At a table of long-time friends, Jackie plants an affectionate kiss on Patty Mounce of Houston, her “second Mom,” as Janet Helduser, left, of New Braunfels and Donna Drabeck, right, of Canyon Lake join in the opening festivities.
Photo by Teresa Kendrick
Photo by Teresa Kendrick
Well wishers, friends and family crowded Henson Square to sip wine, listen to the music of Soul Session and toast a new milestone in Jaclynn Renée wines.
Wimberley celebrated the grand opening of its newest tasting room, the Jaclynn Renée Wine Collective, last weekend. An enthusiastic crowd lined up at the Collective counter to taste her award-winning wines before spilling out into Henson Square to the music of Soul Session, with vocalist Jamie Cameron and Sam Chapman on saxophone.
The event marks the newest milestone for winemaker Jackie van Sant Downes who is the owner of Jaclynn Renée Wines. Last October, Texas Monthly magazine covered the 2025 Texas Vintners Cup, the fifth annual competition sponsored by the Texas Department of Agriculture’s Uncork Texas Wines program. Of the 12 awards given, Jackie garnered two under her own name and another for the Driftwood Estate Winery, where she has been the primary winemaker since 2021. In true Texas style, the two Vintners Cup awards in her name were later made into belt buckles.
Wine lovers were eager for a glass of the 2024 Mourvèdre or the 2023 Syrah, bottled under her name, or Driftwood Estate’s 2021 Cabernet Sauvignon. Texas Vintner Cup judge Steven McDonald summed up his notes on the Cabernet Sauvignon with, “. . . it’s the perfect partner for a great steak.”
One of triplets, Jackie grew up in Houston and began her winemaking career in 2007 in Sonoma County, California. In 2013 she founded her own brand, and in 2021, she returned to Texas. Shortly thereafter, she began working for Gary Elliott’s Driftwood Estate Winery.
