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Posted on 04/27/2025 5:48:29 AM PDT by thegagline
If asked to picture an award-winning vineyard, your mind may well wander to a traditional wine-growing region such as Rioja in Spain, Napa Valley in California, Tuscany in Italy or Burgundy in France. It seems unlikely that you would begin with the sweeping plains and granite hills of Texas, but that may be about to change.
The past few decades have seen an explosion in the Lone Star State’s wine production, with the number of Texan wineries soaring from around 20 in the 1980s to roughly 450 today, according to industry body Texas Wine Growers.
This has been coupled with an increasing appreciation of quality—the Top Texas Wines website recorded the state’s wineries won a record number of top awards at international competitions in 2024.
The question isn’t whether Texan wine is on the rise, but rather how far the current surge will go.
A History of Winemaking Texan wine is nothing new, with Spanish missions being recorded as producing Communion wine in the state as early as the 1600s. Texas boasts one of the United States’ oldest wineries in continual operation: Val Verde Winery near the Mexican border, which has been in operation since 1883.
“Before prohibition, Texas had a very vibrant, growing industry and prohibition and the discovery of oil and cotton kind of closed it down,” John Rivenburgh, president of nonprofit organization Texas Wine Growers and owner of the Kerrville Hills Winery, told Newsweek.
Speaking from a tractor in one of his vineyards, Rivenburgh described the past 20 years as “modern Texas wine rising,” with an “exponential” increase in wine production from the state.
“Most of that growth, quite honestly, it really happened in the last 10 years. The industry was growing quickly, but I think in the last 10 or 15 years you’ve seen a massive understanding and growth as it relates to good wine,” he said.
“We were growing exponentially, but when we really coupled good wine and good grape-growing along with the things that [we] were already doing well, I think that’s what took the rocket ship off.”
Rivenburgh noted the industry has traditionally been concentrated in Texas Hill Country and Texas High Plains. However, he said this is starting to change, with “great growing regions” acknowledged across the state.
Adding to the Texas Wine Growers’ figures, Jeff Cope, who runs the Texas Wine Lovers website, told Newsweek the number of Texan wineries had reached over 500 as of his most recent count.
“Even with the 15 years I have been covering Texas wineries, the growth in the [state’s] wine industry has been very rapid. When I started visiting Texas wineries back then, I was told that Texas was about 25 years behind California, about at the same time when the 1976 Judgment of Paris happened, which put California wines on the map,” he said.
*** The dramatic increase in output of Texan wines has been accompanied by a growing recognition of their quality.
“The wines in Texas 15 years ago were good, with some very good ones,” Cope said. “Anybody who drank Texas wines then and now will agree that the wines have dramatically improved due to the reasons I just stated. More and more Texas wines are winning international wine competitions and people are starting to notice.”
In January, Texan wines won 295 awards at the San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition, the second highest of any U.S. state following the clear overall winner of California.
The Top Texas Wines website reports that last year, 105 Texan wineries received 635 top awards, classed as a gold medal or higher, at wine competitions around the world—a record for the state. ***
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Given its warm climate, I would think most Texas wines would be red, like the ones from Spain, southern Italy and Southern California.
I hear that San Antonio Ripple has quite a kick.
That can only attract undesirables if the wine gets good. Like Texas Monthly readers and AWFLs.
They refuse to remove their cowboy boots when they’re stomping on the grapes.
Try my favorite Texas summer wine. Summertime porch perfect wine served from the fridge.
Yellow Rose by the Landon winery up in Mckinney (north and east of Dallas).
The label says "sweet white wine" but in fact it's a good compromise between sweet and dry.
We always make sure to have a case in our wine rack by April.
You should try Llano or Kiepersol.
Give me Texas beef. I’ll pass on the wines.
Egyptians and Greeks all grew grapes and made wine. Grape fruit was discovered or cultivated in the Mideas thousands if not tens of thousands of years ago.
Grapes grow fine in warm climate. They only show up to the store refrigerated.
As native Texans, my wife and I have tried to love Texas wines for 2 decades. They’re awful. Love everything else though about Texas (except Austin).
Thanks for the tip. I will be heading out to Dallas again this Summer. I think my wife wants to move to State Thomas, University/Highland Park, or around White Rock Lake Park.
Texas saved the French wine industry in the late 1800s - Phylloxera-resistant vines were grafted onto the remaining French ones.
Agree! Super STUPID article. TX wins are almost all garbage and the so called “wineries” in the hill country are just wine bars; very few own vineyards (climate NOT good for growing grapes) and if they do make wine, it’s from juice trucked down from CA. It’s a big fraud…oh and we live in the Hill Country.
I don’t know about Texas wines, but there is at least one very decent bourbon from Austin. Still Austin is very drinkable bourbon. They make a good rye as well.
For a real adventure try Minnesota wines. Most are nasty, but a few wineries are making good stuff with grapes imported from California and Washington. There are few grape varieties that will tolerate Minnesota winters and the Marquette and Marshal Foch reds still have that wild grape after taste. However, a new variety of white wine grape, Itasca, developed by the University of Minnesota, is now available from several Minnesota wineries. The wine from Itasca grapes reminds me of New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc. This will be a wine to watch as wine makers gain more experience using the Itasca grape.
winery overbuilding, and then the Texas winery market will collapse. The survivors will be strong, though.
I used to live two blocks away from the Val Verde Winery. Judge Roy Bean is buried just up the street from it. Val Verde winery stayed open through prohibition by supplying the Catholic church wine for their mass. I buy a case of their wine whenever I’m near Del Rio and drink it when neighbors come over...they don’t stay long.
Texas has picante and salsa wine....
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