Ab Astris Winery — Attraction in Johnson City

Executive Summary

Best wine we have found in Texas, hands down, by a long shot. If you are in the area and looking for outstanding wine, this is your place. If you’re looking for a bar scene, party atmosphere, or frozen margaritas from a margarita machine, this won’t be your jam. We visited Ab Astris on 2 of our 3 days in Fredericksburg, and we were absolutely floored.

Details

I’ll only comment on the reds, as I simply do not care for whites or roses. I’ve tried to like them, but reds are where my heart is.

We drove from Katy, TX on a Sunday. Stopped at a place in Johnson City that makes wine from California grapes and has amazing brick oven pizza. Before leaving we asked our server for a recommendation. She said Ab Astris. So off we went. It was a short drive and I was happy to be off the main drag and off the beaten path. The staff was friendly enough and was able to accommodate our request for an all-red tasting. Tannat was poured, I gave it the ole swirl, stuck my nose in the glass and shook my head in disbelief. The nose was absolutely outrageous. I looked at my wife and we were just smiling and shaking our heads. I stood there and just smelled for a bit. We are avid wine drinkers, and we typically gravitate to left bank Bordeaux, California cabs and Zinfandel blends, and Southern Rhône wines. Out of the thousands of wines we’ve tasted, a small handful have had a truly mesmerizing nose. And here we were, standing in a tasting room in the middle of nowhere in Texas, at our second winery on the first day of a three day trip, just speechless. I had no expectations for Texas wine when we left Houston, and was now getting pretty d*mn excited. Took a taste of the Tannat and was not let down. The nose did not lie, and the wine was simply luxurious on the pallet. I’m telling ya, I really could not believe what was happening! I looked up and told my wife that if our trip ended now I’d be totally satisfied. We tasted 4 more reds. My wife’s favorite was the Zin and the Tannat, mine was Tannat and the Cab Sav. As they closed up, we purchased 3 bottles and joined the club.

Next day we had scheduled a tour with a limo. We were picked up and met one other very nice couple and off we went to three wineries. Although Ab Astris was not on the itinerary, we recounted our story of being swept off our pallets at Ab Astris. Since the next day would be Tuesday and Ab would be closed, we begged our driver to make one more stop at the end of our day; we were so anxious to share our experience at Ab Astris with our newly found friends. So there we were back again on day 2, finishing our day at the same place we finished our first day. Like us, our friends were in blissful disbelief as they smelled and tasted the wines from Ab Astris. We decided to purchase another six bottles, our friends purchased three, and they joined the club as well.

The setting at Ab Astris is quiet, secluded, beautiful, and simple. Yes, other places have stunning architecture, where clean lines of glass and steel are juxtaposed against gnarled oak pillars and rusted, wrought iron. But these fancy buildings are all here as a place to come and taste the WINE. And the WINE at Ab Astris is simply and truly special. Indeed, our friends we brought to Ab said, “Wow, this is special.”

I hope you visit this quiet place making outrageously great wine. We will come here any time we visit Fredericksburg or any time we are near. No need to believe anything I’ve written; the wine here...

This family-owned boutique winery near the LBJ ranch exemplifies what love, hard work, and patience can bring to the Texas wine business. You’ll have to take the “country road” off HWY 290, cross the river, and trek over a crushed gravel road, but it is well worth it! Once you arrive at the estate, you’ll see their lush vineyard that is merely in its first year, a windmill, the fantastic tasting room, and the owners, Tony and Erin Smith, and possibly their daughter and son in law assisting for the day. The tasting room sits on the topographic high of their estate and is adjacent to the vineyard. You get a superb panoramic view of the country side and can immediately begin to relax and unwind. The Smith’s have been working on this winery idea for about 8-10 years. They were fortunate to cross paths with the well-known John Rivenburgh (wine maker and vineyard consultant) to help them fulfill their dreams. The last three years is where everything has come together, and you’ll see the results in the wine they are premiering on their tasting menu. The estate has about seven acres planted of Tannat, Souzão, and Clairette Blanche with plans to add Petite Sirah and Montepulciano. With over 20 acres on the property to expand upon, they are off to a good start. There are currently eight wines available for tasting with one more on the way! All white wines are 2017 and fabulous! The Solis is a Muscat/Roussanne blend with the lovely Roussanne notes adding a pleasant compliment to the citrus notes. There are two single varietal Roussannes allowing one to compare Texas High Plains and Texas Hill Country AVA fruit. The High Plans version features fruit from Reddy Vineyards with a rich aged golden color that is quite aromatic and loaded with pineapple notes. The Hill Country option features fruit from Hoover Valley and presents pronounced smooth buttery and honeysuckle notes. The Malvasia Bianca, is more floral with enticing peach flavor. The Smith’s were wise to let the 2015 reds age a bit before releasing to allow a greater depth of flavor to develop with their maturity. The Montepulciano...wow! It is balanced with a smooth finish and a nice mouthfeel! The Tempranillo is sourced from Newsom Vineyards and shines with great qualities of tobacco, leather and a fine finish. Their Tannat proves Texas is where single varietal Tannat wines rule. It’s bold, rich, yet smooth for a fabulous experience. The red list includes Tribus, which is a unique blend of Mourvedre and Malbec. It is well balanced and has great character featuring cherry and plum rich notes. We had the special pleasure of tasting the Ausonius, a future Bordeaux style blend of 40% Cabernet, 35% Merlot, and 25% Petit Verdot. This red will be the shining star of Ab Astris Winery! The notes, the mouth feel, the tannins…oh my! A future case worthy purchase that will only continue to get better with age. The tasting experience at this winery is memorable set back from the busy road, in a country side setting, amid trees on one side and the beautiful vineyard on the other. We hope to review each of these wines individually in the future. Tony and Erin’s dedication to 100% Texas wines holds true. With John RivenBurgh’s guidance, and their son-in-law Mike’s passion of learning the wine making techniques, their future looks very bright. Yes, from the stars, the owners are guiding this new vineyard and winery to future success. Ab Astris Winery stands to be a stellar addition to the Texas...

The older server with short brown hair and the younger server at this winery were incredibly rude. Right when we arrived the older server said "y'all can go sit outside". We then moved outside and told them we were freezing cold (it was 40 degrees) and asked if we could sit inside. The server then responded that they had wine tasters there and thought we would be too loud so she asked us to stay outside. The entire time we were freezing but decided to enjoy ourselves. Throughout the entire time we were at the winery they continued to ask us to leave and then the older server decided to take videos and photos of us. They close at 5pm and we were waiting for our ride to pick us up. Around 5:15 I personally went in and apologized to the older short brown hair server that our Uber wasn't there yet. She responded by saying "we've been waiting since 3 for y'all to leave" (we didn't arrive at the winery until after 3:45) at this point we felt very uncomfortable but continued to wait for our Uber that was running late. Eventually one of our group members noticed the older short haired brunette worker was taking photos and videos of us and when asked about it she said "I'm only sending it to my daughter". At this point we left feeling unwelcomed and uncomfortable. We began walking down the road trying to leave as quickly as we could. The owners and workers drove by and very rudely sent us off. Overall I would not recommend this winery to anyone. The staff was incredible rude, the wine was subpar at most, and the views were much better at every other winery we visited. The only thing this winery had going for them was their dog "buddy". Other than the dog save the trip and visit other places such as slate...