Morale Patch Wine Company (Hill Country)

[00:00:06] Howdy Vine Trippers. I wanted to take just a moment to talk to you about the Texas Wine Lover website and their phone app for both iPhones as well as Google devices. You can actually download this app, put it on your phone or just go to the website if you're not an app person. And if you ever want to go visit some of these great locations that we've been talking about in the podcast, this will give you a great information about the place before you go.

[00:00:30] And you'll be able to find other wineries in the area. So if you want to make a day of it, go see several other places as well. You can search by region. You can sort the listings, find ones that are kid friendly, family friendly, even ones that host RVs. All kinds of different sortable listings you can find there in that app and on the website.

[00:00:49] You can find other things as well in the area like restaurants, accommodations, maybe events that are going on at the different wineries. So it's your one stop resource that goes hand in hand with this podcast to be able to find those great places to go visit. So check out the Texas Wine Lover website. It's txwinelover.com or go to their app. You can find it on the Google Play Store or the Apple Store as well. Enjoy your trips among the vines and use that app.

[00:01:17] Welcome to Texas Undervine, an exploratory podcast to scout out the best Texas wine country has to offer. I'm your wine guide, Scott, and I'm here to lead you on an auditory expedition to the vineyards and wineries across the great Lone Star State. Each episode will cover a different vineyard, winery, or wine related business operating in Texas. You'll hear interviews, descriptions, and details about each location that will excite you to visit and experience them for yourself. Ready to plan a wine tour? Use these

[00:02:11] episodes to choose the most interesting spots for you and your friends to check out. Most of all, enjoy hearing about the rapidly growing wine industry in the state and what makes our wines and wineries the best.

[00:02:23] Howdy fellow vine trippers. Welcome to episode 60 for the Texas Undervine podcast. And today I've got a special presentation for you about a newer wine company that is actually operating out of a current vineyard property.

[00:02:51] So I ventured to Arrowhead Creek Vineyard in the hill country right on the wine road 290, but that's not what I'm featuring in today's podcast, at least not yet. That one's going to come on down the road.

[00:03:04] However, there is another wine line that has been recently introduced that's based there at Arrowhead Creek Vineyards that is a unique concept and a very special project that's been done to honor veterans and those who currently are active duty and serve in our country's military. And that's what I'm going to bring to you today. It's called Morale Patch Wine Company.

[00:03:29] Okay. This wine company was dreamed about and co-founded by two guys, Joshua White and Dave Bryant. Now, Josh White was an Air Force pilot who worked his way up, didn't start necessarily as a pilot, but always had dreamed to do that. And you'll hear in his story, he worked his way up and ground through all the things he needed to do to become a pilot and served for many years as an Air Force pilot.

[00:03:58] And during his time while he was serving there, he actually had a friend. He was kind of a bourbon only kind of guy, but he had a friend who had come back from Italy and brought some really interesting wine for him to try and really convinced him to try this wine, opened his eyes to the world of wine and got him really excited about what wine could hold.

[00:04:19] Now, he actually served for a 20-year career with the Air Force and has recently retired as of last October and is now dedicating his life to the wine industry. He and his family purchased Arrowhead Creek Vineyards in early 2023. It's on the banks of the beautiful Pernanales River just outside of Stonewall, Texas.

[00:04:42] Now, with that being an already established vineyard and winery, it gave them kind of the foundation to build on their dream of getting into the wine industry. They could start doing some restorations and upgrades and things like that to bring this new wine life here in the heart of the Texas Hill Country. Now, one day he was sitting around enjoying a glass of wine with one of his buddies and another veteran of our military, Dave Bryant, who's also a wine consultant.

[00:05:11] And they began shooting around some ideas of what would it be like if you could take some of the cool military patches that they have on their uniforms and things like that, that are very honoring thing in the military and slap that onto a bottle of wine as a wine label. And that actually became the idea and the birth for Morale Patch Wine Company. Now, beyond just the patches, one of their intentions and ideas in creating this line of wines was to honor and give back.

[00:05:41] To those who have served our country and those who are currently serving. And so they have decided to donate part of what they're doing here to various military charities, not just monetarily, but with their time and their efforts. They host events there at the winery and they attend events, bringing wine to some really cool foundations like Irreverent Warriors and others you'll hear about in the interview.

[00:06:04] So they're giving not just out of their pocketbooks, but out of their hearts and out of their souls as well to those who have served. They also envision the location there for Morale Patch Wines, which is headquartered there at Arrowhead Creek Vineyards, as being a kind of central place for veterans to gather and share their stories and just have a way to sit back and relax and enjoy the beauty of the Texas wine industry, sharing wine with one another and enjoying the surrounding area.

[00:06:31] Their tasting room, they call the flight room, and it's modeled after a squadron bar for the Air Force. And they wanted it to be this cozy little place for veterans to hang out. One of the unique features of the flight room is their patch wall. So there's actually a wall in the tasting room where veterans can bring some of their patches and actually put them up on the wall,

[00:06:56] post them on the wall for others to see and share in their service and to honor these amazing divisions and squadrons and things that have come through and helped to serve our country. And the hope is that as that patch wall grows, it becomes this really honoring tribute to all of the time and the sacrifices and the things that the servicemen and servicewomen of our country have given to us, to all of the freedoms that we have and to making this country what it is today.

[00:07:23] Now, so far, being a kind of newer wine company, they only have two wines currently in their release for Morale Patch Wine, but they have several that are coming and a whole line planned for different things. So when you do go in for a tasting and you sit down in the flight room, you'll get to taste both of those amazing wines, as well as they'll round out your tasting with a complement of wines from their partner there, Arrowhead Creek Vineyard there as well. And as this company and this wine line grows,

[00:07:52] their intentions, and Josh was sharing about how they want to eventually have wines from each of the different branches with the idea that maybe with their wine club, you could subscribe to just one branch and get all the wines from that particular branch or become what he called a Department of Defense club member where your wine shipments include wines from all the different branches in them. And as an added bonus, and again, as a way to give back,

[00:08:18] they honor all veterans and active duty service members with a flat 20% discount on bottles, tastings, things like that, which is the highest level of their wine club. So even if you're not the highest level of the wine club, as a veteran or as an active duty service member, you always get that highest level of 20% off those bottles and tastings. So when I went, I was able to sit down in the flight room with one of those co-founders, Josh White, to pick his brain about how this whole thing originated,

[00:08:48] kind of what they have to offer now, those great wines that they're offering now, as well as their hopes and dreams for what the future might hold for this incredible concept and really different style of wine concept than I've seen before. So let's prepare for takeoff. Let's go ahead and move on to the mission briefing room and get our objectives for today. Howdy, Vine Trippers.

[00:09:17] I'm here at Morale Patch, and I'm here with Josh White, one of the co-founders of this wine brand. And I'm really excited to share this wine with you and what they've got going on here. So without further ado, let's turn to Josh. So Josh, tell me a little bit about yourself. How did you get started in the wine industry? What's your journey? It's a long-time listener, so it's cool to finally be here. Cool. Thank you. Appreciate your time, of course. I kind of started very non-traditional. Well, I mean, we talked about kind of similar to your story.

[00:09:47] I was initially a bourbon guy. Okay. And so about, I don't know, eight years into my Air Force career, I had a buddy who came from Italy and he's like, dude, you got to try this wine. It's fantastic. And I was like, I don't know. I'll give it a shot. We'll try it. And man, when I tried it, it blew my mind. I mean, the complexity, the story. And so from then on, the curiosity of the wine just kept going and going and going.

[00:10:14] So I fell in love with it early on in my adult life. Okay. And then tell me about your time in the Air Force, since we're kind of passing on that today. Yeah, absolutely. So I enlisted in 2004. Okay. I grew up, my father was a helicopter pilot in the Army. So early on, I was really interested and curious about aviation. And so going through high school, didn't really have the resumes needed to go to a good college.

[00:10:43] So what does one do if you want to be an Air Force pilot? You enlist. And I became a mechanic, a crew chief on the RC-135. And it was quite an incredible experience. As soon as I got there, I told them, hey, I want to be a pilot. Tell me what it takes to be a pilot in the Air Force. A lot of them kind of laughed it off. They're like, you're a mechanic. Just do your job and shut up. But they all say that. Yeah, they all say that. And I had, but I had an amazing mentor and she was my commander. And she was like, are you serious? I said, yes, absolutely.

[00:11:11] And so she would give me all these checklists, just random things to do for almost two and a half years. Get some classes, retake your SAT, ACT. And after three years of grinding, she finally put my name in for the Air Force Academy. Didn't make the Air Force Academy. Got into the prep school, which was an awesome experience. And I needed it because I was out of school for three years and made some incredible friends. So prep school, finally get to the academy, got my butt kicked.

[00:11:39] I was, I mean, it's an engineer school, was not mentally prepared for that, but just grinded through. And I just focused on the goal of being a pilot. That's all I wanted to do. And having that care at the end of the four years at the academy helped me grind it through. And I finally got it. So met my wife sophomore year at the academy, graduated in 2012, and we got married five days after I graduated, which was an absolutely crazy week.

[00:12:08] But an amazing and beautiful wedding, finally finished the academy, and then they punted me off to pilot training down in Pensacola. So here I am living the dream, newlywed, you know, back to school again. I mean, it's almost like a master's class going through pilot training with the Navy and the Air Force. And around 2014, Air Force had these huge budget cuts. And so what we were doing was this joint training program with the Navy.

[00:12:37] And they're like, sorry, Air Force has no more money. They kicked us out in this beautiful Pensacola Beach environment. And they shipped us to Enid, Oklahoma in the middle of winter. And so I was like, well, Candace, my wife, she was like, well, here we are. This is the Air Force life. Get ready for it. So after pilot training, we went to, I dropped KC-135s, which is, they're the tankers, the gas stations in the sky. We went to Spokane, Washington.

[00:13:06] I flew there for about four years. And, you know, Candace and I were kind of ready to start a family. There was a lot of deployments. It was getting really tough. So if you want to get out of the operational world, then you have to go to pilot training to be an instructor, which is awesome. It's nice and you never deploy. You stay home. It's long hours, but you're always coming home, which is nice, especially when you're starting a family. So we get shipped down to Del Rio, Texas. I was an instructor pilot.

[00:13:35] We had two beautiful kids there, Hudson and Dylan. And then after four years there, we got shipped to Randolph, where I was an instructor to future instructors coming through. Oh, cool. A teacher of teachers. That's right. And that was an absolutely incredible assignment. And last October is when I officially separated the Air Force. All right. What a story career and a lot of experiences. Great, great opportunity to say this was my dream. And you fulfilled that.

[00:14:04] You'd ground hard and you, pun intended, ground. Yes. You really worked hard to really get there and find what you wanted and got there. I love that. That's really exciting. Well, what then, so you tasted this great wine from Italy. Got your, you know, senses going a little bit here. What led you into now working here in the wine industry in Texas? Yeah. So that, I feel like I tell this story different every time. It was almost an accident. You know, I've always had an entrepreneurial heart.

[00:14:33] And the last two years as I was in the Air Force, I'm trying to figure out what am I going to do when I grow up? And initially, we were actually looking for a wedding venue. And so the whole family, most of them all from Texas wanted to come back to Texas. I told my wife when we first got married, the first 10 years, you have no say where we go. The next 10 years, wherever you want to go, that's where we'll set it down. And she wanted to come back home to Texas. So that's where we're planting our flag. So we're looking for these wedding venues.

[00:15:04] And one day the realtor came up. She was like, hey, I want you to come check out this property. And so came out, walked the property, Arrowhead Creek Vineyards. And I was just blown away that I was like, Jackie, this is, there's vines here. This is, this is a winery. And although it's been a dream of mine for so long, she's like, I think you can actually do this, you know? And this was only two years ago. No wine background, no wine education. And so, you know, I brought the family down here. I said, what do you think? Are you ready to take this on?

[00:15:33] This huge task of owning a vineyard. And, you know, everyone said yes. You know, so we knew what we're good at and we knew what we weren't. And organically, the team just started to build itself. And we brought in Dave Bryant. We brought in the winemaker, John Hofflinger, the vineyard manager. And so it just, it just all started happening organically. And we're like, okay, let's do this. Let's pull the trigger on it. Wow. And so that was when? That was in January of 23.

[00:16:03] 23. Okay. So it'd be just a little over two years ago. Okay, cool. So to me, it sounds very similar to your Air Force career. You had a dream. You've said, I'm entrepreneurial. I see this is something we can make it. And now you're doing, you're grinding to get to where you're fulfilling that dream. That's really cool. And to be honest, it's actually more terrifying than flying an aircraft. There's no checklist for this. There's no, there's no guidelines. I mean, it's.

[00:16:32] There's no tower telling you what you're supposed to do. Yeah. Watch out for that airplane. Watch out for, don't get that wine, get that wine. But it's, it's, it's been a dream come true. And it's the scariest and most fulfilling thing I've, I've ever done in my life. It's true. Like flying with dead reckoning. Hey, you know. On your own. Okay. Right on. Exactly. Well, tell me for a second, a little bit about Morale Patch for a second. So I know we're at Arrowhead Creek, but Morale Patch is, from what I understand, its own kind of line or kind of brand of wine.

[00:17:01] So tell me about the vision for that and for kind of what it's all about. Yeah. So Morale Patch Wine Company started about a year and a half ago. So our wine consultant, Dave Bryant, we were just kind of hanging out, having a glass of wine as you do. And one night he asked, how cool would it be if we took a patch off your flight suit and we slapped it on a bottle of wine and we try to sell it distribution? I said, well, Dave, I'm still trying to figure out the Arrowhead Creek thing.

[00:17:30] I only have so many patches on my, my flight suit. Yeah, exactly. And he's like, it could be something pretty amazing. No one has done it yet. Um, I'm a veteran. It just seems like the perfect fit. So I went out to my Jeep and I grabbed a patch because I had a bunch of patches in there and the bottle of wine that we were drinking, I actually, we glued it on the bottle and I, it's up there. It's my class patch, 1406. And I would, I was just blown away by it. I was like, man, this is, this is something special.

[00:17:59] This is something special to me as I'm transitioning out of the Air Force. This is something that I can kind of give back to the veterans that, that need help. And, um, it actually really helped my transition out of the military. It was really special to me. So morale patch wine company, if we broke it up into three tiers, the first tier is our cause. So we always say we're wine with a cause and that cause is helping veteran charities do their job and helping veterans. Okay.

[00:18:26] Um, I think it's important for every business to have their why that's the foundation of your business. Uh, and people can get behind that. Right. And, and here we are in Texas, San Antonio, military city. There's so many veteran charities, um, that, that we can be a part of to help them monetarily being at events, having them come out here and do events and just get exposure and, and the recognition that they, that they deserve and need.

[00:18:51] Um, so right now we are working with IW, irreverent warriors, an amazing organization. Uh, they help veterans with mental health, um, helping prevent veteran suicide. Um, and they do it through camaraderie. It's a very simple, very effective. They go on these huge long hikes and they just, they bring people together. You know, when you, when you separate the military, whatever branch you have this identity

[00:19:20] crisis and you miss it. And you're just trying to figure out who you're going to be on the other side when you're not wearing a uniform. Um, and so they do a fantastic job of bringing people together and non-filter, just be who you are. And let's just go on this rock hike. Uh, it's really cool. So that's tier number one. Okay. Tier number two is the story. So every bottle of wine that we have, um, has a story.

[00:19:46] So our red wine, our Petit Verdot, uh, represents the P-51 Mustang and cool. Mostly we kind of went with the World War II theme on that. Um, but mostly cause it's my favorite aircraft of all time. It's super badass. Uh, apologize. I'm going to go at you with that one. Cause I'm the, I'm a Corsair guy. So you are, Corsair is going to be, um, on another patch for sure. Okay, cool. Yeah, absolutely. Um, and so that represents the red wine and the white one, uh, we have, we represent with

[00:20:16] the women air force service pilots, the WASP. Oh yeah. And not many people know that story. Um, so it's really cool to get that. People always ask the questions and, and we actually went to the museum in Sweetwater and we went to the museum director and asked, Hey, can we have your blessing to do this? Um, we have this really cool patch. This is what it's going to look like. We'll tell your story. And she was like, yes, absolutely. Full send. So have you been to the Sweetwater? I have not. Oh, it's, it's incredibly well done.

[00:20:43] Um, it, the aircraft, the whole story from start to finish, they do an outstanding job. So, um, highly recommend checking them out if you're in Abilene. Yeah. The next time or the next time I'm headed up to the high plains to visit some of the great wineries up there in the high plains, I stop over to Sweetwater and do that. Cool. Good idea. So we currently have, we started air force. I'm obviously biased towards air force. So the P-51 and the women air force service pilots. And we next, the next iteration is going to be army. Okay.

[00:21:12] And then we want to do Navy Marines and Coast Guard and, and maybe space force. We'll see. We'll, we'll cross that bridge when we get there. But, um, and so the army design, we, we've already started the design. My father flew the UH-1 Huey. So the red wine is going to be a Huey and the white wine is going to be an army nurse. And so we're, we're going through the designs right now to see, um, which ones it's going to, going to make it on the final product. Cool. I like that. Yep.

[00:21:39] And so tell me about the, do you donate a portion of the proceeds or how does that work? We're still kind of working that out. I don't have much experience with nonprofits and we have to be careful on saying a percentage or do we write a check at the end of the year? Um, so we're kind of in conversations with them with, they're not trying to push so quickly into that. They just want us to come out and support them. Just, just be here. Yeah. But there, yeah, just let them have events out here, support them.

[00:22:06] Um, but eventually it will be a, a proceed of each bottle. Um, I would love to have a red tails. We've been kind of talking at Tuskegee Airmen. That would be like five or 10% of each sale would go back to them. Um, so yeah, there, there's a lot of different ways to slice that slice that cake. But the biggest thing is getting their name out there, getting exposure and us being so small, we don't really have a monetary footprint that's going to change any veteran charity, but, um, we're going to try it. And I think we'll get there one day.

[00:22:36] And it would be kind of cool. I think to have like special bottles for special times, like one for Pearl Harbor day, you know, and, and to focus on the veterans and things from that time. And, you know, I, and there's, I think there's, it's ripe with opportunity. I think you think they're really ripe. Yeah. There are so many avenues we can go down. And, um, even just doing like a white labeling, like their own, like if USA wanted to do a patch, um, or the Pacific War Museum, um, birthday balls.

[00:23:05] I mean, there, there's so many different ways that, um, we can create a patch as the label, but the biggest issue with that is a label shouldn't cost two to $3. Yeah. Right. So when you go to distribution, when you're going to, um, check out how tight the margins are, a label should be 10 cents, 25 cents. Now we're at $2, but that's who we are. So we have to figure out. And the biggest issue is keeping that quality, um, and also keeping our margins.

[00:23:34] So we're a business, right? Uh, so that's the hardest thing in finding that balance. And do we want to be a hundred percent Texas wine with morale patch? We do with Arrowhead Creek. We are, we are on that, uh, the Texas crusade on that for sure. But morale patch is, is about the cost. It's not, the third tier is the wine. It's not so much where the wine came from, although probably for the next year or so it will be Texas wine.

[00:24:00] Um, but if we get into higher volumes, you know, we're getting to 5,000 cases. It's just a lot more difficult to, to acquire that. Especially for me, just being the newest kid on the block, you know? So. Well, speaking about your wines and you've got these cool patches on the bottle, how do you choose which patches to put on each bottle as the new wine to come out? Yep. Yeah. That's a, that's a good question. So originally just what my favorite. Yeah. Aircraft was. The ones off your shoulder. Yeah, exactly.

[00:24:28] Um, and the next army, um, I had a best friend that was an army nurse, um, that went through some PTSD. And, um, so it was really important for me to have that on there. And also my father was a helicopter pilot. He passed away last year. So this is for him. Uh, but kind of moving forward, I kind of want the people to choose it. You know, if there's a way that they can either come here and tell us a story, whether it's a grandfather or a friend or their own story, or they just email us.

[00:24:57] Um, the dream would be every quarter we have a new patch. And so we can put it out on whatever social media and then have the people vote and then pick the design and slap it onto the next bottle of wine. Um, which would be really cool. And there's so many, again, this is a platform for other stories. It's not my story. It's other people's story. And that, that is exciting. That's something that can continue to grow forever. Right. There's so many stories. It doesn't have to be war tier.

[00:25:24] It doesn't have to be, even though that's my favorite, you know, timeframe, but it could be Vietnam. It could be the Gulf War, um, or Korea. Yeah, absolutely. So, um, we're open to all these ideas. And if someone comes up and staples a patch on there and they, they tell us an amazing story, um, that people vote on it, that'll be the next, that'll be the next label for that wine. Wow. Well, there you have it listeners. So, um, if you've got a story, a veteran, it's important in your life, you have something

[00:25:52] about a patch, share that with, with morale patch. So again, like you said, send an email, um, go to the website, heck, even on this video for YouTube, go down and leave it in the comments, something we'll share it. We'll get there and maybe your patch can be the next one on one of the next bottles. That would be really cool and a great way to honor those veterans. Absolutely. I agree. Well, tell me about the, so we're here in this really cool, uh, setting, I think called the flight room where you're tasting room for morale patch. So tell me about how this came to be. Yeah.

[00:26:22] So this was just, so Arrowhead Creek Vineyards, um, before we bought it was a farm for 80 years. The Beckman family had it and this was just a, essentially their hay barn. I mean, this is all original. All we did was plexiglass, the windows, threw in the air condition and then furnished it. Um, we needed more space on Saturdays and I kind of wanted to, every flying squadron has like a little bar.

[00:26:50] So I wanted it to look like a squadron bar, old school. And it kind of fit with just how rustic and, you know, old school it is. Um, so here we are in the flight room. We, behind us are the, are the patches and we call it the patch wall. People come in and, and they staple their patch on the wall. We sit down, uh, I give them a free glass of wine and they tell us, he or she tells me their, their story, whether it was four years in the military or 40 years in the military. And there's some pretty incredible patches up there.

[00:27:19] Um, and this is what we want to tell their stories. We're kind of now this platform and, and telling a veteran story, not, not only just veteran charities, but the veterans themselves. Wow. Yeah. And it almost felt like when I walked up at first, I had these memories of, it almost seemed like a Quonset hut kind of a thing that you're walking into, you know? Um, very, yeah, like I said, it's such a great feel, especially for the theme of the, the wines and everything. So my, my compliments on that. Um, okay.

[00:27:49] Well, let's talk then about you mentioned a second ago, the wines and production and things like that. Um, for the first few years, you said you're, you're Texas based, uh, where are you sourcing that fruit and where are you producing it? Do you have production facilities on site here or? Yeah. So, um, high plans, just like majority of us grab it. We only have two acres of vines here. We have a more bed and tonight. Um, and we don't have a production facility on site. Again, a big goal down the road, but we'd love to have our own production facility.

[00:28:17] Uh, the biggest issue for us is we're on the Pedernales river. And so we have crazy flood zone regulations. So, um, it might not be on site, but yeah, absolutely. One day we'll have our own production and have full control of everything. So that's the dream. Definitely down the road for sure. Yeah. Speaking of road, by the way, to the listeners, when you come, the downside at the moment is there's construction on the road getting in here. So it's a little kind of hard to get, you kind of got to make a quick right turn.

[00:28:45] If you're coming from one direction or left turn, uh, with all the construction there, don't let that hinder you. It is definitely worth getting here. And soon all that construction will be done and the road will be great. And, uh, and that, that shouldn't be a hindrance. I'm sure you've had to deal with that for quite a while. That's been tough for the last year. Uh, but hopefully they'll wrap it up in the end of May, June timeframe. So they're already laying asphalt. Uh, the bridge is being squared away. So they're doing a good job trying to wrap that up. Yeah. And it'd be easy access to get here. Yeah, exactly. Uh, all right. Well, so tell me about the wines themselves.

[00:29:14] And you, you kind of mentioned a couple of them a second ago. What, what are the, all the different ones that you currently are providing that you have available? So currently we have a, uh, the Petit Verdun. Uh, the white wine is a Muscat Viognier. Okay. Um, and then in the next iteration, we'll have, uh, a Morved, Morved Rosé and, um, and a Pickpool will be coming out. Nice. Very excited about that. Probably in the next month or so. Yeah. Mm-hmm.

[00:29:43] So you got a nice little selection of different things to, to try then. Absolutely. I like that. And then is this something that someone could, and I'm kind of stepping into the tasting notes, which we'll get to, or not notes, but the tasting information that we'll get into in a little bit. But is this something where somebody could go over and maybe do a tasting at Arrowhead Creek and then maybe come over here and do a tasting as well here? Yeah. It's so because we only have two wines currently, um, we mix it in with Arrowhead. Okay. Yeah. So, uh, you can, uh, you can, in the main tasting room or be here in the fight room,

[00:30:11] you can have the full, um, full tasting menu of Arrowhead Creek and Morale Patch. Okay. So we just incorporate that into the tasting. So, yeah. So you get a little sample of both there. That's right. Okay. And as your line builds here, I'm sure at some point you'll have kind of your own specific case. Yes. I mean, hopefully next year, the goal is to have an Air Force, an Army, Navy, Marine, the whole Corps, the whole Corps. And, and again, maybe Coast Guard, but it's funny, my brother-in-law is a Coastie, so I

[00:30:41] have to have a Coast Guard patch. Uh, but we always give them a hard time about being at Coast Guard. Uh, but we would like to have, you know, eventually when we have the wine club members situated, if you're an Air Force, wine club member, Army, or just a DOD, if you want to just be a straight up 12 bottle member, um, you can have them all. So, so you mentioned a moment ago, um, having events here and things like that for veteran organizations and things like that. What does that look like? Do they typically come in and schedule frequently or give me an idea what that picture, what that looks like?

[00:31:10] The first one was our launch party. Okay. And so we brought in IW, um, different types of regions, uh, that, that represent IW. Um, and we had, we were, had the CAF. They had a four ship flyover, which is absolutely incredible. They were supposed to just do a, a four ship flyover and then continue on. Um, but we had, we had a good crowd and so they broke up and then they started doing dive bombs. It was super awesome. Yeah.

[00:31:40] And they popped the smoke. It was like a tour, tour. They, yeah, it was super cool. Um, and most recently, uh, we've teamed up with Hero Hut. Um, they're having an event on the 22nd. So yeah, they just coordinate. Um, they're doing, they're bringing out some cars, putting them on the grass. Um, they're like, Hey, we'd like to have a stage, do a silent auction and live music. And, you know, we have a huge grassy field and electricity down there.

[00:32:06] So, um, they'll just, whatever they, if they want to rent out the flight room, they've done that in the past that the weather was bad. And, um, yeah, I mean, it, we, if they need a, uh, a TV or a projector or whatever, whatever, they, they just call us ahead of time and said, Hey, this is kind of what we're looking for. This is who's supporting us. And I'm like, yeah, come on down. And we've built up a lot of amazing relationships with them and they've invited us to the Alamo Bowl, uh, which was a great time. And we got to go on the field and do the flag thing.

[00:32:36] So, um, it's awesome when you, when you finally have something to give them, give them a place. Um, cause everybody likes to come up here, right? San Antonio, Austin, Hill Country is, is, is kind of our getaway. Yeah. And for them to have a spot whenever they need it, um, it is, it's kind of cool to give back in that way right now. I love that. I love that connection. And that, and this can kind of become their little home in the middle of the one country of the Hill Country, you know? And they bring in, you know, 25 to 125 people that never even heard of us. So it's great exposure for us too.

[00:33:06] And expose the Texas wine world to people from all over the world or all over the country at least who come in from places and are stationed in this area and they get to experience what Texas can do with wine. I love that. Yeah. So we're reaching out to all the bases, Lackland, Randolph, Fort Sam Houston and spouses groups or, you know, Christmas parties, however, and trying to, trying to bring them out here and get them exposed to it. And then we have our list of, of wineries that, that we recommend depending on what their flavor is or what the environment they're looking for. So absolutely.

[00:33:35] So there you have it. If you're a veteran or you have friends that are veterans, you got to make sure to connect them here or even active duty, not necessarily just veterans. Make sure and let them know about Arrowhead Creek and they got to come check out Morale Patch in the flight room here because it's a home away from home for, for those people. So. Yeah. We also, for, for veterans and, and active duty military members, we give a 20% military discount on anything, on a tasting bottles.

[00:34:01] However, even if they join up as a four bottle member and it's just 10%, we give them 20% flat across the board. Nice added bonus there. Absolutely. All right. And you can bring your patch and put it on the wall here. Is that, I can't wait to come back to see this whole wall just covered in patches. It's going to be really cool. That's the goal. I want, I want that whole wall just completely filled with it. Yeah. That's nice. It's getting there. Cool. Well, let's talk about tastings for a moment. So let's say that a listener is getting excited and they say, Oh, I really, I want to come check this out. This sounds like a place for me.

[00:34:31] What does a typical tasting look like? Do they need to make reservations for this specifically? Should they go through Arrowhead Creek to do that? And then what is the tasting cost and what does that kind of look like? Yeah. So I, without probably Saturdays is the only day that you'll need to make a reservation. Okay. Any other day we can pretty much work you into the tasting. Um, call Arrowhead Creek or go online to Arrowhead Creek and you can set up a reservation that way.

[00:35:00] Uh, tasting is usually about an hour. It's $25. Um, and, uh, will be five wines. Okay. Five different wines. Yep. Nice. And then what about, um, do you offer any kind of food or anything like that? Or can people bring their own food if they wanted to do that? They can bring their own food. We offer a charcuterie board, uh, which is, well, obviously I'm biased, but it's like this huge Blavarian pretzel with meats and cheeses in it. Um, and it's fantastic. So, uh, eventually we want to get, uh, um, a food truck.

[00:35:28] We're looking at getting a pizza food truck, talking with a guy in New Braunfels, um, that might be in six months or so, but yeah, absolutely. If, if people want to come and have a picnic and go down to the river and hang out, buy a bottle of wine, uh, more than, more than welcome to do so. Yeah. So you got not only the flight room here, but all the, the facilities here. It is a very beautiful property back up right there to the, the river and everything. Yeah. Yeah. And it's very pretty there. Um, what about family or pets?

[00:35:56] So, um, if people have kids they want to bring with them or if they have pets, are those allowed? Yeah, absolutely. So we are pet and kid friendly. Okay. Yep. What are your operating hours? So, uh, Wednesday, we're closed Monday and Tuesday. Okay. Wednesday, we're open late three to eight. Okay. Um, Thursday through Saturday is 11 to six and Sunday is 11. Okay. Perfect.

[00:36:22] And then do you have any maximum group sizes, um, or kind of mostly can hold? No, we really don't. Um, but when people call for reservations and if it's on a Saturday, if it's last minute, we, we kind of, we, we just tailor each reservation. Uh, we just do the best we can and set expectations. So last week we had a group of 50 come in and so maybe it's just a bottles and, and glasses kind of depending on our staffing.

[00:36:49] So it's, it's a little bit different, but if we have a couple of weeks or a week heads up, then we can plan appropriately. Okay. So definitely if you're coming with a group, make sure you let them know, give, give you guys a heads up. Anything more than 12. Okay. Um, yeah. Give us a call and make sure that we're prepared for it. If they want to be outside by live music or, or in the main taste room where it's a little bit more quiet, um, we can kind of tailor it to what they, what they're looking for. Cool. So tell me a little bit about your wine club. You mentioned it a second ago. What does that look like? Yep.

[00:37:18] So our wine club, uh, we have a four, eight, 12 bottle member membership. Um, along with that is 10, 15 and 20%, um, depending on the bottle amount, uh, unless your military, then it's 20, 20% across the board. Um, we, the allocations are four times a year. They're usually in, uh, March, May, September, November timeframe. We kind of skip summer just for the heat and shipping and ice packs. And it's a nightmare sometimes.

[00:37:48] Uh, we have a pickup party, um, that's usually Saturdays in the evenings, which is a little different. Um, and you can bring one membership can bring four people because we want to show everyone our pickup parties are, uh, in my opinion, one of the best. We have live music. We have the fire going. Um, we always have some type of dinner. So last pickup party, we had pulled pork sandwiches and, um, and it's usually from six to 10 o'clock. Okay. Sometimes later, but yeah.

[00:38:16] And is that a mixture of Arrowhead and Morale Patch or is that straight Morale Patch? Right now it's a mixture. Okay. Um, probably next year we're going to separate the two entities, but, um, we also allow, there's like a two week period where you can customize your wine. Yeah. So if you, if you're only a red only person, you don't want any whites and that's the time to customize it, uh, in that two week window. Um, also anytime you show up, you get a free glass, you can bring up to four people, a free

[00:38:43] glass or a free tasting anytime you show up. Okay, cool. What about distribution? So you talked a little bit about that at the beginning and then the goal for that. Are you doing any distribution yet? Do you have plans for that? What does that look like? For, so for Morale Patch, um, we're in, we're in talks right now with HEB. Okay. Um, and the next conversation will be AFE's on base. So we're really excited to work with HEB. Um, hopefully in the next couple of weeks we'll hear more about it.

[00:39:11] And that's kind of what we're kind of pausing and waiting for what they're going to say before our next order. But sure. Um, even if it doesn't go through, I mean, we're going to continue to all the large distributions, um, in Texas specifically. And so can you buy that on the website? The wines on your website? Does that Arrowhead Creek or does Morale Patch have their own website or what does that look like? Yes. If you can go to either website, if you go to Morale Patch Wine Company and you select a wine, um, to purchase, it'll take you to Arrowhead Creek and that's where your final purchase will be made. Okay.

[00:39:40] So we've kind of hit on it a little bit. Um, we talked a little bit about some of your future ideas for production and growing the different types of wines on it, but what are your plans for future growth for Morale Patch? Where do you see it going? You know, for right now, I see us, um, this being our home base, the flight room, um, and really focusing on distribution and e-commerce. Uh, my dream and everyone will laugh at me, uh, family wise.

[00:40:09] My, my dream is to have a satellite tasting room. Um, that is a fuselage of an aircraft. And that would be so cool. That would be my absolute dream. Um, and, or, you know, if, if we can get a couple of satellite tasting rooms, um, in a square down in New Braunfels where we live, um, San Antonio military city would be awesome. Uh, but we're not in any rush right now. We're still building the brand. We're still trying to get the word out there.

[00:40:36] Um, so the next big thing is, is just focusing on distribution, getting with HEB and AFES and, um, Spex Total Wine, all that currently. There are a lot of great places that people can go to drink wine in the hill country and in Texas. Um, what do you think really sets Morale Patch apart that people would say, I got to move that up my list. I got to check that out. Yeah, I think, you know, Morale Patch Wine Company is, is totally different than any other wine, well, wine bottle you've ever seen before. Um, I think it's priced appropriately.

[00:41:05] Uh, so our whites are in the 20 to 30 range. Our reds are in the 30 to 45 range. Um, and I, I think the hospitality that we give here, um, the whole family is on deck working here, greeting you at the door, um, going through the wine tasting and, you know, you're, you're free to walk down by the river, check out the dig site, uh, which is a whole nother thing. But, um, I, I think the ambiance, especially if you're a veteran, um, or you're somebody

[00:41:34] who supports veterans, uh, we, we get a lot of, uh, emotion when people come to the patch

[00:42:08] wall. And so we owe them a debt of gratitude to have a place where people can come and feel at home, feel like they belong and have something that relates to their identity and their, their personage and share that identity on the wall and things like that. To me, that's an amazing service and hats off to you. Thank you so much for everything you do with Morale Patch. It's amazing. Thank you.

[00:42:37] And it truly is a great tribute and honor to those who have served and are currently serving our country in the military as the son of a world war two veteran and Korea veteran and the proud father of two Navy sailors. I love the concept and their realization of how they're making this tribute to our service members, a reality. Now, as always, make sure to check out their website before you go.

[00:43:03] It's www.moralepatchwineco.com. See it down there. So moralepatchwineco.com. Now they have a really impressive, beautiful website where you can find out information about those two wines that they actually currently have available. You can even shop for them there if you wanted to order some, you can also read a little bit more about their story, find out about the flight room and even see their event calendar of events that they have going on.

[00:43:30] And don't forget, when you go to see them, make sure you tell them you heard about them on this podcast, Texas Undervine. All right. After the interview wrapped up, I was able to perform a mission debrief in the squadron bar there in the flight room. And I was able to taste a wide variety of very well-made wines and really got to enjoy those two that they currently have available now from Moral Patch Wine Company, their inaugural offerings.

[00:43:56] My favorite of the two, however, was the red and it is a Petit Verdot. So this is their red wine here. And like I said, it's got this really cool patch. So this is the P51 that Josh was talking about on the label, but this is Velcroed on. So you can actually kind of take this patch off if you wanted to or put it back on. So it's got these really cool souvenir patches that are on the bottles. The white has the really cool wasp tribute.

[00:44:25] You can see that when you go in to see them as well. But really great tasting wine, very deep, full of Texas flavor. I'm a big fan of Petit Verdot anyway. It's usually always very rich, very full mouthfeel, a lot of dark fruit in this and some smoky notes on it. So this became my wine library purchase for this particular episode. Make sure you try this one when you go in and get yourself a bottle as well. You get to take that cool patch home with you on the bottle.

[00:44:52] And I loved the tribute to the P51 as well. Really amazing aircraft that really started to come forward towards the end of World War II. And many would argue was kind of the turning point, really helped to make a huge turning point in our efforts there, not only in the European theater, but also in the Pacific theater for World War II. So it was a very great tribute bottle and really fun to take that one home. All right, clearance received.

[00:45:20] It's time for me to lift off and chart a new course for some other great wine destinations throughout the state. Bringing all that great flight data back to you, ground control, sitting there and watching and learning about all these great wine destinations we have in our state. Before takeoff, however, I did want to give you one last little pitch here, a way that you could support the podcast if you're interested. I do all of this out of my pocket as a teacher. And so I would love to have your support to get me to other great wine destinations and

[00:45:50] to bring you other great content. If you're interested in supporting the podcast, it's very easy. You just go to my website, www.texasundervine.com. You can join my Patreon. At the very top of that webpage, you'll see a link to become a patron and it will take you to my Patreon site. There's lots of great background material there, bonus material for those who are my Patreon subscribers. There's several different tiers you can subscribe at.

[00:46:15] Just a few dollars a month will get you access and you can find out things like where I'm going next to get sneak previews to the different locations I'm going to down the road. You can also see some background photos, background videos while I'm there at each of the different wineries. So you get some content there that you don't get if you're not a Patreon subscriber. And it's very simple and easy to do. It supports me. And again, my heart goes out to you guys, my current Patreon subscribers. Thank you for helping to make this show a reality.

[00:46:45] Also, for those of you watching the show on my YouTube channel, don't forget to like, follow and subscribe. And if you're watching the video there on YouTube, tell me in a comment down below. If you've checked out Morale Patch yet, already, then tell me what was your favorite thing about Morale Patch. But if you haven't been yet, but now you're excited to after watching this episode, make sure to leave a comment telling me what you're most looking forward to checking out when you do go visit them. And with that, my time is up.

[00:47:12] So don't forget, subscribe to the podcast and follow my socials to be notified anytime a brand new episode is released. And until then, happy trails and bottoms up, y'all. Thanks for listening to Texas Undervine. We strive to provide you with the best information about wine businesses all over Texas. Be sure to check out our website at texasundervine.com and follow us on our socials at Texas Undervine

[00:47:41] to stay up on all the upcoming episodes. Please email us with any suggestions or feedback. Also, contact us if you're interested in donating, sponsoring, or advertising on the podcast just to help us cover our expenses and bring even more great info to you in future episodes. Above all, travel safely and most especially, drink responsibly.

[00:48:11] Howdy, Vine Trippers. Did you know that I now have a merchandise store for Texas Undervine? I only have a handful of limited items, but you can go check those out and wear your Texas Undervine swag if you'd like to tell all your friends about the great wine locations we have here in Texas and maybe get them interested in the podcast as well. So, there are things like t-shirts, there's a hoodie, there's a beanie, a ball cap, things like that. But one of the most exciting things I have right now is my limited time offer t-shirt. That's my season one t-shirt.

[00:48:40] So, this is your Tasting Through Texas, Texas Undervine season one t-shirt. It's only going to be available for a little short amount of time. On the back, it has all the different locations like a band tour t-shirt. So, this is a limited time item and you can go out and get it now. And one of the great things about that t-shirt is a portion of every sale goes to support the Texas Hill Country Winery Scholarship Fund. So, you know that by buying that t-shirt, you're also investing in the growing and flourishing

[00:49:07] of an amazing wine industry here in Texas and all of those people that are going to come and make it even better. Check out that merchandise store. It's on my website at texasundervine.com. Just go up to the top. You'll see the link for the merchandise store. Thank you.