Jun. 16—When a science teacher married a Christmas tree farmer, who knew that would lead to a vineyard and winery in Cleburne?

Duane Patrick has a passion for the land he grew up on in Alvarado and took an idea his dad planted in his mind to create Sunset Hill Tree Farm for families to enhance their holiday memories. The cut your own tree farm started 19 years ago and this year he and his wife, Donna, opened the Pollo Rosa Vineyard and Winery in Cleburne. The winery will eventually be a tree farm as well.

“When we got married we started working together on the farm but he had a little vineyard and we started talking about vineyards and why I love vineyards,” Donna Patrick said. “I’ve been going to vineyards and wineries for years. The science part of it is very, very interesting to me.”

Because Duane Patrick has an agriculture background, the idea intrigued him. He wanted to have rental houses and she wanted to do a vineyard, so they found a piece of land and compromised.

Like all good stories start, the story behind the name of the winery began at a bar.

“There was a group of us sitting in a bar and we were talking about if you’re gonna do a winery, what are you going to name it?” Donna Patrick said. “And Duane just spouted off and just said ‘Pink Chicken.’ and I went, ‘Oh, I think that’s cute.'”

One of her friends said that Donna’s pink chicken is a flamingo.

“I begged her,” Duane Patrick said. “I said, ‘No, I was kidding. I’m serious, I was kidding. She said, ‘No, I like it.'”

So the flamingo — their version of a pink chicken — became the staple of the winery.

“I’m very Margaritaville and he’s all Luckenbach, so that is a good mash up of those two ideas,” Donna Patrick said. “You’ve got the old tin and the old wood but then you’ve got the flamingos and the aquarium. It’s a good mesh of those two attitudes and that’s what we were going for.”

The winery has a rental house on the back of the property, while the main house on the land was transformed into the winery. It has indoor seating and an outdoor patio, in addition to a meeting room that is available for rentals.

While they have about five acres available for the vineyard, they plan to serve a variety of their own wines, in addition to others.

“We will never ever, ever sell anything other than Texas wine,” Donna Patrick said. “I’m not one of these that I want to just see what crazy grapes I can grow. I want to grow a good grape that likes it here and we know it likes it here. So I chose the ones that are all kind of kinfolk and they’re American grapes.”

The couple are cultivating Wild Mustangs, which are quite rare across the nation. They are also working with the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service to cultivate different kinds of grapes.

In addition to the winery, rental house and Christmas tree farm, they also sell fireworks on the property. They plan to also offer live music and other entertainment in the future.

The winery is open from noon to 9 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 1-8 p.m. Sunday. It is at 1335 E. FM 4.