Treat yourself to the second cup. Out on the patio. In the sun. With a favorite book or the Sunday paper. Take time sipping and reading.

Step Four: mimosas. Sundays are the day drinking before 11:00 a.m. is acceptable…if it is in the form of a mimosa.

Step Five: brunch. No counting calories today. Enjoy the brunch that may be considered too rich for normal breakfast. That means extra Hollandaise sauce, please. Oh, and have another mimosa.

Step Six: read about wine (or whatever your favorite hobby or interest happens to be). Do this on the couch or the patio, still in lounge clothes. For hours.

Step Seven: go for a leisurely hike. Lazy days mean no going out in the real public where you have to look respectable. It does mean putting on your comfy clothes to take a hike or walk. But no strenuous workouts. Enjoy the day, the view, the company. Just enjoy!

Step Eight: pack cheese as a snack. True lazy-day-Sunday hiking requires good cheeses. Paired with fruit. Possibly a veggie, but that’s not mandatory. And wine. Definitely add wine.

Step Nine: blog. Okay, okay. The guilt of doing absolutely nothing productive by this late in the day is starting to nag you. So you blog. About how lazy you’ve been that day. How good it felt. But, hey…at least you did something!

Step Ten: drink in the end of the day. These types of days are truly rare. Especially in our world. Savor the last hours, the last minutes. Fully recharge your batteries by eking out the final glorious second, maybe with another glass of wine. Maybe with a beautiful view. Maybe with your favorite people. Maybe totally by yourself.

Then go to bed early, ready for Monday morning to rear its ugly head! Bring. It. On.

Will Work for Wine...Two Shepherds Vineyards

Literally.  Yesterday I worked for wine.  It was my first experience on a bottling line.  Though I was the one “working” (and it was pretty hard work), I felt incredibly lucky to be working on bottling some great wines, Two Shepherds from William Allen.  (I recently shared last summer’s post about his winemaking; read it here.)  Ultimately, this was a great day learning even more about wine!

As many of you have noticed, I am on an extended wine vacation to northern California, enjoying all that both Napa and Sonoma Counties have to offer.  My goal for this time here is to learn something more about wine every day.  Yesterday it was the bottling process.

I have written before about how un-romantic wine making actually is, even though the beverage seems so romantic and mysterious when it is in our glasses.  However, making wine is incredibly hard work.  And when I experience this hard work, it is only for a brief time doing the easiest of jobs in the entire process, so I don’t truly understand the hours of grueling effort it takes to go from bud on the vine to wine in the bottle.  But I have tried.

The entire bottling starts earlier, when the wine maker must put the wines from their barrels or storage vessels into large plastic tanks so they can be attached to the bottling machine via the machine’s hoses.  Then the wine is siphoned through the tubes into the bottling line—a machine that does most of the work, though several human hands must be involved.

At the beginning of the line, someone must empty the glass bottles from their boxes so they can be fed onto the conveyer.  This was retired teacher Bob’s job.  And he was good.  He has helped William on every bottling of Two Shepherds wine.  (Plus he has been in education for forty years, so he is kind of my new hero.) 

Bob feeding the bottles to the conveyer to start the official bottling process.

Next, Matt—owner of the mobile bottling line—stood watch over the machine as it pumped gas, then wine, then gas, then cork into the bottles.  (After this, the foil capsule would be added, but William uses great glass bottles instead of a capsule, creating a very modern overall look.)  Then the Two Shepherds labels are rolled on the bottles as they slide by, and the bottles round a curve on the conveyer belt, pushing them to the end of the line.  This all happens quite quickly. 

Matt overseeing the wine filling the bottles.

 At the end of the line, someone has to catch the bottles, check them, and put them back in the case boxes; this was my job.  Though this job was not hard, it was an arm workout as I repeated the same pick up-twist-inspect-lower motion hundreds…and hundreds…and hundreds of times over the course of five different wines and five different hours.  My final part of the job was to push the case full of wine off the conveyer line. 

Pick up.  Inspect front label.  Twist.  Inspect back label.

Put in the box. 

After my job was complete, new winemaker Mark took the cases of now-full wine bottles, taped them shut, made sure they were properly labeled, and stacked the boxes on a pallet.  Then William moved the pallets of wine to his temporary storage; eventually they will be moved to long-term storage until ready for tasting and sale.

At the beginning of the first bottling, twelve full bottles of wine are dumped, in case any water may have been in the bottling machine’s lines.  When switching between different varietals of wine, the first six bottles of each wine are also dumped to ensure that none of the first wine taints the second.  Proper cleanliness is of the utmost importance throughout the entire process.  All of these steps help to guarantee quality wine. 

The final product.

Now, I am obviously not the expert in this endeavor, as it was my first time, but by the end of the day, I did feel like a bit of an expert on what a properly-adhered label would look like.  Seeing hundreds of them made me great at that job!

Working for wine—and Two Shepherds—was a fun and educational day of my summer vacation.  I can officially say I have harvested grapes twice (read about that here or here) and now bottled wine.  What’s next for my wine education?  Who knows?!  But I truly thank those who have helped me learn so far.  I also truly look forward to what I will study next.