DRIFTWOOD VINEYARDS
Gary Elliott
4001 Elder Hill Rd.
Dripping Springs, TX 78619
(512) 858-4508
www.driftwoodvineyards.com
Driftwood Vineyards is owned and operated by Gary, Kathy, and Laura Elliott. The vineyard is located on an 880 acre ranch that was bought by Kathy’s father in 1951. The vineyard, planted in 1998, is 14 acres and has 8 grape varietals. We were located in a dry area, so over the first few years we sold all of our grapes to other wineries in the Hill Country. After the passage of House Bill 892 in 2001, permitting wineries in dry areas to sell their wine at the winery, we began working on our winery. We received our winery licenses in July of 2002 and did our first commercial grape crush with the August 2002 harvest. Our first commercial wine was bottled in February 2003. We opened the winery to the public on March 1, 2003. Our first year’s production totaled about 1200 cases, which included 5 different wines. There is no better place to enjoy a romantic lunch with that someone special than our hill top picnic area with a spectacular view of the vineyard below and a panoramic view of the Texas Hill Country.
Winemaker: Gary Elliott
Gary Elliott grew up in Orange County, California where he worked in the family Orange Grove in Santa Ana, then later in the Avocado business in Fallbrook. From there the family
ranch moved up to Paso Robles and eventually became a grape vineyard. Elliott studied agriculture in college and after getting interested in grapes took a viticulture short
course at U.C. Davis. While growing grapes in Texas he studied books on winemaking and made wine non-commercially. In 2002 he opened a winery and began making wine commercially. Much of Elliott’s winemaking experience has come from working with winemaker friends in the industry.
