Duchman Family Winery
by
Kathy Sullivan
Summary: The Duchman Family Winery is owned by Stan and Lisa Duchman. Located in Driftwood, Texas the winery offers an elegant Tuscan-style decor.
The entrance to the Duchman Family Winery leads visitors past several acres of grapes to a wonderful landscaped Tuscan-style building. Visitors will discover a large facility for producing wine. Enter into a room with walls of stone and brick arches. Overhead wood beams add to the ambiance. This building encompasses a tasting room, a long hallway with displays of the history of the winery and large picture windows giving visitors the opportunity to see inside the barrel, stainless steel tank and bottling rooms. On the opposite side of this hallway, they added an adjacent event room. The event room with large windows into the barrel room offers event participants the ambiance of the barrel room without disrupting the barrel room's routine.
The winery opened in 2006 and in 2009 the Duchman partners (Stan and Lisa Duchman) bought out the original winery and renamed it Duchman Family Winery.
In 2014 the winery has four acres of Aglianico. The winery sources grapes from other vineyards in Texas. The landscaping around the winery is beautiful and you should take time to walk by and explore.
Currently the winery produces 10,000 cases and hopes to double that number in the next few years. The winery sources grapes from other Texas growers.
Dave Reilly, chief of winery operations, graduated from Texas A & M and immediately went into the construction business. With encouragement from his wife, he became interested in vineyards and slowly began to move from construction to building and maintaining vineyards. As he learned more about viticulture, he became increasingly interested in winemaking.
When it became apparent that the winery needed an event room, Dave produced a plan. With windows to the outside and also facing the barrel room, copper chandeliers and a wine colored ceiling, this room would be appropriate for weddings, anniversaries and other large functions.
White Wines
We tasted several wines in the tasting room. Trebbinao 2011 Bingham Family Vineyards was a pale gold color. The wine with a medium body offered notes of tropical fruit. The wine was crisp and refreshing. Vermentino 2012 was produced with Texas fruit. The pale wine was aromatic and it offered notes of fresh citrus including grapefruit. The finish was dry and crisp. Viognier 2012 with 14.8% alcohol was a light yellow and offered notes of stone fruit and floral. The taste was dry. The wine retails for $18. Bianco NV was a blend of Vermentino, Trebbiano, Pinot Gris and a bit of orange Muscat. The light yellow wine offered notes of honeysuckle, orange, apple and pear. The wine has 13% alcohol and retails for $16.
Red Wines
Tempranillo Bayer Family Vineyard 2012 with 13.8% alcohol was a dark ruby color. The wine offered notes of blackberries, cassis, medium bold tannins with a medium-body and high acidity. The wine retails for $34. Aglianico 2010 was produced in memory of Mark Penna a former winemaker. The Aglianico was a translucent ruby with notes of spices and dark berries. The wine had medium-high tannins with a medium body and medium acidity. Dolcetto Bingham Family Vineyard 2012 was 14.4% alcohol. The wine was a translucent ruby color with aroma and taste notes of cherry. The wine offered medium-bold tannins. Sangiovese Reddy Vineyard 2011 was 13.8% alcohol. The wine was a ruby color with a sienna tint. The wine had notes of cherry with medium tannins. The wine had a medium body with high acidity. The wine retails for $25. Montepulciano 2011 was a 13.9% alcohol wine. The wine was a translucent dark ruby color. The wine offered notes of black cherry and blackberry. The wine had medium-high tannins with a medium-body and high acidity. The wine retails for $30.
Enjoy your visit to Duchman Family Winery and be sure to view the production area off of the hallway.
Duchman Family Winery
13308 Fm 150 W
Driftwood, Texas 78619
GPS: N30º 06.113' W98º 00.947'
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