Wanting to get a bit of a different perspective, we left Austin on Sunday to head out to the Hill Country for some wine tasting. We researched a few places in advance and decided to visit three wineries.

Four Point Cellars is a large, multi-vineyard tasting room for Brennan Vineyards, Lost Oak Winery, and McPherson Cellars. The entryway is dramatic and the parking lot was empty when we arrived around 11am.

Given the size of the parking lot I imagine this tasting room can get very busy, so we were glad to be amongst the first of the day. We had several people pouring for us, all pleasant, but it was hard to get more than a quick description about any of the wines. Regardless, we were pleasantly surprised by several of the wines and came home with the Brennan Vineyards Austin St Red (2009) and Nero d’Avola Dark Horse (2011) and the McPherson Cellars Les Copains white (2012).

part of the 4.0 complex

Pedernales Cellars – A beautiful drive off the main road to this tasting room. Pedernales specializes in Spanish varietals & Viognier. They sell tastings at $12.95 which includes a glass to take home but the pours were meager at best. Overall, we felt a bit rushed and crowded, plus the price points on the wines didn’t make up for the corporate atmosphere. We left here rather disappointed.

Hye Meadow – A newer winery with a mix of red and whites. Chris did a good job of explaining where their grapes come from — some were imported from Washington, some from different regions of Texas. We were quite impressed with some of their wines here, and came home with a bottle of the Viognier and the Junkyard red, both 100% from Texas! They also had a very pleasant backyard area with tables and chairs, so we bought some cheese and crackers along with a glass of wine each to enjoy the peaceful view and gorgeous temperatures.

We would certainly return to the region, though in the future I think we would try to explore some of the actual vineyards around Fredricksburg as well.