'Wineslinger' back with guide to Hill Country wineries

Memorial Day weekend kicks off the summer travel season, and many Houstonians are likely contemplating a visit to the Texas Hill Country, which is exploding with quality wineries.

So my suggestion today isn't a bottle. Rather, it's a new book from the "Texas Wineslinger," Russell D. Kane. One of the latest in the Images of Modern America series from Arcadia Publishing Co., Kane's not-quite-pocket-size, illustrated "Texas Hill Country Wineries" will serve as an indispensable reference for organizing tours of the rolling viticultural landscape stretching west of Austin and northwest of San Antonio.

Kane, a retired petroleum engineer, is a fine storyteller. You already know this if you've read his first book, "The Wineslinger Chronicles." But his latest effort isn't intended to be literary. It's a neatly organized tourist manual with lots of pictures, most of them showing the actual folks you will meet from one tasting oasis to the next. In most cases, the people who do the heavy lifting in the vineyards and the cellars of the Hill Country are often out front, shaking hands and pouring wines.

Kane said he pitched the idea for the book after talking to a friend who's an avid bird watcher. Birders have guidebooks that tell them precisely where to go to see and hear the little feathered creatures they're curious about. Texas' wine-tasters needed something similar, Kane concluded.

"It's essentially a trail guide, a book to plan your trip with," he said, "because you're almost never more than 20 minutes from a winery in the Hill Country."

To make sense of the burgeoning region and to keep driving to a minimum, Kane came up with four routes, each of which can be tackled in a single day.

The Balcones Trail in the eastern Hill Country, connecting wineries around San Marcos and Wimberley north through Dripping Springs and ending up in Spicewood. Essential winery stops include Gary Elliott's Driftwood Vineyards, the nearby Duchman Family Vineyards (owned by Houstonians Stan and Lisa Duchman) and Spicewood Vineyards near the south shore of Lake Travis. Also, Texas wine pioneers Ed and Susan Auler of Fall Creek Vineyards up north near Tow have added a lovely tasting room with overnight accommodations available across from the sprawling Salt Lick barbecue joint in Driftwood.

The Route 290 Trail in the heart of the Hill Country from Johnson City to Fredericksburg, Texas' answer to Napa Valley's Route 29. My personal favorites - all toward the eastern end and closer to Houston - include Pedernales Cellars, Hye Meadow Vineyards and Gary Gilstrap's Texas Hills Vineyard. Vintners Doug Lewis and Duncan McNabb have gotten themselves on the tasting-room map by doing things right with Lewis Wines near Johnson City.

The Colorado River Trail in the northern Hill Country, starting near Marble Falls and meandering through Burnet, Lampassas and San Saba to the western shore of Lake Buchanan. Stops include Flat Creek Estate, Perissos Vineyard, Texas Legato Winery, Pillar Blue Vineyards, Lometa and Fiesta Winery, Alamosa Wine Cellars, Wedding Oak Winery and Fall Creek.

The Guadalupe River Trail in the southern Hill Country from Fredericksburg to Kerrville, Comfort, Sisterdale and, finally, New Braunfels. This itinerary is the one least populated with wineries, but Bending Branch near Comfort is an absolute must-see destination. Bob Young and his son-in-law, John Rivenburgh, are accomplishing remarkable things with Texas-terroir-friendly grape varietals such as vermentino and tannat.

Kane's first two chapters provide what is effectively an illustrated history of commercial wine-making in Texas, which began with Father Garcia de San Francisco planting a vineyard near El Paso in the middle of the 19th century.

Once you have the book in your hand, turn to page 16 and note the photo of Thomas Volney "T.V." Munson. Texas oenophiles - oenophiles everywhere, for that matter - should know the remarkable story of Munson (1843-1913), savior of winemaking in Europe and especially France.

Munson was the pioneering Texas horticulturist who developed a root stock that was resistant to phylloxera, the sap-sucking insect related to the aphid family that destroyed more than two-thirds of France's vineyards between 1875 and 1890.

Grafting vitis vinifera (the family of the classical varietals such as chardonnay and cabernet sauvignon) plants onto the native Texas roots brought the plants back to life. For his efforts, Munson would be ordained a Chevalier du Merite Agricole of the French Legion of Honor, and Denison, where he made his home, became Cognac's official sister city.

Kane closes his book with a look at how the state's wine culture keeps evolving and shows us the vanguards of change. Though we're still a long way from being California or Oregon, remarkable progress is being made. The book is an easy-to-follow primer of where Texas viticulture has come from and where, with a break or two from Mother Nature, it may be headed.