by Robyn Folmar
Red Caboose winery showcased their award-winning wines at a merry Bolsa Mercado 5-course dinner Thursday night. Winemakers Gary and Evan McKibben were on hand to talk about growing excellent grapes with old-world, natural techniques in the harsh Texas heat. Chefs Jeff Harris and Andrew Bell supplied great dishes, such as Roasted and Braised Cabrito to pair with these great local wines.
Red Caboose, led by the father-son team, is quickly growing in popularity due to being included in the “Top 10 Hot Brands” by Wine Business Monthly, winning at the Jefferson Cup Invitational, and taking home awards at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. Currently, they produce around 5,000 cases by using hands-on techniques. Evan stated that they are inspired by how wine was made a couple of hundred years ago and consider themselves farmers. They do this for the love of the process and don’t want to expand much past 10,000 cases.
The sweet Blanc du Bosque and the crisp viogner (picked last July 4th weekend) would be perfect on a hot Dallas day. The tempranillo grapes ripen quickly in the Texas climate and make for a good blend in the Range Ryder.
It is good to see Chef Andrew Bell landing at Bolsa Mercado and he plans to expand the market’s grocery offerings. He wants to add more beer coolers and delivery service for the area. (Admittedly, I bought all of the available Ranger Creek #2’s and most of the #3’s that were available, so added coolers will come in handy.)
Gary McKibben and Chef Bell are looking forward to an outdoor dinner at the winery this spring. I’m looking forward to it, as these gentlemen were charming and passionate about their little environmentally friendly winery in Meridian.
Red Caboose wines can be found at Bolsa Mercado, Off the Vine in Grapevine, Del Frisco’s and Grace in Ft. Worth and on their website.
