Becker Vineyard, near Fredericksburg Texas

   The last weekend in July my husband and I planned a weekend get away.  We had never been to Fredericksburg Texas but have been hearing about the vineyards they now have in the area.  We thought this would be a perfect place to go to and so we went.  I thoroughly enjoyed it.
    The area is know as the Hill Country region and I could understand why.  Driving to it we had to go through the Texas coastal plains region and it was pretty flat.  Going down we decided to spend the night just north of Austin in Georgetown since we felt it would have been too long to do all at once.  We were leaving after a busy day and didn't want to spend too much time driving since we knew we would already be tired.   We ended up taking I-20, to Highway 43, then highway 79 to highway 84 and finally getting onto I-35 to Georgetown.  Most of the way was pretty flat so it was exciting to get near to Austin and to start to see some relief and actual outcrops.
    This was heading back home we saw a rainbow and decided to get a picture of it since it was staying with us for so long.  This was near Henderson TX on hwy 79.

 another view and you can see how flat and open things are.

   The first part of this trip is in another blog post. 
The whole purpose of the trip was to see the vineyards.   A lot of the vineyards are located between Austin,Texas and Fredericksburg along Highway 290.  There is a brochure that we used that was called "Texas Hill Country Wineries."  You can also look it up at http://www.texaswinetrail.com/.  There are 36 vineyards currently listed with them.  When we looked at the brochure we didn't want one that was too close to Fredericksburg or Austin since we figured those would be the ones most people would go to first.  We wanted something a little away from the main highway too.  So we were driving along looking for a different winery that we had picked simply by its name when we saw the signs for this winery- Becker Vineyards (http://www.beckervineyards.com/) near Stonewall and felt it would meet our expectations.  Years and years ago we had gone out to California and had seen the vineyards in Napa and Sonoma valleys  California wine country .   We really enjoyed the tour and found out that not all the wineries were the same.   It was fun going to the different ones and thought that it would be the same in this area.  So we decided to go ahead and turn into this one.
    When we pulled in we saw a tour bus there and figured this must be a good one since they were bringing tours there too.   We were please also to see the tour was leaving so we figured it wouldn't be too crowded too. We decided to go ahead and check it out.  As we were walking along we noticed the lovely flowers along the walk way.  There were some butterflies flying around and I tried to get a picture but it flew away before I could.  I was fun just to see the different butterflies they had there.
    We walked into the main building and they had a very nice store up front with a lot of lavender products.  Apparently they also grow lavender in the area too.  (I have lavender growing in my garden and know it does very well with the harsh summers in this area.)  The sign at the register said to go back into the wine tasting room.   So we did.
   It cost $10 to get 6 one ounce tasting tickets and a keepsake glass so we did.  The first one they give to you free and they also give you suggestion of what to taste and the order to taste them on based on what you tell them you like to drink.  My favorites are usually white wines with pino grigios at the top of the list.  We tasted 4 wines and decide to take a break and so we went on the tour that was just starting up, that they seem to run every half hour.  It was only 20 minutes long but it was very informative.
  Here are my impressions of it.
We came to see the vineyards and here's a photo of them as we drove by.

 By the time we got there to the vineyard it was pretty hot outside and we hardly went outside at all to see the operation out side since it was so hot.  Most of the people wanted to stay in the temperature controlled environment.

 This place uses the steel fermenting vats.  That was different from California but it also could be its years and years later and the technology has changed so much.  What I thought was interesting was they had two different vats.  Some had metal band around them and some were dimpled.  The metal band were used to freeze the wine to stop the fermenting process. The type of wine that they wanted to make determined what vat it would go into.
   All the wine was transported using those rubber hoses once the wine was read to be transported into storage barrels.
   Here is a better picture of the dimpled ones.  As you can see there were over 27 of these devices in that one building alone. 

 We found out that the winery has only been around since the early 90's and this was one of the first wineries in the area.  Like any new business it took awhile for people to find it and appreciate it.  Now its got its following and does million of dollars in sales every year.
    Because the picking of the grapes is so critical for the flavor of the wine the Becker's have invested in these grape harvesting machines.   The amount that can be harvested in a day was mind boggling but I can't remember how much it was.  This was a definite change from the time we were in Napa. Back then it all had to be picked by hand. 

 This is the store room.  They do store there wine in oak barrels until it is ready to be bottled.  In places those racks were five high.  That's a lot of wine there!!! They told us how much each barrel held and how much they each weighed but I've forgotten it. 

 A different view of how it was stored.

 This was another part of the building.  The red barrels are new ones to be used.  The guide did tell us that they use the barrels 3 times and each barrel costs $600.  After they are used they then turn around and sell them for $100.  After that seeing all those barrels you could tell the Becker's had a lot of money invested in this place.  We then found out that the owner is a doctor and that is how he got his capital to start this business.

 This is the bottling equipment.  They go with the traditional cork plug to the bottles.

 We went back to the tasting area and were allowed to go downstairs to see their private reserves. Just look at all those barrels. 

  After the tour we decided we needed to get on the road so we could get back home at a decent time.  We both really liked the pino grigio and ended up getting a case.  I can hardly wait until next Friday night when we both like to pop a top and relax and drink a bottle of wine together.

   As I was leaving I was so pleased to see some more butterflies again.  This time I saw one that seemed to pose for us and liked having its picture taken.

 I was surprised it let me get so close to it and get this shot.  I did not have to crop or enhance this picture.  Isn't it beautiful?

   If you ever want a get away place I do recommend the Fredericksburg area.  The only downfall is you seem to need reservations for hotel accommodations. When I was setting this trip up I had to call around quite a few places to find a place that had a room available.
    Also I would highly recommend you visiting the Becker vineyards because the staff was all so friendly and nice and helpful.  Their wines also seemed reasonable priced too.  I'm not much of a wine connoisseur like my brother was -  all I go by is what I like and don't like and I do like their wines. In fact we liked it so much we bought a case and that's rare for us.