The final winery on our tour of the Texas Hill Country was Duchman Family Winery in Driftwood Texas, USA. This was by far the most commercial winery that we visited, home to what looked like a nice Italian Restaurant, Trattoria Lisina, from the outside, and a number of function areas as well as large, well organised, tasting room.

You can tell it was late in the day due to the lack of photos 🙂

Duchman Family Winery

The history of the vineyard and their ethos is clearly stated on their site, so why paraphrase …..

The Duchman Family Winery was founded in 2004 by Drs. Lisa and Stan Duchman in a quest to bring world-class winemaking to Central Texas and the Texas Hill Country. Their love of the unique Italian grape varieties as well as similar weather patterns to Texas inspired them to work with viticultural consultant Bobby Cox and growers in the Texas High Plains AVA to produce grapes that would allow their winemakers, Dave Reilly and Mark Penna, to experiment with making wines like Vermentino, Sangiovese, and Dolcetto.

The winery continues to source the majority of its fruit from the Texas High Plains AVA, where cooler temperatures and a more “continental” climate are ideal for the production of fine wine made from Italian grape varieties. As the winery grows, the Duchmans remain committed to their goal to produce food-friendly fine wine in Central Texas using Texas-grown fruit exclusively. With an eye on the future, Duchman Family Winery continues to develop innovative winemaking and grape growing techniques in order to provide wine that truly reflects a taste of Texas for years to come.

Duchman Family Winery remains one of the top wine destinations in Texas. All of the winery’s current releases can be sampled and purchased at the winery’s tasting room and the estate’s beautiful Italianate villa and grounds are open to visitors who can enjoy their wines with a picnic lunch!  We have picnic tables outdoors in the shade of the oaks, or pick a cozy spot inside the winery hallway with a windowed view into the barrel room, fermentation tank, or production area for bottling and labeling of our wines.

Wine Tasting

The tasting @ Duchman Family Wines is the same as Driftwood Estate, but cheaper. USD12 for a taste 6 wines that you select from their list. Another similarity to Driftwood was the friendly and helpful staff, none of us had ever tried their wines before, so needed a bit of guidance which the staff were very happy to provide. Think that they were over the Hens Parties of the day and were happy to advise two very lost wineos, James was driving so behaved (he also prefers Tito’s Vodka to anything made with grapes, apparently grape juice is too healthy).

Another good thing about wine tasting in Texas is the pour, they are decent, I guess everything is bigger in Texas. A certain winery in the Adelaide Hills should listen to the birdies on its label and take note (enough of my rant).

The Wine

DuchmanWinery

wdt_ID	Wine	Photo
1	> Name: Duchman Family Winery Vintage: 2015 Region: Texas High Plains, Texas, USA Vineyard: Bingham Family Vineyards Varietal: Trebbiano Alcohol: 12% Colour: Bright pale straw Aroma: Floral mix of citrus and lychee aromas Palate: Refreshing, an abundance of citrus flavours Finish: Medium Comment: Interesting, a refreshing quaffer. <
2	> Name: Duchman Family Winery - Bingham Family Vineyards Vintage: 2015 Region: Texas High Plains, Texas, USA Varietal: Vermentino Alcohol: 13.6% Colour: Pale yellow Aroma: Pleasant combo of citrus, pink grapefruit and lemon zest aromas Palate: Refreshing, balanced, grapefruit flavours Finish: Medium Comment: Refreshing, clean, balanced, not bad. Worth a try, a good quaffer <
3	> > Name: Duchman Family Winery Vintage: 2015 Region: Texas High Plains, Texas Hill Country, Texas, USA Varietal: Sangiovese Alcohol: 13.3% Colour: Bright light crimson Aroma: Restrained mixture of cherry, with maybe a hint of tobacco aromas Palate: Light, a bit dusty Tannin: Soft Finish: Medium Comment: A light, approachable wine, the blend of the three different vineyard fruit gives it a style of its own. Duchman have sourced the fruit from three separate vineyards, the Reddy Vineyards and Martin Vineyards in the High Plains Texas and Limestone Terrace Vineyard in the Texas Hill Country <
4	> Name: Duchman Family Winery Grape Growers Blend Vintage: NV Region: Texas High Plains, Texas Hill Country, Texas, USA Vineyard: 51.5% Oswald, 24.7% Bingham Family, 12.7% Reddy, 11.1% Salt Lick Varietal: Sangiovese, Montepulciano, Dolcetto and Grenache Alcohol: 14.5% Colour: Vivid medium-deep tawny Aroma: Perfume combo of blackberry, spice and mocha aromas Palate: Medium-full bodied, balanced Tannin: Savoury Finish: Medium-long Comment: An interesting wine. Not bad, liked the body and tannins. Definitely worth a look. The fruit is sourced from 4 different vineyards from the Texas Hill Country and Texas High Plains. The idea behind this blend was to create a tribute to the hard work and dedication of the Texas farmers who produce the fruit. <
5	> Name: Duchman Family Winery Vintage: 2014 Region: Texas Hill Country, Texas, USA Vineyard: Oswald Vineyard Varietal: Montepulciano Alcohol: 14.5% Colour: Youthful medium-deep crimson Aroma: Mixture of pomegranate, spice and white pepper aromas Palate: Medium-bodied, sour, balanced, slight residual sweetness Tannin: Savoury Finish: Medium Comment: Not bad, was surprised to find a Montepulciano from Texas. Enjoyed it, a wine to try. <
6	> > Name: Duchman Family Winery Progression Vintage: 2012 / 2011 Region: Texas Hill Country, Texas, USA Vineyard: Oswald Vineyard Varietal: 2012 Aglianico, 2011 Montepulciano Alcohol: 14.8% Colour: Youthful medium-deep crimson Aroma: Complex mix of dark fruit, spice, cedar, tobacco and mocha aromas Palate: Medium-bodied, balanced Tannin: Savoury Finish: Long Comment: Interesting, a blend of the best grapes from the same vineyard, the Oswald, two separate vintages, 2011 and 2012. The blend of Aglianico and Montepulciano makes for a complex wine with an enjoyable long finish. My favourite of the Duchman Family Wines that I tasted. <

My Favourite

Thoughts

Duchman Family Winery was the most commercial of the three we visited in the Texas Hill Country, it is also, from what I could find out, the only one who sold / distributed their wines via a distributor.

The really interesting and positive side of the winery is their commitment and loyalty to Texas Vineyards and their willingness to recognise the same. a nice touch in my opinion.

If you have a tour of the Texas Hill Country this is a Winery to visit, although all three, Stone House, Driftwood and Duchman are great choices. Think that next trip I need a few more days of wine tasting as there are 40 odd wineries in the Texas Hill Country.

Hurricane Harvey

As I write this post Hurricane Harvey is causing havoc in Texas especially around Richmond, Houston and now Louisiana. I glad to say that my friends and acquaintances in the areas affected are doing fine, unlike so many others.  Hopefully the worst of this Hurricane has past and the same for the torrential monsoon rain being experienced in my former home of Mumbai and the rest of the subcontinent.