October in the Hill Country is tasty.

Courtesy of Texas Hill Country Wine

Napa Valley, Bordeaux, Champagne and Tuscany have long been the main faces of global wine for decades and even centuries. Their dominance is rooted in the history, legacy and the quality of wines each region produces, but that’s starting to be challenged.

Each of their places in today’s wine world is so prestigious that anything produced outside these regions — and few others in Argentina, South Africa and New Zealand — has long been categorized as a curiosity.

When you operate in the shadow of global prestige, the only way to gain a share of the spotlight is by giving people no choice but to recognize you.

That is precisely what is happening with Texas wine.

Despite our vino history dating back more than 375 years, Texas wine has only gained a piece of the spotlight in the last 30 years, and that’s being generous.

The first grapes were planted in Texas in the mid-17th century, when it was still a remote outpost of the Spanish Empire. Franciscan missionaries planted mission grapes in El Paso, creating the first vineyards predating those in California and Virginia, to produce sacramental wines.

Vineyards continued to expand in Texas through its independence in 1836, when German and Italian immigrants introduced European vines and winemaking traditions to Central Texas. Family-run vineyards and wineries were established around Gillespie County (Fredericksburg) and Del Rio (on the border with Mexico), and if it weren’t for this, the wine world we know today would look drastically different once the turn of the century rolled around.

In fact, Texas horticulturist T.V. Munson helped save the entire European wine industry in the late 19th century by providing native Texan rootstocks immune to a devastating phylloxera blight.

Prohibition and both the First and Second World Wars halted the Texas wine industry, and it wasn’t until the 1980s that Texas was properly recognized as an American Viticultural Area (AVA). These designations highlight regions like Bell Mountain (1986), Fredericksburg (1989), Texas High Plains (1993), and formalized the wine regions’ distinct characteristics while promoting the economic viability of wine tourism.

The oldest wineries in the Hill Country got their start in the 1970s, so many are in their infancy compared to wineries across the world that have been established for centuries.

• Messina Hof Winery is the fourth oldest in Texas and is run by seventh-generation winemakers from Messina, Sicily. The first grapes were planted in 1977, but the family’s winemaking heritage dates back to the 1800s.  
• Becker Vineyards, founded in 1992, is even younger, but is still considered a pioneer in Texas wine for bringing the region’s now-signature viognier to Texas.  
• William Chris Winery is one of the first and only Texas wineries to compete with global regions. The vineyard was put on the map beginning in 2022, when it made the list of Top 100 World’s Best Vineyards for three years in a row. Then in 2025, it jumped to a No. 31 rank on the World’s 50 Best Vineyards list. This winery sources a large portion of its grapes in the Texas High Plains AVA, but has tasting rooms and an estate in the Texas Hill Country.

The modern-day Texas wine industry relies, in part, on a powerful partnership between the Texas High Plains and the Texas Hill Country.

The Texas High Plains up in the Panhandle offers a high-altitude canvas where warm days and cool desert nights create the ideal climate for Mediterranean, Spanish and Rhône varietals like tempranillo, tannat, mourvèdre and viognier.

The Texas Hill Country is one of the fastest-growing and most-visited wine regions in America, spanning nearly 9 million acres, and making it the third-largest AVA in the country and a popular wine destination. It’s gaining recognition and awards for its tempranillo grapes, the most widely planted in the Hill Country. Tannat is an emerging flagship, but you’ll also see mourvèdre, sangiovese, malbec, syrah and cabernet sauvignon all represented here. 

For whites, viognier is the signature, but vermentino and albariño are becoming more well known for holding up in the Texas heat.

At the 2026 Decanter Awards, the world’s largest and most influential wine competition, the Lone Star State brought back its first-ever gold medal from the event, with multiple wineries scoring north of 95 out of 100.

• Adega Vinho: (Estate Tempranillo): Awarded gold with a score of 95.
• Ab Astris Winery: (Souzao): Awarded gold with a score of 96.
• Spicewood Vineyards: Awarded gold with a score of 95.
• Turtle Creek Vineyard (Tannat): Awarded gold with a score of 96.
• Uplift Winery: Awarded several silver medals.

USA Today just named the Hill Country the No. 3 Best Wine Region in the U.S., putting it alongside Napa and Sonoma.

These award-winning wineries are part of Texas Hill Country Wineries (THCW), a nonprofit that shines a spotlight on the 60-plus wineries producing extraordinary wines from the region. Texas hasn’t been known for its wine because its wine culture is relatively young. Many vineyards are still fine-tuning; others are sticking to what they know, but the THCW recognizes the vineyards that are moving the needle forward for Texas in the industry.

August through October is peak harvest season in the Texas Hill Country, and one of the best times to make your way down to Fredericksburg to get a taste of Texas wines that have been nationally or globally recognized. Here are two ways to dive in this fall:

• Fredericksburg Food and Wine Festival (Oct. 22-25): Coming down the pipe is the Fredericksburg Food & Wine Festival, an entire weekend from Thursday, Oct. 22 to Sunday, Oct. 25, celebrating the food and culture of the Hill Country. It’s a town-wide event with restaurant-driven experiences, exclusive chef events, tastings and plenty of wine to go around.
• The Texas Wine Month Passport (October): But if you can’t make it down for the weekend, the entire month of October is Texas Wine Month. The Texas Wine Month Passport is similar to the Summer Season Pass, where you pay a flat rate and get complimentary wine tastings and other perks at over 45 wineries in the Texas Hill Country for an entire month. If you’re keen to visit multiple wineries, these passports pack a lot of value for their price point. It’s a self-guided tour and passes are $85 each or $120 for couples.

Apart from the events and passes offered by Texas Hill Country Wineries, all the wineries in the area are open.

In the coming years, the Texas Hill Country will continue to develop and shine in the U.S. wine industry. Wine is at a pivotal point in the industry where vinos are looking past traditional powerhouses like California, France and Italy for wine, and instead branching out to lesser-known or regional wines for quality and unique pours.

The best time to visit is now, if you want to be at the forefront of Texas’ shift in the domestic and maybe international wine market.