Inwood Estates Vineyards Winery & Bistro.

Inwood Estates Vineyards Winery & Bistro

Dan Gatlin planted 22 vinifera varieties in Denton County in 1981 to find out what Texas could ripen, and forty years later the answer is Tempranillo.1

Why go

Gatlin grew up in the Dallas drinks trade, running his family's Hasty wine and spirits stores, and put the proceeds into vineyard research.1 He worked out that Texas fruit is driven by soil rather than by climate, and that Tempranillo needs eight hours a night below 65 degrees to respire, which sent him to a block at Newsom Vineyards in Yoakum County at over 4,000 feet.1 He says Inwood is the only winery in Texas that field-crushes: the fruit is picked at night at 58 to 60 degrees and crushed within minutes, so the must makes the 400-mile trip on cold soak.1 The tasting room sits on the Highway 290 wine trail in Fredericksburg and serves bistro plates with the wine.2

Order this / avoid

• The Tempranillo-Cabernet, the flagship, from that Newsom block. Gatlin has been blending it since the 2003 vintage.1
• The Palomino-Chardonnay. Palomino is the sherry grape, and it was the one bright spot in his first trial vineyard, at under a ton per acre. He kept it.1
• Bistro plates with the tasting rather than after it. That is how the room is set up.2
• Avoid: the five-star quotes on the winery's front page. They are Google reviews, and this entry does not use them for anything.2

What locals & experts say

• The record is thin, and the record is the winery's own. No published review of an Inwood wine exists, so what follows is Gatlin's account of his own work rather than anybody's verdict on it.
• Gatlin on the site he chose: the Newsom block was picked for its ability to meet Tempranillo's respiration requirement, which is a function of the elevation at over 4000'.1
• On the technique: Inwood Estates is the only winery in Texas which field-crushes, a method he says he learned from a Napa winemaker in 1978. That is his claim and it is unverified here.1

Good to know

• Booking: reservations are recommended and sold through the winery's own system.2
• Getting there: 10303 US-290 in Fredericksburg, on the wine-trail stretch east of town.2
• Membership: the Wine Guild is an allocation rather than a discount club, which is how the low-yield bottlings reach anybody.2

Jeff's take (his words)

• Note: Red Bordeaux blends

Verdict

could-visit — Dan Gatlin planted his first trial vineyard in Denton County in 1981 with 22 vinifera varieties, one of five or six vineyards in the state at the time, and spent the next four decades narrowing it down. He picked the Newsom Vineyards block in Yoakum County because Tempranillo needs eight hours a night under 65 degrees to respire, and above 4,000 feet it gets them, which is the kind of reasoning most wineries keep to themselves. He says Inwood is the only winery in Texas that field-crushes, harvesting at night into 58 to 60 degree air so the must travels 400 miles on cold soak without degrading, and that is his claim rather than an established fact. He blends the flagship Tempranillo-Cabernet from that block, and the bistro attached means you eat here rather than only pour. It stays at could-visit because every word of it comes from the winery and no critic has put a glass to their lips in print.