Fall Creek Vineyards’ latest wine is a limited release honoring Texas’ most famous historical site: the Alamo. Mission San Antonio de Valero Alamo Cabernet Sauvignon 2021 bears the image of the Alamo’s iconic facade on its label. Since Fall Creek pledged a portion of the wine’s sale proceeds toward upkeep of the 304-year-old mission, the Texas General Land Office (which maintains the site) allowed the winery to use the Alamo’s trademarked image.
Winemaker Sergio Cuadra says his goal “was to produce a special cabernet sauvignon that could compete with any benchmark cab in its price range. We had a higher standard of quality for this wine than for the regular Fall Creek Vineyards cab.”
To get the balance and flavor profile he sought for the wine, Cuadra separately fermented and then blended different lots. The lots are differentiated not only by the plots from which the grapes were harvested, but also varied vinification methods. “They have different nuances because of the type of barrels used, the age of the barrels and fermentation at different temperatures,” he says.
The wine is made mostly with Texas High Plains fruit, but a small amount of grapes were sourced from Fall Creek’s Oxbow Vineyard in the Hill Country — land originally owned by William B. Travis, who died at the Alamo. It’s composed of 75% cabernet sauvignon, 18% merlot and 7% tempranillo.
The wine shows dark cherry, plum and spice notes, with a light oak influence. It’s a balanced, medium-bodied wine, with soft tannins and an alcohol content of 13.8%. Mission San Antonio de Valero Alamo Cabernet Sauvignon sells for about $30 at Pogo’s and is on the wine list at Haywire in Uptown Dallas.
Tina Danze is a Dallas freelance writer.
