Our First Blog Post was in 2011. A Lot Has Changed in Texas Wine – Or Has It?

With Texas Wine Lover celebrating its 15th anniversary in March, I thought it would be fun to look back at the very first blog post I wrote when I decided to start this whole journey. You can read it in its entirety on this website, but I will be referring to parts of it below.

First, I learned I have improved my writing and grammar since I started the blog. I had written a book before about my father’s ship he served on in World War II, the USS HOLT, and even created a website for it too. But this was before wonderful writing tools such as Grammarly. This is a must-have tool for anybody doing any writing, and no, I am not getting any commission for saying that. I learned by looking back at my first blog post and using Grammarly that I needed to start using a lot more commas in my writing. I try to follow the Chicago Manual of Style in my writing now, and I didn’t always use the correct punctuation. I do believe my writing has improved since then, especially since I need to be the editor for my wonderful team of writers’ posts before they get published.

I also didn’t use any photos with that first post. Boring!

So, let’s go through the first blog post now.

Texas has some great wines. “Really?” you may hear. “I thought California was the only state that made wines.” Unfortunately, that is a common belief among a lot of people who may drink wine occasionally or even those who drink wine often, but perhaps primarily drink wine from another country.

This is still true. Texas does have some great wines, and in fact, excellent wines. I think most people can agree that when I wrote that in 2011, the wines were great, and they have definitely gotten excellent in the past 15 years. But there are still wine drinkers in Texas who have no idea that Texas makes wine. Tell some friends!

I introduced my partner to Fredericksburg, Texas, during the January 1st, 2010 weekend. … The best thing we learned that weekend is that Texas had a passport program which rewards you for the number of wineries you visit, similar to an airline’s frequent flier mileage program. Hence began our new hobby of touring Texas wineries.

Fredericksburg is still considered the heart of Texas wine country. The number of wineries located in the Texas Hill Country has grown exponentially over the years, and we are still learning about new wineries opening all the time.

Unfortunately, there is no Passport Program anymore that was similar to what existed back then. The closest thing would be the passports that different wine trail events like the Texas Hill Country Wineries and North Texas Wine Country have.

2010 was a fun year visiting Texas wineries, and we visited over 70 wineries. Other blogs discuss Texas wines, and since we primarily enjoy just white wines, we decided the best way to promote the great Texas wines and wineries is to discuss the actual wineries themselves.

Did I really visit 70 wineries in one year? I guess when you’re just starting to visit wineries, there are a lot of wineries from which to select. Over all these years, I am approaching having visited 550 Texas wineries, and I know there will be more new ones coming up this year.

Okay, I’ll admit it. I started drinking white wine, and sweet white wine at that. I remember visiting wineries and asking for the sweet wine they had. In fact, there is one Texas Hill Country winery that didn’t really have any, and we walked out of there saying that it wasn’t a good winery. Ironically, after I started to drink red wine, we became wine club members at that winery. How things change!

I started writing about the actual wineries themselves, and that business plan hasn’t changed. Have you seen how our website Guide’s winery listings also include a Texas Wine Lover Blog Posts section at the bottom? These sections list every blog post we have written about that particular winery. My goal has been, and will continue to be, to have at least one blog post about every winery. With the Texas Wine Lover team of writers spread around the state, we’re working well on accomplishing that.

Back in 2011, I had written that there were roughly 215 Texas wineries. We all know there are many more than that now. People differentiate between the different businesses as either producing wineries, are tasting rooms, or even those with just Winery G permits that drastically inflate the winery numbers. A Winery G permit allows businesses to manufacture, bottle, label, package, and sell wine, so even businesses like Wine.com can have a Winery G permit. Our website Guide and mobile app list the wineries and tasting rooms collectively called wineries, and as of this writing, we list 519 wineries.

One thing we have learned while visiting the wineries is that everybody is so nice. Most wineries are small, which means the actual winery owners are there and most likely handling the wine tastings. We have met some of the nicest people on our winery travels, and we almost feel like we belong to a big family.

This definitely has continued to be the same way. Perhaps it’s a Texas thing, but everyone is so friendly. People in the Texas wine industry are different than the people that were back in my corporate life, and that is especially true of how one company treats another company as competitors.

There are still a large number of smaller wineries where the owners or winemakers are doing the actual tastings, but it is starting to become rarer to see them when they have employees. You can still catch most of the owners and winemakers at particular group tastings held by a wine trail or wine festival, though.

Tastings vary among the different wineries. The majority charge a small fee for tasting, usually a limited number of wines. Some wineries with that fee include the tasting wine glass for you to take home. Others will waive the fee if you buy their wine. The wineries that offer tastings for free are, of course, hoping you will buy some of their wine.

Free tastings? Yes, these actually did exist at one time. And a “small fee” for a wine tasting back then has definitely increased with inflation. Wine tastings now average $20-25, but there are some wineries that have tastings costing up to $40 and more by offering an elevated experience. You can still find some free wine tasting glasses to bring home, but those are becoming rarer too. In some ways, I am fine with that because over the years, we had accumulated two kitchen cabinets of just winery wine glasses, and eventually we had to start disposing of them.

Speaking about buying wine at the wineries, prices seem to depend on the size of the winery. The larger the winery and the bigger the distribution of their wines, usually means a lower price at the winery. Since the smaller wineries do not produce many bottles of wine, that usually means a higher price. If you like a particular wine, it may be difficult to justify paying $15-20 for a bottle of wine when you can get one you like just as well at your local store for less.

*cough cough* $15-20? Wow. Yes, Virginia, those did exist at one time. There are a handful of Texas wines you can find under $20, but I think the average these days, depending on white or red, is probably $40. I remember one winery I visited, when I first started visiting wineries, where the owner believed no wine should be over $10, and his wasn’t. And he is no longer in business.

So now you have decided to start visiting some wineries. The first thing you definitely need before you start your travels is to get a GPS (Global Positioning System). A lot of wineries are located in rural areas, and it can be difficult to find them among the twisting, turning, and yes, even dirt roads. A navigation system will definitely help you find that hidden winery.

That was so true back then. There were some roads I traveled on in this state where I swore I was the first person to be on that road. And even when the GPS said you had arrived at the winery, it was still nowhere to be seen. How things have changed. Today, my trusted Garmin GPS has been replaced with Google Maps or Waze. It still gets a little dicey for very rural wineries, but most of the time, it is correct. Did you know our Plan Your Trip and mobile app also gives you directions when you start your plan?

Next up is to get a plan of the wineries you will be visiting. A lot of wineries are on a particular wine trail, which includes multiple wineries. One advantage, besides having multiple wineries in the same vicinity, is that they often have special events throughout the year, which may be the ticket (no pun intended) to deciding when to visit.

The planning part of winery touring is the most difficult, but can be the most rewarding when you discover afterward you have visited more wineries than you imagined was possible. Start by going to the different winery websites (we have found only a few that don’t have a working website) to find the address of the winery and wine tasting hours.

Getting that plan is not difficult anymore now that we have Plan Your Trip on the website Guide to be used along with the Texas Wine Lover mobile app. It is not necessary to go to the different winery websites to get their information. Since 2011, Facebook pages have been in the picture to help with planning along with the website. But none of that is needed now that there is the Texas Wine Lover website Guide and mobile app to provide a consolidated resource for all that information. We wrote a blog post on how to plan a winery trip using the Texas Wine Lover Guide and mobile app. It definitely is a game-changer compared to the older days.

And speaking of events, events are very popular in the website Guide and mobile app. You can find a winery’s specific events on their listing in the Guide, but both the website Guide and mobile app consolidate all events from the individual businesses into a chronological big list and calendar on the website, and a big Events list in the mobile app on that menu.

Finish your planning by reserving a hotel if necessary and all other normal travel needs. You are now ready for your trip.

This is still true, but now lodging, restaurants, and other local businesses are in our website Guide and mobile app, along with the winery listings, to make life easier for you. Houston was my home for many years, so when I traveled to visit a winery, it usually meant I needed lodging and more. Now it’s all in one place to make the planning easier.

Now go find some Texas wine!

This is definitely still true. Texas wine has made a lot of progress in the past 16 years since I first started visiting wineries, and the future is even brighter. Go find some Texas wine, and tell a friend to tell a friend. Cheers!