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Pedernales Cellars is located in Stonewall, just east of Fredericksburg in the very heart of the Hill Country. Our family has been growing Texas grapes for 15 years, and in that time we have learned that only when you find balance with the land and the grapes do great wines emerge. Here you will see that in everything from the varietals we grow to the geothermal cooled underground cellar, we work with the Central Texas soils to make truly exceptional wines.
A balance of technology and tradition
The Winery
Completed in 2008, the Pedernales Cellars winery facility is a perfect balance of technology and tradition. The 4,000 square foot facility is entirely underground where the natural insulation of our Hill Country limestone helps to keep the cellar at an ideal temperature year round. This simple and traditional design is augmented by a state of the art geothermal cooling system which circulates water deep underground to further cool the building in the summer.
Within the winery one finds this same balance of technology and tradition with stainless steel tanks and destemmer alongside traditional Bordeaux style French and American oak barrels and a basket style press. Our goal is to keep things simple and put the focus on producing fine wine and turning to technology when it can improve quality, or reduce our impact on our environment.
The Vineyard
Our first plantings at the Kuhlken Vineyards began in 1994 and have been increased since then to our current 17 acres of grape vines. Our estate vineyards are planted with several varieties that include Tempranillo, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Garnacha, Touriga Nacionale, and Mourvedre. Like the winery, we work to keep things simple. We continue to do our pruning, cluster selection, and eventually harvest by hand in order to preserve the high level of quality we demand for our wines. It also allows us to know our plants and respond quickly to the rapid changes that come with our region's often unpredictable weather. We chose the area north of Fredericksburg on the Llano highway because of its cooler evenings and excellent soils. We believe it is one of the best regions in this state for grapes even if it means that winery visitors will not get to see our primary vineyards. For this reason, we plan to begin planting a smaller vineyard of select varietals at the winery in 2009 to give visitors a chance to see how we grow our grapes and eventually even join us for our harvests.