What a beautiful way to start my three day Texas Hill Country Wine Tour than with this Lewis Wines Terry County Red Wine. This is made from 100% Mourvèdre with the grapes sourced from Lost Draw Vineyards. It opens with candied red fruits, plums and dried leaves on the nose and tastes like a cherry jolly rancher with hints of earthiness and a nicely balanced acidity. Simply delicious!
I visited four wineries today all within about 9 miles of each other on Highway 290 between Johnson City and Stonewall, Texas. Lewis was one of the top two wineries of the day with three of their seven wines that I tasted knocking it out of the park for me. Don’t get me wrong, the other four were great too, but the featured Terry County Red, the Chenin Blanc, and the Parr Mourvedre Rosé were my faves.
The Chenin was everything a Chenin should be…it smelled like freshly washed sheets, Asian pears, and peaches, and the palate had a banging acidity to elevate all of that lovely fruit and goodness. A bottle snuck itself into my car shortly after I tasted it.
Up and down Highway 290, it seems that you can find 10 different Mourvedre Rosés. Is it a fad? I don’t think so. In my very humble opinion, Mourvedre is positioned to become the premier grape of the blossoming Texas wine industry with the Rosés leading the way. Mourvedre is the M in your GSM blends that most often come from the Southern Rhone Valley in France. Along with Grenache and Syrah, Mourvedre rounds out the blend that most are familiar with as a Côtes du Rhône. Mouvedre adds a deep color and flavors of black and blue fruits to GSM blends. Mourvedre is well suited to the Texas climate, being a drought tolerant and early ripening grape. As a Rosé, flavors of strawberry, melon, and citrus dominate as the grapes are not left to ferment on the skins for an extended period of time.
The Lewis Parr Mourvedre Rosé is made with grapes grown in Mason, TX, about 40 minutes northwest of Fredericksburg. They press the grapes in whole cluster and ferment the wine in stainless steel. Strawberries, raspberries and lemon peel scents form the nose and the palate is clean and crisp with citrus and berries framed by a bright acidity and a very subtle phenolic bitterness on the palate. It’s a refreshing, bright wine, that I dream of drinking on a much warmer day. A visit to Lewis is well worth it if you are on a Highway 290 wine tour.