Kenneth E. Harker
2005 Texas High Plains Wineries

We visited two wineries in the Texas High Plains AVA in August, 2005. Both Llano Estacado Winery and Cap*Rock Winery are located near Lubbock, Texas. The best wine we tasted on this trip was the 2000 Cap*Rock Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve.

These photos are copyright © 2005 Kenneth E. Harker. All rights reserved.

	Our first stop was at Llano Estacado Winery, one of the oldest and best-known Texas wineries.
	The winery has a small plot of red grape vines in front of the winery building, but most of the grapes used in Llano Estacado wines come from elsewhere. I actually think this vineyard is mostly for show.
	Some of grapes are not yet ripe, while others have already raisined. It did look like most of the clusters might have been picked already.
	Some of the stainless steel fermenting tanks. These two were already at their operating (chilled) temperature, as harvest was scheduled to start the next day.
	Some of the wine aging in barrel. This particular rack in Viognier.
	Many, many more fermenting tanks, all of them cleaned, prepped and ready to go.
	This mechanical grape harvester was parked out back. According to our official tour guide, this one harvester picks all the grapes in the Texas High Plains area around Lubbock. I'm not so sure - I think it might pick all of the grapes used in Llano Estacado wine.
	This is the crusher/destemmer hopper. Grapes are dumped in from the harvesting crates where this device slightly crushes them and removes (most of) the stems.
	More barrels full of wine being aged at Llano Estacado. Some of them were marked with "Toasted".
	Cap*Rock Winery is also located near Lubbock, Texas, no more than three or four miles away from Llano Estacado. Their name, as you can see, has a funky cymbol between the "Cap" and the "Rock", which even their own website has trouble creating in normal text.
	The front driveway to the winery building is a fairly impressive tree-lined caliche driveway.
	The front of the winery building is a Spanish style facade with a bronze statue of a Native American holding a bunch of grapes and a wine goblet.
	Another view of the front of the winery and all of the xeriscape plantings around it.
	The tasting area inside the winery got busy as a tour let out.
	Some of the barrels of wine being aged are displayed in a large room where the staff were setting up for a wedding reception later in the evening. These barrels are holding Paulo Duro Red.