I’m Wining

Today marked yet another adventure into our tour of North Texas wineries. This particular adventure brought us to Wales Manor in New Hope, Texas. The good news is that it was a new winery with a new experience. The even better news is that it is now checked off our list and we never have to visit it again. My main problem with Wales is that it had 100% no charm. The owner was very too self-important and spent all of 2 minutes with us – 1:45 of which was either concentrated on getting a glass of wine for himself or making very sexist comments (in front of 3 women). Anita, our tasting pourer, was very knowledgable and was friendly enough. I suppose for my speed she was going rather slowly. But in her defense, she had many other customers to attend to.

 

Maybe, instead of ranting about how much I disliked Wales Manor and the fact that I spent too much money there for not liking it, or instead of talking about the rude people we were forced to be nice to, I should talk about last weekend’s fantastic winery visit to Collin Oaks in Princeton, Texas.

Before you snap to any judgments about my frequency of visits to these wineries, you should really just be in awe about how much knowlegde I have about wine (especially Texas wines) and how much my tastes have really grown – although some would argue that a liking to Texas wine is like prefernce to a vending machine snack cake over a gourmet dessert. Texas wine is just great, though, I’ll have you know.

Anyhow, Collin Oaks had the best wines, not to mention the greatest amount of charm. Louis and Gary, the vintners, were just awesome. We went last weekend when it was soggy and yucky all day, but the warmth of the wine and conversation inside the tasting room was captivating and humbling. We realized that this is exactly the experience we look for when we go to these wineries. Collin Oaks is our new standard in winery experiences. It was THE best visit and experience. I felt bad about not buying more at Collin Oaks last weekend, but never fear — we will be revisiting Collin Oaks many times to come, and not Wales Manor.  There’s something to be said for investing in future business.