Date visited: 1/18/2020

Cicada Cellars is a winery situated in Stonewall, Texas, on the corner of US 290 and St. Francis–as in, right on the corner.  Established by Jeff and Barbara Williams, who moved to Fredericksburg in the early 2000s, they do not have their own vineyard, but they do buy their grapes from both Texas and California, and they create their wines and wine blends (source).

And they have fun doing it.  You can tell by their website alone that they’re casual, fun, personable people.  There’s an intelligent, casual approachability to them.  The venue is literally a few dozen feet from the highway (US 290), and although there is signage, it does not jump out at you, so it’s easy to overshoot it, even if you’re watching.

It’s totally worth the backtrack, though.  Parking is easy, paved, and within a few feet of the entrance, along with a couple handicapped spaces.

Immediately, we were struck by the brightness of the place and Jeff’s friendly, laid-back vibe, both of which appealed to us.  Nicely-spaced tables (both high and low) lined the perimeter (high tables) and the lower tables were studded throughout the room.  The decor was a delightfully quirky blend of urban graffiti wall art and ranch-Texan cowhides for mats under the tables.  The whole place was brightly lit with plenty of white-space minimalism and splashes of color.  The restrooms are separate, clean, and well-maintained.  We visited around 11am, and we were the only people there besides Jeff, so it was nice and quiet.

They’re open Thursday through Sunday, opening at 11am except on Sundays (when they open at noon), until 5.30p on weeknights, 6p on Saturdays, and 5p on Sundays.

Cicada Cellars prides themselves–and rightfully so–on their reasonably-priced wine flights, which consist of 2-oz pours of each of 5 wines, all of which are fairly dry or off-dry, for $15.

We did not taste the Ruby-Eyed Red because it was aged in whiskey (which is distilled from gluten-containing grains) barrels, and we take a “better safe than sorry” approach to remaining gluten-free.  Jeff happily offered us a tasting of a dry rosé wine as a substitute, out of which Laina is proud to report that she pulled a citrus flavor!  🙂

While Laina’s palate is currently well under development, she’s still a little shaky on attempting to describe dry wines, so she’ll defer to Lynn on all of the tasting notes.

Lynn:

The 5 wines we tasted were as follows:

• 2017 Texas Tempranillo – A lighter bodied Temp that’s smooth and easy-drinking. Flavors primarily of blackberry and rose petal with a hint of tobacco.  Short, clean finish.
• 2017 Malbec/Merlot – This is lighter in color for the respective syles it’s blended from, and is also light-to-medium in body.  Notes of blueberry and unsweetened vanilla with a hint of nutmeg on the finish and very soft tannins.
• 2017 Blue Moon Tannat – A bolder wine with notes of red apple, dark chocolate and tobacco.  Fairly heavy tannins on the finish with an ample red pepper bite that lingers.
• 2017 Cabernet Sauvignon/Tannat Blend – The body and richness of the Tannat with a softer finish and the addition of more fruity notes mainly consisting of blackberry and blueberry.  Rich and well-balanced, this was my standout.
• 2017 Dog Day Rose – A light body, refreshing rose with Ruby Red grapefruit as the star of the show.  Also a hint of watermelon and honey.

Laina also wound up having a glass of Truth Juice v1.5, which is a Muscat blend with 1.5% residual sugar.  Though technically a sweet wine, she found it to be not as sweet as many.

Here is a list of their current wines as of January 2020:

Fun Facts: In addition to full-sized bottles, you can also get a six-pack of “mini bottles” to mix and match various wines.  Each mini bottle is exactly one glass of wine.  The tasting portion was of size to equal two glasses of wine (one of the more generous sample sizes we’ve seen), so we were happy to split a tasting.

Highlights: 

• Amazing Texas-style decor
• Warm and inviting
• Casual, laid-back vibe
• Handicap parking available
• Mostly dry with limited sweet options available
• Flights/tastings available with generous pours
• Glasses available
• Bottles available (both full sized and mini variety packs)
• Very reasonably priced/excellent value