Grape Creek Vineyards was founded in 1985 by Ned Simmons, a petroleum engineer who developed a passion for wine and elected to pursue it. In 2004 the current winemaker, Jason Engler, arrived on the scene and began developing the wine for which Grape Creek is now renowned. Grape Creek was the second winery to grace the 290 Trail and continues to be a point of excellence worth visiting along it.
When we initially drove up to Grape Creek we saw several rows of grapes gracing the front drive. The way Grape Creek in particular is situated, the tasting room and production areas are surrounded by the grape vines, making each view on the premise extremely picturesque. Once we had parked, we entered the store front and public tasting room. Here, it was possible to either just do a casual tasting, or purchase a tour. a casual tasting ran about $10.00 while the tour was $25.00 but included a larger tasting in the private cellars.
Store front
Casual tasting bar decorated with wine awards
After purchasing the tour, we milled about for about thirty minutes, tours start on the hour during the weekends. The store housed a large selection not only of wine and wine accouterments, but also cookbooks, wine products, cheese and cheese utensils, and even a small grocery section with cheese, sausages, and fruit.On the hour, we were summoned for our tour and headed out to catch the tram.
Tour Tram
The tour began with a short ride through the vineyards to the production area, which was a large metal barn with a huge cement space on the front to house crush. As we drove through the grapes, we were informed that in addition to the Fredericksberg location, Grape Creek also owns 75 acres in Brownfield and imports Grapes form various West Texas vineyards with which they have arrangements. These particular locations are superior to the Fredericksberg land due to lower humidity, warm days tempered by cool nights, and twice the elevation which provides better conditions for grape cultivation. Because grapes tend to have more sugar during the day and more acid during the night, Grape Creek makes it a point to harvest at all their locations between 4-5 AM to achieve the best acid/sugar ratio in the juice.Approximately 350 tons of grapes will be processed at the Fredericksberg location every harvest which lasts from July to October.
Row with Variety marker
close up of vines
View of the row from Tram
After the grapes are harvested, those intended for white wines will go directly to the bladder press and then pumped inside to the fermentation tanks where it will remain for the duration of its acid driven process of fermentation. The white wine will ferment for approximately fifteen days at fifty degrees Fahrenheit and then another nine months aging in the tanks.
White wine grape harvest
Alternatively, Red wine grapes will also run through the crusher de-stemmer and bladder press, however, they will be allowed to sit with the skins for about ten days in order to gain both color and tannin.These wines will then enter a tannin driven process of fermentation which will require five days in the fermentation tanks at seventy degrees Fahrenheit. While the red wines remain in the tanks, the will need to be moved via a system of hoses through the tanks in order to avoid the formation of a skin cap.To achieve this the wine is pumped from the bottom of the tank to the top where it is sprayed in a sprinkler type system over the top of the tank. For sweeter red wines, the fermentation process will be halted earlier to maintain an pleasing sugar content and for dry wines, the process will be allowed to go to completion where all sugars are used up by the yeast.
Crusher and de-stemmer
panoramic of tank room
tanks for wine storage and fermentation
After the wine has finished the fermentation process, it is moved in to barrels. As our guide explained, the barrel is the most important part because it will allow for controlled oxidation which will marry the components of the wine which are approximately 85% water, 12% alcohol, and the final 3% is made up of over three hundred different compounds the best known being the tannin, acids, and keytones which make up each wines individual personality. To achieve this lofty goal for the barrels, Grape Creek employs both American and French oak barrels which are charred to at least the medium level. The American oak will be used to create a more powerful oak taste due to its higher porosity, while the French oak will yield a softer and more controlled oak taste. Many of Grape Creeks blended wines will have components from both types of barrels in order to create more complex flavors. In addition to controlling the flavors with oak type, the barrels themselves are submitted to an extra control in the form of a nitrogen pump which keeps the wine moving and displaces excess oxygen to keep the wine from becoming over oxygenated and spoiling.
French(left) and American(right) Barrels
Nitrogen pump attached to top of barrel
While in the cellar, we also had an opportunity to sample the same wine, from the same crush, and the same grapes that had been placed into different types of barrels so that we could personally witness the differences. Our first sample was of a first year American oak, which imparted a bright, highly tannic, and dry flavor. the next sample was from a second year American oak which was softer and slightly easier to drink. the final sample was from a first year french oak barrel. This particular barrel created a hybrid taste with the brightness and tannin of the first, but the softer smoothness of the second.
different barrels stored together
Barrel tasting
This method of imparting taste to wine by using oak barrels as a storage container can be traced back as early as 800 BC. Grape Creek among other wineries continues to use this ancient technique to adjust their wines and pays about $1000.00 for the French barrels and $750.00 for the American barrels.
After experiencing the cellar which is kept at approximately 63 degrees Fahrenheit, which is considered room temperature for wine, we were led in to the adjacent private tasting room which is also kept at 63 degrees to best showcase the wine. Each person was permitted to choose six wines off their menu of fourteen, two of which were reserved for wine club members. Each wine was delicious and unique with their selection covering a wide variety of flavors. Grape Creek definitely created the largest taste variety with no perceptible signature taste.
tasting cards
Grape Creek was an excellent venue that I would highly suggest to anyone. The tours were extremely informative and given at a relaxed pace and the wines were fantastic with something for every pallet. And just to sweeten the deal, if you found yourself feeling a bit hungry after learning all about wines, you could grab a crepe and enjoy the patio before moving on to your next location.
