Camp County winery carves a Texas niche
PITTSBURG - In the first known incident of Pittsburg hot links being served alongside French crepes, the county wine maker and friends raised $3,300 for the Northeast Texas Child Advocacy Center, said Los Pinos Ranch Vineyard creator and owner Jeff Sneed.
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| At top, retired Dallas cop Doug Grantham's shirt makes a fitting statement; at bottom, Jeff and Ana Sneed's well-tended vineyard produced a harvest providing for 2,000 cases of wine in its third year. Far from the stereotyped wine snobs, for the Sneeds Los Pinos Vineyards is the realized vision of a simpler life. | |
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"As of right now," said a perspiring Doug Grantham as he ferried arrivals in from the parking lot, "mark this down as the First Annual Taste of East Texas. We're gonna do it again."
It might seem a presumptuous statement for a man associated with the vineyards as only as a friend, and one of about 40 unpaid volunteers who turned in Saturday noon to 10 p.m. shifts.
But hours into the event, it was too good not to do again.
"There are no victims of crime more innocent than abused children," said Mr. Graham, a retired Dallas cop. "When Jeff started pulling this together, the advocacy people gave him a letter from a kid that'll twist your heart out of your chest. It's not that its graphic - it's the depth of gratitude that child feels, not just for help, but because somebody wants to help. The people showing up here today are the kind of people who respond when they understand."
Plus, as event coordinator, there was opportunity for Mr. Grantham to lure Texas winemakers here.
"With specific reference to my palate, I am the ultimate connoisseur," Mr. Grantham said. "If I like a wine, it's good. If I don't, it's not."
So much for pretension.
Alongside the Sauvignon Blanc served from one of the state's oldest Hill Country wineries, Fall Creek, Tall Tree Marina pushed its smoked turkey legs and barbecue. While Collette Shumate of Dallas-based Morgan-White Catering served crepes, Fajita Smith dished out Southern Louisiana samplings of alligator, shrimp, frog legs and boudin when he wasn't giving lessons in diction.
"I'm from Austin, but I did fourteen years in Louisiana where I learned how to cook and how to talk," Jeff Smith said. Stepping out of his catering trailer with the flair of a director, Mr. Smith periodically required patrons to roar in unison, "Kay-Zaunnn!"
As to whether or not the social gig was working, one only had drop by the Fall Creek table around mid afternoon. Up at 4 a.m. to make the drive up from the Hill Country, a gracious and somewhat disheveled Dani Seelig beamed.
"There are so many nice people," she said, continuing to pour a rapidly diminishing inventory of Fall Creek's Twin Springs red and blush wines. On the business side of the trip, the Fall Creek Winery sales manager was upbeat.
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At top, the Texas Hill Country's Fall Creek Vineyard Sales Manager Dani Seelig serves wine while Wayne Wefenstette, Jr. (bottom) of Dallas-based Morgan-White Catering company prepares a crepe at Camp County's Los Pinos Vineyards' first annual Taste of East Texas. |
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Established by Ed and Susan Auler in 1979, Fall Creek annually produces 30,000 cases of Cabernet, Chardonnay, Sauvignon blanc and a granite reserve Cabernet and Merlot blend. Two years ago the winery began producing its sweet red and sweet blush wines under the Twin Creeks label.
Going back 13 years with the winery, she remembers the days when the wine world sniffed at Texas.
"We were called the 'Bubba Wines,'" she said, "but that's changing. Texas wines now are served in five star restaurants, winning national awards and competing with California and French wines."
The fundraiser's backbone came from the young Los Pinos Vineyard's growing reputation for monthly events.
"This place is working," said Wayne Wefenstette, Jr., folding filling into another crepe. "We heard about it from a friend and initially visited to solicit business."
Their quality and diversity has landed them a number of catering jobs for monthly gatherings.
"It's always different," Mr. Wefenstette said. "We've cooked Mediterranean and Greek foods, french foods and this month we're doing German foods for Oktoberfest. There's always music, there's always change and the Sneeds are building a following."
Featuring dueling accordion players Polka Joe Kalenda and Egon Dengal, the October 18 affair promises to be something "you won't get anywhere else," smiles Mr. Sneed.
Polka Joe and his sidekick didn't send an audition tape.
"These two old German guys showed up on a Sunday afternoon and for forty five minutes they had everybody in the tasting room laughing.," Mr. Sneed said. "They've got an entertainment style that pulls together an audience."
Raised on a Wisconsin dairy, Mr. Sneed moved to California where he established a skylight business and got his big business break with the landing of an international business account.
To relax, he and wife Ana enjoyed and studied wines.
"If success is making money, I did that in California," Mr. Sneed said. "If success is sharing a simple life with the people you love, we're doing that here."
Given the sophistication of modern culture compared to the ancients, he finds an irony in the association of wines with affluence.
"In the Old World, wine has for centuries been a staple of the common man associated with the family meal," he said.
The Texans whose work is a part of that tradition are dependent on each other, said Mrs. Seelig, the Fall Creek sales manager.
Arriving three years ago, the Sneeds planted, imported equipment, opened their tasting room and this year produced 2,000 cases of wine.
"Getting to be a part of today is the benefit of having a good man for a friend," Mr. Grantham said. "I like people with the force of will to create what they envision."
The glitz and romance on the surface are rooted in the earth, Mrs. Seelig said.
"Having been around them, I can tell you that the pioneers in the Texas wine industry are more than entrepreneurs," she said. "Their learning is driven by passion. As much as they have to know and understand to create consistently good wines, when you consider where it all starts, they're farmers."
Those tending Texas vineyards, she says, aren't competitors.
Bombed by blue skies and music on a perfect Autumn Saturday, she smiled.
"I'm here because when another Texas vineyard does well, our reputation grows and we all benefit," she said.