Today we’d like to introduce you to Krista Hartman.
Hi Krista, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
We live in North Texas (since 2006), but I’m from Iowa and my husband Scott is from Wisconsin. Thanks to our ancestors, we have rural American roots woven into our fiber, and family still residing in both states. Thus, every December we typically make a long Christmas road trip from North Texas to our families in Iowa and Wisconsin. It doesn’t matter which state the interstate passes through, there are “Winery Next Exit” signs all along the way. Starting around 2007 after we’d begun exploring Texas wineries (having some great wines and wonderful experiences and some not-so-great wines or experiences), Scott would see these signs and ask me, “Have you ever thought of opening a winery?” At this point in the trip, we’d both throw around some ideas about opening a winery, planting a vineyard, moving to the country, and eventually conclude we’d investigate it “someday down the road”.
Wine was an avid hobby of both of us, even before we were introduced by friends. Wine has lived with us for the 24 years we’ve been together. Through traveling on purpose to wine destinations together since 2000, Scott began suggesting I’d be a good wine maker. He kept telling me things like, “You have a good nose when we’re wine tasting.” Or, “Because you like to cook, you pick out aromas and flavors much easier than I do.”
At an a visit to Eden Hill Winery in Celina, TX, one afternoon the Hornbaker’s began sharing about where they got some training, some education. They were answering the question, “Where do you learn how to do this?”….”Just up the road at Grayson College,” they said.
During Easter weekend 2014, my hub Scott and I were on a fun golf trip in Tucson. That Friday morning, over a latte and a cortado at a cool local coffee shop south of Phoenix, our conversation ultimately opened the door for me to acknowledge I was experiencing frustration and burning out, both from hard work as a struggling entrepreneur, and from too much volunteerism. I was “pouring” myself into too many places and in too many directions, and essentially heading for a “jack of all trades, master of none” landing zone and it didn’t feel good. And Scott, knowing me so well, not taking pleasure in my unhappiness, being my best supporter said, “I think it’s time for you to start going to this wine school we’ve been talking about.” Scott researched, found online sign up, etc. Began reading more about the program.
In November 2014, we attended Grape Camp in Fredericksburg at the Pioneer Pavilion located inside Lady Bird Johnson Park. This was our intro to the great wine grower community called TWGGA. (Texas Wine and Grape Growers Association).
From the first speaker to the last, and all the wonderful people we met, we left knowing we were ready to pursue the goals of planting a vineyard and opening a winery. The site (dirt/soil) selection was to be among the most important projects we would take on and be triumphant.
My 49th birthday was two weeks after Grape Camp and Scott gave me a Wine Kit from the Winemaker’s Toy Store in Carrolton. My first wine was five gallons of an Amarone style wine. It turned into 48 bottles or 4 cases of wine, and it was pretty good. And thus began my moving toward the all things wine lifestyle. engaging in my passion for wine more and more at the outset of 2015.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Completing the formal education pieces were smooth. I was able to enroll in any class I wanted that was offered at Grayson College during 2014. I was fortunate to complete the program in one year because Scott and I were both committed to it.
It wasn’t until we actually began to take all the real steps to physically planting a vineyard that we began making mistakes and learning over and over again. I say often, “You don’t know what you don’t know.” And farming a vineyard has demonstrated this truth to me over and over. It will never stop. We are the DIY couple managing all these details or farming ourselves. Me on a full time basis, and Scott on the weekends, as he is has his own career and is still working a full time job.
In the vineyard: from knowing what direction to best drive when creating tractor tire tracks and not leaving dirt ruts that collect rain water, to irrigation riser mishaps, to first, second, third time and beyond pruning.
In the winery: learning how merge the farming and harvesting to produce good wine is an entirely separate task to attempt to master. We work so hard to encourage those vines to produce beautiful wine grapes for us, what we don’t want is for errors and mishandling of these beauties once harvested to put the prospect of producing quality wine in jeopardy. So learning the rhythm of harvest and winemaking is as important as managing a healthy, productive vineyard.
And of course Mother Nature has new way not matter what. So we have had a lot of weather events to manage through as well, from too much or too little rain, to tornados and hail, to high humidity producing fungus and the biggest problem late spring freezes or frosts.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I manage and farm nearly 4 acres of wine grape production annually. At the moment, I have about 2,200 vines in the ground. Nearly all of them are productive. Although I farm 8 varieties of grapes, I do specialize in making Tempranillo wines in an Old World inspired tradition (some traditional extended oak barrel aging, and waiting at least two years after the wine is made to bottle and release it for enjoyment.
I’d like to think we are set apart because of our desire to stay small our boutique-like on purpose. Also providing our customers with as much personalized service and “in person” attention or experiences with us as possible is very important. Our goal is for our guests to understand our “why” after they’ve been here, tasted our wine, heard our story, and why we have decided to do things the way we do them here. We were very influenced by a two week visit to the Rioja Spain wine region after we planted our first two acres of vines. This visit made clear to us why we are inspired by the Old World wine making cultures and traditions. Although we are using modern wine making techniques, equipment and innovations, you cannot take away the investment of giving wine it’s due time before it’s ready. This requires more patience on purpose with our barrel aged red wines especially.
We’ve acted on the inspirations brought about by our wine adventures exploring the wine, food, cultures and amazing people of Old and New World winemaking. At the Hartman Vineyard, we grow and produce our Red River Wines with Texan soul while including the meaningful learnings we discovered along the way…..
Is there anything else you’d like to share with our readers?
I began my professional life as a country club golf professional in the late 80’s primarily teaching women and junior golfers while serving as the golf shop buyer and merchandiser. Over this 36-year career, I’ve been a successful musician, professional golfer, real estate broker, author and serial entrepreneur. I graduated from the University of Iowa in 1989 with a B.S. in Marketing and Recreation Management.
Pricing:
- $30 – $48 per bottle
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.redriverwines.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/redriverwines/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/redriverwinesandprovisions/
- Other: https://guide.txwinelover.com/texas/sadler/texas-wineries/red-river-wines-and-provisions-llc
Image Credits
Brenda Barth
Neal Addy
Kallen Hawkinson
