Texas is so big it has two wine countries, and it's Lubbock's turn to shine
When Texans think of wine-touring, they often envision the picturesque Hill Country. The modern Texas wine industry, however, was born in the big-sky High Plains area.
More vineyards are being seen amid the fields of cotton, peanuts and grain sorghum around Lubbock. The climate and soil are arguably the most favorable in Texas for growing grapes, and fruit from growers such as Neal Newsom is sought-after by Texas winemakers, among them Fort Worth’s LightCatcher.
Home to several venerable wineries and with a nascent wine program at Texas Tech University, Lubbock is about to see its wine profile bumped up a level with the upcoming opening of McPherson Cellars.
Texas wine legend Kim McPherson is transforming downtown Lubbock’s old Coca-Cola bottling plant into a showplace winery, with a bamboo-lined courtyard, fountain and patio, glass-block windows, a tasting room that can be viewed through the long window that used to frame the bottling line, a wedding chapel, an event center, an art gallery, a kitchen and sherry soleras on the roof.
With McPherson’s wife, Sylvia, operating wine bar/bistro/nightclub, La Diosa Cellars, just across the street, downtown Lubbock’s burgeoning nightlife neighborhood, known as the Depot District, is becoming quite the wine oasis.
And down red-dirt roads and straight highways, the wine pilgrim will find tasting destinations outside of town, perhaps passing vast fields of sunflowers and sprawling villages of scampering prairie dogs on the way.
The wineries
The grandest of the Lubbock-area wineries, Cap*Rock’s imposing Southwest-mission-style building boasts a cathedral-like barrel room with cedar-clad walls. Cap*Rock has acquired an Italian accent: Its winemaker and consultant, and its associate winemaker are both from Italy. And in addition to its own wines, Cap*Rock sells Italian wines from Marchesi Fumanelli. The top seller is Cap*Rock’s Blush Royale ($12.95), but the winners here are the Italian wines.
Tours 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Saturday; tastings $5 (applied as credit to bottle purchases). South of Lubbock off U.S. 87 at 408 E. Woodrow Road. 806-863-2704; www.caprockwinery.com
The exuberantly decorated La Diosa Cellars is an oasis of hip in the hopping Depot District. La Diosa is Sylvia McPherson’s baby, and husband Kim’s hand is evident in its wines. La Diosa functions not only as a wine bar, selling its own and other Texas wines, but as a bistro and coffee bar, a hangout with nightly live music, a gallery and a gift shop.
11 a.m.-midnight Tuesday-Friday; noon-midnight Saturday. 901 17th St. 806-744-3600; www.ladiosacellars.com
Llano Estacado, founded in 1976 as the first bonded Texas winery after Prohibition, put Texas wines on the map when its chardonnay won a double gold at the San Francisco Fair Wine Competition in 1986. Probably the best-known name in Texas wines, Llano Estacado continues to expand, and its handsome tasting room, with its high beamed ceiling, sells 30 different wines. At the top of the heap is the complex, rewarding cab-sangiovese blend called Viviano, selling at a hefty $39.99.
Free tours and tastings 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Saturday; noon-5 p.m. Sunday. South of Lubbock, three miles east of U.S. 87 on Farm Road 1585. 806-745-2258 or 800-634-3854; www.llanowine.com
Kim McPherson’s father, Clinton, known as "Doc," is considered the founder of the Texas wine industry, and McPherson continues the legacy. He has made wine in California and Texas (including Llano Estacado, which his dad co-founded, and Cap*Rock), and now he’s opening his own winery, McPherson Cellars.
McPherson has stocked the renovated Coca-Cola bottling plant and warehouses with equipment bought from top-name Napa wineries and is refurbishing his winery in a ’60s Frank Lloyd Wright style; he plans to open his temporary tasting room Oct. 1. McPherson is among the most respected winemakers in Texas, as bottles like his sangiovese attest. It sells for $15, the top price for any of his wines.
10 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Saturday; noon-5 p.m. Sunday. 1615 Texas Ave. 806-687-9463; www.mcphersoncellars.com
If Willie Nelson owned a winery, it would probably look at bit like Pheasant Ridge Winery, a rustic little winery founded by Texas wine pioneer Bobby Cox. Like most of the High Plains wineries, it has changed owners since then, but it’s still making estate-grown wine from some of the oldest vineyards in Texas, planted by Cox in 1979.
Here they age their reds at least two years in oak barrels to produce bottles such as the medal-winning 2002 cabernet sauvignon ($14.95).
Noon-6 p.m. Friday-Saturday; 1-5 p.m. Sunday. Tastings $5 (applied as credit to bottle purchases). North of Lubbock off Interstate 27, 3507 E. County Road 5700. 806-746-6033; www.pheasantridgewinery.com