Wine News
California winery uncorks first Texas tasting room in Fredericksburg
It's their first location in the Lone Star State.
A West Coast winery has expanded to Texas: Halter Ranch Texas, originally from Paso Robles, California, has opened a 13,000-square-foot tasting room in the center of Texas wine country, 15 minutes east of downtown Fredericksburg, on a 32-acre patch of land at 8561 US-290.
This is their third location, but their first outside of California.
Despite the winery's West Coast provenance, it's producing Texas-grown wines including a Texas Rosé that will be sold on-site only as well as a Cabernet Sauvignon.
The property will also include a restaurant onsite called Restaurant H, featuring ingredients sourced in Texas. Even the butchering happens on a property neighboring the ranch. The menu will, of course, complement wines poured in the two dining rooms.
Although Halter Ranch technically opened on April 3, a public grand opening weekend will be held May 10-12, with live music and tastes of food and the inaugural rosé. Other Halter Ranch wines will also be available, but the listing does not specify which. The vineyard's Tock page mentions "a mix of Rhône and Bordeaux-style wines."
This new location is much smaller than the original 2,700-acre California ranch, but winemaker Kevin Sass isn't making the transition alone. He's partnered with another Texas-based winery, according to a release (which doesn't name the partner), and is keeping to the vineyard's sustainable roots. The wines served at the tasting room will all be from certified organic estate vineyards and made of organic grapes from the High Plains of Texas.
Some of those practices on the ranch include avoiding synthetic pesticides and fertilizers, conserving soil and water, and using renewable resources. These efforts were rewarded in 2023 with a CCOF (California Certified Organic Farmers) Organic Certification.
Hansjörg Wyss, a philanthropist and conservationist from Switzerland, has even contributed some of his own private art collection. The pieces will sit across the Texas landscape — surely a different backdrop than Switzerland or California.
More information about Halter Ranch Texas is available at halterranch.com. Reservations are available via Tock.
