This spring, Buddy and I had the opportunity to visit the French Connection Winery in Hye, Texas with some dear friends. The small town of Hye is right by Fredericksburg, so it’s a perfect stop on a 290 wine tour. We picked up a couple bottles of this roussanne white wine after doing a tasting at the winery.
We did a “reserve tasting” at the winery that I highly recommend. You are guided through a tasting with a French inspired charcuterie board that was totally amazing. Our guide was so full of knowledge regarding the wines and history of the winery.
French Connection Winery began in December of 2018 as an off-shoot of the Calais Winery. They wanted to give the Rhone style wines of Calais Winery a place of their own. The winemaker, Benjamin Calais, who is also the winemaker at Calais Winery down the road, uses all 100% Texas grapes to make Texas wine in a French style.
The winery makes their wines from varietals that usually grow in the Rhone Valley of southern France. In Texas, the grapes grow anywhere from the mountains in west Texas to the Texas High Plains and include varietals such as syrah, grenache, and roussanne among others.
During our reserve tasting at French Connection Winery, we sat at their outdoor patio, which was such a wonderful experience. The roussanne that we tasted at FCW (and loved so much that we bought a bottle) was probably the best that I’ve had. The wine spends 15 months on the lees in French oak barrels. Lees can impart more body, texture and aromas to the wine.
The roussanne has a straw color, and there is a hint of kumquat and vanilla on the nose. As you taste the wine, it imparts hints of peach, honey and pear. This white wine is wonderful with sautéed crab claws or pecan crusted grouper. I will definitely be adding more of this to my wine fridge.
