Rio to Red Winery

Rio to Red Winery is located in downtown Sherman and is owned by Mont Taylor. The urban winery opened in 2021.

I visited the winery when I was in North Texas and near the Sherman area. If you are not aware of Sherman, it is a city just south of Denison and north of Dallas. The town boasts two wineries now and I visited Rio to Red Winery after I visited Wall Street Winery. The winery was easily found with wine barrels outside the façade.

Inside the quaint tasting room, there is a lounge area where patrons can enjoy a glass of wine. The other side has a table with information about the winery plus the medals it has already won in wine competitions. I met owner/winemaker Mont Taylor who was standing behind the tasting bar with the production facility located near behind him.

I learned that Mont had studied at Grayson College and all the wines he offers are 100% Texas wines. He currently has custom crush facilities helping make his wine but plans on doing it himself in the future.

There is a fee for tastings where you can taste five samples. These are the wines I tasted at the time of my visit:

• Tumbleweed – white blend of Riesling, Roussanne, and Viognier
• 2020 Blanc du Bois
• 2019 Tempranillo
• 2019 Sangiovese
• Two Steppin’ – new blend of Mourvèdre and Tannat
• Alicante Bouschet
• Bandit – Bourbon barrel Zinfandel

You may recognize those are seven wines, but that is because the Two Steppin’ and Alicante Bouschet were not on the current tasting menu yet because of legalities, otherwise I may have made a purchase of them. I could tell through my tasting that the future of Rio to Red is something to keep an eye out for in Texas.