Earning respect for Texas Wines

The folks at Fall Creek Vineyards in Driftwood have a dual mission.

Along with serving quality wines, they work to educate their guests about Texas wines.

Despite being the fifth biggest wine-producing state, Texas wines often don’t get much respect — but that is changing as winemakers learn, experiment and produce wines from grapes that are suited to the cantankerous Texas climate.

If anyone knows about Texas wines, it would be Susan and Ed Auler, the owners of Fall Creek Vineyards. They have been at it a long time. The Aulers have been planting grapes going on 50 years now.

“We’re concerned about putting Texas on the world (wine) map,” explains Ed. “For a time, a lot of people in Texas were putting things in a bottle that they didn’t know anything about. There’s been a lot of improvement over the years.”

The Aulers got into the winemaking business almost by accident. They knew little about wine. “I think we were drinking a lot of Portuguese rosés and things like that,” Susan laughs.

Tour of France

They had planned a driving tour through France to look for cattle that would supplement their herd on the family ranch near Tow in Llano County. “I said, ‘why don’t we take some time to see the wineries,’ ” Susan recalls. Cattle became an afterthought as the couple discovered the joys of French wine.

They returned to the ranch and two years later planted a small test plot with wine grapes. That was 1975 and the operation has grown ever since.

Fall Creek now has tasting rooms in Driftwood and Tow. The wines are made with 100 percent Texas grapes, coming from vineyards in Driftwood and Tow and purchased from growers in West Texas. Texas wines go back a long way. In fact, Spanish missionaries were planting grapes in the El Paso area in the 1650s — a century before grapes were planted in California.

But in 1975, there weren’t many wineries in the state. Around that time, Clinton “Doc” McPherson, a chemistry professor at Texas Tech, and his partner Bob Reed, traveled to various grape-growing regions to determine which varieties of grapes would flourish in Texas. They established the Llano Estacado Winery in the High Plains of West Texas. A short time later, Ed and Susan started Fall Creek.

Pioneers

You could call the Aulers pioneers of modern Texas winemaking. They helped the Hill Country get its official “appellation” designation in 1986. Winemaking is now big business in Texas. The Texas Wine and Grape Growers Association — which appropriately is based in Grapevine — estimates the state’s 500-plus wineries add $13.1 billion to the economy and provide more than 100,000 jobs. “The benefit we have is

“The benefit we have is that we have been at this for 45 years,” says Susan. “We have isolated the best soils, the best places to grow grapes. The Hill Country is a winemaker’s dream. We know the growers we trust and get the first pick.”

Fall Creek produces about 35,000 cases of wine annually, putting them in the top tier of Texas wineries. But the Aulers are more concerned with quality than quantity. They are satisfied with the size of their winery and its level of production, but they have plenty of land available if they decide to grow.

They hired Sergio Cuadra from Chile as the director of winemaking in 2013. Recalls Ed: “Sergio said he thought there was a huge potential for Texas wines. He came here not to make good Texas wines, but to make good wines. Period. “He’s been a great addition

“He’s been a great addition to the winery. He brings a true global perspective. I could talk about Sergio all day.” Locally, you can try Fall

Locally, you can try Fall Creek Wines at Hays City Store, Trattoria Lisina and Salt Lick Bar-B-Que in Driftwood and Palmer’s restaurant in San Marcos. It’s also available at Spec’s and Brookshire Brothers and H-E-B markets. The Fall Creek winery and Salt Lick have a long association. The winery is located right across the road from the worldfamous barbecue and gets some of its grapes from the vineyards there. Popular spot

Popular spot

The Driftwood tasting room is a popular spot — especially on weekends. The house was purchased about six years ago and converted into a tasting room. It sits on a 17-acre property once owned by William B. Travis, the Alamo hero. Ed, a retired lawyer and history buff, points out that the rock wall on the property may well have been built by Travis. “No one touches that wall,” says Ed.

There’s also an elegant guest house on the property as well as space for weddings and other special events. Fall Creek wines range in price from $14 a bottle for the “Classic” collection — cabernet, rosé, chardonnay and sauvignon blanc — to $100 for a tempranillo and a mourvedre, both from the nearby Salt Lick vineyards.

The winery gets its name from the spectacular 90-foot water that cascades into Lake Buchanan, near the family ranch in Tow. The ranch hands there shift from herding cattle to bottling wine, depending on the season.

The tasting room is located at 18059A FM 1826 in Driftwood. For information call 512-858-4050.