Black Spanish

Texas Native Grapes: Know Them, Grow Them… Cherish Their Worldwide Legacy – Part 1

In the wild, grapes can hang on the vine between June and October, and in some cases, can remain on the vine into winter.  They are moisture and sugar laden and an energy-rich food. Native grapes like European varieties can be consumed by wildlife & humans. Their juice provides a refreshing drink, pleasing jellies and jams, and can also be fermented to make wine. The taste of native grapes varies from what you might expect from European wine grapes, but their role in viticulture is important especially today in Texas. […]

Best of Vintage Texas Blog

15th Anniversary for VintageTexas Blog, The Longest-Running Texas Wine Blog & Five of My Favorite Posts

I made an interesting comparison between what I called our Texas red sandy loam over porous caliche limestone and the coveted red sandy loam and limestone found in the Australian Coonawarra wine region that they called “Terra Rossa”. Literally the next day from half the world away, I received a comment to my blog coming back at me from seasoned wine critic Philip White who has written for Australia’s major newspapers and many magazines worldwide. White said that I had a bad case of “Coonawarra Envy” […]