December 2017 hours

winter sunrise over Salado Winery

December 1-2, we’ll be open 12-9 pm

December 8-9, we’ll be open 12-9 pm

Each Friday and Saturday night during Salado Stroll weekends, holiday carolers will serenade the late evening shoppers along Main Street. Many shops will host a variety of live entertainment all day and evening. Children will be enchanted with the live nativity scene, sponsored by the First Baptist Church  Vendors, lights and a festive mood abound.

CHRISTMAS & NEW YEARS HOURS

Sunday, December 24, 12-4 pm

Monday, December 25, closed for Christmas

December 26 – January 3, open 12-6 pm,

Bring your family & friends by for a tasting and a tour!

Sick again

Ugh, seems like every Saturday Dino is sick! Does not feel like progress to Spend 3 hours at childcare on Thursday and wake up runny nose, congested on Saturday.

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Pal Potential

A friend of ours has put together an interesting new website, www.palpotential.com.  We’re excited about it, because, well, we were kicked off of meetup.com.  See, meetup.com doesn’t allow businesses to sponsor meetup’s.  It’s supposed to only be for individuals.  We were trying to list our Sip ‘n Knit events and they threw us off.  With Pal Potential, the meetups are sponsored by Pal Potential, so we’re looking forward to listing wine tasting events there

Holiday Hours 2012

parade babyWe are open everyday except Christmas, so come on by and taste some wine!

Sunday, December 23, 12-6

Monday, December 24, 11-3

Wednesday, December 26, 12-6

Thursday, December 27, 12-6

Friday, December 28, 12-7

Saturday, December 29, 12-7

Sunday, December 30, 12-6

Monday, December 31, 12-6

Tuesday, January 1, 12-6

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Baby Grape–1 month old

Introducing….DINO! a.k.a. Baby Grape

This is a picture of him at one month old, waking up from a nap in his mom’s office at the winery.  He has been to the winery every day of his entire life!  That’s what happens at a small family winery, the family starts working when they’re quite small!

You are welcome to visit him any time we’re open, but we can’t promise that he will always be in this good mood.

BTW, his shirt says “I’d rather be naked”.

When’s the Baby?

any time now…

Of course we don’t know when he’ll join us, but Baby Grape will be here soon.  Given that this is a very small family business, we’ll likely have to close for a few days when he decides to join us.  Then we’ll probably cut back on our hours during the month of August.  We’re really sorry if this causes any inconvenience and we hope you can understand.

Paper Chromatography

SEP 10

Now that the yeast fermentation has finished, our wines are undergoing malolactic fermentation.  The wines were inoculated with malolactic fermentation culture and today we’re testing to see if the conversion of malic acid to lactic acid is complete. 

SEP 27

According to a presentation given by Ellen Butz,  Department of Food Science, Purdue University, “MLF can mask a vegetal character, increase body by increased production of dextrans and glucans, and can increase flavor complexity by adding buttery, nutty honey, vanilla, leather, spices, toasty more body, & smoother tannins.”

As you can see there is quite a bit of chemistry involved with winemaking.  Don’t worry though, my reward was sampling the wines as I readied them for the test.  Here’s some of my notes:

BRV–great tannic body, sharp berry flavors, beautiful ruby color

SAN–mellow, fruity, light red

MER–plum, medium body & color

Next we’ll decide how to add some oak to the wines for aging.  Stay tuned…

Oklahoma Grape Grower’s Course

I’ve been taking the Oklahoma Grape Grower’s Course at the Oklahoma State Fruit Station in Perkins, OK.  It is a great overview of grapegrowing.  Many of my classmates are cotton farmers looking to switch to a more profitable output.  They sure know a whole heck of a lot more than I do about agriculture than I do!  The instructors are excellent though and provide as many resources as they can.  They’ve got a vineyard test plot and I cannot wait to get my own vineyard started.

From Oklahoma, I took a trip on up to Illinois for the annual Wilkey Reunion.  This gave me a chance to visit a few wineries in Illinois, Missouri, and Oklahoma.  My favorite winery in Illinois was the Mackinaw Valley Vineyard.  They were friendly and the calming, relaxing atmosphere was amazing.  I took copious pictures of their vineyard and watched a rain storm blow by.

 

Reliance Grapes at Mackinaw Valley

Reliance Grapes at Mackinaw Valley

I also visited friends in Chicago and St. Louis.  In Chicago, Millenial Park just opened and I had plenty of fun watching kids play in the fountain and people watching in the gardens.  The following day I got lost at Sam’s Wines at Spirits.  So much wine and so little time!  Maybe I should build a giant warehouse and sell lots of wines instead of trying to make wine?  Maybe I should just move to Chicago and get a job at Sam’s!

Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center

Love the walkway!

I’ve been taking a photography class at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center.  It has helped me focus on some of the ideas I have about the future Salado Winery.  Here I’ve got a picture with a great walkway/trellis in the background covered in wild grapes.  All the flowers at the wildflower center are native to Texas and I enjoy taking their pictures and studying them when they are in bloom.  Photographing me helps me to focus on the details of the plant in a way that I do not see when I simply walk by them.

I enjoy the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center tremendously and try to go often to reflect, relax and dream about my future winery.

Let the vino ventures begin!

Welcome to Salado Winery Company’s official blog.  The purpose of this blog is to chronicle our adventures as we chase our dreams to start a winery in Salado, Texas.  We hope you enjoy our story, and if you don’t, then drink more wine, it will get better!