Froggy Wines takes its final hop
It's the second Walker County winery to close this year, as its owners move on to other pursuits.
In winemaking, the element of time is unrelenting. Time for the vines to mature, time for the juice to ferment, time to bottle and sell.
In June, we showed how those time demands led to the closing of Teysha Winery in eastern Walker County earlier this year. Owners Joe and Lynn Zimmerman simply needed a break.
"In the [last] 5-6 years, we've had three real weekends off," said Joe this past spring. "We miss soccer games, t-ball... it's pretty hard when you're stuck here with this enterprise to run."
Now a second local vintner is shutting down, partly for the same reason. Froggy Wines, the first winery to open in Walker County, closed its tasting room last month and is selling its last bottles this weekend.
"It's a happy time for us," said Richard Henriksen, who owns Froggy with his wife Debbie. "We've already had a weekend off, and we liked it. It's gonna be a good thing." Let's look back at the sweet, dry, and semi-dry life of Froggy Wines.
We've raised teenagers, now let's try something really challenging
When their youngest child was a senior in high school in Iowa, the Henriksens were looking for the next place to put their time and energy. So they bought a hobby wine kit and started making wine at their home.
With the encouragement of friends with whom they shared their inaugural White Zinfandel, they started making different kinds of wine and attending workshops and trainings. They returned to the Lone Star State in 2006, when Richard took a faculty position in the Department of Counseling Education at Sam Houston State University.
The couple continued making wine in Texas, even attending Grayson County College in Denison to study enology, the science of wine and wine making. They opened Froggy Wines in 2013. Froggy stands for Forever Rely On God’s Gifts to You. “We are a Christian business, and we run it that way," said Henriksen.
Skeptics feared a winery wouldn’t make it in Walker County. But “tell me I can’t do something," said Richard, "and I’m going to prove you wrong.” Still, it wasn't easy. He thought it would take around $50,000 to open the doors, but costs ran double that, and construction and permitting took two years. Over the years, the Henriksens have invested over a quarter of a million dollars into the business.
They started out with just three types of wine, which grew to twenty-five at its peak. Richard made all the blends, while Debbie oversaw the taste of the sweeter wines. With no grapes grown on the property, Froggy got its grapes, juice, and concentrate from across the country. Still, “about 80-85% are made from Texas grapes and grape juice,” said Richard.
As a small boutique winery nestled in a neighborhood, “it’s been a fun business," Henriksen said. "We’ve made a lot of friends. We are not into all the commercialism, so people like to come here and hang out because it’s quiet, and kid and dog friendly.”
And now for something completely different
Richard, now 73, retired as the university's first black Distinguished Professor Emeritus in 2022.
Age – that time element again – and several bouts of cancer have sapped some of his energy, and he and Debbie decided to close Froggy Wines. "If cancer hadn't jumped up in my life, we probably would have waited a couple more years [to close]," he said. Henriksen is one year cancer-free.
The custom building that houses the winemaking and tasting room will soon have a new life. It will be called The Tadpole Room and serve as a hangout for the Henriksen’s three grandkids. Renovations are already underway, with games being purchased and their grandson picking a light blue to repaint the building. There is now much more space to host gatherings of family and friends.
The winery may be closing, but the Henriksen's calendar is still full. "I've got so much else going on," says Richard. "I'm a chaplain [for American Legion Post 95] and have started my own church. [Froggy] has been a really great experience for us, but it's run its course.
"We've enjoyed the ride. We were excited about opening it, and we're excited about closing it. It's a celebration. A lot of businesses shut down, and it's a sad event. For us, it's a positive event; moving on to other things. It's gonna be good."
Froggy Wines is at 104-A Knox Circle, a right turn off of Hwy. 19 as you are going north toward Riverside. It will be open its regular hours this weekend, 11-6 Saturday and 12-6 Sunday, with all bottles 75% off. When the doors close on Sunday, that's it.