Winery On The Gruene

What a great vineyard. You get 4 tastings for $ 3 or 4 tastings and a souvenir glass for $ 5. All the fruit wines are amazing and so is their dessert wine. My husband and I bought two different wines. We bought the watermelon white merlot and a sweet red wine. The watermelon tastes like a watermelon candy. It is a must try.

Winery on the Gruene is my favorite winery EVER!!! All of their wines taste good, but almost all are fantastic!
There are many things that make this place one of my favorites. First off, you can pretty much buy any bottle and expect a great tasting wine. Second, their prices are great! We’ve been several times and almost always purchase the tasting, the glass and a few bottles of wine for a reasonable price — who doesn’t love that?! Third is the LOCATION. Gruene is such a great little town. Last time we went we bought a few bottles, brought over some food from Mozie’s and drank/​ate outside. We also took our puppies (but we had to carry them inside)! We ended our day with a fun walk down the river.
I recommend you join their wine club! So worth it!

these have to be the most generous tastings I have ever had! we have been here 4 times and every single time the samples have been HUGE! bottles are super cheap, and the batch is the ultimate deal! one of those days we will buy the batch! 30 bottles for like 240 with tax! allllll the fruit wines are delicious. !! my faves are cherry, blackberry, and calypso !! the onnnnnly downfall is the place has the odd odor. but once yer in there tasting, you get used to it! good location, plenty of parking, and a nice outdoor patio ! they offer plenty of pretzels as well! always a plus!

Best winery ever! Inexpensive wine tastings and wonderful people. The wine is amazing and every time we take someone from out of the town there they love it. My mom always has a list of flavors for me to get her.

One of our favorites in the area. We were skeptical on trying the fruit infused wine, however we were not disappointed at all. The Calypso and Strawberry Riesling were our favorites. We bought a case and joined as wine club members. The owners brother was visiting and held up great conversation through our tasting. Definitely must visit if you are in the area!

This winery is my least favorite in Gruene, out of all of them. The options to me just aren’t enough compared to the others. And the service isn’t great. I was pretty disappointed yesterday when I stopped by for some wine tastings and I was stood waiting at the bar and no one greeted me. Then a group of five obnoxiously loud women came in and were helped right away.
I do love the outside area, which is perfect if you have kiddos.

Friendly staff, great wines — we bought four bottles.

John, Winemaker/​Co-​owner of Winery on the Gruene, was very rude to me on the phone! I called to inquire about their tasting room point of sale system, and he ridiculed me when I asked if they currently had a system in place. He’s obviously an unhappy person, and needs to get a clue that managing a winery means extending hospitality through all communication channels. Won’t be visiting this winery ever!

Great atmosphere! Friendly staff and wonderful wine and prices!
Watermelon wine is my favorite. :)

This place is perfect for those who enjoy sweet wine! Most of their «award winning» wines are fruit infused (eg Strawberry Riesling, Peach Chardonnay, etc). That being said, I looove sweet wine and this place makes delicious wines. The bottles are really cheap ($ 10 – 25). You can get 4 wine tastes for $ 2 and you get to keep the wine glass for $ 5. As other users have said, if you’re looking for a «wine tasting» experience, you probably won’t get it here. The workers do not talk about the wine, but they are friendly enough. The space is small inside so if you go on a weekend or during an event, you might not find a place to sit. The only complaint I have is they don’t have a really good cheese plate to offer, but they do give free pretzels! Again, don’t be a wine snob, enjoy the sweet wine! I always have to make a trip here when I go to Gruene.

You cannot beat the price if this place! My husband and I both got four hearty tastings and kept our glasses for $ 5 a piece! The people working there were so helpful as well. The wine was not my choice of wine personally, but I don’t hold that against them. The ambience was super casual and nice. Unfortunately, it was so small that there were maybe 3 tables inside and a few spots outside, but it was so hot that sitting outside wasn’t pleasant. I had a relaxing experience and would go back next time I visit.

Great wine! And the staff was so friendly and knowledgeable. Really enjoyed our tasting. And it was very hard deciding on just 2 bottles of their delicious wine!

so the prices here are awesome (although i’m from CA… so i’m used to high prices). the wines for me were okay. i’m not a fan of chardoney and that was actually my favorite… i drink more reds and those were my least favorite. would i reccommend it… ya, for the price it isn’t bad and taste is to each there own… what i like may not bother someone else. :)
the staff here is also really great so you can’t go wrong with that either!

While arriving at the Cantina Del Rio, we saw this winery next door offering wine tastings for $ 2 for 4 quarter glasses, which is a bargain. They don’t have the vineyards here, I think they just create award-​winning blends, and they have won awards. By the way, there is a beautiful grapevine at the entrance running the full length of the parking lot.
Upon entering, you are met by the owner, not who you’d expect from watching Food network shows and people tasting wine with their little pinkies in the air. This was a real Texan. You sit down at these little tables and look over the menu and pick your 4 wines. He explains the fruit blended wines, which they have won the most awards are on one side of the menu, and the «real» wines are on the other (the reds and dry whites).
The owner explains, «don’t worry about what to look for when tasting – everyone chooses the sweet wines.» I realize that I am not a real wine drinker because I couldn’t stand the dry and bitter red wines at all. I couldn’t tell a pinot from a griggio, or a pinot from a noir. The strawberry wine was good, as was the black cherry pinot noir, but we all agreed – THE WATERMELON WINE IS A MUST HAVE.
Feeling a buzz coming on, it was time to leave. Wanting to buy something from this nice man because of his hospitality, we bought the souvenir glasses which we drank from, but he gave us brand new ones. They were $ 3. He also sells all 30 bottles of wines there, and many other. The whole gift shop had many nice items.

I visit wineries when I find them on our travels, and since I saw this place when we entered the cute little town of Gruene, I just had to stop. I wish I’d kept going.
When we entered, a couple was tasting wine, and we asked the person behind the counter if we could taste as well. He said it was $ 2 for 4 wines, and he gave us a list to choose from. My daughter and I selected ours, paid our $ 2 each, and he poured from what we’d selected.
He conversed with the couple, but he poured for us. Didn’t ID my daughter (aged 23 then) nor did he seem to care that we were in the room. BIG mistake — I always, always buy wine from small local wineries to support their business. He lost out on a sale that day.

I consider myself a wine enthusiast. I’ve been to a few wineries in the greater Austin hill country area. This moved to the top of my list. A $ 2 rating fee gets you about 1 – 2 glasses of yummy wine and you get to choose what you taste. There had to be 30 or so wines to choose from. They have a lot of fruit infused award-​winning wine. I left with 6 bottles (all different types) and joined the wine club.

Texas wines are known for being pretty sweet, so imagine my surprise when I tasted a Malbec blend that wasn’t cloyingly sweet! The Winery on the Gruene is an awesome little winery near the main strip in Gruene.
We walked in for a tasting and for around $ 10 we tasted 5 wines each, and I ended up buying a bottle to take home as well. The majority of their wines are sweet, and they also make cordials that were very tasty. Their prices are very reasonable and they also have a wine club you can join.
I’ve already recommended this spot to others, and will definitely stop in for a visit on my next trip to Gruene!

Just on the outskirts of main street Gruene is this unassuming winery producing award winning fruit infused wine, don’t let the lizard on the sign scare you off.
I thought at first that the lizard on the sign was left over Halloween decorations, but from looking at the pictures it looks like it is something that is always there. I need to remember to ask about the significance of the lizard next time.
The tasting room is located in a homey country farm styled building situated back from the road. You can sit outside or inside. They don’t produce any wine themselves, but import the grapes from several locations, and the majority of fruit from California. For only $ 2.00 you receive 4 tasting of any of their 30 plus wines — your choice. Just write down your choices on a white paper, and they will start serving you. You can mix and match between their wine and fruit infused offerings. For five dollars you can receive the tastings and keep the souvenir glass.
They are known for their award winning fruit infused wines, which I was skeptical to try. I was expecting an overly sweet cheap boxed wine flavor, but instead the flavors were well balanced and not over powering. My favorite from the tasting was their Pinot Tage.
They have a small shop of wine related gifts, some of which have some clever witty statements.
The service was friendly and we definitely enjoyed our time here while in Gruene.

Me: Black Cherry Pinot Noir
Friend: Strawberry something
Both are sweet wine, so if you are a wine novice, this is a great place to get a taste of different kind fruit fusion wines. Or a mid day break from walking around.
I’m not sure if it is just me or what, but the guy that served didn’t seem happy to be there. He wasn’t rude, just very cold. I think I had friendly service at Walmart. But as long as he wasn’t rude, I’m ok with it.

This place is fun because you can put personal labels on any of their wine bottles. Some of the labels are free or you can email them a photo to put on a bottle which takes about a week. The wines are good, but I like super dry red wines, which they didn’t have. However, I still bought a couple of bottles for friends and made fun labels for them. You can’t beat it for $ 14 a bottle!
They also provide plastic bottles for floating the river with wine, very smart! :)