Skip to main content

Inwood Estates Vineyards


     While visiting Inwood Estates Vineyards in Florence, Texas, I had the opportunity to talk with proprietor and winemaker, Dan Gatlin. He has been growing grapes and making wine in Texas for 30 years and has experimented with 30 grape varieties in five different vineyard locations during that time. He was one of the first Texas winemakers to realize that the Spanish grape Tempranillo would be a significant grape for Texas. Due to the high mineral content in Texas soil and how that terroir represents itself in certain grape varieties, he is generally a proponent of blending wines rather than producing single varietals.
     The 2007 Tempranillo-Cabernet is a 55% to 45% blend. It was a dark ruby in the glass with fresh aromas of mixed red and blackberries. It was medium bodied with medium+ acidity and high alcohol and tannins. It had a medium-length dried raspberry, mineral-tinged finish. $39.50
     The 2006 Magellan Texas Red Wine is a blend of the five Bordeaux grapes (68% being Cabernet) with a small amount of Tempranillo added to the mix. It was also a dark ruby in the glass with pleasant earthy aromas with dark berries and cedar notes. It was fuller-bodied with medium+acidity and high tannins with 14.4% abv. The dark fruit continues in the flavor with some dried herb notes and a medium+ length finish. $59.50
     The 2007 Cornelius is 100% Tempranillo. This is a wine that will not be regularly produced but was this year due to a unique vintage. Intense red berry aromas, dried herbs and floral notes of violets. Medium bodied with medium+acidity, tannins and 14.4% abv. Flavors of strawberry with cedar notes and a medium+ length finish. $39.95
     I enjoyed all of my tastings at Inwood Estates and would recommend it as a winery to visit. I think both Pinot Noir and Rioja lovers would enjoy discovering these Texas wines.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Thank you for reading Wine Life - Houston.

Popular posts from this blog

Winemaker, Andrés Sánchez of Alcance

I was invited to a media and trade tasting lunch at Backstreet Cafe with Andrés Sánchez, the winemaker for Alcance, a Jackson Family winery. As guests arrived, we were greeted with a glass of lightly chilled Alcance Chardonnay 2016, a perfect start for a hot summer day in Houston. This rich and elegant Chardonnay is grown on granitic soils in a coastal mountain vineyard in the Valle de Itata. Despite my multiple wine classes, this was a growing area with which I was not familiar. This vineyard is located between the Andes Mountains and the Pacific Ocean about 12 miles from the coast which as Sánchez pointed out adds a nice sea influence to the wine. The Chardonnay was pleasantly fresh with light citrus notes and a touch of butterscotch with a distinct saline mineralty throughout the slightly creamy finish.  A mixed appetizer platter with Gulf Coast Beignets, duck spring rolss, asparagus and zuchini flatbread, and lump crab cakes on red pepper beurre blanc were br...
Post a Comment
Read more

Darioush Wine Tasting at Pappas Grill

I went to a  Darioush wine tasting last Friday. What a delight! I found every bottle we tasted to be exceptional. Darioush is well-known for their Bordeaux styled wines so I was already familiar with both the Darioush "Signature" and the Estate Caravan Cabernet Sauvignon from Napa Valley. They are both highly rated and consistently good. The Caravan is the lower priced of the two and is something that I keep in stock at home. The wines in the line up for the evening were all from Napa Valley and included: 2008 Signature Viognier, 2005 Signature Chardonnay, 2005 Signature Merlot, 2007 Signature Shiraz, 2007 Estate Caravan Cabernet Sauvignon, and both the 2006 & 2007 Signature Cabernet Sauvignon. The 2007 was opened by mistake which was a bonus to all who were present. The Viognier varietal has been hit and miss for me at tastings in the past but this offering was an absolute stand out. It was very fragrant with floral notes of jasmine and or...
Post a Comment
Read more

"The Zen of Zin" Tasting at Fleming's in River Oaks

On Friday evening, my husband and I attended the Zinfandel wine tasting at Fleming's in River Oaks. My husband gets totally pumped up for any and all things Zinfandel but what I found really intriguing in the line up of wines were the aged offerings. Brent Sloan, managing partner at Houston's premier wine storage facility Nos Caves Vin, had provided Fleming's with four 18 year old bottlings and one 17 year old bottling from his collection of some of his favorites. I found this interesting because 1. I don't believe that I have ever had an 18 year old Zinfandel before this evening and 2. From various wine classes, I had always heard that at best Zinfandel had very limited aging ability. So, I was definitely excited to give these wines a taste. There were also an additional five younger Zinfandel wines that are some of Fleming's best sellers. The entire tasting line up for the evening included: 2009 Orin Swift Saldo - California 2007 Schulz "Lampyridae...
5 comments
Read more