Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/45785
VINEYARD R.L. Winters of Fairhaven Vineyards sees a future for forgotten varieties in Texas. Photo: Sam Smead Photocreative By Doug Frost MS, MW Fairhaven Vineyards plants old vines for a new life in eastern Texas .L. Winters is holding forth in his tasting room, a plain but pleasant Morton Building sit- uated off Highway 80 in East Texas, just a couple miles west of Big Sandy. Not Big Sandy the rockabilly guy, but Big Sandy, Texas, where Chicago Bears coach Lovie Smith was born. But there isn't much about Winters that mirrors those sorts of Texas clichés (football, wild rockabilly music); he's intense about his vineyards and winery, yet he's not boastful and doesn't spin any tall tales. Like any other vintner with a new winery roof over his head, a young vineyard outside and a nascent business to hatch, Winters is earnest about what he has, and focused upon what he hopes to accomplish. It's not like viticulture in Texas is easy, but he didn't try to plant his Fairhaven Vineyards brand among the more recognizable soils 46 VINEYARD & WINERY MANAGEMENT NOV - DEC 2011 of the Texas Hill Country or the Texas High Plains, the two best- known AVAs in the state. Starting in 2004, Winters began planting grapes that others had forgotten or never known, variet- ies that he believed held the key to Texas' present and future vinous hopes. He did it far away in east- ern Texas, at a spot that's closer to Louisiana than Dallas, and is even farther away from the state's top wineries and vineyards. Maybe he wanted to head off to a quiet corner and work this thing out before he got boisterous about it. But if there's no typical Texas braggadocio to him, there is still a determined spirit. Winters has a story to tell: He's got vines that nobody else has, and he wants to tell people how this came to be. FAIRHAVEN VINEYARDS AND WINERY Opened: 2009 Location: Hawkins, Texas, in the Sabine River Valley Principals: R.L. Winters, owner/winemaker; Elena Koulich, consulting enologist Vineyards: 15 acres planted, with expansion acreage solely devoted to American hybrids Production: 1,150 cases in 2010, with production for 2011 projected at about the same level, in spite of the drought. WWW.VWM-ONLINE.COM