Delaney Vineyards

What a glorious day it was! Photos are ready before the words …. be back with details soon.

Wines from earlier harvests

Enthusiastic Early Morning Volunteers

Crush Pad Stompers

Morning Harvest

Our Annual Harvest & Grape Stomp Saturday, August 16th, 2008

We can’t believe another grape harvest is right around the corner! Annually, our vineyard in Grapevine is ready in mid-August, while the grapes in our 100-acre vineyard in Lamesa (west Texas) reach the optimal sugar content sometime in September.

Every year, I’m amazed at the number of visitors (particularly family groups) who come to the Grapevine vineyard to help with our harvest - arriving so early that the sun has not yet shown its colors. Then for 16 hours or more, our professional crews gather the Cynthiana grapes in the large back section; while from 7-10 AM, our adventurous visitors grab buckets & clippers and go to work on the rows near the winery.

At 10 AM, the real party starts! We have enormous stomping tubs on our crush pad. And the giant destemmer equipment is at work, separating the grapes from seeds, stems, and leaves. There’s a lot of laughter, dancing to the music, wet purple clothes, and photo opportunities. Not to mention indoors, where there is more music, wine tasting, tee-shirt coloring, and mingling until noon …. or perhaps 1 PM, if everyone’s having too much fun.

Since this site isn’t yet complete, be sure to visit our main web address at www.delaneyvineyards.com for maps and driving directions.

Save the airfare to California, and come join us for a real Texas vineyard harvest & grape stomp on Saturday, August 16th!

How do you plan a three-ring circus?? Verrrry carefully …. and always with a sense of humour! Along with other Grapevine wineries, we’re expecting hundreds of visitors on Saturday afternoon, April 19th. It’s final prep time for our “Blessing of the Vines” and “New Vintage Wine Trail” events taking place soon. If you’re a beer lover or have never experienced a Wine Trail, think ‘Pub Crawl’ - except without the excessive hangover later.
So we’re busy confirming musicians, having phone chats with our favorite vendors (every year we have tables in our Grand Barrel Room offering everything from wine jewelry to home wine-making ingredients), calculating just how much Irish Stew our visitors will consume, and how many gallons of “Kid’s Wine” (grape juice) we should have on hand! And - good grief - can we call it “Kid’s Wine” without getting in trouble with the state alcohol people?!?
Fortunately, the 11 AM “Blessing of the Vines” , which takes place outside in our 10-acre vineyard, is organized by the Grapevine Visitors and Convention Bureau. I think our eyeballs would be crossing by now if we also had to gather all the new wine samples from the other wineries (for the blessing), and make arrangements for the Mariachi band and procession. All said and done, it IS a quite an experience and a visual feast!
The roots of this ceremony run long and deep. One source is the centuries-old European vineyard blessings done to ensure a full harvest, good wine, and the safe-keeping of the vineyard workers. The tradition moved to the Americas in the late 1500’s, in particular to El Paso, Texas with the Spanish missionaries.
Another source of the Blessing of the vines is from Israel, where Tu B’shvat marks the beginning of spring. King Solomon was known to honor the beauty of spring by dedicating fruit from the Seven Species of the Land of Israel; including the pomegranate, olive, palm, wheat, barley, fig, and, of course, the blossoms of the grape vines.
Hope we see you - everyone is welcome.

Welcome back! I promised to tell you how our winery began. 25 years ago the owner of Delaney Vineyards, Jerry Delaney, converted one hundred family acres in Lamesa, Texas to the cultivation of grapes. After more than a decade of success in Lamesa, Jerry decided to bring his wine to the Dallas-Fort Worth region.
Jerry started the construction of the Grapevine winery in 1993, using designs based on beautiful 18th century chateaus that he had seen in France. He surrounded the new building with another vineyard, 10 acres in size. These acres are now covered with Cynthiana vines, which grow especially well in north Texas. The elegant building, along with the lavish rows of vines, make a beautiful sight along Route 121 for people heading north to downtown Grapevine.
It’s truly a great success story for a Texas farmer to blend the best of our region and culture with that of country French wineries. Like those proud vineyard owners in Burgundy and other regions, Jerry is out in the vineyard daily, toiling alongside the vineyard workers, monitoring his vines and coaxing the finest quality juice out of the fruit.
If you live near Grapevine, TX, you can almost visit ‘the south of France’ by coming by to see us for a Tour and Tasting. Then come on back to these pages in a few days, and I’ll tell you the story behind our annual ‘Blessing of the Vines’.

It’s Spring … the most favorable time of year to start something new. In our vineyards, the sap is rising, and the buds are poised to burst.
Also blossoming is this new back-door look at Delaney Vineyards. Our main website, www.delaneyvineyards.com offers all the information you need about having events, tastings, and tours with us. These pages, however, will give you a private armchair tour of our winery. So I hope you’ll pour a bit of your favorite red or white, and sit back and relax.
My name is Kathy, and I’ve been with Delaney Vineyards for two years. In that time, I’ve accumulated a barrel full of tips, tales, and humorous moments from our Tasting Bar, war stories from our valiant Vineyard Crew, and bits of the sometimes outrageous history of Texas wine. Also, I can’t wait to bring you glimpses of our wine making process and give you a front row view during one of our tours.
We have a colourful cast of characters here; including Dave, our Wine Master & facilities director; Aline, our Empress of Access; Sherry, Royal Keeper of the Books; Christy, our Tasting Bar Maven; as well as Linda, who - along with me - directs the Events Office (aka the Party Queens). And, as you and I spend more time together, I’ll introduce you to the rest of our Events & Vineyard staff - who truly keep this Wine Kingdom humming!
The story of our founder and owner, Jerry Delaney, will take a whole blog entry by itself. Be sure to visit here every few days for new stories. Meanwhile, Breathe Deeply and Sip Slowly ….