We just received news that Polk County has gone past the threshold for Covid 19 hospitalizations. Therefore all bars and bar like establishments must close again. We are very lucky, in that we already did some permit changes last time. Meaning we ultimately do not have to close, but we do need the weekend to prepare. So this weekend will have pick-up sales only. Starting January 16 there will be a mandatory food purchase with any on-premise consumption. On-premise consumption included tastings, glasses of wine and bottles opened on the property. Jams, Pickles, candy and other snacks as well as Charcuterie boards, cheese plates, queso and spinach dip will be available. We apologize for any inconvenience, but this is the only legal way we can remain open.

In better news we are going to bottle our new Semi-sweet red blend, Broken Bridge this weekend! Silver lining?

Our first frost came early this year, starting the process of dormancy in the vines. They have browned and are on their way to losing all their leaves. Covid requirements have remained the same and haven’t really effected us, since we are primarily outdoor anyway. We have added some new animals to the farm! The Guineas are supposed to be for pest control in the vineyard, but they are also super fun to watch! Bonnie & Clyde are our two peacocks. Both are growing their colors in nicely!

We celebrated our One Year Anniversary on December 12th! What a fun day!! We had our first grape stomp and live music! Thanks for everyone that came out for the festivities!

We have started turning some of our wine into jellies. We started with the Strawberry Jalapeno and it was delicious! As I write this we have two jars left. Next we will be using some of our Rose to do the same thing. We currently have three wines in the tank; A Dolcetto Rose, Cabernet Sauvignon, and a Rosemary Plum. Let us know what we should start next!!

We are happy to announce that we are back open as a Winery again! While closed we tried to catch up on some projects and did a ton (3 tons actually) of work! We filled in the pavilion, added lights and put in a large 10×60 deck overlooking the vineyard. Right now it has seating for 44 people with even more possible.

The 2020 Blanc Du Bois is fermenting nicely. Bottling is tentatively scheduled for late November. The goal is to have it available before Thanksgiving. We will be splitting the finished product into a dry and semi sweet. We are so excited!! We also have been working on a few other small batch wines that will be available by the Christmas season; the Strawberry Jalapeño (can you say yummy?!?) and a Cabernet Sauvignon (100 gallons).

We are so happy to be open again!! TABC has allowed wineries, breweries, and distilleries to essentially turn into a restaurant. We jumped at the opportunity! So we are now allowed to be open at 75% capacity, just like a restaurant. We have added some new menu items in order to keep our percentages at less than 51% alcohol. We will continue to add new items and specials every weekend. While a food purchase is not mandatory, it is highly suggested. Keeping our ratios correct is the only way we can remain open. Thanks for all your support.

We certainly thought this second shut down would be over by now! We have had to get creative to bring fun things to our community while still abiding by the Governor’s order. We have continued with our second quarterly specialty small batch wine – Strawberry Fields Forever. We have also introduced To-go tasting flights with tasting notes! They are so cute and fun!! We have also been going to the Farmer’s Market @ Yellow Cottage Farm on Saturday mornings 10am-2pm.

Things are not even close to perfect, but we will make it. I feel for all the small businesses, wineries and others, that will not survive the shut down this time.

Wineries, Breweries, and Distillery tasting rooms are a vibrant part of the TX economy and tourism industry. While we wholeheartedly support keeping people safe, we also support small business and TX agriculture. Wineries are the picture of the American Dream blending small business, agriculture and artisan craft wines and this shut down is going to kill many of them. Support your favorite wineries and other small businesses throughout this time of hardship!

SAVETEXASWINERIES

July started with our largest harvest yet! With the help of a couple of friends we harvested 1871 lbs from four rows of our Blanc Du Bois grapes!! It was sad that we could not have our harvest festival and grape stomp, but the grapes look great. We will reschedule the festival and grape stomp when we are allowed to open back up.

We had amazing community support during the six weeks we were able to reopen! Thank you all so much!! Unfortunately, as many of you already know, due to Governor Abbott’s executive order GA 28 we are ordered to close our doors again as of 6/26. We have no idea when we will be open again.

When/If we are able to open we will continue to take precautions against Covid 19 in order to keep our customers and family safe and healthy.

We will be:

• Only seating outdoor spaces (you may bring chairs or blankets)
• Continue to use disposable glassware (you may bring your own wine glasses)
• Employees will me wearing masks
• Customers encouraged to wear masks while purchasing wine in the tasting room
• All food will be served in disposable containers
• Social distancing will be employed (easy to do in our large outside space!)
• Adhere to all CDC recommendations for sanitizing spaces before and after use, including restrooms and the POS system
• No parties greater than 10

May 26 is a day we celebrate every year.  The day we closed on our land and started making our dream become a reality. We have worked very hard on this project, but sometimes its hard for us to see.  When we look out, we just see what still needs to be done.  So on May 26, we sit and look through all the photos that have been taken over the years.  The progress and growth is just amazing!

Left: 2020 (top) 2016 (bottom)                                     Right: 2020 (top) 2018 (bottom)

This has been a very difficult time for everyone in our community and state.  It has been scary not knowing what will happen and worrying about the health of people we love. As you know we have been closed due to Covid since March 16, 2020. We are very lucky and blessed to have other jobs with a guaranteed salary, unlike many small business owners, laborers and people that got furloughed. Still, we have been stalled in completing many of the upgrades and projects that we were planning to have complete by summer 2020, only a couple of short weeks away. We have been using this “extra” time at home though to work diligently in the grapes and spending quality time with Max (our baby).  As you can see they are flourishing in all the attention.

We are opening in a limited capacity May 16, 2020.  All outdoor seating.  The grounds and pavilion will be open and allows for plenty of room to stay 6 ft apart.  Bottle service only.  We are not able to give tastings at this time. No parties larger than 8.

We hope all of you are safe and healthy and that we can all overcome and get back to normal as soon as possible!