Texas isn’t the first place that comes to mind when most people think about wine, especially “serious” high-quality wine. And yet, Texas is fifth in the nation in both wine production and consumption. The history of grape growing in the state goes back at least to the 1660s, when Franciscan monks planted Mission grapes adjacent to their missions.* Today, Texas is home to a number of American Viticultural Areas, or AVAs; the two most prominent are the Texas High Plains AVA around Lubbock in northwestern Texas, and the Texas Hill Country AVA in central Texas west of Austin.
In his 20s, Texas native Randy Hester left a frustrating career in Psychology and adolescent mental health, and began to search for his next path in life. His first real exposure to the world of wine came during his years in restaurant management, where he discovered he had a naturally talented palate. Randy eventually moved into wine sales and distribution where he became intrigued with winemaking, and felt compelled to create his own.
In 2006, at the age of 36, he and his wife Brooke headed to Napa Valley. Serendipitously, Brook secured the position of CFO at Patz and Hall, famous for vineyard-designated Chardonnays and Pinot Noirs. In short order, James Hall became Randy’s mentor, beginning the Hester’s 11-year sojourn in Napa, years that included stints at Cakebread Cellars, Colgin Cellars, Caldwell Vineyard, Realm Cellars, and Marciano Estate as well. Hester made the most of his time there, working the fields and wineries, talking to winemakers and growers, and touring vineyards, all while taking night classes at UC Davis and Napa College.
But the Hesters, both meticulous planners, always intended to return to Texas, which they did in 2017, founding the C.L. Butaud Winery in Austin. Rather than name the winery after himself, as is so often the case, C.L. Butaud [byu-tow] is an homage to Hester’s great grandfather, known as Frenchy, who exerted an early and positive influence on him as a boy.
At the very beginning, the Hesters made a conscious decision not to farm, so Butaud has no vineyards of its own, aka estate vines. Instead, Hester utilizes 100 percent Texas-grown grapes from a network of trusted growers in the High Plains AVA. This allows him maximum flexibility to select fruit best suited to his philosophy of a clean approach to natural winemaking. He is both minimalist and experimental, while at the same time paying respect to the traditions of winemaking, and relies on his artistic instincts as well as the empirical data of fermentation science he has amassed.
Although a winery of his own is due in the near future, Hester currently works on a Custom Crush business model. This is the idea of making wine in a facility with equipment and resources provided by the facility management team. It can be a great way to make wine without the overhead and capital investment of a dedicated winery.
Determined to produce wines to be taken seriously, Hester has avoided all of the Texas/cowboy/yee-haw clichés in the packaging and marketing of his products.
As of this writing, C.L. Butaud is producing 13 different wines from seven different vineyard sites, and crushes 60 tons of Texas fruit.
*For much more on the Franciscans and the Missions, click here.
C.L. Butaud Blanc de Noir 2023
This wine is 100% Mourvèdre, intriguing since Mourvèdre is a red-wine grape widely planted in Spain. It was aged on the lees for three months in stainless steel barrels, and then aged another eight months in bottle before release.
Why make a white wine from a red grape, rather than a rosé? The inspiration came from a book Hester encountered, La Buvette, from authors Camille Fourmont and Kate Leahy. According to the authors, “Blanc de noir is a white wine made from a red grape, a technique you see all the time with Pinot Noir and Pinto Meunier in Champagne. It is more unusual when a winemaker decides to make a blanc de noir as a still wine. [The] grapes are pressed just until very clear, pale juices run out of the fruit. Since the skin doesn’t imprint any color or tannin, the wine expresses the aromatics of the grape, allowing the brightest, purest expression to come through.”
Hester suggested, “Don’t bother trying to nail down tasting notes, just enjoy.” But I’m going to ignore that, so here goes. The wine is pale clear yellow in the glass, with a few tartrate crystals** as well. There are strong aromatics of apple and pear on the nose. These continue on the palate, supported by grapefruit and its accompanying bracing acidity. There is a touch of melon on the finish. Overall, it’s quite refreshing. ABV is 13.3 %.
**Tartrate crystals, aka “wine stones,” are precipitated from tartaric acid, the principle organic acid in grapes. Although completely harmless and only affect wine visually, they are usually avoided by cold stabilization, a process of removing tartrates by storing wine at a very low temperature (26 to 32 degrees F.) for up to three weeks.
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