Our Story
Blue Mountain Trail Vineyard
NASA explored the Southern slope of Blue Mountain in Fort Davis, TX for growing grapes in 1971. Located in the Chihuahuan Desert, The New Blue Mountain Trail Vineyard grows out of the volcanic clay at an elevation of 5,400 feet. Intense sun, dry air and cool days & nights make for a unique flavor concentration. Tasting notes of cherry, plum, tomato, fig, and desert herb with a touch of vanilla and caramel. The beautiful mountain vistas inspired the extraordinary dedication of our winemakers.
In 2008, the Radiologist physician at San Antonio Diagnostic Imaging, John L. Wright, III (Jack) made the acquaintance of Adam White. Dr. Wright had a long interest in beer brewing and wine drinking with a particular preference for wines from southeastern France such as Chateauneuf du Pape. Meanwhile, Adam White planted vines at his mother’s farm in Natalia, TX and taught himself viticulture by “The School of Hard Knocks.” For many years there was the capability of purchasing extract wines and brewing them at home, but that seemed somewhat artificial. The best wines of the world are ultimately expressions of the place where the grapes grow and the artisans who make the wine. Brehm Vineyard (not really a vineyard) gave us access to buying frozen grapes from some of the finest vineyards in California. We were able to make excellent home wines from these grapes.
Major changes in the industry which we are beneficiaries of include the introduction of actual clones of the vines that make our favorite wines and advancement in grape-growing technology. The Perrin Family, in partnership with Robert Haas at Tablas Creek Winery in Paso Robles, CA, brought to the United States the actual clones of the vines from Chateuau Beaucastel in Chateauneuf du Pape. After being held in quanrine for years, growers, such as ourselves, were finally able to purchase these clones. IN 2011, we officially acquired two-year old vines on their own roots to allow a great expression of varietal typicity. Along with technological advancements in pest control necessary to grow Vitis viniferia in Texas, we were ready to begin.
Performing extensive climatologiccal and soil analysis, we determined that the Davis Mountains of Texas was the best place in our mid-continent location to grow these grapes. We learned later that in 1971 Gretchen Glasscock, an oil and gas heiress, had hired NASA to determine the best place to grow grapes in Texas. The southern slope of Blue Mountain was their answer, and the Blue Mountain Vineyard was planted there in 1971. The vineyard grew until 2003 at which time it was killed by Pierce’s Disease. The original growers were misled into believing that Pierce’s Disease would be held at bay simply by the high altitude of 5400 ft and snowy, cold winters, so the preventive pesticides were not administered.
In 2011, Dr. Wright purchased 40 acres only 1/2 mile away from the old Blue Mountain Vineyard. In the spring of 2012, 17,000 vines were planted using originally designed machinery and underground irrigation, such as an overhauled Kubota tractor with hot pink rear wheel rims that can flip to make the tractor narrow (only 52 inches). Thus, Blue Mountain Trail Vineyard was born.
Jack Rabbit Winery
The growing seasons of 2013 and 2014 were punctuated by late spring freezes on May 3 in 2013 and April 15 in 2014. Climate change in causing the polar vortex to be looser than usual, calving off lobes of cold air to lower latitudes in the spring and fall. These masses of air are quite thick and we have seen them push even hundreds of miles into Mexico. Many of the vines froze down to the ground splitting the trunks and destroying the potential harvests for those years. We were determined to build a combination late spring freeze prevention and cooling system. This required the construction of a large cement pond for irrigation and recreational swimming water storage. We are using the Netafim sprinklers which confine their water spray to the vine rows, saving 70% in water usage over impact circular sprinklers. We are vigilant every spring in anticipation of the late spring freeze after vine buds have broken and started pushing out.
In vintage year 2015, we hauled 10 tons of grapes on four trips several hundred miles to Brownfield, TX to the custom crush facility there. They proceeded to “lose” all of our grapes and did not remunerate us in any way. At this point we realized, if we wanted high quality wines, we would have to vinify the grapes ourselves. Thus, began a two-year process of applying for Federal TTB and State TABC license to operate a winery. Jack Rabbit Winery was born. WE formed a partnership with Blue Lotus Winery in Sequin. When the barrels were kept in an incompletely air-conditioned environment, there were unacceptable “angel share,” or evaporative, losses and Lactobacillus and Brettanomyces infections. Ultimately, the wine ended up being high in volatile acidity or vinegar. Refermentations are being performed using a yeast that eats acetic acid. The entire barrel program has been moved to the multifunctional building in Fort Davis that we call the “Shangri-La” and with usage of evaporative cooling, the wines can be kept at a temperature where spoilage is markedly reduced.
We “entertain” agrotourists from around the world who help us trim the vines given the lack of labor force in the Davis Mountains.
The current release of “Heraldic Red” is the culmination of all of this learning. New wines will be coming out soon, including Cinsaut, which we predict will be the Pinot Noir of Texas: high in floral qualities and low in tannin. This would be good for entry level red wine drinker who cannot take the tannins of a highly tannic wine.