Weekend re-cap: 12 Fires, Alex Anthony Vineyards, Highlands

The week had been a booger, not gonna lie.  Both of us felt stressed heading into the weekend and I had a tough time sleeping on Friday night.  I hate it when Fridays end that way! We started off Saturday with a few little chores around the house, then ate a  Chik-Fil-A lunch on the road.  We had plans to visit two new to us wineries in the Hill Country, then end the day at Highlands.  Time to get back into our spirit of exploration and maybe write an article or two for the wine blog.

Finding the first winery, 12 Fires, along a gravel side road between two larger wineries - a challenge, but well-rewarded.  These little out of the way places are always fun to find.  We aren't ones for big crowded wineries or breweries.

Wide open spaces and lots of big sky.  Yes, please.

One of the owners conducted our tasting outside under the oaks and our visit was very relaxing and informative.  I really love wineries that have loads of outside seating, especially on beautiful days like this.  But there was only one of him and many more customers...so we said our goodbyes and headed back up the road to Johnson City.

Where we found a very cute little tasting room just off the courthouse square, Alex Anthony Vineyards.  We had passed it several times in the past, waiting for them to open.  Turns out, they opened, in October, we just hadn't been out that way at the end of the year.

They had the friendliest owner and general manager!  And their tasting room reminds me of Esperanza's - cozy/casual and chic with art and candles and some of the best wine.  I'm sure we will be back again - they are on the way to and from Highlands.

None of the furniture matched and the sparkly chandies were very pretty.  I loved it.  We said our goodbyes there, too, and headed to Highlands where we sat around a firepit until well after dark, made some spicy eggplant ravioli with Alfredo sauce for dinner, and enjoyed more wine, of course.  The next day we slept in, ate a very late lunch, harvested some photos from Hubby's wildlife camera, and lounged around in our chairs.  It was a very relaxing end to a fun weekend.  Just what we needed!

Gina