The Texas Bluebonnet Wine Trail features seasonal events throughout the year, and this month is a wine & chocolate pairing. My best friend and I try to “run away” a few times a year (we have 8 boys between us), and this sounded like the perfect girls’ weekend!

There are seven participating wineries* along the Hwy 6/Hwy 105 corridor in south-central Texas. Each winery featured two tasting selections and a sample-sized chocolate dish. Since the event ran Sat-Sun, we needed something to do on Friday evening. So, we started our wine tour off the trail with three stops in the west Houston area: Cellar Door, Circle S Vineyards, and Braman Winery (which also had live music that night).

*In case you’ve never been to a wine tasting before, I should clarify that the tastings are usually 1 or 2-oz pours, so if you sample 2-3 wines, you get a half to one glass worth, and that’s if they are generous pours. 😉  I promise we didn’t get hammered!!

We stayed in the Katy area on Friday night and started on the official trail with the three participating wineries in the Brenham area on Saturday: Saddlehorn, Pleasant Hill & Windy Wineries.

Next, we went to Bryan/College Station for two official stops, plus one extra just for fun. Messina Hof is an old favorite of ours (and their featured jalapeno chocolate truffle was to die for!), but we were excited to discover Peach Creek Vineyards (where we savored a terrific chocolate mole dish!), and we enjoyed some more live music and a sample flight at Perrine Winery in town. We stayed the night there before we hit the last two wineries on Sunday.

The last two wineries were tucked away, one in the rural town of Montgomery (Cork This! Winery), and the other was down a semi-paved road that were it not for signage, we weren’t sure we were going the right direction.

Bernhardt Winery was worth the drive into the boonies, though, because we enjoyed a fantastic port-filled chocolate candy, as well as a delicious chocolate cobbler with a dab of ice cream. It was so good that we stayed and tried a port flight, as well. We learned a lot about the history of port wine and sampled some truly delicious wines.

To round out the trip, we got a souvenir glass and handy-dandy corkscrew! We had a blast, learned a bit about some of our favorite wines, but best of all … we relaxed, got away from the hustle & bustle of “real life,” and recharged our batteries for a brand new week ahead. 🙂