Valentine's Day Weekend.. Saturday

Texas Wine Country Map

I have been so excited about this weekend for so long and its finally here. Justin and I got tickets to the Wine Lovers Weekend in the Hill Country on the Texas Wine trail. They included both Saturday and Sunday - free tastings or flights at all the wineries. The Texas Wine Trail is the #2 wine destination in the US behind Napa. We woke up early on Saturday morning. I am a crazy vacation planner (which usually comes in handy - even though I get made endless fun of by family) so I had our routes and times mapped out. I researched which ones open first, which ones had food, which were on the way to our hotels, etc. The trail stretches through Hill Country and I knew there was no way we would make it to all in Saturday. I scratched out any winery that didn't have Italian grapes - no fruit wines (muscadine) and such as that really isn't our thing.

We drove through Austin and headed to Driftwood, Texas first. The first winery was basically like someone's house! We drove up this long driveway to this small building (almost like a shed). Unfortunately, it was cold (and I wore flip flops) but the views outside were gorgeous. The way the tour works is that you get a stamp at each winery and usually 3 tastings and chocolate or rose, etc. So at this our first winery, we had 3 tastings. Then went to look around outside. Even in the dormant winter, the vineyards were beautiful but of course, my husband was on edge because he was STARVING!

Before the next winery we stopped to have lunch at this neat looking BBQ Place we passed on the way in. What a find! The Restaurant is the Salt Lick. Featured in Southern Living, People Magazine (because Sandra Bullock mentioned it and she lives in Austin). The story goes that in the 1960's this family opened a BBQ restaurant on their ranch. The Hill Country is full of rocks and the story is that the deer would like the rocks.

The restaurant became the Salt Lick. It was delicious! We got the sampler and tried all the BBQ texas has to offer. Sausage was my favorite, Justin loves the ribs, and Texas is big on the brisket. No pulled or chopped pork on the menu. Most BB!Q is beef here which is a change for us. With a tummy full of BBQ, we were off to Mandela Vineyards. This winery is owned by the former owner of Carraba's. He sold his interest in the restaurants to Outback in exchange for a quieter life in Hills of Texas. The property is beautiful. Features a gourmet bistro restaurant and a cooking school. (How much fun would that be??) Great vineyards and views..

We began to make our way north to the Marble Falls area. This is where we were staying Saturday night. Marble Falls area has several lakes the main one being Lake LBJ (as in the former President) and the small one our hotel is on Lake Travis. The first winery we went to in this area was on Lake Travis, Stonehill. It was beautiful.. they had really yummy wines too. Including a 50 year old port that was amazing. Continuing on our tour we went north to Sunrise Beach Texas to a little winery called Lost Creek. It was our favorite!! The restaurant was only open at night and it was afternoon but we sat at the wine tasting bar. The inside was all dark wood and overlooked the vineyards. This is the first place we actually purchased the wine to take with us. We loved Buddy's select. Buddy is the vineyard dog. He helps with the irrigation and feritilization (hee... hee) I thought that was so funny! We took a scenic drive done Lake LBJ and on the way back and admired the huge huge homes and gorgeous scenery. We stayed in Marble Falls. After a long day of touring, we decided on casual grub for the night. After checking in the hotel, we went to Doc's Fish Camp. Local seafood dive for a quick bite before heading home to relax. I was so tired! What a wonderful and romantic Texas Valentine's Day.. more for tomorrow :-)