Stop #13: Mac's Creek Winery and Vineyard
When the hot summer days began to cool off, I realized that Katherine and I needed to have another wine weekend before winter set in. We were lucky in our timing - I discovered that one of our favorite vineyards was having their harvest party on the weekend we had taken off.
In my very first post, I described my cork ritual. I try to keep the corks from all the bottles I've enjoyed. I recently had to upgrade to keeping them in a bigger vase because the old vase was beginning to overflow. As I was transferring the corks, it became obvious that I've enjoyed more bottles of wine from Mac's Creek than from any other vineyard. My first taste of Nebraska wine was from Mac's Creek.
I even crashed a Christmas party there a couple years ago.
Laughing about our shenanigans at the Christmas party, Katherine, our friend Jenna, and I set out to experience Mac's Creek again. Mac's Creek is located in Lexington, about a thirty minute drive from Kearney. There were already several groups of people there, so we didn't get a seat around the new fire pits. We were able to grab one of the last picnic tables, which had a nice view of the band, and we each got our first taste of wine and some hors d'oeuvres.
Mac's Creek in Lexington, NE
The Kearney-based two-man band played music from several genres, and almost everyone sang along at some point. A few people stared at our table as we joined the band in singing Sweet Caroline. Formerly Three put on a great show... but while Katherine, Jenna, and I came up with a few theories, we never did figure out what their band's name meant.
Currently Three.
The harvest celebration had a great turn out. Two new wines were debuted that evening: Pinkys 2010 and Frapple 2010. A third wine, Manzanas Dulces, was supposed to make its debut as well. Unfortunately, the labels were not delivered on time and it hadn't been bottled yet. Max MacFarland, one of the owners of Mac's Creek, came out and poured wine for his guests. The rest of the MacFarland family each did their part to make their guests feel welcome as well.
Max MacFarland serving up some Buffalo Wallow.
After an evening of great wine, music, and friends, we headed further west so we could visit a few more vineyards the next day.
Favorites: River Valley Red & Buzzard's Roost
Mac's Creek Winery and Vineyard's Website
