Today we’d like to introduce you to Stephen Watson. Them and their team share their story with us below:
Stephen thought he’d have a military career after college, but his experience in a tank unit during the 2003 invasion of Iraq made him realize that the military was not what he wanted long term. Coincidentally, he saw A Walk in the Clouds, a movie about a young soldier who finds peace working in a vineyard after serving in World War II. This idea seemed peaceful to Stephen, and he thought it might be the answer to the question of what to do with his family property in Coleman. After completing his service in the military, he went to California, where he met his future wife, Mary, on a blind date. And after 10 months of cross-country dating, they were married and enjoyed exploring the California wine country together. Stephen took classes and did a 2.5-year winemaking certification at UC Davis before landing a position with a large winery, J Lohr, where he worked closely with their head winemaker learning and absorbing as much knowledge as he could, that experience would become extremely valuable. Finally, after their first daughter was born in 2010, it was time to move to Texas and begin planting vines on the family land. They quickly discovered that learning to farm is way harder than it looks! Hailstorms, birds, too much rain, not enough rain… these are limiting factors that present numerous challenges. Despite all of this, they have won several awards, most recently Texas Champion and Reserve Champion of the US for their Coleman County wines at the Houston Uncorked Wine Competition.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
One of the biggest challenges was that Stephen worked a full-time job in Austin during the first 10 years while they harvesting grapes, creating wine, and worked festivals to get their wine to consumers. Living and being employed 3 hours away from the vineyard while having to drive 150 miles every weekend can take a toll. The reduction in force due to COVID for many companies created an opportunity for Stephen to spend more time on their wine-making business. Last year in 2021, they were able to purchase a building dedicated to a tasting room located in downtown Coleman which is not very far from the vineyard and winery. After the revitalization and improvements to the building, they are very excited and hopeful to welcome guests and customers to their new tasting room this coming Spring.
As you know, we’re big fans of Watson Vineyard. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
We are a small family-run business that produces less than 500 cases a year, but has plans to grow. It’s been a long road and lots of lessons on how to successfully plant vines, train them for 3 years to get a fruit set, learn to have a hearty harvest, and do the quality winemaking, all on a tight budget. Our brand is about family while including Stephen’s unique military background in our story. We include our family’s farmhouse on the main wine label because it is an important family landmark on the family property that was built in the 1930s.
Is there any advice you’d like to share with our readers who might just be starting out?
Our biggest piece of advice for anyone wanting to get started is something we should have listened to when a professor mentioned it to us at UC Davis. Pick one; growing grapes or making wine. Doing both is hard. There is so much to learn that you will be torn into too many directions.
Pricing:
- Wine pricing is $15-35 per bottle
Contact Info:
- Website: watsonvineyard.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/watsonvineyard/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/watsonvineyard
