Texas Wine Takes Over the San Antonio Stock Show and Rodeo

The rodeo may be over in San Antonio, but the impact Texas wine has had on it has not. This has been a banner year for Texas wine, collecting over 100 medals, including the Grand Champion.

For those who missed out on the fun this year, next year is not too far away. What should a rodeo visitor expect? Quite a bit of Texas wine.

Texas wine has continued to make a strong showing at the 2024 San Antonio Stock Show & Rodeo Wine Competition. This year’s big win by Adega Vinho saw to that. Like many Texas based competitions, the San Antonio Rodeo welcomes Texas wines. These wines do compete alongside others from around the world. In addition, the top medaling Texas wines also get special recognition, including Best of Show Texas for red, white, and rosé wines, as well as Best of Herd.

Every year during the rodeo, the Wine Competition hosts the Wine Garden where visitors can sample and enjoy award winning wines. In years past, the number of Texas wines available was slim, and they were often quite expensive. However, this year, the garden offered a large selection of Texas wines at prices that matched many of their competitors. Visitors can now taste a variety of Texas wines in one place, while helping Texas wine gain new fans.

Every weekend of the rodeo, the Wine Garden hosts seminars featuring many of the award-winning wines. They offer two seminars a day on Saturday and Sunday, and they run for 45 minutes to an hour. The seminars include wine tasting and paired bites. These seminars are free with entry into the rodeo, but they are first come-first serve.

This year, Texas wines took over a single weekend’s seminars. Each seminar focused on highlighting Texas wines through education and tasting. This has been happening more and more, as Texas wine seminars have become a staple of the Wine Garden.

On a dreary Saturday, Adega Vinho took over and shared their top wines, including the Grand Champion 2022 Viognier Reserve. Guests learned about Adega Vinho from owners Andrew and Michael Bilger as they tasted four wines. The wines included the 2022 Estate Rosé, 2020 Pordosol High Plains, and the 2020 Estate Tempranillo. The wine was paired with bites from How Many Grams BBQ.

Sunday was a perfect day to enjoy the Wine Garden, and that day’s seminar featured four of the five winning wineries. The Bread Box provided charcuterie cups overflowing with meats, cheeses, and other bites. Ed Hellman led the seminar providing insight into Texas wine. He provided an opportunity for the four attending wineries to share a bit about their winery as well as info on vineyards and winemaking.

The tasting included seven wines.

• Adega Vinho was represented by co-owner and winemaker Michael Bilger. He brought two wines.
  • Grand Champion 2022 Reserve Viognier: notes of honeysuckle, lemon zest; paired with dried apricot and summer sausage.
  • 2020 Pordosol: blend of Tempranillo, Grenache, and Touriga Nacional
• Pedernales Cellars, Best of Herd, was represented by Abigail Aldridge, vineyard manager. She brought two wines.
  • 2022 Reserve Viognier: crisp acidity, notes of tropical fruit and grapefruit; paired with strawberries, olives, summer sausage, and Manchego.
  • 2020 Texas Tempranillo Reserve: mainly Tempranillo but includes Graciano, Alicante Bouschet, and Cinsault; paired well with most cheeses and prosciutto.
• Frio Canyon Vineyard, Best of Show Texas Red, was represented by Sarah Bedford, vineyard manager. She brought two wines.
  • 2021 Estate Reserve Tempranillo: this wine comes from their top two barrels; notes of plum, dark cherry, limestone.
  • 2020 FCV Cuvee: blend of Tempranillo, Syrah, Merlot, and Ruby Cab; the Ruby Cab was left to hang and almost become raisins.
• McPherson Cellars, Best of Show Texas Rosé, was represented by Executive Director Thomas Longoria-Turman. He shared one wine.
  • 2022 Les Copains Rosé: blend of Mourvèdre, Grenache, and Cinsault; notes of strawberry and watermelon.

This will not be the last of Texas wine at the San Antonio Stock Show and Rodeo. Next year promises to be just as bright. For info on all winners and the competition, check out their website. To see just the Texas winery results, check out the Texas Wine Lover website. To find out about next year’s seminars and other events, follow their Facebook page, Wine & Rodeo – San Antonio Stock Show and Rodeo, for listings and updates.