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Texas Wine Country 2010

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According to the Texas Department of Agriculture, Texas is the 5th largest wine producing state in the U.S. (behind only California, Washington, Oregon, and New York), with more than 180 wineries contributing $1.35 billion annually to the Texas economy. Nearly 1 million travelers a year visit Texas wineries. I would bet that most of our readers would not have thought the wine business in Texas was nearly this large.

This is the third spring in a row that LaGayle and I have visited Texas wine country and Texas wineries. In 2008, we started out with a couple of Texas high plains wineries near Lubbock. Last year, we concentrated on the Texas hill country near Austin/San Antonio. This year, we visited wineries in the north Texas region around Dallas/Fort Worth.

The past two years I have shared with you my impressions of Texas wines and how much better they are today than in 2002 when I first tasted them. As a native Texan I wish I could be more optimistic; however, nothing I found this year has changed my opinion that, while progress is evident, Texas may never leapfrog any of the big four states into the elite class of wine producing areas. And here’s why:

  • Pierce’s Disease has been wreaking havoc in many Texas vineyards.
  • Erratic weather in the form of late freezes, hail, and even floods are causing producers to have smaller than normal crops in too many years for Texas to be able to produce the string of good vintages that is necessary to establish coveted terroir.
  • Because of the weather issues mentioned above, too many Texas producers are selling wines made from California, Washington, New Mexico, and even Australia grapes. They may have no other choice, but it gets old visiting Texas wineries that aren’t pouring wines made from Texas grapes.

After three years of visiting Texas wineries, it appears to me that what Texas does best is some of the Rhone and Spanish varieties such as Syrah and Tempranillo. So, in typical Wine Peeps fashion, we did a blind tasting that included moderately priced Syrah from three of our favorite Texas wineries (Becker, Driftwood Estate, and Texas Hills) and one Washington Syrah, the 2007 Charles Smith Boom Boom! Syrah. LaGayle and I purchased all four wines between $14 and $16 at Spec’s in Austin. None of the four garnered an excellent Quality rating of 4 stars (out of 5) or higher, but there were some good wines in the group with the Boom Boom! from Washington State as our clear favorite:

2007 Charles Smith Boom Boom! Syrah (Washington State)
Quality: 3.5 stars (out of 5)
QPR: 5 bangs for your buck (out of 5)
Where to buy: Spec’s (Austin, Texas), $15; Available elsewhere, $14 to $20

2008 Becker Vineyards Syrah (Texas)
Quality: 3 stars (out of 5)
QPR: 4 bangs for your buck (out of 5)
Where to buy: Spec’s (Austin, Texas), $15

2006 Driftwood Estate Syrah (Texas)
Quality: 3 stars (out of 5)
QPR: 4 bangs for your buck (out of 5)
Where to buy: Spec’s (Austin, Texas), $16

2005 Texas Hills Syrah (Texas)
Quality: 2.5 stars (out of 5)
QPR: NR (not recommended)
Where to buy: Spec’s (Austin, Texas), $14

With the help of Lee Fuqua of Fuqua Winery in Dallas, we were able to locate and purchase a couple of bottles of Tempranillo made with Texas grapes, one from Times Ten Winery and the other from Lone Oak Winery to bring home to Seattle and put in one of our family’s private blind tastings. If they measure up, we’ll report on them in a subsequent post.

Texas Wine Country 2010 was originally posted on Wine Peeps. Wine Peeps - Your link to great QPR wines from Washington State and beyond.


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