Winemaking in Texas is not for the faint of heart. It requires resilience, problem-solving, and a bit of swagger. We’re lucky to have a rich history of strong women in our industry. They can bring unique perspectives and innate skills to the wine world, such as attention to detail, creativity, passion, and a keen sense of smell and taste. So, let’s tip our cowboy hats to just a few females in our great state who are in leadership roles in the thriving Texas wine business.
Jackie van Sant Downes
Driftwood Estate Winery winemaker & Jaclynn Renée Wines owner/winemaker
This Houston native had no plans to become a winemaker when a harvest intern position in California fell in her lap. Her parents weren’t wine drinkers, and if she bought wine during college, it was in a box. Jackie studied Communication and Psychology at Texas Tech and wasn’t certain of her career path. During those college years, Jackie’s aunt and uncle had a wine bar in Katy where she could taste wines from all over the world. After sharing these beautiful imports from France and Italy, she wanted to seek out delicious wines – in a bottle and not a box!
In the summer of 2007, her aunt Robin called and said she just met a winemaker from Sonoma who needed a harvest intern, and Jackie should take the job. Three days after graduation, Jackie hopped on a plane with one suitcase and no idea how to make wine. She said, “Things just really clicked early on, even in that first week. I was so green, and they gave me such an amazing opportunity – I was doing things I had no idea how to do, but they taught me.” The three-month temporary job turned into a career and more than a decade in California.
By 2020, Jackie had worked for three wineries, started her own wine brand, and was married with two young children. She felt the pull to get back to Texas and closer to family. During a visit with friends in Wimberley, they stopped by Driftwood Estate Winery. Jackie was impressed with the wines, so she did some online searching to learn more about Texas grapes. A job posting popped up for the winery they had just visited. She started as the winemaker before harvest in 2021, and they bought a home in Wibberley. Jackie feels that everything just fell into place for her family to be in Texas, and they couldn’t be happier with the decision.
Driftwood Estates is a beautiful 200-acre property with 18 acres of vines. They produce an average of 6,000 cases of wine each year. Jackie’s own wine, Jaclynn Renée Wines, is a small 1,000 cases, and the wines are available at pop-ups and events around Wimberley, at Specs, and online at JaclynnReneeWines.com. Her current releases include four wines made from Single Vineyard California grapes from Sonoma County and a couple of Texas wines bottled in July and soon to be released. Jackie juggles family life and two wine brands with the tenacity of a true Texan.
Elisa Jones
Christopher Wines co-owner / winemaker
When she pours you wine in her small tasting room, you would never guess that Elisa Jone’s first career was in the Department of Defense. Then, you can easily see the strength and determination that drives her as a winemaker would certainly have served her well as an intelligence officer. In 2007, Elisa helped her father plant a small vineyard on the family’s cattle ranch outside College Station. She started to think of winemaking as the project she could take on once she was ready to retire.
Elisa says, “I was trained to find where I wanted to be in life. I had done my Sommelier certification. I did Sonoma State’s wine business program online. My dad said that Texas Tech had a winemaking program and thought I could help him make some wine from his grapes in his garage.”
She began the Tech program, and while taking the first class, she knew winemaking was exactly what she wanted to do. Elisa and Christopher married in 2020, and the couple discussed their plans for the future. Soon, Elisa was ready for retirement, and they purchased 43 acres on FM 2721 near Johnson City. Christopher even enrolled in the winemaking program so he could understand the technical things Elisa was talking about.
Elisa was able to start making wine two years before the tasting room opened in 2022. Production started with just about 550 cases and has grown to nearly double today. The new winery facility was ready for the 2023 harvest with the capacity to produce 5,000 cases. While she makes great white and red wines, she is most passionate about her sparkling wines.
There are several ways to make a wine have bubbles, but the Champagne method, or Méthode Champenoise, is the process that takes the longest and costs the most. This traditional method has been used for centuries in Champagne, France, and many believe it makes the most delicate, delicious bubbles. Elisa Christopher is the first in the Hill Country to have the specialized equipment to make sparkling wine in this way. For now, Elisa has the space to help other wineries by bubbling their wine with her equipment. A local winemaker will make their base wine the way they want it, then take it to Elisa for the secondary fermentation process to make it sparkle. When asked why she chose to focus on this technique for sparkling wine, Elisa chuckled and said, “I’ve never done anything easy my whole life! So why start now?!”
Jackie Mancuso
Atlas Vineyard Management, Texas Director of Operations
As a city girl growing up in Northern California, Jackie was enamored by the nearby farms, vineyards, and cattle ranches. As a self-proclaimed tomboy who excelled in sports, she clearly would rather be outdoors than at a desk. Studying agriculture at California State University in Chico allowed her to shape her future with a Plant and Soil Science degree.
Jackie began her career as a viticulturist at the renowned Wente Vineyards in Livermore. She later moved on to work nearly ten years for Price Family Vineyards in Sonoma. While Jackie and her husband, Dante, were flourishing in their careers, they were also looking for new challenges. He had gone to school in Houston and enjoyed his time in Texas, so they looked into the state’s wine industry. The couple set their sights on Fredericksburg and made the move in 2021.
Many of the vineyards in the Hill Country are small acreages farmed by the owner, who often plays multiple roles in their wine business. Managing all of the different facets of a vineyard and winery is difficult. And that’s where Jackie comes in. She likes the challenge of understanding the growing conditions and how things differ from California. Still, she knows she is helping the industry as a whole by providing advice, techniques, management strategies, and skilled labor to work in the vineyards. By expanding Atlas Vineyard Management from California to Texas, she shares her experience with local growers backed by the support of a knowledgeable team on the West Coast.
Responsible for about 500 acres of vines and working for a dozen different growers, Jackie is driven to make a difference in Texas wine by helping our vineyards produce more high-quality grapes. She can do this with a combination of services, doing all of the vineyard work with her trained crew or providing consulting about what should be done, and the owner has their staff do it. Her crew can also step in to help an existing vineyard staff during important times of the season, such as planting, pruning, or harvesting.
Jackie explains, “The farming lifestyle isn’t for everyone. There are long hours, extreme weather, and snakes. But my daily work has a lot of beauty and personal challenges. Texas is a different beast; it’s completely different than what we did in California. We’re still a small and developing industry.” With the help of trained professionals and the growing educational opportunities within the state, the future of Texas wine is bright, indeed.