Roundup Event Captures The Best of Premium Texas Wine

Cactus, cowboys, and tumbleweeds? If that is your vision of Texas, get ready to expand your mind.

Roots Of Texas Wine

The first vineyard in North America, it is said, was established in Texas by Spanish missionaries in 1662. Today Texas has more than 500 wineries and the wine industry contributes more than $13 billion in economic value annually. It is the fifth-largest wine-producing state in the US, and boy are those wines good!

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The state of Texas is actually bigger than France with plenty of geographic diversity to grow grapes. To explore more deeply the Lone Star State winemaking tradition, we created a food and wine experience. The Texas Wine Roundup featured a selection of fine Texas wines paired with artfully prepared small dishes.

Texas Roundup Wineries

Here’s a capsule on the four Texas wineries showcased at our roundup:

Wedding Oak Winery has its main winery in San Saba. It specializes in Mediterranean-style wines with heavy influences from the Rhone Valley. The winemaker, Seth Urbanek has worked at wineries in Champagne, Australia, and New York’s Finger Lakes before moving back to his home state. His talent has elevated Wedding Oak to recognition as one of the top wineries in the country.

  

Texas Heritage Vineyard, located in Fredericksburg, just celebrated its fourth anniversary and is already racking up lofty awards. For two years in a row, their tasting room has been voted by the Fredericksburg Standard as the Reader’s Choice Best Winery Tasting Room. They are gaining national notoriety for impressive wines made with Portuguese varieties such as Souzao, and Italian grapes like Barbera and Sangiovese.

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Kerrville Hills Winery is located just north of Kerrville. Texas wine industry icon John Rivenburgh purchased the winery in 2019 and has put in a significant effort into building a portfolio of top-notch Texas wines. He is well known for his impressive Semillon, Mourvèdre, and is widely recognized as a leading evangelist of Tannat.

Fall Creek Vineyards is the closest winery to Austin. It is one of the oldest and most storied wineries in the state with incredible wines that have graced the table of presidential inaugurations. Winemaker Sergio Cuadra was recruited to move to Texas from a prestigious winery in his home country of Chile 10 years ago and has made a big imprint on the Texas wine industry.

Food And Wine Lone Star State Style

We invited four other couples to join us for the wine dinner and only one had tasted Texas wine before. Our guests created dishes to reflect Texas and match with a Texas bottle. The result – combining friendship, delicious food, and premium Texas wine – was a smashing success.

We opened with Cowboy Caviar bites and shrimp & avocado bites. This was paired with the Fall Creek 2021 Sauvignon Blanc and Wedding Oak 2021 Terre Blanc, a blend of Roussanne and Marsanne. The spritely Sauvignon Blanc carves its own path with lemon and white peach and a nice soft finish. The full-bodied Terre Blanc is golden yellow and barrel-aged with plenty of green apples and pear flavor.

The Rivenburgh 2021 High Plains Vermentino by Kerrville Hills Winery was light and crisp with a kiss of fresh apple. This was paired with Southwestern Fish Tacos with Apple Fennell Slaw & chipotle dressing artfully prepared by Arthur (merlot2muscadine.com).

The amazing Texas Heritage Vineyard 2019 Merlot was a silky intro to the reds. Its cherry notes are unified with the organic chicken thighs with porcini and cherries. This is a robust Merlot with beautifully extracted red fruit flavors.

A pinnacle for the evening was the limited 2021 "Alamo" Cabernet Sauvignon. Some of the grapes came from Fall Creek’s Oxbow Vineyard, which was land originally owned by Alamo hero William B. Travis. A portion of the sales of the wine will go to help operate and maintain the Alamo. This Cab has rich, deep, cherry and plum notes with a touch of light oak. It blended deliciously with Smoked Beef Brisket & BBQ Sauce with skillet-fried potatoes.

I had thought about having a palate cleanser at this point (five wines consumed) in the dinner. However, my wife, who had slaved for days to set everything up, protested. I decided that cornbread would be a great Texas-style “sorbet.” Our friends made tasty Borracha (drunken) Beans over cornbread, which accompanied the inky Texas Heritage 2019 Petite Sirah, which has blueberry and chocolate notes.

The grand finale was Wild Boar Ragù Pappardelle matched with the decanted Wedding Oak  2020 Tannat The wild boar was shipped in from Texas by D’Artagnian Gourment Meats. We also tasted the Kerrville Hills Winery Tannat as well. Texas Tannat is the most elegant expression of this grape I've tasted. Deep, powerful plum flavors and dark fruit tamed the raging bull (which had been simmering for 5 hours).

Although most were unfamiliar with Texas wines, everyone came away dazzled by the range and quality of these great wines. Thanks to the wineries for making this extravaganza possible. A tip of the Stetson to our posse of guests, who also helped prepare the meal: Phyllis The Filly and Bronco Bud, Ambush Arthur and Maverick Mary, Tombstone Tony and Alamo Amy, Lawless Laurie and Jedidiah Jeff. The hosts had to have outlaw names too – Wild Dave and Calamity Kathy.

Even if we all can’t be Texans, we can at least savor these brilliant Lone Star wines.

Full disclosure: The wines were received as marketing samples.

Texas Wine Flourishes With Creativity And Style

Are Texans trading 10-gallon hats for 750 ml bottles? 

By Dave Nershi, CSW – Publisher

Texans always think big. Although west coast wineries dominate domestic wine headlines, the wines of Texas are gaining critical acclaim and legions of new fans.

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The history of wine in Texas is a long one. The first vineyard planted in North America by Franciscan priests was planted around 1662 in Texas.  European settlers followed the development of mission outposts, bringing more grapevine cuttings and developing the industry through the 1800s. Today Texas has more than 500 wineries and the wine industry contributes more than $13 billion in economic value annually.

Wine Acreage By The Millions

Texans don’t do anything in a small way. Texas is the fifth largest wine-producing state in the US. Texas Hill County is the third largest AVA in the country encompassing 9 million acres. Even so, scoffers may doubt that the dry, arid climate is suited for growing quality grapes.

Spicewood Vineyards owner and president Ron Yates is from a six generation ranching family in Texas. “I grew up in Hill Country before it was cool,” said Yates. “We’d used to say that if you’re coming to Hill Country, you’re coming to shoot deer, eat barbecue, or play on the lake.”

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Ron spent a year in Spain while a student at the University of Texas. It was there in the Ribera del Duero region that he fell in love with wine. Upon his return, he noticed that the Texas Hill Country was a lot like the Spanish vineyard landscape, with limestone bedrock and hot days. He was convinced that Tempranillo would grow successfully in Texas. His instincts proved correct as the grape highlights the offerings at Spicewood and he earned the Top Texas Wine award at the prestigious Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo 2021 Rodeo Uncorked! International Wine Competition.

Larger Than France

“One of the misperceptions about Texas is that it seems like it would be this very limited climate for growing grapes,” said Julie Kuhlken, co-founder of Pedernales Cellars, a family-owned and operated winery in Stonewall, Texas, that specializes in Spanish and Rhone varieties. “Texas is actually bigger than France so you’re talking enormous geographic diversity. If you look at the High Plains, the reality is an amazing diurnal (temperature) which is very helpful. They are using irrigation so you're not relying on rainfall in order to make sure the plants have enough water.”

“As with many wine regions, the weather can be unpredictable so there’s a lot of hard work required in the vineyard to get the highest quality fruit possible and in the winery to make the best wines from that fruit,” said Denise Clarke, sommelier and director of the Texas Fine Wine group, which was established in 2014, who has been involved with the Texas wine industry for more than a decade. “Texas wine people are very passionate about the opportunities in this state to make benchmark wines, and they are eager to share their experiences and knowledge with other winemakers and growers.”

Texas Fine Wine is a collection of five of Texas’ most distinguished wineries: Bending Branch Winery, Brennan Vineyards, Duchman Family Winery, Pedernales Cellars and Spicewood Vineyards. Member wineries are dedicated to producing superlative wines from Texas grapes.

One taste of the lovely mocha and deep blueberry notes tinged with floral highlights from the Bending Branch 2017 Tallent Vineyard Tannat will convince any wine lover that something special is going on in Texas. We enjoyed it with a vegan pizza. This Texas Hill Country wine is sensational, perfectly balanced and bold, bold, bold. (The secret ingredient for the pizza is shallots.)

Expect the unexpected with Texas wine. An example is the Brennan Vineyard 2019 Ella’s Pine, a 100% Semillon with a limited 200-case production. With a beautiful golden color, the wine delights with smooth pineapple and honey flavors topped with touches of peach and dry herbs.

The wine is a tribute to the house at Brennan Vineyards. The McCrary house has a Loblolly Pine Tree on its south side. Ella carried the pine tree with her from her home in Alabama as a piece of her homeland. Just so happens that here in North Carolina we are surrounded by Loblolly Pines. They tower above the ground and sway in the breeze. We packed up Ella's Pine for our morning walk and took the accompanying photo.

Each wine displays world-class quality and winemaking. The flavors entrance, even if the grape names aren’t commonplace.

Many consumers just don’t know grapes like Tannat or Semillon. “One of our biggest challenges is that many of the wines we produce may be unfamiliar to some wine enthusiasts – they may not know much about Viognier, Vermentino, Tannat or Tempranillo, for example,” said Clarke. “We work hard to explain the varieties and how they are similar in taste and body to more well-known grapes.”

Focusing On The Right Grapes

Dave Reilly, in his 13th year as winemaker at Duchman Family Winery thinks finding the right grape varieties has been key in the tremendous surge in Texas wine quality. In the 1970s Texas was trying to grow the well-known and popular international varieties. “Well, we can grow those grapes, but we weren't making world-class wines,” said Reilly. “I'm not in any way saying you can't make a world-class Chardonnay or Cabernet Sauvignon in Texas because there are some. It's just more the exception than the rule.” Real success for Texas wine began when the focus changed to varieties better suited to the state rather than just what people knew.

“People are so aware of the international varietals, many of which are grown in France, but if you go along the Mediterranean and actually track all of the warm weather varietals there is an enormous range of them,” said Kuhlken. “It just blows you away. We have many of these varieties that are not well known, right, they're not household names. What's allowed the Texas wine industry to grow is that at some point we said we need to stop growing things that people know the name of but don't grow well here and start growing things that grow well here and get everybody else to learn their names.”

Although Cabernet Sauvignon tops the list of grape production (2019), Tempranillo, a Spanish grape, is not far behind. Other top reds include Mourvèdre, Sangiovese, and Primitivo. The top white is Viognier. Muscat Canelli is also a popular vineyard choice.

According to Clarke, grapes that show the best promise in Texas are from warm climate, Mediterranean regions including Southern France, Italy and Spain – so everything from Viognier, Roussanne, Marsanne, Albariño, Picpoul Blanc and Vermentino to Tempranillo, Tannat, Mourvèdre, Graciano, Carignan, Teroldego, Souzão and Touriga Nacional.

The less-familiar grapes shouldn’t be a barrier to wine sippers. “I find most wine lovers are adventurous and eager to try new varieties and producers, and many wine enthusiasts have not had a lot of Texas wines,” said Clarke. “The Texas wines on store shelves are just a small percentage of the Texas wines made in the state. Thankfully, Texas wine country is just hours from Austin, San Antonio, Dallas and Houston, making it a great weekend destination to get out and explore wineries that make something for everyone.”

A Bright Future Ahead

Clarke sees intriguing developments for Texas wines. Look for more single-vineyard wines that express microclimates and terroir and single-varietal wines from grapes like Touriga Nacional and Cinsault that, in the past, have been used primarily as blending grapes.

You can also expect to see more fizz. First introduced in Texas in 2012, pet-nat is gaining more popularity. In 2021, look for Spicewood Vineyards pet-nat of Sangiovese, Brennan Vineyards pet-nat of Mourvèdre and Muscat of Alexandria, and Pedernales pet-nat of Tempranillo. Bending Branch will offer its fourth vintage of its popular Frizzante Rosé of Tannat. Clarke sees bubbles as a great choice in Texas to pair with its cuisine and hot summer days.

“Texas is an exciting but still young wine region,” said Clarke. “Texas is still experimenting with new grape varieties and winemaking techniques. I’m excited to see more wines come from our higher, mountainous elevations to complement the warm-climate grapes we are known for.”

Full disclosure: These wines were received as marketing samples.

Establecimiento Juanicó 2010 Don Pascual Roble Tannat, Juanicó, Uruguay

Juanicó is the heart of the burgeoning wine industry in Uruguay. There are more Tannat vines planted there than any other place in the world.

Sipping Uruguay’s Signature Grape

A number of years ago I received several bottles of Tannat from Uruguay. We tasted through them a half decade ago, but one bottle lingered on: the Don Pascual 2010 Tannat.

Tannat is a thick-skinned grape that produces a rich and tannic red wine. It can age longer than wines than wines with less structure. Even so, this wine was nearing the end of it drinking window. Time to uncork!

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This is not an expensive bottle of wine, retailing for less than $10. That combined with its age made me wonder what I’d find when the bottle was opened.

Aging Gracefully

One of the things that always piqued my interest about this bottle was the label. The vintage date of 2010 clearly had been pasted over something else. Now was the time to find out.
The “2010” easily came off and underneath was “2009.” Either there was a bottling mistake, or new labels weren’t ready yet. Now that the wine was unmasked, it was time to uncork.

The initial aroma was off-putting, smelling a bit like swamp water. Once the wine was poured into the glass, thankfully, it was a different story. The wine is deep ruby in color and almost opaque. Swirling the wine reveals long legs on the side of the glass.

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Sometimes Tannat can be too tannic, closed and lacking in nuance. With the Don Pascual, on the other hand, the tannins had mellowed and integrated nicely.

On the palate, the Don Pascual has notes of cocoa and tobacco with a medium-plus body. This is a satisfying bottle and a prime example of great values coming from South America wineries. Don Pascual is a smart choice for your introduction to Uruguay’s signature grape.

Technorati Tags: Tannat,Uruguay,wine

Arctic Blast Wine Tasting Provides Tasty Relief From Chilling Cold

In the last 10 days I’ve used my snowblower more than ever before. When I let our dog Amber out before going to work last Thursday, I was afraid she would disappear in the snow drift on our back patio. In the coming week, temperatures are expected to dip as low as 18 below zero.

Clearly, we needed to do something to battle the icy grip of this latest winter storm. We decided to face the chill down by chilling out – with our first Arctic Blast Relief wine tasting, joined by a band of more than a dozen friends.
Green Dragon prepared a gaggle of great appetizers including stuffed mushroom caps, olive and cream cheese pinwheels, and thyme apple and sausage bites. I tried to help (I really did), but she admonished me by saying she’d handle the food and I was in charge of the wine. I did pitch in by wrapping tiny sausages in dough to make pigs in a blanket.
Our wine lineup was as follows:
Arrival Wines:

• Poema Cava, Spain
• Adriano Adami Prosecco, Italy
• Prejean 2010 Dry Riesling, Finger Lakes

Three Pinots from Arroyo Grande Valley, CA

• 2012 Laetitia Estate Pinot Noir
• 2012 Laetitia Whole Cluster Pinot Noir
• 2012 Laetitia Reserve du Domaine Pinot Noir

A Pair of Zinfandel from Dry Creek Valley, Sonoma

• 2011 Dry Creek Vineyard Heritage Vines Zinfandel
• 2011 Dry Creek Vineyard Old Vine Zinfandel

A Duo of Special Cabernet

• 2010 Gamla Cabernet Sauvignon, Israel
• 2008 Laurel Glen Cabernet Sauvignon, Sonoma Mountain (Magnum)

A Dessert Wine from Uruguay

• 2008 Familia Deicas Tannat Dessert Wine

To get me in the spirit, I spent more than an hour scraping and shoveling my
driveway – to take advantage of the “warm” weather (it was about 28 degrees). As time for the party approached I scrambled to uncork bottles and fill decanters.
Our arrival wines were a couple of international sparklers – the Poema Cava from Spain and the Adami Prosecco from Italy. International traveler Larry said it reminded him of arriving in business class on an international flight. (Meanwhile in coach we are battling for overhead storage and paying for bottled water!).

Familia Deicas 1er Cru D’Exception 2006 Tannat, Uruguay

The Familia Deicas 1er Cru D’Exception Tannat is a dense, robust heavyweight from South America.

Familia Deicas is a label of the Establecimiento Juanico winery in Uruguay. The winery dates back to the 1800s.

Then owner Don Francisco Juanico broke with traditional farming methods to build an underground cellar, enabling him to make better quality wine due to the cooler conditions.

In 1979 there was a big change when the family headed by Juan Carlos Deicas took over the winery. Since then three generations of the family have worked with passion and innovation to create great wines to share with the world. Juanico is the most technically advanced winery in Uruguay.

In color the wine is an intense violet with black notes. The wine is full of earthiness, chocolate and brown sugar. It’s a darker, firmer palate than Cabernet Sauvignon, but it opened nicely. It has a full body without excessive tannins. While Cab might be a warmed up bowl of cherries, the Familia Deicas is more a mysterious mixture of dark spices and fig.

This is an effort to create a wine in the garagiste style – high quality, limited production wines in an expressive style – sometimes even made in a garage. Familia Deicas grabs your attention with its contrasting flavor profile – so different from the fruity California reds.

Technorati Tags: wine,Tannat,Uruguay

Rating: 4 of 5  Value: 2.5 of 5

Full disclosure: We received this bottle as a marketing sample.

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Atlántico Sur 2006 Single Vineyard Tannat

We usually celebrate Mardi Gras even though we are typically in the midst of a nasty Northwest Ohio winter. It started many years ago with a trip to New Orleans. We loved the vibe of the city, the people’s joie de vivre, the richness of the culture and the great music. (I’m a big Zydeco fan.) Since then we’ve typically hosted a Mardi Gras party.

This year it snuck up on us. I drove home from work sort of bummed that we didn’t have anything special planned.

All that changed when I walked inside the house. The sounds of Rockin’ Sidney performing Don’t Mess With My Toot Toot was blaring forth, the house was decked out with streamers and decorations in gold, green and purple and Green Dragon was cooking up some delicious red beans and rice.

She asked me to pick out a wine and I grabbed a bottle of 2006 Atlántico Sur 2006 Single Vineyard Tannat. We’ve enjoyed getting to know this national red grape from Uruguay. I thought it might be a great match with our Creole dish.

One thing I’ve learned is that there is a spectrum of quality for Tannat. The inexpensive Tannat doesn’t compare to the more elegant mid-range and premium bottles.

The Atlántico has a very smooth approach, showing just what winemakers can do with this grape. The tannins are very light and the alcohol is 13%. The mid-palate has delicate raspberry and blackberry chords. The medium-duration finish has a puckering berry flavor. We both enjoyed this wine but wished for a touch more body and complexity.

It’s a very enjoyable wine, probably the best Tannat I have had in my limited experience. This comes from the Paysandú Region in Uruguay which has a terrain of rolling hills with clay and loamy soils.

This wine has a single vineyard designation. It would have been nice to know the name of the vineyard, or perhaps in Uruguay they do not follow the American practice of naming specific vineyards.

Our trip to the “South Atlantic” was an enjoyable one. Could wines like this make Tannat the next Malbec? We encourage you to pick up a bottle and judge for yourself.

Full disclosure: We received this wine as a sample.

Technorati Tags: tannat,Uruguay,wine

Pueblo del Sol 2010 Tannat, Juanico Region, Uruguay

This guest review is by Larry, an IT professional in Bowling Green.

Today my wine crew received the pleasure of testing the 2010 Pueblo del Sol Tannat.

This wine is of product of Uruguay. I had not heard of the Tannat grape.

Research shows It  originated in South West France, and is now the favored grape of Uruguay. Once opened there was the aroma of oak, and black cherry. The color was a deep ruby red. It was a dark, but beautiful wine.

First sips were tart and a little chewy. You could taste the oak, and a hint of coco. While being a tasty wine, we agreed that this was a wine that would would be even better with food. We started with some Brie and crackers. This made the Tannat taste even better. This evening, our main meal was Jambalaya. The Tannat complemented the tomato sauce, peppers, and sausage.

We really enjoyed it with the food. We agreed that this would be excellent wine to have with steak and mashed potatoes. The main complaint from my crew was that we ran out of wine. We thoroughly enjoyed it and recommend it as a very reasonably priced wine to have with meals.

Full disclosure: This wine was received as a marketing sample.

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Don Pascual 2010 Reserve Tannat

Wine review by Glorious T.

We were appreciative to be gifted with a bottle of Don Pascual Tannat Reserve 2011 (Uruguay) for our review. I made the mistake of reading the winemaker's notes as the bottle was being opened. Typically I like to be surprised and make my own judgment, and I know what I really like.

Upon reading about this wine's notes of ink and robust tannins, I was immediately prepared that this wine would not pass muster. Thank goodness Ace of Bass encouraged me to give it a chance anyway.

A lovely violet color gives way to a pleasantly fragrant mix of heavy spices. The tannins are really well balanced with big jammy flavor for a really interesting and flavorful taste. It's a full bodied wine with a long and delicious finish. The Tannat is thoroughly enjoyable and highly recommended.

It is hearty enough to be paired with a meal, but interesting enough to stand on it's own. In fact, we rated this much higher than several wines we had sampled over the holiday season.

Rating: 3.5 to 4 out of 5.

Full disclosure: This wine was received as a sample.

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Pueblo del Sol 2009 Tannat, Juanico Region, Uruguay

Tannat is Uruguay’s “national grape,” initially grown in the southwestern region of France, but brought to Uruguay in 1870 by a French-

Basque immigrant. Today Uruguay is the largest producer of Tannat in the world.
Pueblo del Sol is a new entry to the US. It is a value wine, priced at under $10. Not much Tannat is available domestically because most is sold in Uruguay. Tannat pops up occasionally as a blending wine.
We uncorked this as we relaxed around the firepit on a perfect evening. The wine has a closed bouquet, not giving much indication of what was in store. There was light blueberry and tannins in the approach. The wine is medium bodied and smooth, but there was no noticeable finish. It just sort of disappeared.
I’ll continue to seek out Tannat, because this is a special grape. On this night, however, it fell short of the mark.

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