Enoch's Stomp Vineyard, Winery, and Cafe

Keep in mind, "Dining is not just the food, it's the experience."

Venue:  Unbelievable, the rolling hills of a fully operational grape vineyard in the back woods of East Texas.  Isolated, peaceful, and beautiful with fabulous outdoor views from both the restaurant, a.k.a. Lodge, and the Winery which is the event room.  Outdoor seating at both will be a must when temperatures drop a bit.   Indoor is an elegant lodge themed dining room, though the tables are a bit crowded together.

Unfortunately, I walked out behind the event room where there is a huge fire pit that will be perfect for fall/winter outdoor seating and noticed trash scattered about and unfinished construction of a bamboo wall along the hill that looks to be washing away.  While I don't expect anyone will be gathering around the fire pit anytime soon, I recommend keeping it neat for wanderers like myself and acknowledge the work in progress on the bamboo wall.

Service:  Everyone was so welcoming and accommodating.  While we waited for our table to be cleared for our 6:30 reservation, the General Manager gave us a mini tour and explained some of the vineyard processes.  Our waiter was a very attentive.  My only complain is the wine service.  This IS a vineyard restaurant so the focus should be the wine.  Neither our waiter nor those I saw serving other tables knew how to serve wine.  They just popped the top and proceeded to pour every glass to full - evenly dividing the contents of the bottle among the glasses.  

So, if the owner happens to read this post, here is my suggestion for wine service:  1. Server presents the bottle of wine to the table and asks who will approve the wine.  2. The server uncorks the bottle and hands the cork to the person who will approve.  3. The waiter pours a small portion of wine into the approver's glass and allows the approver to assess the wine-swirl it, smell it, taste it, etc.  4. If given the nod of approval on the bottle, the server then pours SMALL servings-about 1/4 to 1/3 of the glass- for all who will be partaking.  5. The bottle will most likely not be empty, so it remains at the table.  6. The server may return later and offer to refill some of the glasses but, again, don't pour the glass more than 1/3 to 1/4 full.

The wine and food:  Do the wine flight.  It is handled beautifully and gives a chance to try before committing to a full bottle.  However, I caution mixing wine tasting with dinner.  We were so stuffed we could hardly make the drive back home.  I strongly suggest you plan to either taste the wine and partake of some of the wonderful appetizers with your flight or go for dinner.  For appetizers,  we chose to share the cheese plate and the meat plate among 4 people.  

The wine in my "not so wine snobby" opinion was above average for Texas wines.  You can choose a sweet flight or a dry flight.  The cheese and meat plates were great and included cheese, assorted crackers, marinated veggies including artichoke hearts, several fruit choices, bread, and dipping olive oil.

The entrees were good.  Grilled portabella and red pepper on cibatta bread was amazing.  The salad that came as a side to the dish was rather boring but the homemade onion dressing was great.  Two ribeyes one with potato strings and one with baked potato were properly prepared.  Would like to see a little more finesse on the prep.  Need to carmelize a crust on the steak, but these were probably a bit on the thin side for doing that.  Filet was OK but a bit dry when cooked to medium.  Topped with a nice glaze.  I recommend ordering medium rare or choosing another cut.

Dessert:  Lavender ice cream was interesting.  Service would have been better if the ice cream had been formed into a scoop ball and added some simple garnish like a mint leaf or, better yet, a lavender sprig.

I hope this restaurant is around for many years to come.  It has so much potential.