For my birthday recently my lovely wife surprised me with a trip to the Texas hill country north of our home in San Antonio. The wine industry is Texas is young – 10 years – and most places are trying to see what grows best. Nonetheless having a great wine country ambiance within an hour is nice.

We went to two wineries: Becker and Torre de Pietra. Critique #1: having a huge tasting room jam packed and with pourers who know little if anything about the winery or the wines is lame. Critique #2: a portfolio of over a dozen wines is a bit much, right? Both places committed these errors.

That said, the chenin blanc and reserve cab from Becker were solid wines at good prices – $16 and $24 respectively. The vintage port from Torre was a nice surprise too.

There still much to be discovered in the world of Texas wines, but my hope is we can find a place that cares more about their craft than simply offering $5 tastings to folks excited about having an excuse to drink before noon.