Open: Year-Round
History of Fall Creek Vineyards
Fall Creek Vineyards was established in 1975 by Texas businessman/rancher, Ed Auler and his wife, Susan. The vineyards are located eighty miles northwest of Austin in the Texas Hill Country where the sandy loam soil, warm days and cool breezes off Lake Buchanan provide an excellent microclimate for growing premium wine grapes.
The inspiration for the winery came in 1973 when the Aulers, on a trip to France, noted remarkable similarities in the soil, terrain and microclimate of parts of the French wine country and their own ranch. "I became convinced that certain parts of the Texas Hill Country would be ideally suited to grape growing," says Ed. Today, Fall Creek is a living testament to Ed Auler's early vision. After some brief experiments with French-American hybrid grape varieties, the winery has planted Chardonnay, Chenin Blanc, Sauvignon Blanc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Zinfandel, Semillon, Johannisberg Riesling, Shiraz, Tempranillo, Viognier and Malbec.
Fall Creek Vineyards is named after gorgeous, spring-fed Fall Creek, which flows through the Auler family's ranch near the winery. Fall Creek empties into the Colorado River at the spectacular Fall Creek waterfalls. The 90-foot waterfalls have been a landmark since the time of early man and continue to be one today. Vanishing Texas River Cruise provides tours of the Fall Creek waterfalls daily.
In the last decade, a focus on red wines has led to the production of Meritus, a super-premium red wine. The late Andre Tchelistcheff, California's wine authority who helped the Aulers analyze the potential of their Cabernet Sauvignon, gave high marks for their first efforts in Cabernet. "I think we can expect to see some fine reds from Fall Creek in the years to come," said Tchelistcheff. Today, MERITUS has been hailed 'the best wine made in the state of Texas' by several noted wine critics.
While relentlessly leading the way to the boom the Texas wine industry is experiencing today, the Aulers made a bold move by bringing in a talented winemaker from overseas. In August of 2013, Sergio Cuadra, a winemaker from Chile with a global perspective was hired to craft benchmark wines at Fall Creek Vineyards from their Texas Terroir. Sergio has worked with renowned winemakers like Kym Milne MW and Paul Hobbs and has gathered a broad experience while working at world class wineries, Concha y Toro and the Errazuriz group, for the past 20 years.
