Running away from responsibility is always fun when it includes a new winery to try. Part of the cru popped into Buli Limestone (hidden behind H-E-B in Fredericksburg or on the web here) this weekend.
We visited as part of the Summer Passport, so were treated to the Classic Tasting menu which included 3 wines from the Buli Italian vineyards and 3 wines from the Texas side of the house. It made for a very interesting tasting and I’d really recommend it to anyone who wants to truly taste the difference between Europe and Texas in one sitting.
2025 515 Chardonnay – Toscana, Italy
Started off with the 515 Chardonnay. 515 refers to the elevation of the vineyards in Italy. This really pale yellow wine tastes nothing like what you’d expect from a Chardonnay, and not just because it never sees oak. It’s light and fruity with a scent that reminds me of summer mornings in my grandmother’s yard. The entire fence around the property was covered in honeysuckle. The wine transported me back there with the soft flower scent mixed with dew. We decided we could see this wine paired with fish tacos. It’s a Wednesday wine. While you could enjoy it in the pool, it’s not just a sip and forget type of wine.
2021 Barrel Aged Rousanne, Texas High Plains
This wine spent 16 months in oak barrels and it shows. It’s bright and full of something it took me forever to describe. I finally settled on the scent of the candy aisle at the Asian market. It’s sugar mixed with red bean curd and who knows what else. I could have sat and smelled the wine for hours. Unfortunately, as it warms up it loses that scent and becomes more of a buttery Roussanne. A great example of Narra Vineyards’ fruit. But after the first, it was a Tuesday for us. Good enough, but couldn’t figure out a pairing for it.
2020 Dolcetto, Texas Hight Plains
Meagan (who was awesome) described this wine as one she can sell to non-wine drinkers. I can see why. This ruby colored floral, but fruity, wine from Pepper Jack Vineyards was highly debated. It smells sweetish, but it’s not, despite being described as smelling like Welch’s. It’s smooth and paired with most things on the charcuterie board. Yes, even the olives. In the end we gave this a very mixed rating. It’s a pool red for white wine drinkers but not a pool party red – too sophisticated for that. (Not for your sorority sisters – unless they appreciate wine.) But at the same time it’s a Sunday with the family you like (it’s got a high price point). We want to try it with goulash.
This is where the fun started. The next three wines should be poured as a vertical.
2021 Buli 515 Sangiovese, Italy
I can see why this wine was put next. We went from the light ruby of the Dolcetto to the deep ruby of the Italian Sangiovese. And I really wanted to love this wine. But the nose was well…. reminds me of the Aggie Dairy barn. Cheese rind, mold and manure. Not the start you want. Granted others on the crew got tobacco and earthy. (That’s still the Aggie Dairy Barn, y’all.) The first taste was, well, shocking. I couldn’t place it. It was salty with sweet pepper. The more we discussed the description, the more we just sipped on the wine. It paired well with the olive oil and bread and then it was gone. We’d drunk it with out realizing it. Which means despite the nose, we really enjoyed it and decided it would be a Wednesday night wine – good enough for a Stouffer’s Lasagna.
2019 Sangiovese, Texas High Plains
Personally, I’d have put this one before the one from Italy, but the light garnet color kept the color spectrum in order. Another Narra Vineyards wine that is more complex than you think. Not your typical Texas Sangiovese. It tasted like mulled wine or “liquid lebkuchen” (in other words – it tasted like Christmas). The brie brought out the plum in the wine. And that is where my notes ended as the conversation about the wine lapsed into silence as we simply enjoyed the wine and the feeling it invoked. Despite not having an immediate food pairing, we decided we just wanted this one on a Thursday night in front of the fire.
2020 Estate 44, Tuscany
Unlike the other wines from the Buli side of the house, the 15% of Merlot added to the Sangiovese didn’t come from their vineyards. I didn’t quite get if the Sangiovese was theirs or not – but I suspect it did because this blend added floral notes to the Aggie Dairy Barn. The Merlot overrides the Sangiovese flavor, making it a Sangiovese for people who don’t like Sangiovese. I found it to be served too cold (despite being the proper temperature). Even as it warmed up, I still wanted to love it – but didn’t. On the other hand others in the cru want to pair this with an Italian style seafood stew. I can see why this true garnet colored wine is one of their top sellers.
Final Thoughts
We finished the tasting and provided our thoughts to Meagan. She promptly decided we needed to try something else. In the middle of the tasting we met Dr. Bob (Buly) one of the owners who was in town for the weekend.
For fun we did the 2020 Brunello from Tuscany (6 years in barrel and not their Sangiovese grapes) with a mellow flavor, but still the same moldy cheese scent. The 2021 Teroldego from the Texas High Plains was fruit and olive on the nose with stewed plum and pipe tobacco flavors.
We snuck in a half tasting of the 2021 Amidei from Tuscany to finish out the bottle for the day. It had an earthy mushroom scent with a cherry flavor and the cru determined it needed a good greasy hamburger to go with it (or that might have been the suggestion for dinner.)
I finished with a glass of the Prosecco from Tuscany. A true pool wine. Perfectly sweet bubbles to go with a pizza on a night that you just don’t want to cook but want to celebrate not killing anyone in the office (and you work from home). Made in the Charmat Method using the Glera Grape, this wine is DOC. [Don’t worry, I’ll have to get Uncle John to explain it to me too…]
Overall it was a wonderful way to spend an overcast afternoon, and I’m sure we’ll head back with other friends when they come to visit. You really can’t go wrong with any of the tasting room staff and what’s even better is they let you’re four-legged fur babies in the tasting room – on leash, of course.
