Allan and I are thrilled to announce that we sold the vineyard property on Hamilton Pool Road in December!
We will be moving the winery, brewery, and tasting room to a new location along the 290 Wine Road in Hye, Texas, halfway between Johnson City and Fredericksburg.
Developing Westcave Cellars has been a wonderful, but challenging adventure that spanned two decades.
It was truly a labor of love that started with raw land which we purchased in 1998 and ultimately shaped into 9 acres of vineyard with 9 varieties of grapes, a tasting room, a winery, a brewery, and a herd of nine cows (including Horny Red, who elected to join the Westcave herd).
Allan and Margaret decided to start a winery in 2010. A wing was added to the metal barn for the tasting room.
The initial winery consisted of four small tanks.
By 2019, another wing had been added to the rear of the building. The winery now housed 15 large tanks and 60 of the 100 French barrels.
Are Allan and I sad to leave? Of course! While we shaped the land, it had an equal power shaping our family. There are many memories and unfulfilled dreams tied to it.
As it turns out, the buyers have asked us to lease back the vineyard for a year or two. So, we still get to enjoy working with the vines, but most importantly, we keep the grapes!!! The cows will happily remain on the property, too.
Westcave Cellars' Plans for 2020
With the arrival of 2020, Allan and I look forward to a new decade and many more adventures.
We will be closing on the new 30-acre property on RR 3120 (Sandy Road), just a quarter mile north of 290W, early February. It is an established property that boasts a ranch house, a two-story guest house, a metal building already insulated and air conditioned, a covered RV pad, and a long, deep caliche pit from which road base was mined.
The Westcave herd
Here's the Plan:
- The ranch house already has an open design that will be renovated to make the tasting room. It is easily four times the size of the former tasting room. It will have TWO bathrooms, a full kitchen (that I don’t have to share with Allan!!), as well as a separate room for private tastings. The house includes a long, covered front porch perfect for couples to sit and sip rain or shine. There is a large tree-covered backyard, just like the Hamilton Pool park, but it includes a small, covered pavilion in case of rain.
- The metal building will eventually house the winery. Currently, all tanks, barreled wine, cased wine, and equipment are stored offsite in a bonded warehouse. Allan doesn’t need to set up the winery until May just before the 2020 harvest. Until then, the building will serve as the tasting room. We hope to be open for tastings by the end of February. For sure, the Cellar Dweller March pick-up party will take place here. We can gather in this space and NOT worry about rain or cold! (More to come about the club party later.) When the ranch house tasting room renovations are complete, we will have a grand opening.
- The guest house will become a future Airbnb with two rental options: an upstairs room with a seating area for two guests, and a downstairs apartment perfect for six.
- We will continue to offer our famous North Carolina Pig Pickin’s, so the RV pad will serve as the location for the grill. It’s a short distance from the seating areas. Guests can still mosey over to sample from the grill, but shouldn’t be doused in smoke.
- As for the caliche pit…it is already very close to the size of an underground barrel room. Just a bit more digging, and Allan will have Mother Earth coddling the wine. This project will be started in a year or two.
I invite you to join Allan and me on Facebook and Instagram as we share the reinventing of Westcave Cellars Winery and Brewery.
No matter what, our motto—TEXAS WINE (and beer) • TEXAS HOSPITALITY • TEXAS HILL COUNTRY—will still hold true.
We look forward to seeing you down the HYE-way!
The soon-to-be-renovated tasting room…the metal winery building is behind the house to the right.
As you can imagine, Westcave Cellars Winery will certainly be easier to visit and offer a more comfortable wine experience.
