Texas Wine Month Continues...

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In celebration of Texas Wine Month, we're filling the month of October with a selection of lesser seen wine from the Lone Star State - in a series I have subtitled "Weird and Wonderful". For those not following the Texas wine scene closely, it has a been a remarkable place to be these past 10 years or so. The arrival of many young producers, along with a passion to find varieties and styles that really suit our climate, and a willingness to seek and embrace our own terroir - rather than hiding it behind over-manipulation or efforts to mimic other domestic styles - has really pushed Texas winemaking in a fantastic new direction (or many directions, depending on how you look at it).

Getting a bit deeper into the weeds, this week's “Weird” wine of the week is one of the newest entries into the world of minimal manipulation (a.k.a. "natural") wines - on the edgier side of Texas winemaking.  Henry Crowson launched his own winery in Johnson City, Texas after spending some little time in the rather more conventional winmaking scene at William+Chris (see week one's less-weird blog entry...) and some time distilling whiskey.  

Henry does his best to stay out of the way and let the grapes speak for themselves… but in order to create conditions in which they can do that, he is incredibly careful about sanitation and very fussy indeed about the quality of his fruit. This is the ‘secret’ (which some might actually consider common sense) to making a consistently high quality and reliable product when using the minimalist techniques that have come to define “natural” winemaking. This rosé is 100% Sangiovese grown by Nikhila Narra Davis at her eponymous Narra Vineyards (but more on her some other time) and is fairly low in alcohol (~12%), very low in sulfur, and quite fresh in texture. A touch of grapefruit, peach & wild strawberry hovers on the nose, and the palate dresses up an assertive minerality with light fruit notes. Pearlescent lees in the glass and some wild yeasty notes will not let you confuse this with conventionally made rosé. A great summery glassful, which I also like very much with shrimp.

Sticking to my middle ground, the “wonderful” wine of the week is conventional in many ways - but weird in several others. Bobby Cox, founder of Pheasant Ridge winery (in 1979!) has been ahead of the curve on Texas winemaking in many ways, and for many years. This is his first effort at a truly Champagne-style, méthode traditionnelle, Pinot-Noir based sparkling wine.  It’s perfectly conventional, in that it is carefully crafted of traditional Champagne varietals (Pinot Noir, Chardonnay), racked, riddled, disgorged… and, well, delicious.  

What makes it all a bit weird, is that such a thing shouldn’t exist.  Texas is not really known for growing Pinot Noir… and there is no facility in the State that can fully process a wine made this way. So… the wine was grown, fermented, bottled, & aged on lees right outside Lubbock… but then the whole business was packed up and sent to Paso Robles, where a facility capable of finishing the process took care of the rest… and then it was shipped back home to Texas.  This bottle has great texture, just the right amount of acidity, and enough age on it to bring in a nutty, toasty back note.  While the méthode traditionnelle is perhaps as philosophically distant from the non-interventionist winemaking above as it gets, the winemaker here is still very much dedicated to his art - and the product is still delicious. But what a long, strange trip it’s been…

Cheers, y'all.

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