There are few times in your life where you are compelled to leap…Bent Oak is one of those. After contemplating building a winery for many years, we did just that. We shook hands on a deal to bring in awesome grapes, grabbed a glass of wine at a favorite place and while looking out over an idyllic vineyard, standing stalwart in the middle we see this majestic weathered oak. That oak in many ways resembles us and ties us together; our roots in Texas, Florida, and California and the commitment to bring to our customers accessible, balanced, and high-quality wines from the regions that represent each varietal the best. It's all about family at Bent Oak Winery. Coming into the tasting room, and being greeted by our Wine Ambadassadors, it will be like walking into our home.
Our passion
At Bent Oak, our passion is bringing out the unique qualities from each region we choose as the origin for our wines. From east Texas range, Texas High Plains, California's Russian River Valley, to the rich volcanic soil of Sonoma Mountain and even our own back yard vineyard, our grapes are hand-picked, carefully sorted, and treated with the utmost care to preserve the essence of terroir from which the grapes originated. From dirt to bottle, our wines speak for themselves, showing distinct character, balance and taste. Our existential mission is to bring forth to our customers wines of distinction from regions where they are best formed. While we focus on wine styles consistent with our customer demand, we are unabashed about stepping out of the box to bring forward varietals that are worthy of consideration.
John “FatCat” Catalano leads our winemaking team. His 15 years of experience include producing distinctive wines from both Texas and California as well as vineyard establishment and management. John is enrolled in both Viticulture and Enology programs at Texas Tech University. John’s approach is to dig deep into understanding the soil, climate, and the varietal fit for what Bent Oak wants to produce for our customers. This means getting out into the vineyards, something that John loves to do. After all, good wines start from good grapes and to understand that you need to practice vineyard enology; wine making up front!
John first dove into the fermentation arts by brewing beer…there is an old adage in making quality wines: “It takes a lot of beer to make good wine!” John used his knowledge of brewing and fermentation science to also learn to make wine and that soon expanded into growing grapes. He has been growing different grape varietals and producing wines for over 15 years using his own grapes as well as other grapes brought in from Texas and California. While California’s comparatively benign climate yields a certain predictability harvest to harvest, Texas can show unusual extremes that bedevil even the most skilled winemaker…a challenge that John has taken to heart.
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Google map-https://goo.gl/maps/xpVsb9o28eMKdK678
Address: 1241 Sunrise Vista Thorndale, TX 76577
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