Dry Comal Creek
Vineyard & Winery
July-2009
By: Dave & Kelli Potter
thegreatgrapesoftexas@gmail.com
What can I say? Texas summers are hot and humid. What better way to cool off than visiting a Texas Winery and looking at some of the scenic views Texas has to offer! This summer our small summer trip took us for a week of down time and relaxation to my in-laws home in the lost pines area of Texas. After spending the 4th of July with good food and family my wife and I took a little short romantic getaway to San Antonio. Our first stop before hitting the River Walk was New Braunfels, Texas. A short trip off of highway I-35 south we stopped at one of the first Winery’s we had visited when we were dating. Nine years later to our surprise Dry Comal Creek has morphed into a wonderful, mature winery. We almost did not recognize the place. Our first experience several years ago brought us to a young and very small vineyard with a tasting room built into a small building next to it. Now time has changed this small estate into a top notch wine making establishment. As we drove up we noticed the lovely rows of grapevines that filled the very baron land we once laid eyes on. It now fills much of the front of the property with maturing vines.
Upon closer inspection the tasting room has evolved into several buildings with places to wine and dine with friends or sit back outdoors under a covered patio and take in music and scenery with a nice cold glass of your favorite vintage. With the creek at the back just as dry as it was 9 years ago, you can embraced a shaded area to sit and enjoy the views the hill country can inlay to your eyes. Hills, rocks, trees, and grasses that flow with the light breeze - everything
that you expect this part of Texas would produce.
The expansion of new buildings is where the magic starts and the redone tasting room can impress the pickiest wine lover. They had added a nice addition to the back of the main building to accommodate larger groups and parties and have also expanded the variety of wine gifts for the wine lover in you. The wine list has enough variety to enticed you to try new something new to your tastes. And the friendly staff offers what you would expect in Texas hospitality and are eager to engage you in what their wines have to offer. Everyone has their own taste, but here in Texas we like to try anything new and if it has a wild crazy name we will give it a shot.
A lot has changed here at Dry Comal Creek. What better way to experience it than taking a taste test. At the time of our tasting experience they were offering tastes of 14 different proprietary wines with a variety of styles and colors to satisfy even the pickiest wine lover. If you plan to stop by, take advantage of the fuller tasting to get in all the reserve level wines. They should not be missed!
We walked away with three bottles this visit:
First, the 2007 demi-sweet French Colombard impressed. The French Colombard was actually the first bottle we purchased from Dry Comal Creek those nine years ago. This one is light bodied and not too sweet. We are typically a hard to please couple in this range since one of us loves sweet wines and the other of us does NOT. Here we found middle ground with the light flavors of pineapple and orange, with a very mellow body and mouth feel. With only 2% sugar this one made us both happy. Currently they are offering the 2008 French Colombard which has a completely different character. They made the 2008 much sweeter at 5% and added a little bit of bubbles to make it a light sparkler. Probably that one would be great around the swimming pool on a really hot day.
The second wine we fell in love with on this trip was the White-Black Spanish. This one is also a demi-sweet meeting both our needs. The wine is a nice blend of the French Colombard grape coupled with the Black Spanish grape. The Black Spanish actually is what you will see on most of the vines out front and seems to be catching on as a great grape for growing in the hill country area of Texas. Married together this wine gives you the feel of a Reisling with the light body and color of a good Pinot Noir. It offers a nice plum sense on the palate and is a very soft wine. Yummy and would pair well with a variety of foods.
The third wine we picked on this trip is the Comal Red IX. The signature demi-sweet red wine opens up with the aromas of berries and chocolate and has a great, long finish. We tried it both with and without a small bit of dark chocolate and I would highly suggest the pairing. With the chocolate on your palate the wine really opens up with a definite fruity, jammy flavor and brightens up tremendously.
In case your tastes call you to a different style than ours, some other suggestions of ours might be the '07 Merlot, the '08 Cabernet Sauvignon, or even the award winning '07 UnOaked Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve wine.
Enjoy!
