The Wine Fairy

I spent five days volunteering at TEXSOM 2025 as part of the Sommer Camp program. These are my TEXSOM Diaries–a day-by-day, behind-the-scenes look at Texas’s premier wine education conference. Also check out Part One and Part Two!

It’s Day Four of the wine wonderland that is Sommer Camp, and we’re getting started early: A Sunday breakfast with D.O. Cava and Jamón ConsorcioSerrano. I’ve just finished helping set up the room, setting placemats and glasses–and now I get to take a seat for a presentation of seven exceptional Cavas.

It’s just before 7 AM. The sun is still low in the sky as Sommer Campers walk over to the convention center from the nearby Texican Court hotel where many are staying. We are diverse in our experience: Servers and sommeliers, writers and educators, newcomers and experts. We’re all here for the same reason: To help execute this conference, to make friends and connections, and to taste some amazing wines along the way.

Sommer Camp volunteers were polishing glasses late into the evening. We tasted dozens of wines yesterday, if not hundreds. And (for the truly indefatigable) there were after-parties with beer and liquor as palate-cleansers. Are we really in the mood for more wine this morning? Oh yes, we are!

Facing a lineup of wine at the start of the workday can take some getting used to. Or so I’ve heard numerous times from people who taste wine professionally. The palate shock of acid and alcohol, the inconvenient interference of toothpaste and coffee…I understand the aversion, but I’m not sure I share it. Especially when the wine in question happens to be Cava.

Delicious aromas waft from the glasses in front of me, propelled by gentle bubbles. Fruit and pastries from the buffet are piled high on my plate (gotta line your stomach at TEXSOM!) A chef is in the back of the room preparing a dish of sauteed mushrooms, eggs, and toasted Jamón Serrano. Already my mouth is watering.

As breakfast was served, Doreen Colondres (writer/chef and ambassador for D.O. Cava) launched into a lively introduction of the morning’s Cavas. We reviewed the important grapes, D.O. production standards, and suggested pairings and selling points.

Now, the Wine Fairy is very familiar with Cava of the tapas-bar caliber and even the corner-store ilk. It’s one of my favorite wines to drink and serve because it is so versatile and well-priced.

But most of the wines tasted today are classified under the premium category: Cava de Guarda Superior. This designation denotes⁠ at least 18 months of aging (regular Cava is 9 months) and as of 2025 also requires 100% organic grapes. Many of Sunday’s bottles are vintages, and some of the producers we tasted only make vintage Cava.

Sommer Campers tasted through the wines, marveling over their complex biscuity flavors, zingy acidity, and intriguing notes of nuts, spice, or smoke. Length of lees aging (up to 60 months!) and blend percentages were varied, and each was expressive in its own way.

Our interest was piqued further when Doreen revealed the retail prices of most of these bottles: In the neighborhood of $20-$35, if you can find them in distribution. Whoa. Suffice it to say that even at this elevated quality level, the price compares favorably to that other traditional-method EU sparkling wine that we all know and love. Doreen succeeded in impressing on us that Cava can be fine wine–and even when it is fine wine, it’s still a fantastic value.

I left the breakfast feeling awake and invigorated. Cava should take the place of orange juice and coffee at breakfast tables around the world.

Back to Work, Y’all

The TEXSOM Conference opens to ticket-holders this afternoon, and so the Sommer Camp team members begin making last-minute preparations for showtime. Badges need to be issued. Final inventory checks need to be made. Seminar rooms need to be set up to exacting specifications. Extra glasses need to be polished (always). We line up with numbered metal carts (about 40 of them) and rehearse the coordinated moves we will make to deliver wine bottles to the first expo tasting in a couple of hours.

There are a lot of carts and crates in motion this afternoon. But no matter how hard we work, we won’t be thirsty. Jim Clarke, author of Wines of South Africa, is in the Somm Lounge all day with a dizzying array of South African wines. They are all waiting on the tasting table for us to try when we get a break between assignments.

Many Sommer Campers are restaurant sommeliers and wine buyers who are shopping for their lists. For me, it’s a study opportunity. I struggle to identify–and honestly, to appreciate–Chenin Blanc. So I resolve to go taste all eight of the available Chenins over the course of the day. (As I prep for an upcoming tasting exam, it feels like neutral whites are the vegetables and spicy reds are the dessert.)

And as it turns out, Jim is also pouring a selection of Pinotage in celebration of the 100th anniversary of the variety’s creation. “And look–the parents are in town for the birthday!” he jokes, gesturing at the bottles of Pinot Noir and Cinsault on the other end of the table.

I am on Team Pinotage, but am I a convert to the Cult of Chenin? Not yet. Still, I single out a couple that I really love: The green and tropical 2025 Babylonstoren (a wine from the future!) and a substantial, lingering Old Vine Chenin Blanc from Raats Family.

TEXSOM Awards Lunch – So Many Bottles, So Little Time

I’m assigned to help set up the Sommer Camp lunch today–but truly, the Irving Convention Center staff are doing most of the heavy lifting. My team’s task is to open the wines for lunch, taste them for condition, and get them to the right temperature. The level of teamwork is amazing, and pretty soon it’s time to enjoy another meal/wine break.

The wines for Sunday’s lunch are medal winners from the 2025 TEXSOM Awards that were judged in February 2025. They are wines from all over the world, a cornucopia of styles. There are different bottles for each table. Maybe 30 wines in total? The bottles are floating in ice buckets and zipping around the room–I never see all the labels in one place.

This is probably the point that it dawns on me that I’m not going to be able to keep track of everything I taste at Sommer Camp. There just isn’t time. I allow myself a full glass of something familiar (Cristom “Mt. Jefferson Cuvee” Pinot Noir) with my meal. I jot down the names of a Barossa Shiraz and a big McLaren Vale blend that I like and leave it at that. We circulate and barter for untasted bottles while chowing down on our tasty catered lunch from the convention center chefs.

As much as I loved getting heaping seconds of the mess hall lasagna at Girl Scout camp, the grown-up meals at Sommer Camp are even better. They’re just the right balance of healthy and indulgent. Plus, all of them taste great with wine. I load up on salad and veggies to (hopefully) counteract the unholy amount of sugar and alcohol I’m putting into my body this week.

Toasting Texas, Our Texas…with Texas Fine Wine

You’ll never guess what came after lunch! Or perhaps you will…it’s more wine. Texas Fine Wine, a trade alliance focused on promoting wines of quality in Texas, was stationed in a nearby corridor for a quick 1:15 PM toast.

I was excited because I follow Texas wine rather closely. I’m always talking about Texas wine to a (sometimes skeptical) local population of somms and wine lovers…now was their chance to drink them and see.

Texas Fine Wine includes Bending Branch Winery in Comfort, Duchman Family Winery in Driftwood, Pedernales Cellars in Stonewall, and Spicewood Vineyards in Spicewood. Each winery sent a newsworthy wine for Sommer Campers to taste and share.

Pedernales presented their Aletheia Rosé, a crisp Grenache-Mourvèdre blend. It’s their first wine made from 100% organically grown Texas grapes. Bending Branch just released their 2020 Petit Verdot Reserve–the first commercial wine aged in Texas white oak. And Duchman brought Roussanne, a temperature-hardy variety that’s recently gained a foothold in Texas.

But the most eye-catching product on the Texas Fine Wine table was “The Get Together” Red Wine Blend from Spicewood. In a news-making move toward sustainability, Spicewood is launching the first boxed wine to come from a Texas winery.

The 3-liter box contains a dry Bordeaux-style blend of Cabernet Sauvignon (49%), Merlot (49%) and Petit Verdot (2%)–all from 100% Texas grapes. An argon charge inside the packaging helps keep the wine fresh for up to four weeks. It officially launches this Labor Day weekend at Ron Yates Wines and Spicewood Vineyards–and Sommer Campers got to tap it early! (The box will retail for $50. It’s available in person at Spicewood and Ron Yates tasting rooms and online.)

We all drink a toast to the success of innovative Texas wine, then return to our stations for the final push. It’s 2 PM and the Welcome Desk is now open. The early presenters are arriving to pick up their badges. The first of the conference’s six expo tastings opens at 5 PM. I’m on bucket duty, so I head back to HQ to make sure I have plenty of spittoons that are clean and dry.

Bordeaux Right Bank Dinner: Red Wine and Blue Clay

The first expo tasting goes off without a hitch–but I’ll have plenty more to say about the expos in the next part of TEXSOM Diaries. We all breathe a sigh of relief, and turn our thoughts to what’s sure to be a decadent ending to a happy day: The Right Bank Bordeaux dinner.

Meals at TEXSOM are usually buffet-style–the better to accommodate everybody’s schedule and diet. But the Bordeaux dinner is formal and plated. The wineglasses are labeled with printed tuits–the proper name for those circular paper tags, I learn.

Sommer Campers move around the room, delicately pouring the wines from magnums. We dine on successive courses of grilled vegetable salad, filet mignon with potatoes dauphinoise, and chocolate mousse cake.

For the final three glasses on our table, the estate managers are in the room presenting their wines: François Despagne (Château Grand Corbin Despagne), François Estager (Château La Cabanne and Vignobles Estager) and Nicolas Réblé (Maison Galhaud). They share the floor with Master of Wine Mary Gorman-McAdams for a detailed look at Bordeaux’s Right Bank, its history and its terroir.

The lecture (and the Q-and-A that follows), is production-focused and highly specific. There’s talk of climate challenges and new sustainability efforts. (Saint-Émilion has lately been introducing bats for pest control to help reduce spraying–who knew?) The future of marketing Bordeaux is touched upon, along with recent and proposed changes to the AOC regulations. As it also was during the Napa Valley dinner on Friday, the uncertainty surrounding the wine industry is a palpable presence in the room.

But on the other hand…it’s hard to feel glum with this many beautiful wines in front of you. The vignerons‘ passion for winemaking–and love for the Merlot variety in particular–shines forth through it all. François Estager even carries a piece of Pomerol blue clay to presentations. After speaking to us, he displays it at the front of the room and people file up to the podium to reverently touch it.

Dinner ends, and Sommer Campers push ourselves reluctantly away from the table and shuffle back upstairs to the dish room. But the fun is not over yet. There’s a Polishing Party sponsored by Champagne Taittinger and their bottles are chilled and waiting in the Somm Lounge.

At first it sounds to me like a brilliant idea, to bookend the day with bubbles! But on second thought: I did start drinking Cava at 7 AM, I’m not scheduled to polish tonight, and tomorrow is another big day at Sommer Camp. I’m sated. I rack a few glasses for the dishwasher, and head downstairs to call for a Lyft.

The Main Conference really gets going tomorrow, and there’s still plenty of wine stories to share! Check out all of the TEXSOM Diaries here, or go to the next installment (Part Four).

Wines tasted (selected):

Vilarnau Brut Rosé Cava de Guarda

Castell d’Or Imperial Brut Cava Reserva

Alta Alella “Mirgin” Brut Nature Cava Gran Reserva (2020)

Roger Goulart Brut Nature Cava Reserva (2018)

Parés Balta Blanca Cusiné Brut Nature Cava (2019)

Pere Mata “L’Ensamblatge” Brut Nature Cava Gran Reserva (2019)

Mastinell Brut Nature Cava Gran Reserva (2014)

Babylonstoren Chenin Blanc (2025) – Paarl, South Africa

Boschkloof “Kottabos” Chenin Blanc (2023) – Stellenbosch, South Africa

Thistle and Weed Duwweltjie Chenin Blanc (2020) – Paarl, South Africa

Paulus Wine Co. “Bosberaad” Chenin Blanc (2023) – Swartland, South Africa

Sadie Family Rotsbank Chenin Blanc (2023) – Swartland, South Africa

Raats Old Vine Chenin Blanc (2023) – Stellenbosch, South Africa

The Stellenbosch Reserve Hangbrug Chenin Blanc (2024) – Stellenbosch, South Africa

Storm “Ignis” Pinot Noir (2021) – Upper Hemel-en-Aarde Valley, South Africa

Lubanzi Cinsault (2024) – Piekenierskloof, South Africa

Beeslaar Pinotage (2020) – Stellenbosch, South Africa

Kanonkop Pinotage (2022) – Stellenbosch, South Africa

Bellingham Bernard Series Bush Vine Pinotage (2024) – Coastal Region, South Africa

Pedernales Cellars Aletheia Rosé (2024) – Texas

Duchman Family Winery Roussane (2023) – Texas

Bending Branch Petit Verdot Reserve (2020) – Texas High Plains AVA

Spicewood Vineyards “The Get Together” Red Blend (2023) – Texas High Plains AVA

Cristom “Mt. Jefferson Cuvee” Pinot Noir (2022) – Eola-Amity Hills AVA, Oregon

Greenock Creek Shiraz (2020) – Barossa Valley, Australia

Wirra Wirra Church Block Cabernet Sauvignon-Shiraz-Merlot (2022) – Langhorne Creek, McLaren Vale, Australia

Lapostolle “Cuvee Alexandre” Cabernet Sauvignon (2022) – Apalta DO, Colchagua Valley, Chile

Château Canon Pécresse (2018) – Canon Fronsac, Bordeaux

L’Egérie Château Chéreau (2016) – Lussac, Saint-Émilion, Bordeaux

Château Saint-George (2015) – Saint George-Saint-Émilion, Bordeaux

Moulin Galhaud (2008) – Saint-Émilion Grand Cru, Bordeaux

Château La Cabanne (2010) – Pomerol, Bordeaux

Château Grand Corbin-Despagne (2009) – Saint-Émilion Grand Cru Classé

Sponsor disclosure: I was not compensated or provided any free products in exchange for this post. Opinions expressed on The Wine Fairy blog are entirely my own.

Wines were provided to Sommer Campers through TEXSOM partnerships with D.O. Cava, Wines of South Africa, Texas Fine Wine, Vins de Bordeaux, Champagne Taittinger, and TEXSOM Awards winners. (Thank you!! ❤️)