Duchman Family Winery

As you probably recall, last Valentine's Day weekend Beth and I, along with our husbands ventured to the Texas Hill Country to check out the wines and enjoy the weekend away from our harsh Illinois winter.  As we searched many books and websites to determine which wineries we wanted to try, due to limited amount of time, we had to narrow our choices to only  a few a day (yes, we were trying to be responsible too).

One of the very first wineries I jotted down on my "must see" list was the Duchman Family Winery.  Several things caught my attention about this winery, starting with the ambiance of the drive up to the tasting room.  It looked like a slice of Tuscany in the little Texas town of Driftwood!

More importantly, the owners Lisa and Stan Duchman's goal was "to craft wine in Central Texas using exclusively Texas-grown fruit"(Spectacular Wines of Texas). Their philosophy is "100 % Texas Grapes 100% Texas Wines".  Fortunately, the Texas warm summers mimic the Mediterranean climate of Italy, meaning that grapes that fare well in warm and often arid climates thrive. Native Italian grape varieties like sangiovese, agliancio, and vermintino grow in the vineyards.  In addition to experimenting with Italian grapes, the winery sources the majority of its fruit from the Texas High Plains appellation, where cooler temperatures and a more moderate climate prevail.

They offered a variety of white wines which include Trebbiano, Pinot Grigio, Viognier, Vermentino, and Bianco (a blend of Trebbiano, Vermentino, and Pinot Grigio). Thanks to my most convenient WineCheck, I was able to bring home my top three choices: a 2011 Trebbiano, a 2011 Pinot Grigio and a 2012 Vermentino.  Yes, they are all winners in my book-perfect by the pool!

Next, we tasted the reds chosen from Sangiovese, Dolcetto, Rosso (a blend of Sangiovese and Dolcetto), Montepulciano, Tempranillo, Aglianico, and Canto Felice.  Again, I limited myself to only a couple of tastings but thoroughly enjoyed the Sangiovese, the Montepulciano and the Tempranillo.  As you can see, we even enjoyed a bottle of the 2011 Tempranillo while sitting outside soaking up the lovely warm weather as the sun was starting to set. They even had a Bocce Ball court! (Aw, I remember last year's California trip.)  For more detailed information about their wines, check out their website at duchmanwinery.com.

All in all, the Texas Hill Country was quite a success and I'm looking forward to visiting again- hopefully soon!

Cheers!

Lisa