After several years of development, Fischer & Wieser Specialty Foods is launching its first-ever Culinary Adventure Wine Collection, beginning with four increasingly respected Texas wines but with plans to incorporate vintages from Germany, Austria, Italy, Spain and France.
Working with accomplished Texas vineyards and wineries until it can establish its own in Fredericksburg, the Fischer & Wieser team includes Simon Fischer, son of company President/CEO Case D. Fischer and his wife Deanna. Simon Fischer studied winemaking in Napa Valley and worked through harvests at several wineries – appropriate to the Texas Hill Country, now the nation’s second-busiest wine tourism destination, after only Napa.
“We’ve always enjoyed pairing wines from around the world with our specialty food products and the recipes we create to showcase them,” says Case D. Fischer. “With the amazing growth of Texas as a wine-producing state, it only makes sense we would launch our own collection that pairs best with the many global flavors we enjoy.”
With Fredericksburg’s German roots, the wine collection will not overlook the special wines of Germany and Austria. Indeed, its first two white wines are a dry Riesling and a gewurztraminer, both with origins in German-speaking Europe. All the same, appropriately as revered wines go, the line’s two reds gaze in different directions, to the Bordeaux region of France for a 50/50 blend of cabernet sauvignon and malbec and to Italy for Tuscany’s sangiovese blended with 20 percent cabernet.
Starting out, the Wine Collection will be sold exclusively at Das Peach Haus, the historic building that serves as Fischer & Wieser’s larger retail spaces on the family farm, site of a peach orchard that launched the idea for the company in 1928. These first wines in the collection, made from 100% Texas grapes, range from $20 to $25. They are also available by the glass.
Future plans call for Fischer & Wieser to plant a vineyard on the family farm that’s renowned for its peaches in the summer months, as well as to build a winery to put grapes from the vineyard and other select sites to excellent use.
In terms of tasting notes, the Fischer & Wieser’s Dry Riesling is light and refreshing, with aromas of melon and delicate wisps of orange blossom. On the palate, crisp flavors of zesty lime and pear are complemented with a touchy of minerality. The Gewürztraminer is an aromatic wine with a lush, lightly floral character. Tropical fruit flavors of mango and lychee come together on the front followed by notes of sweet ginger.
Fischer & Wieser’s König Red is named in honor of the area’s König family, whose rural cabin was purchased, disassembled and moved into town by Mark Wieser, becoming the first official peach stand. The wine is a blend of bold reds with dark berry and plum flavors, with robust tannins and smooth mouthfeel that make it a perfect choice for food pairings. The Sangiovese is an earthy red wine with nuances of roasted tomato, cherries and hints of black pepper. Light oak aging gives this wine a composed balance of tannins and acidity.