Bent Oak Winery was an award-winning winery that has won international wine competitions. According to the Top Texas Wines website, from 2020-2023, they were awarded 32 Gold medals, 4 Double Gold, and 8 Best in Class. That’s pretty significant.
The winery that first opened in 2015 was located in Cedar Park and owned by John and Audrey Catalano. John was also the CEO and winemaker. It was announced earlier this year that the owners were to retire so the tasting room would be closed on February 5th.
In the meantime, founders Gail and Jennie McCulloch of Fat Ass Ranch & Winery were in the process of selling the very popular 290 winery. The winery in 2023 converted their adjacent Wine Garage to a brewery appropriately named Fat Ass Brewery. Visitors to the winery could visit the brewery with a tram providing service between the two businesses. The businesses were then sold to Steven Derek Johnson.
Since Bent Oak Winery was for sale, it was later announced that Fat Ass Ranch & Winery had purchased Bent Oak Winery. Winemaker John Catalano decided retirement was not for him, so he will still be making Bent Oak wines plus the additional responsibility of all wine production for Fat Ass Ranch & Winery.
John Catalano explained, “As part of the Fat Ass Acquisition of Bent Oak Winery, Steven Johnson, the Managing Director of New Fat Ass Co, required that we have “skin in the game.” As such, Steven was keen on continuing the legacy of quality winemaking that has been the history of Bent Oak and asked that I join the Fat Ass team as their head of winemaking – no retirement for this old dog! We used to have a saying that we make serious wines for serious wine lovers but don’t take ourselves too seriously, and one of the things that I love about Fat Ass is their focus on a fun customer experience.”
Tasting bar for Bent Oak wines
We recently visited Fat Ass Ranch & Winery to see any possible changes with the inclusion of Bent Oak Winery. Originally the Bent Oak wines were going to be available only on Saturdays, but now the wines can be tasted any day of the week. The tasting bar was originally in the event building at Fat Ass, but it is being relocated to the main tasting room.
A visitor can select either a sweet or dry wine tasting. If the taster wants dry wines, enjoy Bent Oak wines. If they want sweet wines, drink Fat Ass wines. There are also some Fat Ass dry wines currently available as in past years. Wines from The Wine Garage are also still available.
Bent Oak wines
Bent Oak Winery wines at the time of our visit included:
- 2020 Blanc du Bois – Texas
- 2019 Chardonnay – California
- 2023 Rosé – Texas High Plains
- 2019 Tempranillo – Texas High Plains
- 2019 Zinfandel – California