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Texas Wineries
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A look at the wineries and the people behind them in the state.
Stone House Vineyard
by Randy Lankford Growing up in southern Australia’s Barossa Valley, one of the country's most prolific wine making regions, it never occurred to Angela Moench that people did anything other than make wine. Everyone was a vintner and there were grape vines everywhere she looked. Even her own family has been in the wine business for generations. It's not surprising then, that when she came to Texas, she brought that attitude with her.
Su Vino Winery
by Randy Lankford If you're going to open a winery in a town called Grapevine, it had better be good. Especially if it's going to be located in the city's historic district. So when husband and wife team David and Chari Scott bought it in 2005, they knew they had their work cut out for them.
Windy Hill Winery
by Randy Lankford Don't let the relaxed attitude and the friendly smiles fool you. Augie and Linda Weitzen may look at ease when they're pouring wine for guests at their Windy Hill Winery in Brenham, but when the doors close they get down and dirty.
Pheasant Ridge Winery
by Randy Lankford Bill Gipson Sr. knew a good thing when he saw it, or when he tasted it, actually. Combining his love of wine and his training as a geologist, Gipson realized early on the high plains of Lubbock had all the requisites for growing quality grapes, the most important ingredient in making quality wine.
Brennan Vineyards
by Randy Lankford When Ft. Worth physician Patrick Brennan harvested his first crop of grapes, he knew he had some good ones. He just didn't know how good.
Zin Valle Winery
by Randy Lankford Zin Valle is not only the last winery in Texas alphabetically, but traveling east to west, it's also the last geographically. Surrounded on three sides by New Mexico, Zin Valle is located in Canutillo, just outside El Paso. The winery is so close to the border, in fact, that its fence line is the state line on two sides. Owners Victor and Kathi Poulos welcome visitors from both sides of the line. While their first goal is to make quality wine, their second goal is to give local residents an opportunity to experience wine and wineries.
San Martino Winery
by Randy Lankford Emilio and Maria Ramos are quickly going from one end of the education spectrum to the other. Maria has quit her job as director of financial aid at the University of Texas – Dallas so she can concentrate full time on running the San Martino winery that she and her husband opened in 2004. Their Rockwall-based winery has become a place to enjoy their award winning wines and relax.
Rising Star Vineyards
by Randy Lankford Michael Oubre doesn’t see any conflict between his upbringing as the son of a Baptist minister and his role as owner and winemaker at Rising Star Vineyards.
Wichita Falls Winery
by Randy Lankford Alton Gates is a dichotomy. On the one hand, he’s enough of a risk-taker that he and his wife, Lana, opened the Wichita Falls Vineyards and Winery because a television show made wine making look like fun. On the other hand, he buys 50 percent of his fruit from out of state just in case the Texas crop is damaged by the state’s unpredictable weather.
Tehuacana Creek Vineyards
by Randy Lankford The grapes Ulf and Inga-Lill Westblom grow on the vineyard’s 1,400 vines are a combination of very old and very new. Like many Lone Star State residents, the Westbloms weren’t born in Texas but they got here as quickly as they could. Both natives of Sweden, the husband and wife came to America 26 years ago. Those European roots are deeply woven in the Westbloms’ winemaking philosophy.
Crossroads Winery
by Randy Lankford John Otis has a unique concern no other Texas winemaker has to worry about. He has to stop what he’s doing once a week and fly halfway around the world.
Los Pinos Ranch Vineyards
by Randy Lankford Jeff Sneed’s sense of humor is as dry as his wines. The owner and winemaker at Los Pinos Ranch Vineyards in Pittsburg, may take what he does seriously, but not himself.
Lost Creek Winery
by Randy Lankford It might be David Brinkman’s name on the door, but the real star of Lost Creek Winery is Buddy. It’s Buddy’s picture on the label and the winery’s premium red is named "Buddy’s Select" so don’t let anyone tell you he’s not the one in charge. Brinkman may make the wine, but Buddy, a five-year-old Labrador-border collie mix, is the official greeter and the Sunrise Beach winery’s number one goodwill ambassador.
La Buena Vida Winery
by Randy Lankford While the old saying about everything being bigger in Texas is generally true, it’s also true that some big surprises come in small packages. Take, for example, La Buena Vida Winery tucked inside the Dallas/Fort Worth (D/FW) Airport.
Barking Rocks Winery
by Randy Lankford It’s difficult to imagine anyone in the Texas wine industry having more fun than Tiberia. A free spirit who visited Texas on a whim in 1977 and never left, he’s squeezing as much juice as he can out of life and grapes.
La Cruz de Comal Winery: Genuine Texas Wine
by Randy Lankford If Lewis Dickson can’t make what he calls genuine Texas wine then he just won’t make any. It’s that philosophy that keeps his La Cruz de Comal winery small. It’s not a typical Texas winery in a lot of ways. For one thing, it’s not open to the public. He doesn’t have a tasting room and there aren’t any cellar tours. He doesn’t host special events and he doesn’t have any meeting facilities. He and partner Tony Coturri are making wine, not hosting weddings.
LightCatcher Winery: Catching Lightening in a Bottle
by Randy Lankford No one can ever accuse Caris Turpen of not being creative. Take the name of her Ft. Worth winery for instance. While LightCatcher is a subtle reference to her career as a cinematographer it may also be a more veiled admission of her desire to catch lightning in a bottle.
Haak Vineyards: Making the Most Challenging Wine in the World
by Randy Lankford Raymond Haak certainly doesn't mind a challenge. Not only did he open his winery, Haak Vineyards, along the Pierce's Disease-plagued gulf coast, he's also making some of the most challenging wine in the world.
Llano Estacado Winery: Growing in the Texas Climate
by Randy Lankford Winemaker Mark Hyman gives insight into one of the state's largest and most well-known wineries: Llano Estacado. The fruits of solid growth are sometimes mixed with the snags in meeting demand, sometimes leaving bitter dregs.
Woodrose Winery: Growing in the Texas Climate
by Randy Lankford The last thing Mike Guilette needs is more work. He's got a full time job with an Austin-based technology company where he's just taken over the task of restructuring the data engineering side of the entire corporation. On top of that, he's the owner and winemaker at the Woodrose Winery in nearby Stonewall. As if that weren't enough, he's also an aspiring chef.
Bluffdale Vineyards: Finding the Perfect Location
by Randy Lankford David Hayes learned nearly everything he needed to know about winemaking from his grandfather. "He made whiskey too but I never got involved in that part of the business," Hayes laughs from his Bluff Dale Vineyards, on the edge of Erath County, 45 minutes southwest of Ft. Worth.
Alamosa Wine Cellas: Old School Winemaking in Texas
by Randy Lankford Jim Johnson, owner and winemaker at the Alamosa Wine Cellars, is from the old school. Both his winemaking techniques and philosophy harken back to a time before anyone was even growing grapes in Texas. One example of that old school philosophy is the field blending of the grapes he grows at the Tio Pancho Vineyard in the high valley of San Saba county.
Cap*Rock Winery: Meet the New Wine Guy
by Randy Lankford After 30 years in the hardware business, Don Roark sounds almost surprised to find himself owning a winery. Roark, now co-owner and president of the Cap Rock Winery in Lubbock, is still using that marketing expertise as he takes the winery and meeting venue in new directions.
Messina Hof Winery: Absolutely Loving It
by Randy Lankford Founded in 1977, the Messina Hof Winery near Bryan is old by Texas standards. That sense of history and tradition is important to owner Paul Bonarrigo and his wife, Merrill. "I have fond memories of working with my dad and my grandfather making wine. It was always a joyous occasion to be able to sit around a table for three hours drinking wine and hearing the same old stories you've heard over and over again."
McReynolds Wines: Wine Worth Remembering
by Randy Lankford It's easy to find Cypress Mill. It's just west of Hammetts Crossing and east of both Blowout and Sandy, Texas. To the north is Round Mountain and right in the middle of it all is the McReynolds Winery.
Grape Creek Vineyard: Growing under New Ownership
by Randy Lankford Wineries in Texas change hands just about as often as the Alamo. That is to say, never. Yet it happened at Grape Creek Vineyards in February of '06 when Federal Express executive Brian Heath purchased the operation from the Simes family.
Torre di Pietra Winery: From Microchips to Grapevines
by Randy Lankford Ken Maxwell has been making wine with his father and his grandfather since he was a kid so the chemistry of winemaking was never a problem. The only real challenge he and his wife, Jenise, faced when they decided to open the Torre di Pietra (Tower of stone) Winery was where to put it.
Sister Creek Vineyards
by Randy Lankford As more and more Texas wineries move toward growing Rhone Valley grape varietals and making Mediterranean style wines, Sister Creek Vineyards clings to its European roots. Sister Creek winemaker Danny Hernandez won't be producing any sangiovese or viognier any time soon. He combines a traditional philosophy with modern technique.
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