1:45 pm Sunday: Pillar Bluff Vineyards and Texas Legato Winery, Lampassas, TX -- The Gil & Bill Show

The next BBQ stop is 30 minutes away, but we so overconsumed at Cooper’s (note to self, don’t skip breakfast and arrive starving at the first destination when on an extended BBQ pilgrimage).

To fill some time, we pull out the laptop and search for nearby wineries. It’s not as random as it seems. Apparently Texas’s largest winery is called Llano Estacado so we assume its here in Llano, TX. We discover that it’s actually in Lubbock, which is eight hours away.

But by now our colons have decided that a winery interlude between BBQ joints is an imperative, so we Google for the closest winery. The answer is some place called Pillar Bluff in Lampassas, TX, about an hour away.

So, next stop: Pillar Bluff Vineyard. We know absolutely nothing about the place, what they make, whether it’s any good, whether they are even open.

But in the end it doesn’t really matter. We are in the middle of rural central Texas and we need to find something to do for an hour or so before we attempt to consume more big meat. We arrive at the tiny winery, and meet Bill, the owner. He spends an hour pouring us his wines (which aren’t hideous) and touring his tiny winery. We trade stories of running a small winery with him.

Next thing we know, we are driving 100 feet down the road to visit his twin brother’s winery (Texas Legato), where we encounter a lovely woman who runs the tasting counter and is possibly the most talkative person in Texas. Eight wines and an hour later, we know everything there is to know about her, her husband, her kids, her brother in law and every step that went into every single wine. Enough of the diversions, though. It’s time to get back to the BBQ mission.