Wine Tasting in the Texas Hill Country

Y'all, I'm very lucky to have family that lives in Austin. I tease my husband that it's one of the reasons I married him -- so I would have an excuse to travel back there now that we're graduated from UT and live halfway across the country. On a recent weekend visit, we went wine tasting in the Hill Country. We visited two of the dozens of vineyards in the area: Stone House Vineyards followed by Spicewood Vineyards. It was such a relaxing, fun afternoon (and such a pretty drive) -- I highly recommend it!

First up was Stone House. The land is lovely, and they have a beautiful tasting room. So we could try all of the wines, we divided and conquered, two of us selecting the House Tasting and two of us the Special Reserve Tasting (5 wines each). We passed glasses back and forth, everyone picking favorites and providing opinions. We were a little disappointed to find out that most of their wines are actually made in Australia or California and shipped to the vineyard (as the local vines are still very young), though a couple bottles were made on location with local grapes.

Favorite wines: Semillon/Sauvignon Blanc, Special Reserve Merlot, Angela's Wish

A little ways down the road was Spicewood Vineyards, our favorite of the two.  The tasting room is a little cozier and more causal, and the staff was a little warmer (and provided us with more information about each wine we tasted, which I really appreciate). They have a nice outdoor seating area that would be great for a warm, sunny day (not the chilly, drizzly day when we were there). We all opted for the "Regular Tasting List" featuring 7 wines that we really enjoyed (Bonus Points: not only did we prefer the wines to those at Stone House, they were cheaper to boot!). Another thing we loved about this vineyard? They have an adorable puppy named Elway that'll perform tricks for you in the tasting room (or run head first into a glass door).

Favorite Wines: Basically all of them, but particularly the Touriga, Cabernet Claret, Albarino, and Viognier.

Even more important than the wine, it was an afternoon spent with the family we love and don't get to see nearly often enough. I'm always so thankful for those times! Cheers!