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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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Texas Winery Bingo (Free downloadable game cards)
Liven up your Texas wine trip with this fun, free scavenger-hunt game! Up to six people or teams can play Texas Winery Bingo. Each card lists objects and words you’re likely to find while doing tastings at Texas wineries. To play, each player or team marks off the squares as you find them. (Complete rules…
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A taste of heaven at Eden Hill Winery (Celina, TX)
Just north of Dallas, where the tollways end and the cornfields begin, is a little slice of wine paradise. Towering vines, friendly staff, and distinctive wines make Eden Hill Winery a delightful day trip from anywhere in the Metroplex. The 10-acre property is equipped with a tasting room, wine-making facilities, and two acres planted with…
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Review: Rowdy Creek Ranch Texas Merlot (2022)
Gather ’round the chuck wagon, ’cause today I’m pouring a 2022 Texas Merlot from Rowdy Creek Ranch. Located in Gilmer, Texas (about 20 minutes northeast of Longview), Rowdy Creek Ranch is a 450-acre country resort that opened in 2022. A 22-acre winery is on site. The property is equipped with a venue and event space,…
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Texas wines and good times at Salado Winery Co. (Salado, TX)
Texas country highways in the springtime are idyllic, all blankets of wildflowers and baby cows. The April rains have made the grass tall and green. The smell of hickory and mesquite smoke hovers faintly in the air. And if you tire of the ever-thickening traffic as you pass through growing cities like Temple and Waco,…
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Travelin’ the Grapevine Spring Wine Trail (Grapevine, TX)
Wine Fairy here, reporting from the 2025 Spring Wine Trail in Grapevine, Texas! The 33rd annual festival took place on Saturday, April 12. The sky was Easter-egg blue and it was in the low 60s all morning (cellar temp)! It could not have been a lovelier day to explore Grapevine’s downtown wineries on foot. Here,…
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Mixing it up with Clos du Val’s blending seminar
It was a fab Cab lab at The Wine Authority this past Saturday. Napa Valley’s Clos du Val was in the house with barrel samples from the 2023 vintage–and one very special finished wine, the 2021 Yettalil blend ($200 retail). I booked the blending seminar for “educational” purposes. My wife (and fellow Cab lover) Sarah…
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Texas wine travel guide: The Red River Valley Wine Trail
Once snubbed by discerning drinkers, Texas wines are starting to get serious attention. The two best-known regions are the Hill Country (which gets the biggest share of the wine tourism) and the High Plains (which grows most of the grapes). But did you know that Texas actually has 19 recognized wine trails? From the Gulf…
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Review: Tacama Gran Blanco Tres Cepas (2022)
I’ll admit it: It’s novelty that primarily drives my personal wine choices. Why drink something you’ve already tasted? There are exceptions (for exceptional wines and comfort wines)–but most nights, I just want to try something new. The second most important thing is price. And so today, we have an inexpensive and novel wine: Tacama Vineyards’…