There are a lot of features on the Texas Wine Lover website, and we started writing about them so you can learn about them and be able to use the many resources available. We’re moving across the website’s menu with a blog post about each menu item, so let’s dive deeper into the Texas Wineries menu.
The website’s Texas Wineries menu has a number of items starting with Texas Wineries Map. The map is another way to go to Plan Your Trip which we discussed recently.
Texas Wineries List
The next item is the Texas Wineries List which is the list of all Texas wineries. Since there are so many Texas wineries, they are listed 30 at a time on a page. Above the list is a little map showing the wineries that are listed on the current page. Clicking on a pin in the map lets you see the winery’s name with additional button options.
Wineries are then listed alphabetically but grouped by their membership type: Gold Medal members, Silver Medal members, Bronze Medal members, and unclaimed listings. All listings originally were claim listings which means the winery or other business can claim their own listing. This allows them to create an account on the website and update their business information any time they need to. It is beneficial for all of us whenever a business claims their listing and updates it because then we all know we have the latest information such as days and hours open, any events they may be having, and other features about the business. If you see any listings that are unclaimed and you know the business, please encourage them to claim their listing and keep it updated.
There is a lot of information just within the search results for all listings. Here is an example listing for Hilmy Cellars.
Besides the logo and name of the winery, it also tells us:
A business can provide information to us to prove they are indeed the business who are claiming their listing.
Businesses can be rated and here we see the rating and number of reviews.
The days along with the hours they are open for those days are listed. This is a handy way of seeing all that information in one list without needing to go into each listing.
Current open status. The system knows what day of the week it is and the hours the winery is open. It will list in the first button the open status such as Closed Now, Opening Soon, Open Now, etc.
A short description of the winery is given.
City and zip code for the winery.
The View More button brings you to the large listing for the winery just like clicking on the title of the winery does.
The Contact Now button will provide a form for you to contact the winery.
The Show Phone Number button does exactly that.
Near the top of the short listing is a Like heart that allows you to like that winery right there. This gives you an easy way to track what wineries you have visited and want to visit again.
At the top right of the search results is a search filter. The different categories in the system such as Texas Wineries, Wine Trails, Services, etc. have different filter options. These allow you to filter the search results to show exactly the wineries you want to see in the list. You can also enter a partial name, city, or zip code if you are looking for a particular winery.
Other filter options for a winery are to show the wineries in a particular region. We will discuss that shortly, but you can click the “Show regions in Texas” link to see the different regions. You can also select the different days open if you are only looking for particular days you may be visiting. The Types of Tastings, Amenities, and Food Offered can also be used as filters.
These are not the only filters for the search results. There is a dropdown box at the top of the map that allows you to sort the results in different ways. There are three icons to the right of the dropdown box that lets you show the search results as a list, as cards, or show only the map.
Whew! There is a lot of information just on that one page of search results.
Regions
Next up is the submenu item Regions. We mentioned it briefly earlier but the first item Show Regions in Texas provides the same regions map as the previous link mentioned to help you see how we assigned wineries to different regions in Texas. Hence, the other items in the submenu allow you to show only those wineries in the specific region in the search results.
Mobile App
At this time, we should mention the Texas Wine Lover mobile app. The menu item “Wineries” in the app also shows a list of wineries like the Texas Wineries List menu item. There are also filters in the app for “Region” and the other Filter items like on the website’s search results. The app also lets you change the order of the winery results alphabetically or with Nearby to your current location if you have your phone’s location services turned on.
When you select a winery from the search results on either the website or in the app, you will get the main listing for the winery. All of the winery’s information is on the website and a subset of information is listed in the app. We will cover the main listing for a winery in a later post.
Texas Wine FAQ
We recently added a Texas Wine FAQ to answer common frequently asked questions. More will be added in the future.
Pet Friendly Texas Wineries
Pets are important to many people and since they often travel with their pets, finding a pet friendly Texas winery is important. We discuss pets on this page and then you can select the link to show those wineries who have indicated they are pet friendly. Please note this list of wineries is the same as you would see if you selected the “Pet Friendly” filter option in the Texas Wineries search results.
Kid Friendly Wineries
This Kid Friendly Wineries menu item works just like the Pet Friendly Texas Wineries menu item except it brings you directly to the search results showing those wineries that have indicated they are kid friendly.
Texas Wineries with Lodging
If you have to travel a long distance to visit a Texas winery, most likely you will need a place to stay, and what better place to stay than at a Texas winery itself! This page discusses some of the wineries with lodging. You can also use the link to see the search results of wineries that have indicated they have lodging available.
100% Texas Wine Wineries
There has been much discussion over the years regarding Texas wineries that make Texas wine, that is, a winery that uses Texas grapes to make their wine. This page talks about that and then provides a link to the Texas wineries that only make 100% Texas wine. You can also use the link to see the search results of wineries that have indicated they have “All 100% Texas wines.”
Winemaker Profiles
Texas Wine Lover has been providing monthly winemaker profiles of Texas winemakers since February 24, 2014, where the first one featured winemaker Sergio Cuadra of Fall Creek Vineyards. That’s a long time doing a monthly feature!
Winery Posts
The Texas Wine Lover blog was started back in March 2011 by writing about the Texas wineries that founder Jeff Cope visited. That was the start of the blog and still a major purpose of the Texas Wine Lover website and mobile app today. The Winery Posts menu item provides a list of the blog posts Jeff and the Texas Wine Lover writers have written over the years on our winery visits.
Leave a Reply