Page 49 - Galveston Monthly Apr2019

cuisiNe | wiNE

tAstinG texAs

By Sandra Crittenden

s the cold days of winter recede into the Country is light in yield, meaning less wine than in
renewed warmth of spring, signs of new the 2017 vintage. The good news is the wines will
growth are everywhere. This is also true have highly concentrated flavors.”
ain vineyards across Texas. The dry sticks “Most importantly, grape varietal response to
have woken up from their winter nap, the buds are the heat and drought will help our region better
breaking, and the 2019 growing season has begun. define varieties best suited to our unique growing
While its too soon to know what this year will hold, conditions in the Texas hill Country. Our Albariño
it is a great time to look back to see what to expect from our Wildseed farms vineyard, harvested very
from the upcoming wines of the Lone Star State. early this year on July 23, was very high quality.”
After an exceptionally cold spring, followed by an The majority of the 2018 whites and rosés are
excessively hot summer with drought conditions, available before many of the reds due to the time
there was initially concern for the quality of the 2018 that some reds need to age in barrel before bottling.
vintage. Winemakers across the state were delighted Expect to find more reds with the 2016 and 2017
to have these worries lifted as harvest began. years on the label. Both of these vintages were very
fall Creek vineyards Director of Winemaking Sergio similar producing wines of great quality, though
Cuadro shared his thoughts on the 2018 vintage. 2016 had a much lower produced volume as an early
“We have amazing quality, albeit smaller yields, with freeze led to lower than typical yields that year.
the exception of Mourvèdre which is clearly a heat- Even with the lower yield years, the Texas wine
loving variety well suited for this part of Texas. The industry continues to grow and thrive. The Lone
quality of the grapes this vintage makes it easy on the Star State is America’s 5th largest producer of wine
winemaker because everything we want is naturally contributing $13.1 billion of economic value to Texas.
present in the grapes,” Cuadro said. “The 2018 With almost 400 wineries, the demand for Texas
vintage is all about the viticulture and less about the grown grapes continues to rise.
winemaking.” in an effort to increase consumer confidence, there
Penny S. Adams, director of viticulture at Wedding is a new label that is starting to show up on Texas
Oak Winery, said, “The 2018 vintage in the Texas hill wines this year. The Texas Wine and Grape Growers

APRIL 2019 | GALVESTON MONTHLY | 49