Wimberley, Texas - Go Visit!

This picture capped off a wonderful day we had yesterday in Wimberley, Texas.   Here are the highlights!

First - where we are staying!!   

Blair House Inn

We are staying at this beautiful Bed and Breakfast called the Blair House Inn.  HIGHLY recommend this wonderful B&B if you are planning to stay in this area.  It is run by Mike and Vicki and they really treat you wonderfully.  The houses are situated on a hill and are beautifully landscaped in the traditional hill country landscaping and lovely lights.  We arrived late on Friday evening so we got the evening approach and it's so romantic!  We are staying in the Laredo room and it's a two room suite decorated in a rustic Mexican theme.   It's really a pretty room and quite comfortable.  Large comfy King bed, fireplace, sitting area, micro/refrig/coffee maker/ large whirlpool tub in the bathroom with a lovely porch to sit on outside as well to just relax.   Highlighted all throughout their property is interesting art work, glass work, sculptures from the local artists in the area.   The breakfasts so far have been very tasty!  Served from 830 - 9:30 am, everyone gathers in the main house for coffee, fresh squeezed juice, fresh fruit with whipped cream, fresh baked sweet breads and a really yummy breakfast! Saturday morning we were treated to a fresh fruit, Jewish Apply cake and a Vegetable Frittata served with Rosemary Potatoes.  Pair that with some fresh orange juice and coffee... yummy stuff!!    Mike gave us some suggestions for our day yesterday and ALL of them proved to be really interesting and very fun.

Bella Vista Ranch. 

DID YOU KNOW olive trees grow in Texas and there is such thing as olive oil made in Texas??  I sure did not know this but on our first stop of the day, we were treated to a 2 hour lesson on Olive Tree history and growth worldwide plus how it ended up in Texas.  It is extremely interesting actually and quite a risky project to try to grow olive trees here in Texas due to our weird weather patterns.  But Jack Dougherty does it and sure does it well.  We were treated to a tasting after our education and the oil he produces smells fresh and tastes fresh.  My Dad would love a visit here!!!

They make several infused varieties such as orange olive oil, lime olive oil and garlic infused olive oil.  John and I especially enjoyed the garlic olive oil, but unfortunately, they quickly ran out of that particular one so we were not able to buy it yesterday.  We'll order some here in the next week or so.  Jack also makes his own wine and it was pretty good as well.  I think we bought a couple of bottles of Syrah and Cab.  Oh... and a couple of other things he has done there at the ranch - grow artichokes (yes, no lie), asparagus, pine nut trees and avocados.   How fun is that? Mom, Dad..... something to think about....He had some asparagus growing in a pot!!   

If you have the time, take a read of his website and make a point to visit this Italian styled family farm in Wimberley.  It's really a treat!!

Second Stop ......

Driftwood Vineyards

A lovely vineyard just up RR12 north of Wimberley.  It was quite a busy place to be today with lots of groups (families & wedding parties) out visiting the wineries.  We enjoyed tasting wines here and found a few good ones to bring home with us in a 2006 Super Texan, a mix of Sangiovese 88% and Merlot 12%, 2006 LoneStar Cab and a 2006 Longhorn Red (Cab Sav/Syrah), and by sister B&E Vineyards, a 2003 Cab Sav and 2004 Red Rhythym (blend of Merlot, Cab Sav, Cab Franc).  

Third Stop ....

The Leaning Pear Eatery

We decided to stop for a lite lunch about 1:00 or so after our wine tasting at Driftwood.  Again, on Mike's recommendation (from Blair's House) we decided to go by this little eatery for lunch.  The Leaning Pear is owned by a young couple, Rachel and Matthew Buchanan.  Matthew went to the Culinary Institute of America in New York.  After school, they moved back to the Texas Hill Country and worked as Exec Chef and Asst Innkeeper at another Wimberley B&B called The Inn Above Onion Creek.  In 2006, they restored an old building into what is now The Leaning Pear and serve great unique sandwiches, soups and entrees.    I had an absolutely wonderful BBLT (Bacon, Brie, Lettuce and Tomato) on toasted sourdough bread!!  YUMMY!!  John had a Seafood Cioppolo (stew) and a Reuben sandwich.  He enjoyed both a great deal!! Definitely a great place to visit again!

Fourth Stop .....

Tour of Wimberly Square and walked around the little shops doing some window shopping.  Cute stuff here.  John managed to find a little store that sold Blue Bell Ice Cream so he partook in an ice cream cone!!  :-)

Fifth Stop.... (yes, we're getting tired by now...)

Wimberley Glassworks

Another fun place to stop.  They have beautiful handmade glass pieces to revel at.  Don't touch though!!  We saw one that was $9,000 and some mother was letting her 6 year old child touch it!!  ?????  Craziness.   But, it was a really neat place.  The cool thing is they demonstrate their glass blowing techniques which is ultracool to watch and FREE!!  Fun to see some melted substance become a vase or a plate or something cool like some of the beautiful sconces that the Blair House has in their main house dining room.  

I was pretty tired by this time, so we proceeded to go back to our B&B and I got to take a nap!! Anyone who knows me, knows this isn't something I do very often.  I typically don't wake up really well after a nap so I'd rather just go to bed early.  But... tonight we had a special treat in store, so I knew I needed a nap to make it through so I snoozed for about 2 hours.  :-)

Blair House Inn Saturday Evening Dinner!!!

We were so excited to get in for this dinner.  We had been on the wait list and with the luck of a cancellation, we eeked our way in.  Thank you Mike & Vicki! Blair House is widely known for their cooking school and their Saturday Night Dinners which often also treat wines from the local Texas wineries.  Tonight was no different - a wonderful dinner to be paired with wines from Dry Comal Creek.  If you've read some of my prior posts, we've visited Dry Comal a couple of times and enjoy their wine.

On the menu tonight was divine!!  

• Crab Claws in butter sauce (John had my serving too!) - John describes them as succulent and juicy!
  
• Wine - French Columbard (which was good but almost too sweet for me to drink too much)
• French Onion Soup w/a crouton covered with melted Gruyere  - This was one of the favorites from the evening!  It was REALLY good.... I could have eaten quite a bit more than the serving they gave us.  It was soooo good.
  
• Wine - Sauvignon Blanc - very fruity and dry - virtually no sugar in this one.  I liked it!
• Iceberg Salad with French/Blue Cheese Dressing, bacon, pecans, hardboiled egg and blue cheese was really yummy too!  Nice and fresh.
• Smoked Bone-in Pork Loin w/wild rice and baby carrots and snow pea pods - This was really, really good.  Quite tasty!!  I loved the flavors of the pork and really loved the wild rice.  It had pecans in it - I love pecans!!
• Wine - 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon  - this was good - this wine has bold fruits and a kick with a pepper spice at the finish.  Paired well with the pork, not sure if I would drink it without a food offset though.
• Chocolate Mouse Cake with Strawberry Romanoff Sauce - YUMMY... mine came with a candle and a song!!  :-)  See the above picture which I took by the way!!  Isn't it cool!!! 
• Wine - A really right out of the barrel that day - new wine - White Port.  About 18% alcohol and quite sweet, it was strong.  Tasted GREAT with the chocolate.  I could not drink it all though - too sweet and alcholic for me.  I'm not a big port fan but this was good in small doses!!

The winemaker from Dry Comal Creek was there as well last night and we were able to spend some time with him and his wife.  They moved from California to Texas about 8 months ago for him to become the winemaker at Dry Comal.  I believe I heard that his wife is a Major in the Army stationed at Ft. Sam Houston in SA.  They were quite a hoot and fun!  

More pictures of all of this to come when I have time to do some editing!!  They are fun!!

Off to explore for Sunday!!

MA