Austin Winery started out incredibly small-scale. just two stainless steel tanks and a half dozen barrels. with a young team that is self-funded and self-taught. No old, inherited vineyard or retirement bank account to reinvest. every ferment, harvest, and glass poured has taught them a lesson. every case sold goes straight back into production, straight back into making more wine. In 2013, they made 600 cases. In 2019, they made nearly 6,000.
As an urban winery, the only things they own are their tanks, barrels, and finished wine - no vines or vineyards. This allows them to work with a huge breadth and depth of fruit from all around the state. They've spent the last 7 years hunting for the best fruit and the best vineyards, never settling for anything less than excellence. Over the years, they've grown their list of exceptional farmers who they trust wholeheartedly to grow the best fruit they can, so they can make the best wine.
The winery operates on four fundamental operating principles:
Growing: They create partnerships with small, family-owned vineyards across the country by contracting fruit from their vineyards. They only work with vineyards with a holistic view of farming: non-exploitative, sustainable, and regenerative practices that benefits the entire ecosystem - not just the vines. From planting to harvest, they're in close contact with the growers and get their hands on fruit as often as possible.
Harvest: when harvest time rolls around, they hit the road. Varying on the final wine in mind, they receive whole-cluster (berries on rachis) or destemmed grapes. Grapes are often picked in the middle of the night and immediately transported in macrobins to them on refrigerated trucks, ensuring cool conditions and preserving fruit quality.
Craft: now it's winemaking time. Grapes are unloaded and the team gets their hands (and some times feet) dirty. All the winemaking happens in Austin, from fermentation to barrel-aging, bottling, and serving. No short-cut are taken - no added sugar or gimmicky techniques. They pride themselves on honest winemaking. Each wine is representative of its unique varietal character and growing conditions (the year, the vineyard, down to the row and the individual plant).
Drinkability: they develop wines with accessibility and approachability in mind.
As with all of our producers, we will be donating part of the proceeds from sales to a non-profit close to our heart. For The Austin Winery, we have chosen to donate to the Food Banks of Alberta. Please check them out.
Picpoul 2021
100% Picpoul
12.5% ABV
125 cases produced
Notes from Austin Winery:
Just Picpoul - single variety, one elm vineyard, high plains, 2021. Native ferment, hand-picked, 2 days skin-contact, aged in stainless steel barrels.
We love a varietal wine. We especially love a varietal wine when we were able to tailor every step of the winemaking process to the individual characteristics of the grape. We love a varietal wine that is unobstructed in its expression of varietal and place. We love this Picpoul.
We lined up every possible variable for this wine and its quality speaks for itself. The pick date, chemistry, specifically purchased barrels, short contact, bâtonnage - the list goes on. What you're left with is an expression of Picpoul that is remarkably unique and classic and totally distinct from the apple water you're used to from the variety.
SKU: 867810 | 12 to a case | 750 ml, glass, cork
2021 Piquette
Picpoul, Grenache, and apple/pear juice
4.5% ABV
Notes from Austin Winery:
A light abv, sparkling blend of picpoul, grenache, and apple/pear juice. Piquette is a millenia-old style of wine, originally made for peasants but revived to be a refreshing light alcohol porch pounder.
Pressed grapes are added to carbon filtered water and rehydrated and left to ferment. Once the grape juice is fermented, we add apple juice and let the juice naturally carbonate in can.
As always, nothing added and nothing taken away. No sulfur additions, natural fermentation, no filtering or fining.
SKU: 867813 | 24 to a case | 375 ml aluminum can
2021 Pink Salt
Albariño, Picpoul, Garnacha
13.3% ABV
Notes from Austin Winery:
This canned wine is largely comprised of albariño and rounded out with picpoul and garnacha. All grapes come from the texas high plains vineyard one elm vineyard.
This is our third vintage of pink salt and each year it surprises us. Nothing was manipulated about this wine or the grapes in it. We wanted the final product to shine and show off all on its own.
Coming together in the can are flavors of bright grapefruit, salty sea air, and a prickle that will remind you of the hard side of velcro rounded out with a creamy pink lemonade flavor.
Enjoy anywhere and everywhere.
SKU: 867814 | 24 to a case | 375 ml aluminum can
2021 Hill Country Rosso
Tempranillo, Trebbiano, + 4 Other Reds/Whites
12% ABV
Notes from Austin Winery:
This Hill Country Rosso was a curveball for us from the beginning. We
had a lot of last minute fruit shortages in 2018. Unpredictable heat,
excess rain and humidity, and scattered hail knocked out many of our commitments. Thankfully, there was still a decent amount of fruit late in
the season that we were able to snap up, like this Tempranillo. There
were some hurdles along the way but we shaped it into a fresh and very drinkable red blend.
PROCESS
We source most of our fruit from the High Plains and get excited about
anything available to us in the Hill Country. We hadn't handled Temp
from the Hill Country yet, and we wanted to explore the terroir. The fruit
was some of the last red fruit to come off in the entire Hill Country. The
extra hang time added great depth to the profile. Some late rains
brought the acidity, sugar, and consequently the alcohol down. After
aging, we reassessed and felt the best course of action was blending. We
focused on more varietal focused wines in '18 but hadn't made ourselves
a more general red blend (85% Temp, 15% other varieties). A touch of
Cinsault and Malbec later, and we were closer. A little more Trebb,
Malvasia, and Viognier and we nailed it.
TASTING NOTES
Juicy, jammy, strawberry. Right up front, big flavor. It gets everyone,
sweet and dry wine drinkers a like. More characteristically for
Tempranillo, the back notes are rich desserty flavors of coffee, chocolate,
and vanilla. We love the soft nature of the palette and know you will too.
GRAPE HISTORY
In the midst of a sort of renaissance, the Texas wine industry has pegged Tempranillo as one of its premiere red varieties. Geographic and climate similarities have driven Texas wine makers to embrace Spanish traditions
and practices. Tempranillo vines thrive in the hot dry climes of our state.
SKU: 867815 | 12 to a case | 750 ml, glass, cork
Work Horse
67% Petit Verdot, 25% Malbec, and 8% Merlot
13.8% ABV
191 cases produced
Notes from Austin Winery:
Work horse - Bordeaux blend of 67% Petit Verdot, 25% Malbec, and 8% Merlot, high plains. Native ferment.
Work horse is our OG Texas wine, going back to 2014. Mediterranean varieties pre-dominate in Texas but Bordeaux varieities shine in some vineyards. Classic flavors and aromas of black currant, cracked pepper, eucalyptus and mint, and spiced cherry come through with every sip.
The artwork is a goya study of a donkey reading a book - a gesture suggesting well-deserved relaxation for our hard-working, understated friends.
SKU: 867816 | 12 to a case | 750 ml, glass, cork
2021 Pét-Nat
85% Grüner Veltliner, 15% Muscat Fleur d'Orange
11.75% ABV
150 cases produced
Notes from Austin Winery:
Pét-nat 2021 - 85% Grüner Veltliner, 15% Muscat Fleur d'Orange, kubacak and crooked post vineyards (respectively), high plains, 2021. Native ferment, ~5 mos aging on lees pre-disgorge.
We're sad to have lost the 2021 Malvasia bianca to a hail storm but we couldn't not make pét-nat. Enter Grüner and OM. Muscat for the aromatics, and Grüner for the chalky, fruity, 'cid-y (acid) base. The new blend show cases texas and it's broad range of fruit and stylistic expressions so well. Still as far as we know the only Grüner in the state, we consider ourselves very fortunate to be working with it and showing how great it can be, a long way from its home climate.
SKU: 869622 | 12 to a case | 750 ml, glass, with crown-cap
2021 Skin Contact Vermentino
100% Vermentino
12% ABV
125 cases produced
Notes from Austin Winery:
100% Vermentino from one elm vineyard in the texas high plains.
5 days of skin contact brings this wine a light tannin, peachy color, and tea leaf flavor. The nose is full of tropical fruit and orange blossoms. This wine will be a crowd-pleaser no matter the weather or food it is served with.
Check out the label for a special poem from our friend, Nick Giglia.
SKU: 869625 | 12 to a case | 750 ml, glass, with crown-cap