2014 Year in Review for Texas Wine Lover

I can’t believe another year has quickly passed and a new year is about to begin. It has been a very busy year for Texas Wine Lover and this hobby has definitely turned into a passion. Let’s see what happened during the year in review for 2014.

1. I visited more Texas wineries over the year in order to help new or existing wineries get more exposure to consumers. I have now visited over 240 Texas wineries and tasting rooms in the almost four year’s history of the blog.
2. During the year, Gloria and I took a number of road trips around the state to revisit some of our favorite wineries and also see previously visited wineries to see what was new. One three day trip involved putting over 1,000 miles on my car. I also went as far west as El Paso to visit wineries including the large Ste. Genevieve Winery which required two posts to cover!
3. Texas Hill Country Wineries wanted to start profiling their winemakers again every month in their email newsletter so I volunteered to take on the task of contacting winemakers and providing the winemaker profile.
4. I made my first kit wine to learn more about the winemaking process, and it was actually drinkable.
5. Gloria and I attended the 2014 Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo Uncorked! Champion Wine Auction dinner with some great friends. If you are not familiar with the event, the top wines from the wine competition are auctioned in lots and most lots include 6-liter bottles. Four couples at our table went in on the only lot which included only Texas wines, and we all shared in enjoying six 6-liter bottles.
6. We attended the TWGGA (Texas Wine and Grape Growers Association) Conference and had a great time seeing familiar faces and meeting new friends.
7. I flew to Lubbock to attend Neal Newsom’s Grape Day in the High Plains and enjoyed learning more in the educational sessions and of course meeting new winegrowers and seeing other friends. I also had a great time revisiting most of the High Plains wineries.
8. I co-wrote an article with Debbie Reynolds entitled “They Make Wine in Texas?” which was published in a magazine and available in Dallas hotels.
9. I judged the 2014 Lone Star International Wine Competition for the first time and had an excellent time.
10. I was invited to be the media representative when Senator Ted Cruz met with Texas winery owners and winegrowers.
11. Gloria and I helped harvest Blanc du Bois for Nice Winery at Alta Mira Vineyards. From those grapes, Nice Winery made their first Texas wine and won a Gold medal for it at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo International Wine Competition.
12. As I have done in previous years, I attended TEXSOM, the Texas Sommelier Conference for more wine education and to support the Texas wineries who were there to present their wines in either a hospitality suite or at the Grand Tasting. Next year I hope to volunteer at TEXSOM instead of attending.
13. I invited Jeremy Wilson to write wine reviews earlier in the year and he did a wonderful job. We ended up taking the Level 1 Introductory Sommelier Exam together at TEXSOM and we both passed! I also met Rebecca Marmaduke at TEXSOM who I learned was also passionate about Texas wine and later she passed the Level 1 Introductory Sommelier Exam too!
14. I also wrote an article for VingDirect who helps wineries grow their sales and is increasing their exposure in the Texas wine industry.
15. I decided it was time to take Texas Wine Lover to the next level so I trademarked “Texas Wine Lover” and then chose my first logo which you can now see on the Facebook page.
16. I announced the new Texas Wine Lover team in October which gives us three solid writers, a fantastic photographer, and an excellent videographer. There are even more skills which are yet to be unveiled. With the team being able to cover almost every corner of the state, Texas Wine Lover was at the opening events/days of Messina Hof Grapevine Winery and Fall Creek Vineyards at Driftwood. The team can also handle writing wine reviews for any Texas winery.
17. One of the ideas Jeremy brought to the table was to start the Texas Wine Lover podcast and he recorded the first podcast episode. I recorded a few episodes and we now have nine episodes for Texas wine fans to subscribe to and enjoy.
18. I attended the TWGGA Grape Camp in Fredericksburg where I learned even more about growing grapes. Did I mention we have a few grape vines in the backyard?
19. After a brief lapse in #TXwine Twitter Tuesday, they started again and I co-hosted one month.
20. Gloria and I held our annual blind tasting event for Texas Wine Lover and this year was the Battle of the Texas Tempranillos where we had 28 different Texas wineries participate. This time we had the help of the entire Texas Wine Lover team at the event.

The readership on the website has increased almost three times since last year. This included 221 new posts added throughout the year, an increase of 25% from the previous year–and there are still at least 10 more posts scheduled for this year. That means there was an average of a new post at least every other day.

The Facebook page has over 2,000 earned Likes and the Twitter account has almost 1,900 followers. YouTube videos and Pinterest photos were also very popular.

Besides continually keeping the most accurate list of Texas wineries up-to-date, I have started trying to create the most accurate list of Texas vineyards too. Plans for next year are to add even more information about the vineyards and do more with the wineries.

The Texas Wine Lover team has a lot of ideas for making the Texas Wine Lover website the go-to website for all your Texas wine news and stories even more than it already is today. The first step will be to redesign the website with the new logo and make the website into what some consider a formal publication. Some development is already taking place on the website and other ideas are sure to turn 2015 into an exciting year for Texas Wine Lover!