Texas has a popularity for friendliness — so long as you aren’t driving on the freeway, no less than — however few locations I’ve visited within the wine world have been as downright inviting as C.L. Butaud.
Butaud is a husband-and-wife operation headed by Randy and Brooke Hester. After stints in wine distribution and gross sales, each of them moved west and minimize their enamel in California, Randy working as a 30something-year-old cellar fee whereas Brooke labored within the again workplace of a few of Napa’s bluest of blue chip operations. Particularly, Randy discovered winemaking at Cakebread, Colgin, and Realm, a few of the Valley’s most revered wineries.
After beginning a boutique wine label known as Lightning Wines, the couple moved again residence to Texas and started producing wine from native grapes, opening a tasting room in Dripping Springs, close to their residence in Austin. C.L. Butaud — named for Randy’s grandfather — in all probability wouldn’t have recognized what to make of Texas-born wine, however its clear that if anybody is aware of what they’re doing with Texas’s explicit fruit, it’s his grandson. His penchant for odd grapes from Europe — a Teroldego bottling is within the works — and conventional strategies are outweighed solely by his insistence for the easiest fruit. Butaud works carefully with growers within the Texas Excessive Plains, the place he sources all his fruit, to make sure yields are perfect and harvests go easily.
In a second of candor, frequent throughout our vigorous 2 1/2-hour go to (initially scheduled for 60 minutes), Randy riffed on the insular Texas wine trade and his want to raise high quality in a state the place individuals nonetheless appear to be making wine by intuition and the seat of their pants. Randy stated he might title solely 4 different Texas wineries price sampling, although we gained’t title them right here.
Our go to, after all, wouldn’t have been full with out loads of wine to drink, and the Hesters pulled out innumerable bottles to strive, together with just a few from their non-public inventory, now not on sale. That stated, do you have to cease by, you’ll discover loads of wine to take pleasure in, together with lots of the wines reviewed beneath.
2021 C.L. Butaud Blanc de Noir – A 50/50 white mix of grenache and mourvedre, dry and grassy, with notes of Asian melon. A- / $48
2021 C.L. Butaud Pores and skin Contact Trebbiano – Any wine you’re advised to enter with “an open thoughts” could be dicey, and this relatively bitter, funky expertise isn’t any exception to that disclaimer. Inexperienced and vegetal on one hand, balanced by melon and grapefruit on the opposite. Amply acidic. B / $NA
2021 C.L. Butaud Blanc Carbonic Counoise – Wild and funky, overwhelmingly earthy. One will get the sense this pungent bottling is an acquired style, or no less than an excellent meals pairing. B / $25
2020 C.L. Butaud TX Cinsault – Aromatic vanilla, plum, and black cherry, ending with a light-weight tobacco notice. My favourite wine within the combine — however offered out. A / $NA
2020 C.L. Butaud Tempranillo – Punchy, with notes of chocolate and a few caramel smoldering within the combine. One other winner, however very aggressive. A / $54
2020 C.L. Butaud Stop & Desist Crimson Mix – Boldly fruit, a bit overly so right here, with heavy notes of pink berries and a few floral notes within the combine. Somewhat balsamic on the end. A- / $48
2021 C.L. Butaud TX Grenache – Massive with notes of graphite and tobacco, however balanced with strawberry, orange peel, and slightly floral notice on the end. Strong, however alas now not out there. A- / $NA
2021 C.L. Butaud TX Mourvedre – On the inexperienced aspect, this feels prefer it’s nonetheless growing, with notes of inexperienced olive giving approach to a plum jam aspect. B+ / $30
open each Friday to Sunday, reservations extremely advisable
12345 Pauls Valley Street (at Fitzhugh), Austin, Texas 78737 / clbutaud.com
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