Texas wine took over the Frontiers of Flight Museum for a day, with a dozen producers showing up to pour their wines for thirsty Dallasites. A backdrop of historic aircraft and spacecraft set the scene as the post-brunch crowd streamed in for an afternoon of tasting.
The Wine Fairy was there, too! Here’s what we learned (and enjoyed) at this year’s Drink North Texas.
North Texas wine is growing–right along with North Texas.
Dallas-Fort Worth’s population recently topped 8.5 million residents and could exceed 12 million by 2050. That growth has attracted investment in all sorts of consumer-driven industries, including wine.
Did you know that North Texas Wine Country now includes more than 40 member wineries? It’s an astounding figure, considering that the entire state only had about 20 licensed wineries in the 1980s.
These North Texas wineries and vineyards are concentrated within about 100 miles of Dallas–mostly to the north. Many have tasting rooms open to the public, where wine lovers can taste, purchase wine, and enjoy music and dining.
The festival is a rare opportunity to meet local producers in Dallas.
I roamed the room with some of my local wine pals–including fellow wine writer Jesse Garrett of JGDoesWine. (Jesse made it his insane goal this past spring to visit most of the wineries on the North Texas wine trail, logging 1,198 vehicle miles in the process.) Podcasters Shelly Wilfong of This Is Texas Wine and Will Donohue of We Know Texas Vino were also in attendance, tasting wine and interacting with exhibitors.
One of the things we all noticed with great appreciation was how many winery principals–owners and winemakers—made time to appear in person at their booths.
Now, I’m not a person who’s going to complain about anyone pouring me wine. But there’s something extra special about tasting wine with the person who made it–and hearing the stories (and struggles) behind each bottle.
As a confirmed city girl, I don’t get out to rural Texas wineries to taste and visit as much as I would like. And Texas wines are still rarely found on Dallas restaurant wine lists. So I treasure those moments when the wines come to me. (Like this past weekend’s festival, which took place just a couple of blocks from Dallas Love Field Airport.)
Teamwork made it happen! Representatives of the North Texas Wine Country trade association and members of the volunteer organization Grapevine Wine Pouring Society were helping staff the booths. That meant that the winemakers had more time to answer questions and chat with festival-goers.
Mission: Taste a little bit of everything!
“What is the grape of Texas?” is a question that has no real answer. The fact is, Texas winemakers work with dozens of grape varieties in order to suit the state’s wacky climate and diverse consumer tastes.
At this year’s Drink North Texas Festival, there were sweet wines and sparkling wines, hybrids and flavored wines, big heavy reds and fresh white blends, rosés made on purpose and rosés made by accident.
Each winery presented at least four wines, and general admission tickets included two tastings at each winery table. This helped encourage people to spread out and try different producers. Most wineries brought a range of styles to give drinkers some options on how to fill out their tasting cards.
My favorite pours (and some wineries to watch).
I had the opportunity to try more than 40 Texas wines in a couple of hours. That’s a lot of tasting–and given the diversity of styles on display–a recipe for palate exhaustion.
But my tasting buddies and I powered through. In fact, we found several local bottlings that made us go, “Wow!” (The below-mentioned wines aren’t the only good wines that I sampled–but they’re the ones with the most enthusiastic squiggles in my notebook.)
An early standout was a carbonated Viognier from Edge of the Lake. A salvage job from a stuck fermentation, this beautiful wine is a prime example of Texas ingenuity in action.
I’d never had a sparkling Viognier before, but it works. Viognier’s density is lifted by light carbonation–the bubbles carrying intense flavors of fresh apricot, candied citrus, and ginger. Notes of honey-almond and chamomile lead a long and dry-ish finish. Named “250th,” it’s a limited-edition bottling celebrating America’s semiquincentennial.
Starting with whites, I also took note of Wintergrass Vineyard and Winery‘s off-dry “Coreopsis” (I looked it up–it’s a flower) white blend. Based on Malvasia Bianco and Vermentino, it blooms with divine floral and peach aromas followed by a crisp, herbal finish.
Next, we checked in on Red River Wines, Tempranillo specialists from the Texoma AVA. (We visited the winery earlier this year and are excited about their barrel program and their commitment to developing estate-grown fruit.) Their bourbon barrel-aged Tempranillo is an unusually subtle example of the style, and the Ribera-inspired “Clareté” is a vibrant light red that’s perfect for summer.
Relative newcomers in Rockwall County (they opened in 2021), Rosini Vineyards was showing their wines at Frontiers of Flight for the first time. Their lineup included a pleasant, tropical Albariño, as well as a medium-bodied Texas High Plains Merlot (2023) with flavors of dried cherry, herbs, and brown fig.
Later in the afternoon, we stopped at the booth of Eden Hill Vineyard & Winery, whose Texas Albariño is a benchmark example. Their Tempranillo (and Tempranillo blends) have consistently won awards from professional judges–most recently a Double Gold at the 2026 San Francisco Chronicle Competition. Winemaker Chris Hornbaker and assistant winemaker Amanda Miller were patient and knowledgeable as we barraged them with nerdy wine questions.
Rosés were generally strong across the room. North Texas rosés are made in a whole spectrum of styles and colors–and there are several we’d happily drink again:
Wintergrass’s Tempranillo rosé expresses the winery’s characteristic intensity and originality with a rich texture and flavors of blood orange and creamsicle (without the sugar rush). Eden Hill brought their aromatic, lightly sweet “A Rainy Day” dark rosé of Negroamaro. Rancho Sereno went for restraint with a clean, herbal, and tart rosé made from estate Mourvèdre and Tannat. 5 Fifty Five’s “Rosie” rosé of Montepulciano is a skillfully balanced effort with flavors of fresh cherry and spice.
Last but not least, I adored Edge of the Lake’s new 2025 vintage of their “Hogwash” rosé. Made from 100% estate Grenache, it’s bursting with red fruit (strawberry, cherry, watermelon), some tropical-fruit notes, and a spicy floral lift.
Quality is a journey.
North Texas wine has reached cruising altitude, but there may be some turbulence. I’d be lying if I said everything I tasted was brilliant–or that I didn’t avail myself of the glass-rinsing station at least once or twice.
Winemaking is hard. There’s a lot that can go wrong in the vineyard and in the cellar–and not everyone’s first (or second, or third) vintage is going to be on par with the best wines in the room.
Due to limited space, this year’s festival was capped at 12 wineries. Reportedly, exhibition spaces were awarded by lottery rather than a juried process. The aim of random selection is to be fair to everyone. The trade-off is that lesser wines can end up sharing the floor with North Texas’s most quality-focused and conscientious producers.
As an advocate for Texas wine, I don’t want to encounter faulty wines, heavily flavored wines, or wines made from fruit that wasn’t ready for harvest–but it happens. The good news is, Texas wine is improving all the time.
Our advice to wine lovers is to not let one bad pour or disappointing winery experience define your opinion of Texas wine. You might have to kiss a few frogs–but it’s all worth it when you find that ideal red blend for steak night, or a patio-perfect Albariño.
What: Drink North Texas Wine Festival (May 30, 2026)
Where: Frontiers of Flight Museum, 6911 Lemmon Ave, Dallas, TX 75209
How much: $49 same-day general admission (with souvenir glass), $89 VIP admission (includes extra pours, wine tote, and access to a mezzanine lounge with food)
Participating wineries (alphabetical):
5 Fifty-Five Vineyard & Winery
Cedar Hollow Winery and Vineyard
Review disclosure: I was not compensated or provided any free products for this review. Opinions expressed on The Wine Fairy blog are entirely my own.
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