What do you do on a Saturday afternoon when your youngest daughter is on her way back to school and the oldest is out of town?  Hmm…we still have the ‘dogs’ to worry about, but give them some outdoor time and put them in their crates and they’re happy as clams!  For us, it meant connecting with P&L and meeting in Stonewall to ‘sample’ some Texas wines.  Now, please don’t misunderstand us, we still haven’t succumbed to Texas wines as a way of life, but the more we sample them, the closer we get to enjoying them.  With a beautiful – almost summer – day on tap, we pulled the top off of the Jeep and hit the road for a little afternoon wine tasting. . .and, in spite of the increasing temperatures, we managed to get to our destination – Messina Hof Winery – without much trouble!  Thanks to a terrific tasting experience with Lisa, we decided to sit outside and snack on some really good hummus and other goodies from the food trailer parked on the grounds. . .the wine tasting there led us to a relatively new entry in the Highway 290 Wine Road–Hilmy Cellars in Stonewall.

In fairness, we’d read about Hilmy in the current edition of Edible Austin magazine that Jean brought home yesterday.  From what we read, Hilmy was the stuff dreams are made about. . .boy makes wine; boy meets girl; girl likes boy and vice versa; boy and girl get married; boy gets a hankering to make wine. . .the rest—as they say is history.  As we read the article about Erik and Neldie. . .we couldn’t help but do a little fist pumping. . .who doesn’t want someone to be successful starting from scratch?  They’re doing it right there in Stonewall!!  Thanks to tasting room help from Josh and Stevie, we graduated to the patio with a bottle of 2011 Doo-Zwa-Zo–a very nice Viognier & Chenin Blanc Blend from the Texas High Plains, and the perfect afternoon patio wine!  After a visit from the rooster in charge–                                                                                            Ruby–. . .we decided that a second bottle was in order…  What a delicious white wine.

For those who have laughed because we’ve been overly careful about red wines while leaving out some really good white wines, today, we redeem ourselves!  Our 2011 Doo-Zwa-Zo is fruity, crisp, refreshing, clean and best of all ready to drink right now.  Unlike a lot of red wines, this one comes ready to enjoy and enjoy we did!  Apricots, Peaches, Lavender, Honey and a little limestone all come together with this wine.  It’s no small task to marry two white varietals and make the end result stand out but Erik Hilmy makes the impossible seem probable with this bottle of wine.  We aren’t exactly sure where the name comes from but when you sit out on the back patio and feel the wind blowing, who cares!  It’s a white wine that you’ll want to add to your list.  We decided that it would be just as good by itself on the deck or with a steak or rack of ribs. . .it’s that good!  As for Hilmy Cellars, you can read more about them–as we mentioned–in the newest copy of Edible Austin.  Erik & Neldie are carving names for themselves in the Hill Country and you’ll want to jump on the band wagon.  By the way, when you go and visit them, Ruby probably WON’T let you pet him, BUT if you see a really BIG white dog–his name is Simon and he does a GREAT job of keeping the deer away from the vineyards, but he’s also a great dog for petting. . .(Hint: if you scratch behind his ear. . .he’ll be your best friend 😉 )

As we drove home from Johnson City, the stars in the sky were amazingly bright; the breeze was warm and refreshing and the day was one to remember.  It’s never fun putting your child on a plane back to school, back to ‘home’ or whatever, so the opportunity to visit with P&L took a slice out of our thinking about it.  It’s not always easy watching your child drive to another city to visit her friends and wondering if she’s going to be alright, so the opportunity to try some new Texas wines helped take a slice out of thinking about it.  As Saturday gives way to Sunday, please enjoy your favorite wine responsibly and remember to recycle whenever possible!