Dave Hong
Google
I'm partial to Austin Hope as their Cab is one of our favorite wines. We got a chance to visit here in March while we were in Paso for a wedding. Did not disappoint. When you walk up to the tasting area, there are multiple greeters there who greet you with a glass of wine. They handed us a glass of their Sauvignon Blanc. I'm not a white wine drinker, but this wine was very crisp and something I could definitely drink on a summer day.
They sat us in a separate, secluded area for our tasting appointment. Definitely a nice touch as other wineries and clubs we have been a part of all did tastings standing at a bar in their tasting room. It was nice to have our own little area and personal attendant.
Speaking of the attendant, we were able to do our tasting session with Dina and she was awesome. Very friendly and knowledgeable about the wines. Really made for a great experience.
As part of our tasting, we sampled the Cab (again, one of our favorites), Malbec (one of our new favorites :)), Pinot Noir, Mourvedre, Grenache, and Syrah. I'm normally not a big Pinot Noir fan, but loved how they made theirs. Mourvedre and Grenache were also very good. Least favorite was the Syrah, and not because it was bad, but for me, just didn't measure up to the others. One word on the Cab is that somehow Austin Hope is able to create a similar taste profile year over year and since we love the wine already, we know what we'll be getting with each bottle. We have been members of other wineries, and while we appreciate variety, even within the same varietal, sometimes the quality would drop or you would get a completely different taste profile. So, we appreciate the consistency here. And then the Malbec - normally not one of my favorites, but Austin gave it a resemblance to the Cab while also maintaining the Malbec flavors and lighter body. A really, really good wine.
So in the end, we ended up joining the wine club. Was really a great experience here, cool environment, great service from Dina, always great wines, couldn't have been better.