Tempranillo Is the Rising Star of Texas Wine

Turn on any Western film of the past, and odds are there will be a gun-toting cowboy who’s slinging back shots of whiskey and pints of beer at the town saloon. But while folks in big hats, shiny belt buckles, and boots are still commonly seen in modern-day Texas, drinking preferences have changed. 

Sure, drinkers still enjoy their booze and beer, but another drink seems to be taking hold: Tempranillo.

“It used to be that somebody would only have a sweet wine available so the ladies didn’t have to drink beer. Now we have cowboys that roll up in their F-150 big-bed trucks coming from the ranch to have a $50 bottle of Tempranillo. And they’re going to sit in the corner with their buddy and talk about the aspects of the wine, why it tastes good, and where it comes from,” says Ron Yates, a Texas native who is the owner and winemaker of both Spicewood Vineyards and Ron Yates Wines. “That never happened here 10 years ago.”

The increasing popularity of Tempranillo in Texas is a sign of the state’s growing wine industry. With more than 5,000 acres of vineyards across eight established American Viticultural Areas, Texas’ multi-billion-dollar wine industry often lands at the No. 4 spot for the highest wine production in the U.S. — generally alternating with New York’s wine production, depending on the year.

Grape growers’ and winemakers’ tireless efforts to find out which grapes work best with the state’s vast and varying conditions have turbocharged the sector’s growth. And many credit heat-loving varieties like Tempranillo for helping them get to where they are today. The rise of Texas wine and Tempranillo are the result of hard work.

Texas is the home of North America’s very first vineyard, established in 1662 by Spanish missionaries. But the modern wine industry really dates back to 1966, when Clinton “Doc” McPherson, a chemistry professor at Texas Tech University, planted a variety of grapes in the Texas High Plains. 

At a time when Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Chardonnay were widely planted in California, McPherson set his eyes on more obscure varieties — Spanish and Rhône grapes like Tempranillo, Grenache, Chenin Blanc, Muscat, and Viura, among others.

Of course, that didn’t stop the Texas winemakers and grape growers who came after McPherson from choosing to work with more classic grapes. Plenty of Cabernet, Merlot, and Chardonnay was planted across the state in the 1980s and 1990s. But Texas’ hot climate, fluctuating weather conditions, and short growing seasons soon proved unsuitable for the French varieties popular in California, Oregon, and Washington state. Many grapes couldn’t stand up to the extreme heat, not to mention damage from spring frosts, hail, and drought. 

By the 2000s, many Texas winemakers began to focus on grapes that were thriving in other parts of the world with similar climates and conditions. 

“My parents decided to grow Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay — exactly what you would’ve expected in the 1990s. Those were really the only grapes people were looking for outside of Pinot Noir, which was not a choice for growing in Texas,” says Julie Kuhlken, a daughter of grape growers in Hill Country. She co-founded Pedernales Cellars with her brother David Kuhlken in 2005.

“Having watched people struggle with Cab and other grapes, when my brother and I decided to start Pedernales, we thought, ‘Why are we doing this? We need to find the grapes that work well in the state.’ Tempranillo wasn’t a slam dunk, but it was clearly a very good candidate,” Julie Kuhlken continues. 

Pedernales Cellars co-founder and winemaker Dave Kuhlken harvesting Tempranillo grapes. Photos courtesy of Pedernales Cellars.

Texas is now home to a diverse range of grapes, the majority of which grow in the Hill Country and Texas High Plains AVAs. However, even in Texas’ hottest regions, with the shortest growing seasons, Tempranillo flourishes and delivers the flavor and complexity drinkers love. It’s one of the only grapes that can thrive across all areas of the state. 

“Absolutely, without a doubt, Tempranillo is 100% Texas’ grape,” says Yates. 

“The things that do well in the High Plains and some of our other wine regions are not the things that always do well for us in the Hill Country. But we have Tempranillo growing in all those locations. I think that’s one of the reasons why so many people work with Tempranillo — even when it’s not a winemaker’s favorite grape to work with. It grows just as good, if not better than most other grapes in the state,” adds Yates. 

Texas Tempranillo tends to show good acid and make wines with intense aromas, tannic structure, and flavors that are specific to the area vines grow in. Depending on where the grapes come from, they can show greater fruit character, but overall, most Texas Tempranillo displays ripe flavors and elegance with a range of complexity.

“One of the fun things about Tempranillo is that it is so expressive. It tastes different from different parts of our own vineyard, and that only continues to vary when you think about fruit from the High Plains and other grape-growing regions in the state,” says Kuhlken.

While some winemakers feel that Tempranillo could become the signature grape of Texas, other grapes are also proving successful.

“The wines that stand out to me are the Mediterranean, Spanish, and Italian varieties, and I find myself leaning more towards them every year. They really seem to be in a perfect home here in Texas,” says Paul Mitchell Bonarrigo, CEO and winemaker at Messina Hof Wine Cellars who also serves on the Texas Wine and Grape Growers Association board. 

Bonarrigo adds, “I think there’s a good chance Sagrantino is going to turn out to be a better grape for Texas than Tempranillo.” 

One of the first commercial wineries in the state, Bonarrigo’s parents launched Messina Hof back in the late 1970s and planted more than 50 different grape varieties, including Tempranillo. The grape has stood the test of time at Messina Hof’s various estates, standing up to extreme weather conditions over the years. But Bonarrigo believes that Texas’ strength in wine comes with its diversity.

“Those Italian and Spanish varieties, it seems as though they are attuned to our type of climate or warmer climates. They can handle the heat. They don’t shut down when it gets hot. And if managed correctly at the winery, if harvest timing is good, you wind up with these well-balanced red wines that also have that robust, dark fruit quality that consumers in Texas seem to like,” says Bonarrigo.

Kuhlken agrees, although she notes that Tempranillo has become so popular because consumers are more familiar with the grape than other international varieties that grow well in Texas. 

“Mourvedre is another one that grows well, although I don’t think it has the complexity of Tempranillo. Grenache makes fabulous rosé here. And we grow Portuguese varieties like Touriga Nacional, Tina Amarela, and Tinta Cão, and they do extremely well. If you look at the Douro Valley, that’s very similar to the Hill Country,” says Kuhlken.

She adds, “But those grapes are not as well known. So when you’re presenting them to consumers, you have to do a lot more educational work because most people here have never heard of them.”

However, even that is changing. 

As quality bottles of Tempranillo and other Mediterranean grapes appear on retail shelves, consumers seem more than willing to try them. The curiosity over varieties beyond the classic wine grapes is a good thing for Texas, says Bonarrigo, as it will only help winemakers hone in on quality. 

“It’s true that Tempranillo is a nice backbone of a variety for us. It grows well, and it sells well. But I think we’ll be experimenting for the next 20 or 30 years,” says Bonarrigo. “We’ve done a lot of work to find out what works for Texas, and I think we’re in an age where many winemakers have the confidence to experiment and make quality wines from that.”

As Texas’ wine industry continues to grow, though, Tempranillo will always have a place.

6 Texas Tempranillos to try: