Driftwood Wine Trail

Some of the best day trips are those that are spontaneous and yesterday Walt and I did just that.

Although it has not been a conscience decision, I think Walt and I are on a mission to visit every winery in the Texas hill country. Not a bad mission, now that I think about it.

Many of the Texas wineries are located right here in the hill country and lucky for us, Austin is a great jumping off point to visit many of these wineries.

The Driftwood Wine Trail features six wineries that are all within minutes of each other from Driftwood, Texas to Wimberley, Texas.

Our first stop was the Wimberley Valley Winery. Founded in 1983, Wimberley Winery boasts a proud history of producing fine wines in central Texas with a focus on quality and a wide selection to suit all palates. They have a wide variety of both sweet and dry, red and white wines. They also have fruit flavored wine – blueberry and blackberry. Their wines were quite tasty and refreshing.

Our next stop was the Duchman Family Winery. The Duchman family remains committed to their goal to produce food-friendly fine wine in Central Texas using Texas-grown fruit exclusively. One unique feature about the winery, other than the beautiful landscape, is that all of their production rooms are are visible to the public. You can wander down the hallway and see all of the barrels, tanks and wine bottle labeling machine.

Is there something wrong with this picture? Walt sending me a message about stopping and posing for a photo!

For lunch we decided to head to the Salt Lick in Driftwood, Texas. The Salt Lick, particularly its Driftwood location, has a bit of a cult following, so I was intrigued to see what the fuss was all about. There is a lot of really good BBQ all over Texas and although the food was good, in my opinion, it’s not the best I’ve ever had! But, I do get the appeal. They have a rich family history, it’s BYOB, they do have their own winery, they can host events and you can watch them BBQ the meat in the pit right in the restaurant.

Our last stop on the tour was Bell Springs Winery. Although not technically part of the Driftwood Wine Trail, Bell Springs Winery is located in the heart of Dripping Springs and invites you to sip, listen and relax. With a great outdoor area, wide selection of wines to fit any palate and live music, it’s a great place to do just that… sip, listen and relax.