QUIET TEXAS WINEMAKER GOES PUBLIC WITH OWN WINE COMPANY
- andychalk
- Apr 2
- 4 min read
by Andrew Chalk
“It is six and a half, a little over six and a half acres. They were planted in 2015. This big block here, down the center, this is Malbec. And then this is the Cabernet. The ground gets really marginal over here, a lot of rock, sandstone. It's all Hickory Sands… it's a really interesting soil. A lot of, there's clay, it's an orangish, iron, reddish clay underneath. And it's all mixed with this quartz. From granite, you know, just decomposed granite. So it drains, I mean, drains. We're at 1,850 feet. We're up on a little ridge. …So all the air drains off. We haven't had any frost problems yet.”
Bill Blackmon is describing his vineyard on highway 29 near Menard in Mason County. We are standing in front of an aerial map of it in his recently opened tasting room on the beautiful town square of Mason, Texas.
Blackmon is a farmer, first and foremost. He is fascinated with all the details of his vineyard from which he sources the fruit for Blackmon Wines. In his 40 years in winemaking, he has tackled almost every grape, but with his own vineyard he has settled on the varieties that he considers make the wines he most enjoys. They are cabernet sauvignon, merlot, and malbec. The classic Bordeaux recipe, and Bill considers cabernet sauvignon to be the king of the lot.
BACKGROUND
Bill Blackmon is the “William” behind William Chris Vineyards. Bill and Chris Brundett formed the company in 2010 after an introduction by Lewis Dickson. The two built William Chris into one of the front rank of Texas wineries, stressing a message of 100% Texas grapes from the start at a time when many wineries did not see that as one of their defining characteristics.
Originally from a farming family in the Texas High Plains, where they grew cotton, even prior to William Chris Bill had made wine for many other brands including Pheasant Ridge, Becker, and Granite Hill Vineyards. He has taught viticulture classes for Texas farmers to improve the quality of Texas grapes. As of today, he is one of the most respected winemaking voices in the state.
So how does the wine taste when he grew the grapes, he made the wine, and it is solely his name on the bottle? Early on a bright Spring morning, armed with homemade sourdough from Kneading Faith (on the north side of the square in Mason, TX) I sit in Blackmon Wines tasting room (on the west side of the square). Bill is taking me through the flight.
TASTING
BLACKMON 2021 Merlot, Texas Hill Country ($85)
Aged with about 20% new French oak with a medium toast. Dark ruby red color. Nose of vanilla, baking spices, chocolate. Rich raspberry fruit, firm tannins. Medium plus finish. This wine is best put down for several years to allow the tannins to soften. As the bottle helpfully notes, the grapes were grown at 30°49'00.0"N 99°22'10.0"W (enter that in the Google Maps search bar to show the location).
BLACKMON 2021 Cabernet Sauvignon, Texas Hill Country ($115)
Lovely dark ruby color. Pyrazines from the grape come through in the nose. Cedar, baking spices. Pronounced tannins are very chewy. I felt like I had a tree growing in my mouth. Cellar for 5+ years before tasting again.
Aged in 30% new oak, 40% second year oak for 18 months.Released October 2024.
BLACKMON 2020 Cabernet Sauvignon, Texas Hill Country ($124)
The extra year of aging makes this wine an interesting contrast with the 2021. The tannins have really mellowed out. The wine is altogether more resolved. But, it is still undoubtedly a young wine. The nose is very forward in response to swirling, and complex. It is composed of blackberry fruit, cedar, and pencil lead. A fantastic structure. Flavors of the blackberry, thyme, cedar and forest floor. My favorite of the tasting.
Scores: Suckling: 93/100, Cristaldi 95/100. Texsom: Silver medal.
BLACKMON 2019 Cabernet Sauvignon, Texas Hill Country ($136)
Color shows age. Garnet at edge of rim.This was the wine with the most aromatic nose..
Most powerful in the mouth. Black fruits (blackberry and black plum).
Scores: Suckling: 92/100, Cristaldi 96/100.
THE FUTURE
Blackmon wines currently produces around 500 cases. Yields are low (in the absence of hail or frost, cabernet sauvignon 1.5t/acre, merlot 2.5t/acre and malbec 3.5t/acre). Total cases will increase as some malbec comes on stream. A malbec-dominant red blend will be named Elizabeth, in honor of Bill’s wife (she likes malbec). Another blend will be merlot-dominant (no details yet).
In 2023 hail devastated the vineyard, reducing the crop by 70%. Yields were so low that the crop insurance wouldn’t pay up, claiming a yield of 2 tons/acre was the minimum they could support. Release of the small quantity of wine is planned for around October this year.
I have written before about Mason’s rise as a center of Texas winemaking. The presence of Blackmon Wines to the square is a welcome addition to that. It is an even bigger entry into the Texas wine scene, adding another national-quality name to the list of wineries.
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