An afternoon at Lost Draw Wines (Johnson City, TX)

It looks, perhaps, like AI trickery. But the summer skies in rural Texas really are that shade of robin’s egg blue. The lolling clouds really are that white and fluffy.

And the sparkling rosé, poured by a hostess and handed to you as soon as you’ve closed your car door, really is that perfectly pink and chilled. It was a pinch-yourself moment in the Hill Country as we walked down the gravel driveway at Lost Draw Wines.

Founded in 2012, Lost Draw has recently relocated to Johnson City from their previous outpost in downtown Fredericksburg. The former Lost Draw Cellars was a tasting room tucked behind an H-E-B and a car wash. The new digs gave Lost Draw room for a vineyards, on-site production, event space–and of course, that panoramic blue sky.

An anchored map gives you the lay of the land. The large gray building to the west houses the winery and barrel room. Just down the way is the limestone-clad tasting room and patio seating shaded with live oaks. Inside, there’s a long bar and a few cafe tables. One wall holds wine bottles and Lost Draw merchandise–the other wall has big picture windows and a small menagerie of taxidermy.

The Tasting

Lost Draw’s Signature Tasting ($30) includes a generous six wines and spans sparkling, white, and red styles. All of the wines on the tasting menu can be ordered by the glass ($12 for white/rosé or $16 for red). On Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays a second flight option is available: Lost Draw’s white and rosé flight.

I opted for the Signature Tasting ($30) on my June 28 visit. After I finished my welcome drink–a gently fizzy pet-nat of Pinot Meunier–I settled in for tastes of five more Texas wines of varied styles. They were poured and explained in sequence by our awesome wine guide, James. All of Lost Draw’s offerings are 100% Texas-grown wines from the High Plains AVA and Hill Country AVA (and surrounding areas).

Lost Draw’s patio and tasting room/bar.

Texas winemakers, as you may know, are leaning hard into grapes that originate in Italy, Spain, and the south of France. Some of these (like Sangiovese) are quite familiar and approachable to casual wine drinkers. Others–such as Tannat–are, well…not.

The trick is to balance consumer recognition with the need to use varieties that can actually grow and thrive in our 100-degree summers. The prevailing strategy is no longer, “You must produce a Cabernet and a Chardonnay no matter what.” Instead it’s something like, “Make the best Texas wine you possibly can, and trust your customers to pick up on it.”

Menu for the Signature Tasting at Lost Draw Winery featuring a selection of Texas wines.

Fortunately, most people do like these “new-style” Texas wines once they’ve had a chance to taste them. The 2023 Viognier ($36, Texas High Plains) was bursting with fresh apricot flavors. A 2021 GSM ($48, Texas Hill Country) had a nice acidic bite and a balance of red and black fruit with subtle earthiness.

Next up was the 2021 Sangiovese ($48), made in the dry, light to medium, leather-and-cherries style that’s so versatile with food. The grapes come from Letkeman Family Vineyard, located just below the Texas High Plains AVA boundary. (Sarah, the Sangio-head, chose this as her favorite.) A dash of red-fleshed Alicante Bouschet (5%) adds beautiful color.

After that, the tasting menu moved on to the heavier reds. The 2021 Tempranillo from Lost Draw Vineyard ($52, Texas High Plains) is redolent of grilled fruit, red plum and smoke combined with fresh herbal aromatics. 19 months of oak aging contributes a smoothness that underpins its notes of peppermint and blood orange. I re-visited this wine in another tasting the next day and I do believe it represents one of the most exciting wine styles in Texas.

Finally, Lost Draw turned up the tannins with their 2020 Petite Sirah from La Pradera Vineyard grapes ($56, Texas High Plains). A full-bodied, French oak-aged wine with dark berries, spiced cherry, orchid/vanilla and lingering flavors of horehound, chicory, and anise.

Lost Draw wasn’t pouring their Hill Country Tannat by the glass–but I’d recently tasted it at a wine bar in Dallas and remember being impressed by its intense character and its structure. Lost Draw selects fruit carefully–their tasting menu reads like a who’s-who of some of the most highly regarded vineyards in Texas.

There’s not an estate wine from Lost Draw’s Johnson City winery just yet. “Lost Draw Vineyard” on wine labels refers to their older, larger vineyard in Brownfield (over 300 miles away, in the Texas High Plains). The first wine from the new Johnson City vineyard is also in the works. (I think they said it’s a Petit Verdot–but I don’t remember, sorry!)

The truth is, I am not suave enough to be able to take a detailed wine note while also carrying on a conversation…but suffice it to say all of them were wines I’d happily drink again. I washed them all down with an intensely mineral-ly glass of Hill Country well water.

A glass of Lost Draw’s Cinsaut Rosé, with Merlot and Tannat vines in the background.

Lost Draw’s Signature Tasting is a valuable overview of emerging Texas styles. I’d recommend it to anyone who’s curious about what Mediterranean grapes can do here.

The Tour

James asked if I wanted to see the winery, and the no-brainer response was “yes!” We took a short walk over to the larger building to see where the alchemy happens.

Inside the dark, insulated Barrel Hall, the wine barrels are stacked up to the ceiling. (Like me, James is gearing up for WSET Level 3, so there was some nerdy chat about cooperage and Burgundy vs. Bordeaux-sized barrels.)

The Barrel Hall and event space at Lost Draw (Johnson City, Texas).

The Barrel Hall doubles as a venue for member and private events, including wine pickup parties and seasonal dinners. Between the adjacent winery and the seating area there’s an L-shaped service bar on wheels. The garage-like partition door can be opened, and the room can be configured with a long harvest table to accommodate dozens of seated diners.

We peeked inside the production room and receiving area, which is equipped with wood, stainless steel, and concrete fermentation vessels. At that moment captured in the photo, it is cool and hushed in here. The floor and tanks are spotless. They’re patiently awaiting the 2025 harvest which will begin arriving in a few short weeks.

Inside the production barn at Lost Draw Winery with stacked wine barrels and various fermentation vessels.

Back at the bar we settled our tab, and I wandered off to explore the grounds with a big glass of Lost Draw’s Cinsaut Rosé.

Early rain showers had cleared, and the day’s heat was just starting to set in. (All morning, it had been raining with the sun shining–if you’re a Southerner, you know what that’s called. 😈) People began to fill the patio, gathering around chilled buckets of rosé and cheese boards. Coolers of water stood nearby. Servers circulated, offering wine menus and recommendations.

Merlot grapes undergoing veraison, protected by netting.

Growing along US Highway 290 is Lost Draw’s Johnson City vineyard. The seven-acre tract was first planted in 2019 and grows Petit Verdot, Tannat, and Merlot. Swaddled in protective netting, the Merlot was just starting to change in color when we visited at the end of June.

Friendly People + Great Wines = Yes, Please!

A quick note here about Lost Draw’s hospitality: I almost always make reservations when tasting at wineries. It’s the courteous and smart thing to do.

However, this time I was down in Central Texas for just one night to take a wine certification. I had arrived in Johnson City a day early as a hedge against Austin traffic. I hadn’t made reservations anywhere and it was a Saturday.

As I’ve written about before, many tasting rooms in the Hill Country have gotten busy and proud. Though past experiences had made me pessimistic, I really hoped I’d be able squeeze in a tasting at one or two of the more talked-about wineries.

Props to the wine pros at Lost Draw, who didn’t act like it was a huge freakin’ imposition for two people to show up at the tasting room and order some wine. We enjoyed welcoming and attentive service, we did our tasting, and we got out of the way when the afternoon pre-bookings started to show up.

I wouldn’t try it at any winery when visiting with a large group. I wouldn’t try it if you want food service. I wouldn’t try it in Fredericksburg. Still, it’s heartening to see a winery that has figured out how to treat both walk-ins and reservations with kindness.

Rows of grapevines in the summer in Johnson City, Texas.

I had long wondered about the origin of Lost Draw’s name, and while at the winery, I forgot to ask! Fortunately the answer came up the next day in my Hill Country Wine Academy class. (Nope, it’s not poker or guns.)

A “draw” is a shallow stream bed. A “lost draw” is a dry one. As the world was devastatingly reminded last month during the Guadalupe River flood, the central part of Texas gets a lot of rain. But it tends to be all at once, in huge cloudbursts, and the porous bedrock drains it all away. Rivulets and gullies are carved everywhere by flash floods. When the weather clears and drought sets in, these minor terrain features often disappear from the eye.

So “Lost Draw” evokes the parched landscape of Texas’s hills and plains. Beautiful, yes. Green? Sometimes. But always requiring irrigation to nurture the vine.

Unlike some of the Hill Country wineries that are really spread out, the US-290 wine trail is blessed with convenient density. The 10-mile stretch of road between Hye and Johnson City has several excellent wineries and tasting rooms. (On winery visits, we tend to order a flight and then each choose a single glass of our favorite. If your tasting regimen is much more ambitious than that, then please please please designate a driver.)

What about food? At Lost Draw, charcuterie boards are made to order ($35 small, $50 large). Other than that, food isn’t available. If hunger strikes, ask the staff for a restaurant recommendation in or near Johnson City. You’re right between Austin and San Antonio–there’s tasty Tex-Mex and BBQ to be had all over the place.

Wise winos will certainly want to add Lost Draw to your Highway 290 wine trail itinerary. The land here may be thirsty–but you won’t be.

Where: Lost Draw Wines, 1686 US-290, Johnson City, TX 78636 (open daily)

How much: Tasting $30, white/rosé wine by the glass $12, red wine by the glass $16, signature wine by the bottle $36-$56. Reservations may be made online.