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Travis and Hot Shot – The Origin Love Story of Two Siboney Cellars Wines

Travis and Hot Shot - a Siboney Love Story
Miguel and Barbara were married February 15, 2008.

[Note from Miguel: The big Texas #IceStorm2021 disrupted pretty much everything including this blog entry which was to mark the debut of the new website. Now that power has been restored we can update you on many things!]

Like you, we often wonder about the inspiration for wine names. Truth is, before we even named Siboney Cellars, we knew the first two wines would be named Travis and Hot Shot.

Barbara and I were married February 15, 2008. Prior the wedding, Barbara lived in Philadelphia, and I lived in Austin. We kept a running game of Scrabble going online, for many months. I played under an alias, Travis, because after years of spelling “L-E-C….U-O…. N-A” for Austin restaurant waiting lists (remember those???), I simplified to “Travis, party of 2” because every Texan can spell Travis! So that stuck. I was fortunate to win many of the early contests. But as is typical for Barbara, her competitiveness and determination are pretty much unstoppable. And sure enough, she got on a hot streak, and won 7 games in a row. So I wrote to her and said, “okay Hot Shot that’s enough of that!” Next thing I knew, she changed her Alias to Hot Shot.

Travis and Hot Shot were printed on the matchbooks for our wedding, and so naturally they are the first red and white wines for Siboney Cellars. And now you know the rest of the Love Story!

As for the wines? Both are delightful Texas blends of Rhone varietals, and we will create these each year. The 2017’s sold out. The new 2018 Hot Shot (Roussanne, Marsanne and Viognier) is now available in our wine store. And the 2019 Travis (Grenache, Syrah and Mourvèdre) is in barrel, and will debut this Spring. We’re sure you will show both of them nothing but Love!

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Going Solo. The new Red from Siboney Cellars

Solo – Our Newest Red… – Solo is so good you’ll want it all to yourself. But we won’t blame you if you share!We are excited to introduce our newest Red from the 2017 Vintage. Solo is a single vineyard varietal, from Lahey Vineyards in The High Plains. The grape? Nebbiolo.

Extremely rare in Texas, Nebbiolo is one of the most noble and prestigious grapes in the world. You may know that in the Piedmont, Nebbiolo creates a profound wine, Barolo – extremely long lived, complex and rather rare in the fine wine world. We have only a very few bottles of this Italian Icon in our cellar. But, the way Barolo ages, the color and complexity it shows, the grace it features when served, Barolo is one of the true high points in wine appreciation. Clearly and with profound respect to Pio Cesare, Conterno and all the greats in Piedmont for centuries, it takes much more than Nebbiolo to make great Barolo.

So please do not mistake our humble offering of this noble grape as a precocious attempt to replicate Barolo. I know it goes without saying, but I’d rather you hear that from us directly so there is no mistake!Generally speaking, the grape may not be ideally suited for our challenging growing conditions. Consequently, there are not many vineyards growing Nebbiolo. When we first met Doug and Tom Reed at Hawk’s Shadow, we were surprised and delighted to find they planted a few rows of Nebbiolo in their Estate vineyards in Dripping Springs. Not enough for a separate bottling, Nebbiolo is featured in their flagship Estate blend, HSV.

So when we learned that Lahey Vineyards was working with a young plot, we jumped at the chance to try it and we can say with affection, the result in the glass is certainly encouraging!A unique wine with many special attributes, Solo is a young, early drinking red striking in character. A deep shade of ruby, more Pinot than Cabernet in hue, with pearlescent reflections, elegant in the glass.

On the nose, cherry blossoms, cut strawberries, and Italian herbs. The wine is young, punchy with a savory warmth on the structured, tannic finish. Hold or drink now, but either way, it’s the perfect red for simple roast chicken.Just $32 for the bottle. Give Solo a try. Stop by the tasting room in Dripping Springs. We think you’ll appreciate Nebbiolo as we do!

From Vineyard to Bin to Barrel

Barrel Rider - Getting our arms around this vintage

Siboney Cellars has completed the 2017 Harvest — our very first — and happily, at the high end of our volume expectations.  Now in the grand scheme of things, being above our modest plan doesn’t amount to a whole lot, but when you are doing it all yourself by hand, you definitely feel it!  I should say, Barbara definitely feels it, as she is the one who has done substantially ALL of it!  Splitting time between our own harvest and that of our hosts, Barbara has now worked over 11 tons of grapes destined for Siboney Cellars, from vineyard to bin through fermentation and now to barrel.  

We have 20 barrels of 2017 vintage Texas Wine in our corner of Siboney Cellars.  We went into the harvest with a plan, and have emerged with a pretty good chance to bring that plan to market, and offer a couple of unexpected, hopefully delightful, surprises.  

  • With two white grape varietals in the cellar, Roussanne and Viognier, we have an opportunity to present two single varietals, or a blend, or potentially the blend and one single vineyard varietal.  
  • The bounty of red varietals in 2017 affords an opportunity to present a Saignée Rosé.  We fully embrace and applaud the Pink #TxWine efforts across the state!  We see consistent quality and thousands of happy wine lovers when they taste a great Texas Rosé, bright, balanced and dry, and perfect with gulf coast seafood.  We can’t wait to join in.
  • Turning to Reds, the prospects are exciting.  We don’t want to say too much at this point, but we plan to have a precocious early-drinking Red in 2018.  And, we are preparing at least two assaults up the steep slopes of the “serious” Texas Red Wine summit, in the style of classic wines we have come to know and love over the years.  With the varietals, quality, and sources under Barbara’s care – now safely in barrel – we look forward to tempting you with wines for your own cellar.

MRL

Just. You. Wait. - 2017 is in Barrel.  Our Barrel.