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These are North Texas’s favorite wines: The People’s Choice Classic winners!
Thousands of GrapeFest revelers have turned in their ballots, and the results are in! The winners of the People’s Choice Wine Tasting Classic were revealed on the afternoon of Sunday, September 14 in Grapevine, Texas. All together, 34 wineries brought more than 120 wines to compete over the four days of GrapeFest. It’s all Texas…
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A celebration of Texas wine at GrapeFest 2025 (Grapevine, TX)
Turn down Texas’s thermostat by a few degrees, pack tens of thousands of wine lovers into an old railroad town, and you got yourself a party! GrapeFest is a wholesome (yet wholly wine-soaked) event that arrives in the Dallas suburb of Grapevine every September. With grape stomps on the schedule and BBQ smokers on every…
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Big skies and big birds: A visit to Blue Ostrich Winery (Saint Jo, TX)
Eight hilltop acres, 10 Texas wines, and one lanky bird added up to a memorable Friday when we took the road north to Blue Ostrich Winery and Vineyard. This popular North Texas winery is located in Saint Jo, Texas and is part of the new-ish Texoma AVA. It’s about 90 minutes from DFW and practically…
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7 things to love at GrapeFest 2025 (Grapevine, TX)
We adore a big-city festival with a small-town feel, and GrapeFest checks all the boxes. Located in Grapevine, Texas (a few miles from DFW Airport), it’s a festive fall activity for all your favorite winos. And that’s not just our opinion: This year, GrapeFest snagged the #7 spot on the USA Today Readers’ Choice list…
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2025 TEXSOM Diaries: Sommer Camp Part Five
I’ve been at Sommer Camp for five days, volunteering and giving a behind-the-scenes account of the work and play that goes into producing the annual TEXSOM Conference. This article is the last of five installments of my 2025 TEXSOM Diaries. For more Sommer Camp stories, see Part One, Two, Three, and Four. An Enchanted Tuesday…
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2025 TEXSOM Diaries: Sommer Camp Part Four
The Wine Fairy is reporting from TEXSOM, a great big conference of sommeliers and wine educators in North Texas! I’ve been here for four days, volunteering from dawn to dusk in an effort to broaden my wine knowledge and experience. This is Part Four of the 2025 TEXSOM Diaries. For previous entries, check out Part…
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DFW Wine Events: September 2025
Harvest is underway in Texas, and our social media feeds are full of grape crushes from the High Plains and Hill Country. (Jealous!) Although few wine grapes are grown here in the DFW area, that doesn’t mean we have to miss out on the joy of the harvest season. Here’s where to get your wine…
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2025 TEXSOM Diaries: Sommer Camp Part Two
I’m a first-timer at TEXSOM’s Sommer Camp in Irving, Texas this year. I’ll be sharing my conference experiences here on The Wine Fairy blog. This is Part Two, in which we polish a billion glasses, drink a really old Napa Cab, and pair sweet Bordeaux with Tex-Mex. If you haven’t read Part One, you can…
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2025 TEXSOM Diaries: Sommer Camp Part One
Howdy from TEXSOM 2025, where I’m taking part in Sommer Camp! I’ll be sharing my experiences here on The Wine Fairy blog. Here’s what I did (and tasted) on my first day of Sommer Camp. The best way to learn to do something is often just to do it. Or at least, that’s what I…
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A visit to Siboney Cellars (Johnson City, TX)
Just off Texas Highway 290, a long driveway curves off the highway and climbs gently up to a limestone plateau. Vineyards spread out to the east towards Johnson City, a small town best known as the boyhood home of President Lyndon B. Johnson. Arid plants and clusters of old live oaks dot the property, and…
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Local Sips: Saturday Tastings at Pogo’s Wine & Spirits (Dallas, TX)
Free wine is good wine, for the most part. All but the most hardened wine snobs can generally agree on that proposition. And yet, the more you learn about wine–the more you explore and taste–the more it seems that generic, mass-produced wine loses its appeal. Even if you don’t have to pay for it. Sure,…
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Swipe, self-serve, and sip at Salute Wine Bar (Fort Worth, TX)
Automated wine bars have been a part of urban life for a little while now. I’ve seen them on cruise ships, in hotel lobbies, and popping up in trendy neighborhoods in big cities like San Francisco and New York. So when I had a couple of hours to relax in Fort Worth, I just had…