So many wineries are opening up in the Texas Hill Country around US 290 and the focus of Texas wine seems to be in that area where the majority of Texas wineries are located. That is the primary reason why the last time we visited Dry Comal Creek Vineyards in New Braunfels was in 2012. Since that time, the winery was sold to Ralph Romero Jr. and his family in 2017.
We wrote about the new direction that Dry Comal Creek Vineyards was talking in 2017. Now in 2022, I can see the winery has continued to work on the new direction. One person that didn’t change was Sheila Laigle who worked for both owners. Sheila is now the tasting room manager.
I met Sheila years ago at an event and we were excited when we learned we had a common background because we both went to the same college in upstate New York, Utica College of Syracuse University. How’s that for meeting in Texas and in the wine industry? Do you want more connections? Wedding Oak Winery winemaker Seth Urbanek’s father-in-law Stephen Pattarini was at Utica College during that same timeframe. He served in multiple roles throughout his tenure, including academic counseling, serving as a Dean, and ultimately retiring as Vice-President of Student Success. Talk about a small world.
During the Texas Hill Country Wineries’ Wine & Wildflower Journey passport event, we made it a point to add Dry Comal Creek Vineyards as one of the wineries we would be visiting. I had arranged prior with Sheila to ensure they were open when we were going to be there.
Sheila Laigle and Gloria
Sheila led us through a tasting of their wines. These were the wines they were giving tastings of the day we visited:
- 2020 Riesling (Riesling, Muscat Canelli) – Texas High Plains
- 2020 Roussanne – Texas High Plains
- 2019 Sangiovese (Sangiovese, Syrah) – Texas
- 2019 GSM (Carignan, Mourvèdre, Grenache, Syrah, Cinsault) – Texas High Plains
- 2019 Tempranillo (Tempranillo, Carignan, Grenache, Graciano, Mourvèdre) – Texas Hill Country
- 2019 Wurst Red (sweet red with Dolcetto, Tempranillo) – Texas
Did you wonder why I mentioned Seth Urbanek earlier besides the connection to Utica College? It’s because Seth is now also the winemaker for Dry Comal Creek Vineyards. The new direction from 2017 is constantly changing.
A food truck was also at the winery when we were there, and we were able to enjoy a quick lunch. The winery said there would be live music held later on in the day.
We enjoyed our visit at Dry Comal Creek Vineyards and will be definitely returning when we are in the area.