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Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Road Trip

When I think of Texas I think wineries. No, that doesn't sound right. Not that I don't think about wineries. We all know I think about them way too much but Texas isn't known for it's wineries. Who knew?

There are something like 176 wineries in the state (I foresee a lot of driving). They grow the most grapes around the Lubbock area. I'm still shaking my head in wonder. Lubbock? Who'da thunk it?

This is the Pleasant Hill Winery in Brenham, Tx. Brenham, the home of Blue Bell ice cream creamery. The half way point on the way home from Austin. The cute little town with a pretty good Italian restaurant.


Quaint No?

We got a nice little tour of the winery. When I say little, I mean little. I think my house is actually bigger than the actual processing room. Which looks a tiny bit like a mad scientist works there. Close enough, I guess, the wine maker is a retired mechanical engineer wine maker hobbyist turned salesman/wine maker/vintner. What they lack in size they more than make up for in their Sauvignon Blanc. (Mary Anne, you'll want to try this).


JR was pretty sure that this vat of mashed grapes was not going to turn into enough wine for me for a year. I'd have like to have called him on that one but I would probably have lost. I'd have to use math to figure out the cubic inches of this bucket o'mash; then the finished wine to mash ratio; then yearly consumption. Now, I just have a headache.



Here is the wine makers wife. She wants me to send her some recipes for the Texas wine growers cookbook. She really was lovely.

She did sort of get strange when she found out I was a vegetarian. When I was looking at the cookbook she pointed out a beef recipe she thought I might like to try. I said, that might be really nice with tofu. You would have thought I'd grown an extra head and a tail (that might be a good look for me).

She spent a good portion of the next hour apologizing for eating meat and explaining that she wants to cut back. She went so far as to stop her husband from talking about which meats go with which wines so I wouldn't be offended. I tried to tell her it was no big deal. That JR still eats meat. I just don't cook it or eat it. She really was trying to be nice in a make the vegetarian stand out like a freak kind of way. I just don't think she knew how to handle it. I was probably one of the first vegetarians she'd ever met. Not unusual here. *sigh*.

All in all, we had a lovely road trip, bought a couple of wines, had a nice Italian dinner (and yes the waiter was freaked out also) and picked up some plants at the local lavender farm.

How was your weekend? Freak any locals out?

Love,
M

17 comments:

  1. Yes I agree - very quaint.

    Ha ha! No we haven't freaked out any locals lately unless you count the kangaroo family that jumped out in front of us as we drove up the hill this evening. But then they freaked me out too!!!

    Oh, and there was that woman who was jogging around the lake last Sunday afternoon when Dragon did a 'stunt jump' on his push bike and nearly ran over her.

    We have some lovely wineries here too - and no one will think you have two heads when they discover you're vegetarian. I'm the two-headed monster because I don't drink wine.

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  2. It's rare to be a vegetarian in Texas? I never would have thunk it.

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  3. Bless her heart - she wasn't trying to make you feel like a freak, really. But you're right - Texas isn't exactly a hotbed of vegetarianism, is it? LOL I miss home, I really really do.

    Did you purchase any wine and if you did, was it any good? I've known for years that Texas has several thriving local wineries, but I've never tried them.

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  4. Mum-me: kangaroos would freak me out whether they jumped in front of me or not.

    blueviolet: I'm a rare breed around these parts. Except Austin. I can find food in Austin.

    Jan: We bought the Sauvingnon Blanc and a red blend. The white is really pretty good and the red is not bad either.

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  5. Ha! I'm cracking up at how you nearly converted that woman to vegetarianism.

    As for freaking out the locals, they kind of freaked me out. We were up in NC, and I had a very unlikely conversation about truffles with a very unlikely-looking local on a hiking trail.

    (And I decided I needed to ask you about truffle oil and what you would do with it. I probably need to post about my new-found truffle desires.)

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  6. I freak people out everyday; because I don't drink...kind of like being a vegetarian?? :)

    But the tour of the winery looks wonderful; I love the building alone.

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  7. I love wineries and I love road trips. had no idea of the Texas wineries though.

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  8. I haven't freaked any locals out, unless you count the turtles. They're quite distressed. (I'll post that on Thursday.)

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  9. I am the freaky local. I freak out the tourists.

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  10. I LOVE these little wineries! I live about 15 minutes from our little "wine country" and I absolutely love going there. I haven't been able to get away much this summer, but maybe some day I'll get there again....

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  11. LOVE wineries. If you ever get a chance to visit the Llano winery in Lubbock let me know...they have fabulous wine!

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  12. You always make me laugh. She was probably embarassed and just kept making it worse. Come to Colorado and visit our wineries. We have one that makes this really wonderful dark red honey of a wine called...hummmmmmmmm something about Queen or Camelot or Lancelot

    Linda
    http://coloradofarmlife.wordpress.com

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  13. What a cute little winery! There's so many of them around where I live that I think I've become a little oblivious.

    Here it's the other way around, the locals freak ME out!

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  14. I just recently discovered that Ohio has nearly 100 wineries and vineyards. Who knew?

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  15. That's hilarious. We've freaked people out, no doubt. We stored my umbilical cord for both kids (stem cells) and my FIL asked if we were some sort of Scientologists. He was serious.

    That was nice of the wine tasting lady to consider your feelings, you weirdo.

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  16. You should have told her you were a lesbian as well. Yee ha!

    PS. the lego guy was fighting another lego guy. Pervert.

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  17. Okay I've lived here all my life and never gone to any of the wineries. Your husband was right though, there was not enough wine there for you for an extended period of time. Or me. Or God forbid both of us at the same time.

    Hey, send me some tofu recipes! I never know what to do with the stuff and I love it.

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