Wine Harvest! It’s an exciting time of year for Texas wineries because wine harvest is underway! This week’s column will shed light on the 2023 harvest as well as share other Texas wine updates. As a reminder, Texas is as big as France, which means harvest occurs over a couple of months because of the many different grape varieties we have and the locations of our vineyards – from Texoma to the Gulf Coast and from the Texas Hill Country to the Texas High Plains and far west Texas.
2023 Wine Harvest Outlook
The Texas coast harvested the first grapes this year, which included Blanc du Bois grapes. Some of these grapes are destined for sparkling wine. The harvest took place in early July. The Texas Hill Country also started its harvest in mid-July and will continue until mid-August. The majority of Texas grapes, however, come from the Texas High Plains where harvest starts closer to August, finishing up by the end of September.
While it’s been “a cruel, cruel summer,” the Texas Fine Wine group predicts a very good harvest this year, with normal to better yields and high-quality fruit, thanks to a cooler-than-normal and wet spring. While the extreme heat has moved up harvest a bit, Ron Yates with Spicewood Vineyards says it looks to be one of the better harvests, with the estate vineyard delivering more fruit than ever. Dr. Bob Young with Bending Branch Winery in Comfort reports they will have the largest harvest to date, bringing in more than 30 grape varieties from over 30 vineyards across the state.
“Normal” Wine Harvest
While Texas never had a “normal” harvest, this year is actually turning out to be fairly normal, with forecasted yields coming in on target, says Dave Reilly with Duchman Family Winery. He added, “We are excited to get our first harvest of Vermentino since 2016, which will help us get our popular white wine back into distribution.”
David Kuhlken with Pedernales Cellars is excited to get Grenache, Mourvèdre, Syrah and Alicante Bouschet from the mostly organic Desert Willow Vineyards in the Texas High Plains and their first fruit since 2020 from the recently replanted estate Kuhlken Vineyard.
Check winery social channels if you are interested in helping with the harvest. Many of them are inviting people to come out and help. Keep in mind that most Hill Country vineyards hand-harvest early in the morning when temperatures are lower.
Can Texas Wine Age?
I get this question often: “can Texas wines age?” Let me tell you that yes, Texas wines can age and are showing beautifully. Of course, wines with good acid and tannin structure are best suited for aging, such as Tempranillo. I recently attended a fabulous tasting of 9 different vintages of Bending Branch Winery Tempranillos, all made with grapes from the highly respected Newsom Vineyards in the Texas High Plains.
We tasted 2010 through 2019 vintages (no 2013 due to the weather) and these wines all showed beautiful fruit notes, balance and complexity. Great wines start in the vineyard and that’s where Neal and Janice Newsom come in, producing some of the best grapes in Texas for 38 years, in large part due to their vineyard’s 3,700-foot elevation, semi-arid climate and caliche soils.
Interestingly, these wines had different fermentation protocols by winemaker Dr. Bob Young who has introduced new winemaking techniques to Texas. Some of the wines went through whole berry fermentation, while others went through cryo-maceration (freezing grapes to extract about 50% more color, tannin and flavor) or Flash Détente (rapid heating then cooling to exact about 100% more color, tannin and flavor).
The 2010 Tempranillo showed really well with stewed cherry, cranberry, black cherry, earth and leather notes. It was still holding up nicely! My other favorites were the 2017 with savory mushroom and earth notes and the 2019 with juicy cherry and strawberry lollipop and cola notes.
It was a very interesting tasting – if you ever have the opportunity to do vertical, retrospective or barrel tastings, do it! It is a great way to learn about wine.
Women Winemakers
Texas has quite a few women winemakers and now you can visit one tasting room and taste wines from several of them. The Texas Wine Lover website reports that Barelle Vineyards has opened, near the Allstadt Brewery on Highway 290 near Fredericksburg, featuring wines from women winemakers and owners.
Right now, you can enjoy wines by Rae Wilson of Wine for the People, Sarah Garrett of Serrano Wine, Elisa Jones of Elisa Christopher Wines, Tiffany Farrell of Haak Wines and Brooke Hester of C.L. Butaud. A one-stop shop for a lot of different wines from some terrific winemakers.
Go check them out! Cheers!
Denise Clarke is an avid wine enthusiast who loves sharing and teaching people about wine. She is a Certified Wine Educator, Certified Sommelier, WSET Advanced graduate and an expert on Texas wine. Owner of Denise Clarke PR, she currently represents Texas Fine Wine and the Texas Department of Agriculture’s Wine Marketing Program. She has lived in Austin for more than 30 years and when she is not swirling and sipping wine, she can be found on her bike, climbing every hill she can find.
Follow Denise on IG at @deniseclarkeTX for more wine recommendations.
