As of May 1st, downtown San Angelo has a new wine tasting room located next to Legend Jewelers at 16 E. Concho Ave.
The wine bar and tasting room is owned and run by the Lubbock-based English Newsom Cellars. The tasting room features their own brand of wine exclusively, which is 100-percent Texas High Plains AVA grown.
Furthermore, nearly all of the grapes grown by the company are estate-grown and produced, meaning that the entire process from vineyard to harvesting — pressing, fermenting, and bottling the wine — takes places on the grounds. This allows for the highest possible quality assurance, since every step of the wine making process is controlled in-house.
Started in 2018 at the headquarters location in Lubbock, the English Newsom Cellars brand harvested its first vintage of grapes for production and consumption to the public.
Since then, they have expanded to two Fredericksburg tasting-room locations — one on Main Street, and another tasting room on East US Highway 290.
The second location, named Jenschke Cellars, is a partnership between the two families where one family (the Jenschke’s) had the space and the desire to serve great Texas wine and the other (English Newsom) had the wine and expertise to produce it for them.
San Angelo By Chance
This being the fourth, and newest, location in Texas, co-owner Steve Newsom said a spot in San Angelo, was not even planned until a series of random chance events — plus his eye for a business opportunity — took place last September.
Newsom told me it played out like this; (paraphrased)
We decided to stop in San Angelo on a trip to do some work at the Fredericksburg shop to break up the drive.
We always liked San Angelo, so a stop here was a welcomed one. On a Saturday morning, we got up early and walked around town and as we looked around downtown, we noticed that the foot traffic was already hopping with a demographic much like we see on Main Street in Fredericksburg.
I started talking to the shop owners and asked them about having a wine tasting room downtown, and almost all of them responded favorably to the idea. In those talks someone strongly urged me to go talk to the proprietors of the vacant Grigsby’s Boutique, as it was for sale at the time.
That lead to a phone call and then several more calls and in-person talks until we got an offer on the building and accepted.
Newsom is a fifth-generation farmer with experience in several crops, but grapes are the one thing he would choose to keep farming, if he could only pick one.
Steve and his team oversee 100 acres of vineyard and 21 grape varietals. They produce 10,000 to 12,000 cases of wine per year. Mind you that one case is 12 bottles, so that is a lot of wine!
The English Newsom Difference
My wife and I recently stopped into English Newsom to do a tasting flight.
Already being very familiar with the brand for a few years now, I knew I would like what we tried. This visit was no different.
Be it a single varietal, a blend, a white or a red, these wines are just plain good.
The staff (Seth in our case) was terrific. The same goes for tasting-room manager Savannah at the Fredericksburg Main Street location, who actually served us a week earlier during our anniversary trip.
Awesome people who truly care and believe in what they pour into every glass. And not just the wine either; the business, the customers, the mission. In speaking to them all it became clear they like what they do, and they enjoy what they are part of. Steve told me they pride themselves on having low turnover at all levels of the business since opening their doors.
Your Enjoyment is Key
One of the best parts about this company and its people that I noticed is that they do not push or pressure you to like something. There is no expectation of what you should enjoy or not. They allow you to tell them what you like most and least.
Their job is then to find what wine they have that would best fit your pallet. This approach will likely help to appeal to the unfamiliar Texas wine drinker who may only be used to California wines, or other international wines.
It will also appeal to those who perhaps do not drink wine much at all.
They also do not claim to be better than anyone else’s wine, they simply want to showcase that you can love their wines just as well as anyone other domestically or globally.
I respect them for this attitude of urging people to find and try any wine they enjoy as compared to knocking others to make their own seem better. But I will attest to the fact that English Newsom Cellars holds their own against any other wine maker I have tried to date.
The bottom line however: it’s up to you to go and decide for yourself.
Final Thoughts
English Newsom has not only built a strong regional Texas following of loyal wine drinkers, but they have won multiple annual awards from state, national, and international wine competitions.
And for a wine brand that is only seven years old, I can tell you that is a very impressive feat.
Being they just opened their doors to the people of San Angelo, the opening hours and days have yet to be determined. They are playing with what formula will work best for the demands of us locals. I have to assume it will be similar to the hours of their Fredericksburg Main Street location which are:
- Tues: 1-6 p.m.
- Wed: 1-9 p.m.
- Thurs: 1-7 p.m.
- Fri: 1-9 p.m.
- Sat: Noon to 9 p.m.
Again, this is only a prediction of what the actual hours may end up being listed as.
Last, but not least, I would be remiss if I failed to mention their wine club perks.
If you find that you do enjoy their wine — and I think you will — consider joining their wine club as it may be one of the better wine clubs I have seen in Texas (and I have seen many.)
All kinds of perks apply to wine-club members, including wine pick-ups, events, socials, discounts, free tastings, guest tastings. And more is in the works.
