Caudalie Crest Winery, Celina Record

Unassuming Caudalie Crest Winery content to stay small Lisa Ferguson, lferguson@starlocalmedia.com Apr 30, 2016 Zipping down FM 543 just east of Weston, it would be easy to drive right past Caudalie Crest Winery. Were it not for the acre of bright-green grape vines visible from the road, one might assume the place is just another small family farm tucked into the rural landscape. And that is precisely the idea according to Sue Verrill, who for 11 years has co-owned the winery with her husband Ray. After all, the 10-acre property on which the vineyard and small winery sit has been their home since 2005 – the same year the England-born-and-bred couple became U.S. citizens. “If you come here, you are coming into our world, as it were,” she said. The winery is open to the public Saturday and Sunday afternoons during most of the year (it is typically closed for a couple of months during the winter) for tastings of Caudalie Crests’s 12 varieties of award-winning wine. Beginning in mid-May, the winery will also be open Friday afternoons. “Wined Down Friday” evening events are planned and will feature live musicians who perform on a patio adjacent to the small Texas-themed tasting room. People are encouraged to bring a picnic meal to enjoy and explore the grounds, which are also home to horses and a pair of Great Pyrenees dogs, named George and Ringo, whose job it is to guard the 19 goats that also reside there. “We’re a small, intimate winery,” Sue said. “People come out and they just forget where they are. You can sit here all afternoon and watch the cars go by.” Ray Verrill, who has been making wine since he was a teen, produces by hand each bottle sold at Caudalie Crest Winery – from picking the grapes and loading them into a crushing machine, to affixing the label. He uses the cabernet, white and orange muscat grapes that are grown onsite as well as some purchased from other Texas vineyards. The wines are aged in stainless-steel tanks to which oak chips are added for flavor. According to the winery’s website, a soft-blush wine called Tickled Pink features “hints of pear, summer fruits and a light floral fragrance” and “pairs well with pools, parties and fun.” Another, called Snow on the Prairie, is a Blanc du Bois that complements spicy foods and pate, while Texas Velvet boasts “notes of chocolate and toffee” and goes well with desserts, chocolate and cheeses to round out a meal. All of Caudalie Crests wines are priced between $16 and $25 per bottle. “There are some full-bodied wines, but [Ray] likes to make sort of smooth, mellow wines that are easy drinking,” Sue said. “They’re everyday-drinking wines.” It helps, Sue said, that the couple isn’t “snobby” about wine and does not consider themselves wine connoisseurs. “If you like it, you like it. If you don’t, you don’t,” she said. “We’ve had people come (to the winery) who say they’re wine snobs and they’ve loved everything they’ve tried.” Follow the Celina Record on Twitter @celinarecord.