Stoneledge Winery (Hill Country)

[00:00:06] Howdy Vine Trippers, I wanted to take just a moment to talk to you about the Texas Wine

[00:00:10] Lover website and their phone app for both iPhones as well as Google devices.

[00:00:16] You can actually download this app, put it on your phone or just go to the website if

[00:00:20] you're not an app person.

[00:00:22] And if you ever want to go visit some of these great locations that we've been talking

[00:00:26] about in the podcast, this will give you a great information about the place before

[00:00:30] you go and you'll be able to find other wineries in the area.

[00:00:33] So if you want to make a day of it, go see several other places as well.

[00:00:37] You can search by region, you can sort the listings, find ones that are kid friendly,

[00:00:42] family friendly, even ones that host RVs, all kinds of different sortable listings you

[00:00:46] 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,

[00:00:54] maybe events that are going on at the different wineries.

[00:00:56] So it's your one stop resource that goes hand in hand with this podcast to be able

[00:01:01] to find those great places to go visit.

[00:01:04] So check out the Texas Wine Lover website.

[00:01:07] It's TXwineLover.com or go to their app.

[00:01:11] You can find it on the Google Play Store or the Apple Store as well.

[00:01:14] Enjoy your trips among the vines and use that app.

[00:01:17] Welcome to Texas Under Vine, an exploratory podcast to scout out the best Texas wine country has to offer.

[00:01:48] I'm your wine guide, Scott, and I'm here to lead you on an auditory expedition

[00:01:52] to the vineyards and wineries across the great Lone Star State.

[00:01:56] Each episode will cover a different vineyard, winery or wine related business operating in Texas.

[00:02:01] You'll hear interviews, descriptions and details about each location that will excite you to visit

[00:02:07] and experience them for yourself.

[00:02:09] Ready to plan a wine tour?

[00:02:11] Use these episodes to choose the most interesting spots for you and your friends to check out.

[00:02:15] Most of all, enjoy hearing about the rapidly growing wine industry in the state

[00:02:20] and what makes our wines and wineries the best.

[00:02:36] Howdy, fellow vine tripper.

[00:02:37] Welcome to episode 41 of Texas Under Vine.

[00:02:40] And for today, I'm going to actually stay in the hill country.

[00:02:43] I'm going to head up a little bit north to the Lampasas area

[00:02:48] and just a little bit west of there to the town of Lomita.

[00:02:51] I'm going to be visiting Stone Ledge Winery today.

[00:02:54] So I'm going to tell you all about their story.

[00:02:57] Now the winery is owned by Greg and Deborah Gissler.

[00:03:00] And they bought the property where the winery resides now about 26 years ago.

[00:03:06] Greg had previously had a career in the telecommunications industry

[00:03:10] and they were looking for a place to live.

[00:03:14] And so they bought that land as a place for them to retire and live on.

[00:03:18] And then he got the idea, you know, some of his friends in the area

[00:03:22] were planting grapes and grapevines and he thought that might be a fun idea.

[00:03:27] So in 2016, they planted their first grapevines there on their property.

[00:03:32] Now when they started, Greg just had intentions of selling the fruit

[00:03:37] to other vineyards in the area or other winery, should I say.

[00:03:41] Now when they started the vineyard,

[00:03:42] Greg actually had the idea of really just selling the grapes to other wineries.

[00:03:47] But some people advised him and said, you know what?

[00:03:50] You can make more money if you actually make some wine from your grapes

[00:03:53] and have a winery.

[00:03:55] So they decided to do that and in 2017 began that process.

[00:04:00] Now, they didn't open their doors until 2019.

[00:04:04] So they've been running for about five years straight now.

[00:04:08] Now not long after they started,

[00:04:10] Texas Monthly actually gave them some awards

[00:04:13] for one of their very first wines, a Rosé of Saint-Jobais.

[00:04:17] And in that article, they named Stone Ledge Winery

[00:04:21] as one of the upcoming wineries at that time.

[00:04:25] Now the vineyard that they have on site is beautiful.

[00:04:27] It's about 11 acres and they have plantations of things

[00:04:30] like Roussaint, Saint-Jobais, Tempranillo, Mouvedre,

[00:04:35] Cab Sauvignon among a few others.

[00:04:37] And they do pride themselves on being 100% Texas wine.

[00:04:41] And actually for the last two years,

[00:04:43] they've been completely self-sustaining

[00:04:45] with all of the fruit that they're growing

[00:04:48] to make all of the wines that they have.

[00:04:49] They haven't bought grapes from anywhere else

[00:04:51] for the last two years.

[00:04:53] And the winery itself is kind of built old world style

[00:04:56] in that it's built into the side of a hill

[00:04:58] and it's got three different levels to it.

[00:05:01] So what that does is that allows them

[00:05:03] to bring the fruit in at the top level

[00:05:06] where they can do the crushing,

[00:05:08] getting all the juice out and getting ready to go.

[00:05:10] And they allow gravity to take it down.

[00:05:13] Instead of having to use pumps,

[00:05:14] they can actually use gravity to bring it down

[00:05:16] and throughout several stages of the process

[00:05:18] until it ends at the very bottom level

[00:05:21] where it's also built into the hillside.

[00:05:24] So it's a little cooler in there.

[00:05:25] You can store the barrels in there.

[00:05:27] It's kind of sheltered from that scorching hot Texas sun.

[00:05:30] So it provides multiple benefits to the winery

[00:05:33] with that construction that they have.

[00:05:35] And the tasting room is actually on the top floor.

[00:05:39] Now, the area that they're in is gorgeous.

[00:05:41] It's actually built on a stone ledge

[00:05:44] where the name of the winery comes from.

[00:05:46] And it's got beautiful views of the hill country,

[00:05:49] it's almost 360 degrees around.

[00:05:51] And you can see the valley kind of floor,

[00:05:53] what used to be an ocean where their stone ledge

[00:05:56] was the edge of the ocean.

[00:05:58] And so you get great views.

[00:06:00] They also have an outdoor event pavilion

[00:06:03] where they'll have live music

[00:06:04] and different events out there.

[00:06:05] Because of its situation,

[00:06:07] Greg will talk about in the interview,

[00:06:09] they get great wind flow through that area.

[00:06:11] So it stays even in the hot summer months,

[00:06:13] you get good breezes through to keep you cool.

[00:06:16] And they even have a pickleball court on site.

[00:06:18] If you're a pickleball fan,

[00:06:20] you can go play there along with horseshoes

[00:06:22] and some other fun things.

[00:06:24] Now I thought this was really cool too.

[00:06:25] So Greg with his computer background,

[00:06:28] his technology background,

[00:06:30] actually wrote a software program

[00:06:32] to keep track of all of the weather

[00:06:34] in the vineyard in the area

[00:06:36] where they can monitor down to water distribution.

[00:06:39] It's all this high-tech control center over the vineyard

[00:06:42] to see how much they need to water in certain places

[00:06:45] and putting that background that he has

[00:06:47] is great use in the vineyard.

[00:06:49] He is a true vigneron style vineyard

[00:06:52] in that he is doing everything from the farming

[00:06:55] all the way up to the wine making to your lips

[00:06:58] as you get to taste their amazing wines.

[00:07:01] Now, another cool thing is

[00:07:02] they're actually dark sky community.

[00:07:04] So in addition to these gorgeous views

[00:07:06] and they're literally right down the road

[00:07:08] from Colorado Bend Park.

[00:07:10] So out there, they sometimes bring out some astronomers

[00:07:14] with telescopes

[00:07:15] and they'll do great viewings of the night sky.

[00:07:18] So all sorts of really cool fun events

[00:07:20] that you can do here at Stone Ledge

[00:07:22] and take in that beautiful view.

[00:07:23] And it's just a little bit west of Lampasas,

[00:07:25] not far at all from the main highways

[00:07:28] to be able to get out there to Stone Ledge.

[00:07:30] Now, when I went to Stone Ledge,

[00:07:31] I actually got to sit down with Greg for the interview.

[00:07:34] So you'll get to hear directly from him.

[00:07:35] He also gave me a tour of the property.

[00:07:37] So I got to see

[00:07:38] that whole three level production situation.

[00:07:41] He took me around to the areas

[00:07:43] and see the event center.

[00:07:44] He even took me out into the vineyard.

[00:07:46] It was a great time.

[00:07:48] And he really shared a lot of his background

[00:07:50] and story and their ideas for the winery.

[00:07:52] So without further ado, let's get to that interview.

[00:08:01] Well, I'm here with Greg Gissler at Stone Ledge Winery.

[00:08:04] So tell me Greg a little bit about yourself.

[00:08:06] What got you into the wine industry?

[00:08:08] Well, originally I was in telecommunications software

[00:08:12] and we sold that business a while back.

[00:08:15] Originally, we also bought this land about 26 years ago

[00:08:19] so we were living out here.

[00:08:21] And then after the business was sold

[00:08:22] and started looking for things to do

[00:08:24] and ran across a neighbor to grow grapes

[00:08:26] and it sounded like a good idea.

[00:08:30] Bought the book from Texas A&M

[00:08:33] that they put out, Growing Grapes in Texas.

[00:08:36] First page says, don't do this as a hobby.

[00:08:38] Whoops.

[00:08:40] Yeah, so we started with the vineyard over here,

[00:08:43] put in the vineyard in 16 and 17

[00:08:47] and built that out.

[00:08:49] And then people said, well,

[00:08:50] you don't make any money with a vineyard.

[00:08:53] You need a winery.

[00:08:54] So we started this building 2017

[00:08:57] and we started making wine in 2017

[00:09:00] before this building was even finished.

[00:09:03] Our first wine was San Gervasi Rosé

[00:09:07] named after our granddaughter Isabella Rosé.

[00:09:10] And Texas Monthly happened to pick it up

[00:09:14] and they gave us some awards

[00:09:16] and they brought us down for their big dinner

[00:09:18] and wrote an article about us.

[00:09:21] Said we're one of the top new wineries coming out.

[00:09:25] So that's how we got into it.

[00:09:27] Yeah.

[00:09:28] And just kind of kept going from there.

[00:09:31] How many acres do you have planted here?

[00:09:34] We have 11 acres planted, seven varieties.

[00:09:38] Roson, Aberrino, San Gervasi, Tempranillo, Cabernet.

[00:09:44] Surra and Marverde.

[00:09:46] Okay.

[00:09:47] In the last two years,

[00:09:49] well maybe a little longer than the two years,

[00:09:51] we've only used our grapes.

[00:09:53] We're 100% Texas grapes.

[00:09:55] When we first started, we used High Plains grapes.

[00:09:57] Right.

[00:09:58] And then now that it takes a while

[00:10:00] for a vineyard to start producing,

[00:10:02] now that it's producing so that we can run

[00:10:04] our grapes from right here.

[00:10:06] So you pull enough off of your estate

[00:10:08] to be able to make all of your wines here.

[00:10:10] So everything is estate-based.

[00:10:15] And we built this old winery, kind of high-tech.

[00:10:18] It's three levels into the ground

[00:10:20] so that it's on the north side of the hill

[00:10:22] so that you take advantage of the cooling

[00:10:26] you need for Texas.

[00:10:27] Yeah.

[00:10:28] Do you use the, like I was in a different winery

[00:10:31] that had a similar thing that a three,

[00:10:33] four construction so that they could use gravity

[00:10:35] to kind of start at the top and bring everything down

[00:10:37] with having to use a lot of pumps and things.

[00:10:38] They can do that, yeah.

[00:10:39] Yeah.

[00:10:41] We set up all of the equipment out front

[00:10:43] and we're processing the grapes,

[00:10:44] bring them over from the vineyard.

[00:10:46] They're destem crushed and goes into their tank room

[00:10:51] down here where we put it into the tanks for fermentation.

[00:10:54] Yeah.

[00:10:55] And once it's fermented and pressed

[00:10:57] and ready to go for the second fermentation

[00:11:00] and ready to go down to the barrel room,

[00:11:02] there's pipes that connect to the next level down

[00:11:05] and it goes into the barrels.

[00:11:06] Yeah.

[00:11:07] I've seen some cool documentaries

[00:11:09] about some old world wines and how they used to do that.

[00:11:12] There was a technique they used in the old world

[00:11:13] using gravity to move things down from place to place.

[00:11:16] Had them in pumps.

[00:11:17] Very old world style, yeah.

[00:11:19] So tell me about this particular location.

[00:11:22] So you've got your estate, you've got this tasting room.

[00:11:25] What else do you have here on site?

[00:11:27] Well we have the event center up here.

[00:11:29] Okay.

[00:11:30] And then there's a total of 200 acres that we have

[00:11:33] so we designed it for so that we could expand

[00:11:36] on the vineyard side of it

[00:11:38] because you need a minimum size

[00:11:40] to really produce on the vineyard.

[00:11:42] So we're set up for that

[00:11:44] and then we've just kind of,

[00:11:47] we're on a perfect location on this hill.

[00:11:50] The hill helps us on our vineyard

[00:11:52] because there's always a constant breeze

[00:11:55] and the breeze is what takes the moisture off

[00:11:57] your vines when the moisture is what causes

[00:11:59] the fungus to grow in there.

[00:12:01] So it helps us in that area too.

[00:12:03] Uh huh.

[00:12:04] We're in a perfect location for sunsets.

[00:12:07] We're overlooking the Colorado River Valley to the west

[00:12:10] and so you can see great sunsets all the time

[00:12:14] and we put in some entertainment here

[00:12:16] with a good pickleball court.

[00:12:18] We've got horse shoes

[00:12:19] and we've done a lot of different types of things

[00:12:22] out here with wine festivals and car shows

[00:12:26] and we had the Texas 4000 out here a couple years

[00:12:30] and they started from here.

[00:12:32] So we're trying different things.

[00:12:35] I mean, when we first started this,

[00:12:39] I was more into the,

[00:12:40] I just liked building this stuff.

[00:12:42] Yeah.

[00:12:43] And so we did that and-

[00:12:45] Did you build this all yourself?

[00:12:46] Yeah.

[00:12:47] Oh, cool.

[00:12:48] And then the one thing that we didn't really

[00:12:51] concentrate on was the marketing.

[00:12:54] So we finally got to that point.

[00:12:57] Yeah, those unfortunate business things

[00:12:59] that you gotta do.

[00:12:59] Yeah, so I mean, when we first started,

[00:13:02] we didn't open until the beginning of 19.

[00:13:04] Okay.

[00:13:05] Boy, right when the pandemic was about to hit.

[00:13:07] That's right.

[00:13:08] Perfect timing.

[00:13:09] Perfect timing.

[00:13:10] I mean, things started out really well

[00:13:11] and then that hit and then we had to put

[00:13:14] in the kitchen out there so we could open up again.

[00:13:17] So we did that and then things started

[00:13:19] picking back up again and now it's after that,

[00:13:23] this next year is starting to get back

[00:13:25] to normal again.

[00:13:26] Yeah.

[00:13:27] So we've got a lot of catching up to do really.

[00:13:29] Sure, sure.

[00:13:30] On our side.

[00:13:31] Yeah.

[00:13:32] Well, tell me about the name of the winery,

[00:13:34] Stone Ledge, how did it get its name?

[00:13:37] Well actually, the Stone Ledge was my wife's idea

[00:13:40] because of the Stone Ledge all around

[00:13:42] the rims of the hills here.

[00:13:43] Okay.

[00:13:44] My idea was Oceanside

[00:13:47] because this was actually the edge of the ocean

[00:13:50] and you can go out into our fields here

[00:13:53] and it's just solid fossils.

[00:13:55] You can dig up fossils of all sorts out there.

[00:13:58] Interesting.

[00:13:59] And across the highway was the other side of the ocean,

[00:14:02] or not the ocean, that was the land with the granite.

[00:14:05] Yeah, it's completely different geology.

[00:14:07] Wow, so you just got a mix of soils here.

[00:14:10] Yeah, we have good soil for growing,

[00:14:13] everything's growing good.

[00:14:14] Kind of alluvial type soil.

[00:14:16] And then you talked about your fruit

[00:14:18] so you first started off 100% Texas

[00:14:21] with sourcing in different locations.

[00:14:22] Now everything is a state done here.

[00:14:25] Are you the wine, excuse me, not the winemaker,

[00:14:28] are you the grower as well?

[00:14:30] Do you get out on your tractor

[00:14:31] and do all that fun stuff out there with it?

[00:14:33] Yeah, and I'm the fix-it man so I take care of things.

[00:14:37] You wear multiple hats.

[00:14:39] The engineer hat, the farmer hat, everything.

[00:14:42] Yeah, you have to do that.

[00:14:43] Yeah, so you're a true vineyard type style winery here.

[00:14:47] But we designed, we actually designed the vineyard

[00:14:51] with if you look at it

[00:14:52] there's three levels of fencing.

[00:14:54] There's the deer fencing

[00:14:56] and at the bottom of that is three feet of rabbit fencing

[00:15:01] and then you'll see two electric wires going around there

[00:15:03] and two electric wires is what it takes

[00:15:05] to keep racquets out.

[00:15:06] Wow.

[00:15:07] They'll go over one but not two.

[00:15:09] Yeah, interesting.

[00:15:10] Wow.

[00:15:11] You learned all this by experience I take in.

[00:15:14] Well, and visiting with other people,

[00:15:16] seeing what other people were doing.

[00:15:18] Okay.

[00:15:19] So we designed and went around

[00:15:21] and looked at a lot of places as we were doing this

[00:15:23] to see what was the best way to go.

[00:15:28] A lot of what we saw people left a lot of their equipment

[00:15:32] and pumps and stuff outside

[00:15:34] and that didn't make sense

[00:15:35] because it's totally the elevates, yeah.

[00:15:39] So one of the things we added was a shop

[00:15:42] to keep the equipment better

[00:15:43] and the pumps and air and all that stuff running.

[00:15:47] And then since I was in computers

[00:15:49] we designed the systems for monitoring water saturation

[00:15:55] at one foot and three foot in the vineyard

[00:15:57] and we can also pick up temperature,

[00:16:02] humidity, sun intensity, wind direction, all sorts of,

[00:16:08] all the stuff you wanna kind of look at

[00:16:11] to fine tune what you're doing

[00:16:13] because you don't want to overwater,

[00:16:14] you don't want to underwater

[00:16:16] and then you wanna make sure you got things set up

[00:16:19] get your weather station here to monitor all that.

[00:16:22] I love that.

[00:16:23] So what are some of the,

[00:16:25] you mentioned a few of the types of grapes

[00:16:26] that you had planted.

[00:16:28] What are some of the wines that you make

[00:16:29] from all of that?

[00:16:30] Well, actually we make individual wines

[00:16:33] from we have a sort of the San Jose,

[00:16:36] we have an Alvarino,

[00:16:37] we have a Temporino and Suran.

[00:16:40] Okay, some of those single varietals.

[00:16:41] Yeah, all the single varietals

[00:16:43] and then we do different kinds of blends.

[00:16:45] Our latest one is the Eclipse wine.

[00:16:48] Oh yeah.

[00:16:49] Which we designed for the Eclipse coming up.

[00:16:51] Okay.

[00:16:52] And that's a combination of four wines.

[00:16:55] We've done other ones.

[00:16:55] We had, when we had the Meteor Shower here last summer,

[00:16:59] we did a Meteor Shower one.

[00:17:00] Oh cool.

[00:17:01] Was a blend for that.

[00:17:03] Most of our lines have won awards

[00:17:05] so we just, our Temporino just won gold

[00:17:08] at the Houston Rodeo last fall.

[00:17:10] Congratulations.

[00:17:11] So the year before that,

[00:17:14] we got double gold with our San Gervasi.

[00:17:16] That's a high on it right there.

[00:17:18] And then the year before that,

[00:17:19] we got platinum for our Malbec.

[00:17:23] Wow.

[00:17:24] Do you play in Malbec yet?

[00:17:25] No.

[00:17:26] Okay, that was one that you saw yourself.

[00:17:27] That was a high plains.

[00:17:28] Okay, gotcha.

[00:17:30] Wow, that's great.

[00:17:31] Do you, what are your, as a winemaker,

[00:17:34] since you're kind of doing

[00:17:35] some of the winemaker jobs right now,

[00:17:36] I know you and I visited a little earlier

[00:17:39] and you had said that you had hired

[00:17:40] some winemakers in the past,

[00:17:41] but right now you're kind of between that

[00:17:42] and you're doing a lot of that.

[00:17:44] So when you put on your winemaker cap

[00:17:46] from all your other caps that you have on,

[00:17:47] what are your favorite wines to make?

[00:17:56] Howdy, Vine Trippers.

[00:17:57] Did you know that I now have a merchandise store

[00:18:00] for Texas Under Vine?

[00:18:01] I only have a handful of limited items,

[00:18:03] but you can go check those out

[00:18:04] and wear your Texas Under Vine swag

[00:18:06] if you'd like to tell all your friends

[00:18:07] about the great wine locations we have here in Texas

[00:18:10] and maybe get them interested in the podcast as well.

[00:18:13] So there are things like t-shirts.

[00:18:14] There's a hoodie, there's a beanie,

[00:18:17] a ball cap, things like that.

[00:18:19] But one of the most exciting things

[00:18:20] I have right now is my limited time offer t-shirt.

[00:18:23] That's my season one t-shirt.

[00:18:25] So this is your Tasting Through Texas,

[00:18:27] Texas Under Vine season one t-shirt.

[00:18:29] It's only gonna be available

[00:18:30] for a little short amount of time.

[00:18:32] On the back it has all the different locations

[00:18:34] like a Bantour t-shirt.

[00:18:36] So this is a limited time item

[00:18:38] and you can go out and get it now.

[00:18:39] And one of the great things about that t-shirt

[00:18:41] is a portion of every sale

[00:18:43] goes to support

[00:18:44] the Texas Hill Country Winery Scholarship Fund.

[00:18:47] So you know that by buying that t-shirt,

[00:18:49] you're also investing in the growing

[00:18:52] and flourishing of an amazing wine industry here in Texas

[00:18:55] and all of those people that are gonna come

[00:18:57] and make it even better.

[00:18:58] Check out that merchandise store.

[00:18:59] It's on my website at texasundervine.com.

[00:19:02] Just go up to the top.

[00:19:03] You'll see the link for the merchandise store.

[00:19:11] Well, you know, San Gavese is a pretty good

[00:19:15] basic wine.

[00:19:16] I mean, if you go to Italy,

[00:19:17] it was almost all of their wine

[00:19:19] is San Gavese mixed with something.

[00:19:23] And it grows really well here.

[00:19:25] Okay.

[00:19:26] So we ended up with a lot of San Gavese.

[00:19:28] We make a San Gavese Rosé

[00:19:29] and a regular San Gavese.

[00:19:33] I think the one that turned out surprisingly well

[00:19:36] was the Mabedre.

[00:19:38] Yeah.

[00:19:39] That one is really good

[00:19:44] and it's out of our vineyard here.

[00:19:47] And we discovered that by accident

[00:19:49] because a friend of mine,

[00:19:50] his daughter was getting married

[00:19:52] and they wanted to have some wine for the reception.

[00:19:56] So they came up and did the barrel tasting

[00:19:57] and they picked that particular wine.

[00:19:59] Okay.

[00:20:00] And then we tasted it and yeah.

[00:20:02] So we bottled it all as a single variety.

[00:20:05] Wow.

[00:20:05] So that was in honor of their wedding,

[00:20:08] but it happened.

[00:20:09] I've heard good things about Mabedre in Texas

[00:20:11] and a lot of wineries are really kind of latching

[00:20:13] onto that how well it's performing here in Texas.

[00:20:15] Yeah, I was really surprised

[00:20:16] because when we first planted it,

[00:20:17] it was like it was stunted.

[00:20:20] It didn't seem to be growing.

[00:20:21] Yeah.

[00:20:22] And then after the second year,

[00:20:23] just all of a sudden it took off.

[00:20:25] It just needed to adapt for a little bit

[00:20:26] before it took off.

[00:20:27] I don't know what it needed,

[00:20:28] but it took a while.

[00:20:30] What are some of your most popular wines with customers?

[00:20:32] So what are the ones you have a hard time

[00:20:34] keeping in stock?

[00:20:37] A lot of the cab,

[00:20:38] well of course everybody likes cabs.

[00:20:40] Yeah.

[00:20:41] And now that we have these,

[00:20:42] we've got four versions of Tempranillo

[00:20:45] and we've been running across Tempranillo fans.

[00:20:49] So Tempranillo is more of a,

[00:20:51] is kind of considered a Texas breed

[00:20:55] because they resupplied Spain when theirs disappeared.

[00:20:58] Yeah.

[00:21:02] I liked the, well we had the Monte Puccino.

[00:21:05] That was really good.

[00:21:06] Good.

[00:21:07] That was from the High Plains,

[00:21:08] but it turned out really well.

[00:21:13] I mean, it seems to change

[00:21:15] because you know, we come out with a new one

[00:21:17] and then you'd say, well, you know, that is better.

[00:21:20] Yeah, it's kind of those things.

[00:21:22] Okay, now we got another one here.

[00:21:24] Yeah.

[00:21:24] And it could be that you just get used to one

[00:21:26] and then it's something completely different.

[00:21:28] Yeah.

[00:21:29] So.

[00:21:30] The variety.

[00:21:30] Yeah.

[00:21:31] You get a little variety.

[00:21:32] And is it mostly dry wines?

[00:21:34] Do you do sweet wines?

[00:21:36] I know you talked about a couple of white varietals,

[00:21:38] but white.

[00:21:39] We concentrated on dry wines.

[00:21:41] I mean, that's the way that that's really the way to go,

[00:21:43] but we always get people that want sweet wines.

[00:21:46] So we made a limited production of two sweet wines.

[00:21:50] Okay.

[00:21:51] A sweet Riesling and a sweet Caben, I guess it was.

[00:21:56] Okay.

[00:21:57] That we did.

[00:21:58] So you just had those options for those people

[00:21:59] who had the sweet youth there?

[00:22:00] Yeah.

[00:22:01] So we have a couple of them,

[00:22:03] but that's not a specialty.

[00:22:06] Well, tell me a little bit about the property itself.

[00:22:08] We mentioned it a second ago,

[00:22:10] the events and things that you,

[00:22:11] activities that you put on out here.

[00:22:13] So I saw the Pickleball Court when I came in,

[00:22:15] we had the, you have the Pavilion out there.

[00:22:17] And so tell me about some of those events

[00:22:19] that you've hosted here and maybe ideas of things

[00:22:21] that you'd like to see.

[00:22:22] Oh, one of them that was a lot of fun that we decided on,

[00:22:25] this was two couple years ago.

[00:22:27] We decided to do a Dine in the Vines.

[00:22:29] And unfortunately the way we decided that it was

[00:22:33] 10, 10, 20, 20.

[00:22:35] Oh wow.

[00:22:37] And so we wanted that, that, that date, that number.

[00:22:39] And of course that was just a week later,

[00:22:43] but it turned out really well anyway.

[00:22:45] We had the caterer cook,

[00:22:49] we set up everything in the center of the vineyard.

[00:22:51] Okay.

[00:22:51] And a caterer, we had big black curtain

[00:22:53] where the caterer was cooking behind that.

[00:22:55] It was the caterer to the Queen of England

[00:22:57] that came out and did the catering.

[00:22:59] Wow.

[00:23:00] They're actually out of Austin, but,

[00:23:02] and he, for the cocktail hour at the beginning,

[00:23:05] we had violinists from the New York Symphony

[00:23:09] and then for dancing afterwards,

[00:23:12] we had a 12 piece jazz band from Austin.

[00:23:16] It's really cool.

[00:23:17] You know, it turned out that we were very.

[00:23:18] Very elegant event.

[00:23:19] Yeah, very good food, excellent food, entertainment,

[00:23:22] and everything was good.

[00:23:23] Out in the middle of the vine.

[00:23:24] Yeah.

[00:23:25] And we brought a lot of antique cars out here

[00:23:27] just to show off.

[00:23:28] Car shows and all that.

[00:23:30] Are those ones that you do on a regular basis?

[00:23:32] Well that was just to dress up that one now.

[00:23:34] Oh, to dress up the event.

[00:23:35] Yeah, we do the regular car show

[00:23:37] where we just have people locally

[00:23:40] that bring their cars out

[00:23:41] and we have a good time then.

[00:23:42] We had the Model A society

[00:23:44] and we brought a bunch of Model A's out once.

[00:23:46] Wow.

[00:23:47] So that was nice.

[00:23:50] And then we did some wine festivals

[00:23:52] where we had 11 different wineries out here

[00:23:55] and then vendors set up tents for different things too.

[00:24:01] Okay, let's think forward just a little bit here

[00:24:04] and let's say that a listener is starting to get excited.

[00:24:06] They want to come to Stone Ledge,

[00:24:08] experience what you have here.

[00:24:10] So I want to talk about a tasting.

[00:24:11] What a tasting might look like

[00:24:12] because a customer came in to do a tasting.

[00:24:14] So do you offer a flight of wines for that

[00:24:18] or does the customer choose the wines they want to taste?

[00:24:21] How does a tasting typically work?

[00:24:22] Well generally every month we pick out

[00:24:25] half a dozen wines that we wanted people to try out.

[00:24:29] It'll start with either a white or rosé

[00:24:32] and work to the red wines.

[00:24:34] And so there's half a dozen wines that go into that

[00:24:38] and we like to change it.

[00:24:40] But there's occasions where people are looking

[00:24:44] for something specific and so we'll,

[00:24:46] we can.

[00:24:47] Flexibility.

[00:24:48] Yeah, we're flexible on that.

[00:24:49] Okay, so somebody could come in on one month

[00:24:53] and come in on the next month

[00:24:54] and have a completely different experience of tasting.

[00:24:57] Or even the next day if they decide to pick their own.

[00:24:59] Is the right thing, okay gotcha.

[00:25:00] How much does a tasting cost typically?

[00:25:02] Our tastings are $15.

[00:25:04] Okay, and how many tastes do they get through that?

[00:25:06] They get six tastes.

[00:25:07] Six, you may have mentioned that.

[00:25:09] Do they need to make reservations or?

[00:25:11] No, no.

[00:25:12] Walk-ins available?

[00:25:13] No reservations.

[00:25:14] Okay.

[00:25:15] And generally it's, we've got the capacity

[00:25:20] to hold enough people so it's not a crowded thing at all.

[00:25:24] And it's really not that far from Boston

[00:25:27] or Georgetown or any of the other places around here.

[00:25:31] So.

[00:25:33] And I noticed that Colorado Bend State Park

[00:25:34] is just right up the road as well, so.

[00:25:36] We're starting to get a lot of people

[00:25:38] from Colorado that are going to Colorado State Park.

[00:25:41] Yeah.

[00:25:42] So they'll stop by.

[00:25:43] Nice.

[00:25:44] What are your operating hours?

[00:25:46] We do Fridays three to six or seven.

[00:25:50] It's gonna, that'll be changing as the weather change

[00:25:53] or the season changes.

[00:25:54] Season change yeah.

[00:25:55] And then Saturday and Sunday one to seven so.

[00:25:58] Okay.

[00:25:59] What about if people wanna come out

[00:26:01] and they have kids, maybe pets, dogs,

[00:26:05] things like that, can they bring those?

[00:26:06] Oh yeah.

[00:26:07] Yeah, a lot of people bring their kids out

[00:26:09] and they can bring their dogs out.

[00:26:10] I mean it's their responsibility to watch them

[00:26:13] but other than that we haven't had any problem with them.

[00:26:16] Okay.

[00:26:17] And also, and it's a lot of fun for them a lot of times.

[00:26:19] And do you have any food options here in the winery

[00:26:21] or can people bring their own food with them?

[00:26:24] We've done both.

[00:26:24] We have a lot of different kinds of pizzas here,

[00:26:29] charcuterie boards and different combinations

[00:26:32] of all this.

[00:26:33] Okay.

[00:26:34] It's not a huge amount but it's sort of,

[00:26:35] all the basics.

[00:26:36] Sure.

[00:26:38] Is there anything like somebody does bring kids,

[00:26:40] is there anything besides wine that the kids can have

[00:26:43] or should people bring their own stuff for their kids?

[00:26:45] We have sodas and water for the kids.

[00:26:48] We have that and a lot of times they'll bring

[00:26:50] whatever they want for their kids here.

[00:26:52] Yeah.

[00:26:53] What about maximum group sizes?

[00:26:55] Do you have a maximum of like a tour bus pulling in

[00:26:57] or things like that or do you like to know

[00:26:59] ahead of time for big groups?

[00:27:01] It's nice to know that ahead of time.

[00:27:02] I mean, because then we can kind of accommodate it

[00:27:05] because we have had parties where all of a sudden

[00:27:09] 30 people show up.

[00:27:10] Right.

[00:27:11] You're like, oh, you're scrambling?

[00:27:13] Okay.

[00:27:14] So if you've got a big group,

[00:27:14] make sure that you're notifying you ahead of time.

[00:27:16] That usually, that helps.

[00:27:17] I mean, we can probably accommodate it anyway

[00:27:20] but sure, it's nice to know that's coming down the line.

[00:27:23] And you have both, it looks like tables

[00:27:25] for seated tastings as well as maybe bar tastings

[00:27:28] or how does that?

[00:27:29] Yeah.

[00:27:30] They get seated tastings.

[00:27:31] We get our, this door, when the weather's nice,

[00:27:34] we open that up and they're seating out there.

[00:27:36] And of course then when the weather gets decent again,

[00:27:39] we'll be out in the pavilion.

[00:27:40] Yeah.

[00:27:41] That holds 200 people back there.

[00:27:43] Okay.

[00:27:43] So you do tastings out on the pavilion,

[00:27:44] outdoor pavilion as well?

[00:27:45] Yeah.

[00:27:46] And it has a stage for the bands because we have-

[00:27:49] Live music?

[00:27:50] We have live music.

[00:27:51] In fact, we'll have live music Saturday

[00:27:53] and Sunday this year or this weekend.

[00:27:57] What are your busier and slower seasons?

[00:27:59] What's the best time for somebody to come visit,

[00:28:01] do you think?

[00:28:02] Every time.

[00:28:03] Every time the sun comes up.

[00:28:07] I mean, you know,

[00:28:10] you can tell when there's,

[00:28:12] like this week was spring break.

[00:28:15] Yeah.

[00:28:16] You know, and that kind of cuts into it

[00:28:17] because everybody went somewhere.

[00:28:19] Everybody's traveling elsewhere, right?

[00:28:20] Yeah.

[00:28:21] So that slows things down a little bit.

[00:28:23] And then when school gets out, you know,

[00:28:27] then more people are coming out too

[00:28:29] because they don't have to deal with

[00:28:31] taking their kids to school.

[00:28:33] Okay.

[00:28:34] So you still have, even in the hot summer months,

[00:28:36] you get a decent crowd coming out

[00:28:38] with all the events and everything?

[00:28:40] Because of it, I mean-

[00:28:41] Is it indoor or the outdoor?

[00:28:42] We've got indoor and outdoor.

[00:28:43] And last summer when it was 110,

[00:28:47] we kind of gravitated more towards indoor

[00:28:51] because of the air conditioning.

[00:28:52] But generally, the pavilion is an open,

[00:28:56] covered place.

[00:28:58] And since we always have a breeze coming through there,

[00:29:01] it can be 100 degrees out

[00:29:02] and it feels comfortable in there.

[00:29:03] Sitting under the shade,

[00:29:05] you still have that breeze coming through.

[00:29:07] And you've got, while you're sitting in the pavilion,

[00:29:09] on one side you've got the vineyard you can see

[00:29:12] and on the other side you've got a view down the valley

[00:29:15] for the sunset.

[00:29:17] Well, do you offer any kind of a wine club

[00:29:19] for people to join?

[00:29:20] Oh yeah.

[00:29:21] What are the details on that?

[00:29:23] It's pretty basic.

[00:29:24] Our wine club can be either three, six,

[00:29:27] or 12 bottle per quarter.

[00:29:31] It could be three bottle of wine maker choice,

[00:29:33] three bottle red or three bottle white.

[00:29:35] Same way with the six and the 12.

[00:29:37] So they have their choice.

[00:29:38] And on the three bottle that also gives them

[00:29:44] four tastings a month free.

[00:29:46] Oh wow, nice.

[00:29:47] Or four glasses of wine free.

[00:29:50] And same way with all of the memberships.

[00:29:54] And then three bottle also gets a 10% discount.

[00:29:58] Six bottle 15 and 12 bottle gets a 20% discount.

[00:30:03] Okay, and how do people sign up for that?

[00:30:05] They just fill out a cord.

[00:30:07] Okay.

[00:30:08] There's no charge for it.

[00:30:09] There's nothing, you know.

[00:30:10] Yeah.

[00:30:11] So when they're coming here, they can sign up.

[00:30:13] Can they sign up online for it

[00:30:14] or just here in the winery?

[00:30:15] They can sign up online too.

[00:30:16] Online as well?

[00:30:17] Okay, cool.

[00:30:18] So let's say somebody is interested.

[00:30:20] They wanna come out and taste your wines

[00:30:22] but for whatever reason they can't get here yet.

[00:30:25] Do you do any kind of distribution

[00:30:26] or ways to sell online?

[00:30:28] Do you have ways for people who like to taste your wine

[00:30:30] without coming to this location?

[00:30:32] Yeah, it's all available online.

[00:30:33] All online, okay.

[00:30:34] On your website?

[00:30:35] Yeah, and also locally at Stoney's Liquor Store.

[00:30:40] Okay, that's local to where?

[00:30:41] Lampassas.

[00:30:42] Oh, Dayland Passas as well, okay.

[00:30:44] Yeah, see that's part of the marketing we're working to.

[00:30:47] Yeah, that's the distribution part.

[00:30:49] You know, almost every vineyard and winery in Texas

[00:30:52] is trying to figure out distribution.

[00:30:53] It's one of the hardest things.

[00:30:55] Just figuring out the marketing

[00:30:56] and I think we're finally moving on some good areas

[00:31:00] that way now finally, so.

[00:31:02] That's gonna help.

[00:31:03] So do you have any plans for future grow?

[00:31:06] Well, what we might grow

[00:31:09] would be expanding on the vineyard.

[00:31:11] Okay.

[00:31:12] But it all depends.

[00:31:13] You've gotta first develop the marketing

[00:31:16] that creates the sales,

[00:31:18] that creates a demand that we should actually do that.

[00:31:22] The cycle.

[00:31:23] Yeah, the whole cycle.

[00:31:24] I mean, we can, right now we're set up.

[00:31:26] We could produce quite a bit already without doing that.

[00:31:29] Okay.

[00:31:30] So we're working now just to catch that part up.

[00:31:33] Yeah.

[00:31:34] And then, okay, then we'll go from there.

[00:31:36] Once that catches up,

[00:31:37] then you can think about the expansion of the vineyard.

[00:31:40] I mean, we've done other things here.

[00:31:41] We put in a driving range, a golf driving range.

[00:31:44] Really?

[00:31:45] In the back, we started on it

[00:31:47] and it's all set up except for the tee boxes

[00:31:50] and then we just kinda let it sit there for right now.

[00:31:53] But we did that because the golf club,

[00:31:57] or the golf course here in Lampasas

[00:31:59] doesn't have a driving range.

[00:32:01] Oh really?

[00:32:02] People were always asking about that.

[00:32:04] So there's a possibility there

[00:32:06] and we've also looked at putting some cabins in.

[00:32:08] A lot of people come out here

[00:32:09] and they would like to stay.

[00:32:11] Okay, yeah.

[00:32:12] So different things like that that we might do.

[00:32:15] Okay, you got a lot of good ideas out there.

[00:32:18] Yeah.

[00:32:18] For the future.

[00:32:19] Cool.

[00:32:20] Well, that brings me to my final question then.

[00:32:22] So what would you say in your opinion

[00:32:25] is the number one thing that sets Stone Ledge Winery apart

[00:32:28] that would make somebody who's listening to this say,

[00:32:30] man, I really have to get there.

[00:32:32] I wanna check that place out.

[00:32:33] Well, the one thing that virtually everybody

[00:32:36] that comes out here says is the views.

[00:32:38] Yeah.

[00:32:39] How quiet it is, how nice it is, how laid back.

[00:32:42] It's the getaway from the city.

[00:32:45] It's not the rat race at 290.

[00:32:47] Yeah.

[00:32:48] It's nice and quiet, comfortable.

[00:32:51] There's plenty to do.

[00:32:52] It's peaceful.

[00:32:53] Yeah, and it's not crowded.

[00:32:54] Well, you mentioned a moment ago too,

[00:32:57] we were having to be talking about the eclipse

[00:32:59] or privately earlier and you talked about

[00:33:01] the dark sky out here at night.

[00:33:04] Oh yeah.

[00:33:05] And sometimes you have people come out

[00:33:05] with telescopes and all of that.

[00:33:07] Tell me a minute about that.

[00:33:08] Yeah, we worked with the Friends of the Night Sky

[00:33:10] and put on astronomy nights

[00:33:13] and on the astronomy nights they have astronomers

[00:33:15] that they actually bring out these big telescopes

[00:33:18] so you can go from one to the next

[00:33:20] and look at Saturn or the moon

[00:33:21] or all these different things that are up there.

[00:33:24] And that's because of this beautiful environment we have

[00:33:27] that's quiet and peaceful out here

[00:33:28] with no light pollution.

[00:33:30] And actually when Haley's Comet came by

[00:33:32] we have a picture of Haley's Comet right over

[00:33:35] this building.

[00:33:36] Wow, that's really cool.

[00:33:46] Well, there you have it.

[00:33:46] If you're looking for a secluded place

[00:33:48] to get away from the big city

[00:33:50] but it's not too far away

[00:33:52] and you want to relax, enjoy the countryside,

[00:33:55] have a nice great glass of wine,

[00:33:58] really tasty wine at that,

[00:33:59] then look no further than Stone Ledge Winery.

[00:34:02] They're gonna fit that bill for you perfectly.

[00:34:04] And it's really just a short drive west of Lampasas

[00:34:08] which is just northwest of Austin.

[00:34:10] So not too far from the greater Austin area

[00:34:13] if that's where you're coming from

[00:34:15] but very easy to get to from many areas

[00:34:16] throughout Texas as well.

[00:34:18] Now, as Greg mentioned in the interview

[00:34:20] it did used to be a vast sea

[00:34:23] millions and millions of years ago.

[00:34:24] So he showed me that if you actually walk down

[00:34:27] from the Stone Ledge down below a little bit

[00:34:30] to the ground there

[00:34:31] you're gonna find fossils all over the place

[00:34:33] the calciferous soils and the limestone

[00:34:36] and all that there, fossils.

[00:34:37] He just reached right down and picked one up

[00:34:39] as we were standing there talking

[00:34:40] because of how that used to be a sea.

[00:34:43] So if you're a student of history

[00:34:45] and you'd like to know more about some of that

[00:34:46] another great reason to go to Stone Ledge.

[00:34:49] But it isn't just the views that are great.

[00:34:52] The wines are really, really tasty

[00:34:54] and as you're enjoying those wines

[00:34:56] there's so many things to do here

[00:34:58] whether you're the pickleball fan

[00:35:00] that wants to get out and play

[00:35:01] or that event pavilion

[00:35:02] or as Greg mentioned in the interview

[00:35:04] they're gonna have that golf driving range

[00:35:07] there set up very soon.

[00:35:08] So you can do that as well

[00:35:10] if that's what you really enjoy doing.

[00:35:11] For sure you won't be lacking in things to do

[00:35:14] when you visit Stone Ledge.

[00:35:15] Now, if you wanna go

[00:35:17] make sure you go check out their website first.

[00:35:19] It's www.stoneledge.wine.

[00:35:24] Okay, so that's S-T-O-N-E-L-E-D-G-E.W-I-N-E

[00:35:29] stoneledge.wine.

[00:35:32] There you're gonna find some information

[00:35:33] about the wines that they're making.

[00:35:35] You'll find their event calendar.

[00:35:37] You'll be able to join even their wine club

[00:35:39] on the website if you want to

[00:35:41] and there's actually some great pictures

[00:35:43] there on the website

[00:35:44] so you can see more of the winery before you go.

[00:35:46] Now, when you go to see them

[00:35:48] make sure you tell them you heard about them

[00:35:50] on this podcast, Texas Under Vine.

[00:35:53] Now, after the interview wrapped up

[00:35:55] Greg actually sat down

[00:35:57] and poured me some of his great wines.

[00:35:58] I got to try a bunch of those

[00:36:00] and you know what?

[00:36:01] I fell in love with that 2021 estate move-ed

[00:36:03] that he was talking about.

[00:36:06] Very, very smooth, lots of flavor in this wine

[00:36:10] just an easy drinker but complex as well.

[00:36:12] So give that a try when you go

[00:36:15] make sure you check that out.

[00:36:16] I had to make that my wine library bottle

[00:36:18] for this episode.

[00:36:19] Well, it's time for me to move on

[00:36:22] and go explore even more great wine destinations

[00:36:24] to bring you that info.

[00:36:26] Now before I go though, would you do me a favor?

[00:36:28] If you are at all enjoying this podcast

[00:36:30] and you're being able to go

[00:36:32] to some of these great locations

[00:36:33] and experience some of these fun wineries

[00:36:35] some of the great wines we've had out there

[00:36:38] would you consider becoming a sponsor of the show?

[00:36:40] So is it free for me to produce this?

[00:36:42] I do it all out of my pocket

[00:36:45] and so having those sponsors really helps me

[00:36:48] to travel to even more great wine destinations

[00:36:51] and it's very simple.

[00:36:52] I actually have a Patreon site.

[00:36:54] You can go to my website at www.texasundervine.com

[00:36:59] go to the very top

[00:37:00] and you'll see a become a patron link.

[00:37:02] It will take you straight to that Patreon website

[00:37:04] for just a few dollars a month

[00:37:06] you could really make a difference

[00:37:08] in making this podcast go farther

[00:37:10] and you get some extra benefits by doing it

[00:37:13] like one of the levels gives you some extra photos

[00:37:16] from behind the scenes.

[00:37:17] You can actually see the winery before you go.

[00:37:20] Another one, you'll get a video walkthrough tour

[00:37:22] narrated by yours truly as I walk through the winery

[00:37:25] and talk about some of the things they have there.

[00:37:27] So those kind of give you a little bit

[00:37:29] of a better feel before you can go visit.

[00:37:31] So those things again will give you some bonuses

[00:37:34] and they really do make a difference

[00:37:36] in helping me bring more of this great content to you

[00:37:39] and if you're watching or listening to this on YouTube

[00:37:43] you can always go down, like and subscribe the video

[00:37:46] and leave a comment.

[00:37:47] If you've been to Stone Ledge Winery

[00:37:49] tell everybody else what your favorite thing was about it

[00:37:52] there in the comments.

[00:37:53] I'd love to read those

[00:37:55] and with that my time is truly up.

[00:37:57] So don't forget to subscribe to the podcast

[00:38:00] and follow my socials to be notified

[00:38:02] anytime a brand new episode is released

[00:38:05] and until then happy trails and bottoms up y'all.

[00:38:09] Thanks for listening to Texas Under Vine.

[00:38:13] We strive to provide you with the best information

[00:38:15] about wine businesses all over Texas.

[00:38:18] Be sure to check out our website at texasundervine.com

[00:38:21] and follow us on our socials at Texas Under Vine

[00:38:24] to stay up on all the upcoming episodes.

[00:38:27] Please email us with any suggestions or feedback.

[00:38:29] Also contact us if you're interested in donating,

[00:38:32] sponsoring or advertising on the podcast

[00:38:35] just to help us cover our expenses

[00:38:36] and bring even more great info to you.

[00:38:38] Above all, travel safely

[00:38:40] and most especially drink responsibly.

[00:38:43] Wine Trippers have I got a deal for you.

[00:38:47] So if you haven't checked out the Texas wine club yet

[00:38:50] you have to go check it out.

[00:38:57] So you can get wine clubs

[00:38:58] at all of these different great wineries

[00:39:00] that I've talked about in the episodes

[00:39:02] but if you can't get a chance to get to those places

[00:39:05] and you want to see all of these wine clubs

[00:39:07] you can go check out the Texas wine club

[00:39:10] but if you can't get a chance to get to those places

[00:39:12] and you want to sample some of those various wines

[00:39:15] this is the perfect fit for this podcast.

[00:39:17] So I've partnered with Texas wine club.

[00:39:20] If you go to their website, they scour the whole state.

[00:39:23] They choose great wines from all over the Texas wineries

[00:39:26] and they put them together into packs

[00:39:28] that they ship out every quarter.

[00:39:30] You could pick out a package of three, six or nine bottles

[00:39:33] and every quarter you can get a taste

[00:39:35] of different wineries throughout Texas

[00:39:36] without having to travel to them.

[00:39:38] So if you've wanted to taste some of the great wine

[00:39:40] I've talked about on this podcast

[00:39:42] here's your chance without having to travel.

[00:39:44] So what you're gonna wanna do is go to www.txwine.com

[00:39:50] and pick your package that you want to try

[00:39:52] and when you put in my code, Texas under vine

[00:39:55] that's all one word T-E-X-A-S-U-N-D-E-R-V-I-N-E

[00:39:59] as your coupon code you'll get $20 off your purchase.

[00:40:03] So head on over there

[00:40:04] you can also find the link

[00:40:06] in the show notes here for this podcast

[00:40:09] and go check out Texas Wine.

[00:40:10] They're a perfect fit with this podcast.

[00:40:12] So go drink some great wine.