Varietal : Touriga Nacional
Planted: 2015
Acres: 5
Origin: Portugal
Characteristics:
Early to mid bud break | Highly vigorous | Bush like growth | Mid to late ripening | Low yield
Personality:
Touriga Nacional is our “Beast”. This vine is full of power and energy requiring multiple canopy management passes to keep it under control. It’s leaves are thick and slightly rough. It produces small clusters with very small berries. These small berries are packed with tannin, flavor and bold color.
Varietal : Cinsault
Planted: 2016
Acres: 5
Origin: France / Rhône
Characteristics:
Mid to late bud break | Moderate to high vigor | Mid season ripening | Moderate to high yield
Personality:
“Ms. Cinsault” is a very stately vine. She takes her own sweet time to move, so to speak. She is very thoughtful and makes her moves when she is good and ready. She develops large and voluptuous clusters with supple berries. This vine requires attention to spacing, a good shoot thinning pass and a deliberate leaf thinning pass.
Varietal : Chenin Blanc
Planted: 2019
Acres: 2.5
Origin: France
Characteristics:
Early bud break | High vigor | Unruly growth | Early ripening | Moderate to high yield
Personality:
Chenin Blanc loves the summer season. This vine loves the sun. It loves the heat. It produces clusters and berries that scream all things summer. It packs in as much as it can so it can soak up all the summer time has to offer. You have to pay close attention to spacing and shoot positioning with this varietal. Shoot thinning and leaf pulling are very important in creating air flow and sunlight penetration. The berries are thin skinned and the clusters have a tendency to have bunch rot issues. Timely fungicide sprays are also crucial.
Varietal : Roussanne
Planted: 2016
Acres: 2.5
Origin: France / Northern Rhône
Characteristics:
Mid season bud break | Highly vigorous | Mid season ripening | Moderate yield
Personality:
This is the vine we lovingly call “Our crazy Aunt Roussanne”. She brings the fun and excitement to any party but is quite sophisticated. Just picture a well dressed lady with crazy red hair and fine jewels. She is holding a cigarette in one hand and a glass of white wine in the other. This vine produces a tremendous amount of lateral shoots which create quite a mess in the canopy structure. It requires a really good shoot thinning pass and several wire adjustments to keep the canopy maintained. This varietal produces extremely tight clusters with small berries. Timing is crucial with fungicide spray passes to avert bunch rot issues.
Varietal : Mourvèdre
Planted: 2019
Acres: 5
Origin: Spain / France
Characteristics:
Late bud break | Highly upright growth | Late ripening | Moderate yield
Personality:
You can’t think of Mourvèdre without thinking of the Mediterranean coast. Who doesn’t love laying on the beach with your head in the sun and your toes in the water. This is quintessential Mourvèdre. It loves its face in the sun and its feet in the water. Warm weather, good leafing and proper irrigation help produce a happy vine and fruit that matures to the perfect amount of jamminess and deep dark color.
Varietal : Muscat Blanc
Planted: 2016
Acres: 2.5
Origin: Greece / France
Characteristics:
Early bud break | Moderate to high vigor | Rapid growth | Early ripening | Moderate yield
Personality:
Muscat Blanc is like a teenager. When it breaks bud it’s ready to run and take on the world as fast as it can. Similar to teenagers it needs boundaries. One good canopy management pass and a few suckering passes along the way keep this vine in check. The leaves on this vine can get as large as a salad plate. Muscat Blanc is the varietal which produces large clusters and berries that taste like “wine in a berry”.
Varietal: Picpoul Blanc
Planted: 2023
Acres: 2.5
Origin: France / Rhône
Characteristics:
Early bud break | Moderate vigor | Mid to late ripening | Mid to high yield
Personality:
Picpoul Blanc is known as “Lip Stinger” in the wine world, so I’m sure there is going to be some excitement in our future. This varietal is somewhat like a great magician. It’s best magic trick is throwing clusters before leaves. Finally, the leaves appear and the vines settle in showing off an abundance of beautiful clusters. It is one of the longest ripening white varietals and just waits for the perfect harvest. Spur spacing and timely fungicide sprays are crucial in maintaining a healthy vine and beautiful clusters.
Varietal: Alvarinho
Planted: 2023
Acres: 2.5
Origin: Portugal
Characteristics:
Early bud break | Moderately vigorous | Mid season ripening | Low to moderate yield
Personality:
Alvarinho is the Portuguese counterpart to the Spanish varietal, Albariño. Alvarinho is considered to be the noble white grape of Portugal’s Vinho Verde region. This varietal is very suited to handle the environment on the Texas High Plains. It can take the heat but enjoys a cool, rainy day followed by our west Texas wind to dry out the canopy.
Varietal : Sangiovese
Planted: 2015
Acres: 5
Origin: Italy
Characteristics:
Early bud break | Moderate vigor | Moderately upright | Late ripening | Moderate yield
Personality:
Sangiovese is feminine in nature. She has a delicate leaf and shoot structure. She produces beautiful clusters which are medium to dark red in color. Sangiovese is a vine that behaves just as you ask her to. She is a true beauty.
Varietal : Teroldego
Planted: 2023
Acres: 5
Origin: Italy / Northeastern Trentino-Alto Adige Region
Characteristics:
Mid season bud break | Moderate vigor | Late ripening | Low to moderate yield
Personality:
The thought that comes to mind with this varietal is “Dark and Moody”. This varietal produces berries that are very deeply pigmented, intensely fruit forward and surprisingly inky. Teroldego may very well be the “Italian Stallion” to the more feminine Sangiovese. It is very well suited for Guyot ( or VSP – Vertical Shoot Positioning ) trellis system we implement in our vineyard.
Varietal : Graciano
Planted: 2019
Acres: 2.5
Origin: Spain
Characteristics:
Mid to late bud break | Moderate vigor | Upright growth | Late ripening | Low to moderate yield
Personality:
Graciano is our “Little Gem”. She reminds me of the Mexican folklore hat dancers with big colorful dresses. The leaves emerge at bud break with a fringe of red and the tiny developing primordial clusters are smudged with red. As you walk along the vine row you can’t help but notice the red tips on the tendrils. Graciano can dance with quite the flair but has a tendency to throw bull cane like shoots.
