-
A big win for a Texas Cabernet (plus 5 other Texas Cabs to try)
Texas enjoyed our own little Judgment of Paris this week when a Hill Country winery won a top prize in The San Francisco Chronicle’s annual Wine Competition. Yessirree–that’s right, California. A Texas Cab beat out many storied Napa producers to achieve the “Best in Class” award for a Cabernet in the $90 to $99 price…
-
Llano Estacado acquired, plans expansions in Lubbock and Fredericksburg
Llano Estacado Winery is staking out new territory, according to a press release from January 14, 2025. Texas’s largest premium winery was recently purchased by a group of investors with big plans. Currently, Llano Estacado has just one public location: A tasting room in Lubbock, Texas that also includes a 200-person event center. The planned…
-
Pour one out for Trova Wine Market as Dallas beverage scene continues a string of closures
CultureMap Dallas reports that Trova Wine + Market is closing next week, on January 18, 2025. It’s the latest in a series of sales and closures as Dallas’s wine and beer venues continue their rapid churn. Since 2020, the bar, bottle shop, and gourmet food market has offered wine and nibbles to a ritzy clientele…
-
Don’t Napa my Fredericksburg: Can Texas wineries stay affordable?
The Californication will continue until morale improves! Yes, it’s true: Tech and finance dollars–combined with voracious agrotourism–are coming for Texas’s wine industry. The great relocation of California residents to Texas has kept up its pace, remaining the largest state-to-state migration pattern every single year since 2020. We’re all feeling anxious about it. “Don’t California My…
-
The 6 biggest wine stories of 2024
Happy New Year from The Wine Fairy–and for bloggers and scrollers, a very happy List Week! This is the time of year when all of our favorite wine critics are posting lists of their top bottles of the year. We didn’t keep good enough tasting notes in 2024…so yeah, we’re not doing that. Instead, our…
-
How much should a mocktail cost?
It’s practically the definition of a First World Problem: How much is too much to pay for some ice cubes, soda water, and syrup/bitters in a glass? About five bucks, you say? A big slice of the internet agrees. On a popular Threads post, user “ughchase” writes: “in no world should mocktails cost $1-2 less…
-
Roman wine-making villa unearthed in Spain! But what was the wine like?
Exciting archaeological news for wine-lovers who frequently think about the Roman empire: A large wine-making villa has been unearthed at Sant Gregori villa near the coastal town of Burriana, Spain. Archaeology Magazine reports that the four-acre site is complete with all the facilities required to grow, ferment, and store grapes and wine. There are even…
-
There’s tomato wine, who knew?
Last week, Pizza Hut dropped a product on the world that we didn’t know we needed: Pizza wine. Not wine to pair with pizza (although you could, I guess) but pizza-flavored wine. Made from tomatoes. It comes in a 375 ml bottle for $25, and there’s also a gift set ($60) with two stainless steel…
-
Five wine trends I can do without
Wine trends come, wine trends go. But grumpy listicles (like this one) are forever. Which recent wine trends are truly bad, which are merely overexposed, and which are we picking on just to get some easy contrarian clickthroughs? Time to get grumpy and hurt some feelings! Let’s go! Wine Trend I Can Do Without #1:…