Spring freezes across Texas had two impacts to the grape harvest currently happening. First, the bad news with the Spring freezes negatively impacting the quantity of grapes that actually were able to survive those freezing temperatures. Now the good news with the quality of grapes left to mature on the vines is high since the grape vines can focus on the maturing grapes to produce outstanding fruit! I visited with several winemakers over the State of Texas and found this double-edged sword to be consistent.
Paul V. Bonarrigo with Messina Hof (MH) told me, “Spring Freeze hit White Grape Crops All Over the State. Spring Rains Required Fungicide Sprays to Prevent Rot. Overall Texas Grape Crop Should Be Off 50%. MH Lenoir Crop Off 50% yet quality is the best in 20 years. After A Big Crop in 2025 The Fact That we had a 50% reduced but Quality was high was not so bad.
Susan John with Texas Heritage Vineyards near Fredericksburg informed me, “With just 5 more acres to harvest, we are more than ready to be out of the vineyard and fully making wines! Texas Heritage Vineyard experienced a late freeze on March 17, which damaged the already “budded” vines. So, this harvest we are dealing with “secondary” fruit which yields much less volume. But, the fruit we are getting is outstanding. So far we have harvested, all by hand, our Viognier, Estate Malbec, Alicante Bouschet, Petite Verdot, Grenache, and Tannat. We are still waiting on our Tempranillo, Souzao and a small amount of Malbec. The heat is brutal, so harvesting has been happening as early as possible in the day. We have had two Sunday harvests, with wine club member volunteers. Fun was had by all, with toasts at the completion. Our fruit that we were expecting from the High Plains of Texas has also been affected. White grapes are hard to come by and several vineyards that we work with have not been able to produce normal amounts in 2026. Farming is always interesting and 2026 is no different.”
Remi Immler Gregory, Becker Vineyards Winemaker near Fredericksburg told me, “The harvest is looking very light due to multiple freezes earlier in the year in both the Texas Hill Country and High Plains. With yields being low, I’m very excited about incorporating different techniques and trials into our winemaking and being able to track experiments to use for future vintages. With low yields, grape quality has been high. Becker Vineyards kicked off harvest on July 21st with Estate Semillon. Since then, Chardonnay from the Tallent Vineyard (Mason, TX) followed by Estate grapes of Sauvignon Blanc, Petite Sirah, Malbec, Sangiovese have also been harvested. Merlot from the Texas High Plains (Seminole, Tc) has also been harvested.”
Brittany French with Lost Drawing Winery told me, “Lost Draw’s estate vineyard has been fully harvested.”
Bending Branch Winery COO Jennifer Cernosek near Comfort, Texas told me, “In the Texas Hill Country AVA, Drew Tallent has 60+ acres of vineyard in Mason County that will harvest this year, and Bending Branch will receive the majority of the Tannat and Charbono grown there. Tallent commented that this vintage “looks fabulous.” This year has been going well because of intermittent rains early in the growing season. Since the start of this year, he has irrigated just twice. The canopies are full and have a nice amount of cluster exposure but without overexposure. June was very good with temperatures 88-94 degrees Fahrenheit almost each day with nice breezes. Our Bending Branch Estate Vineyard, also in the Texas Hill Country AVA, will not produce this year because of the damage from the March freeze. Our very local partner vineyards also experienced moderate loss from the freeze but will still produce small crops. From one of the two certified organic vineyards that we work with in Texas High Plains, Y Knot Vineyards is having a wonderful growing season. Owner Marie Froese reports there was an early-season drought, unseasonably warm temperatures in March, and a late April freeze that hurt the production yields, but the health of the vines and fruit look good. She anticipates the Chardonnay block will have its first light harvest this year. Other vineyards in the High Plains have had varying results, and some of the variation depends on the grape varieties. A few vineyards reported high winds at the end of June. David Neufield of Cottonwood Vineyards said early July brought pea-size hail and about an inch of rain. Even with the range of weather conditions, he said, “All in all, things are looking pretty good. The fruit looks phenomenal. Based on what we’re seeing across all sourcing regions, the fruit quality heading into this harvest is strong, and we’re looking forward to what this vintage will yield. “
Spicewood Vineyards Owner Ron Yates with Spicewood Vineyards in the Texas Hill Country says, “The St. Patty’s freeze devastated the majority of our estate vineyards and we will harvest very little fruit from the Hill Country this year. Knowing the freeze was coming, we lit fires at the ends of our vineyard rows, which worked well and brought temperatures up to 26 from 20, but we couldn’t get it to 32, which would have saved our fruit. Ironically, our vineyard crew from Mexico was delayed in getting here so we did not get the Touriga Nacional at the EB Vineyard in Round Mountain pruned before the freeze and as a result, we have about 4 to 5 tons there. We will probably be able to make a small rosé blend from Tempranillo, Graciano and Carignan. We will rely on fruit from the Texas High Plains, far west Texas and Dell Valley Vineyards – all of which are looking really good. These vineyards are a little behind normal schedule because of the rains in late May and early June.”
Pedernales Cellars Co-Owner David Kuhlken told me, “This year will mark the first ‘real’ harvest at our estate Kuhlken Vineyard since we replanted it in 2020. We expect several of our blocks will be mature enough to yield fruit and possibly enable us to make a couple more complete estate blends. We replanted with these varieties: Tempranillo, Grenache, Graciano, Mourvèdre, Touriga Nacional, Tinta Amarella, Alicante Bouschet, Teroldego, Petite Sirah and Sangiovese. As of early July, these blocks ranged from 50%-90% veraison. In general, we are ahead of schedule on veraison and ripening with an expectation that we could be harvesting early varieties like Tempranillo and Sangiovese by the end of July and possibly some early harvest Grenache for rosé. In the Texas High Plains, we have a number of vineyards with mild frost damage reduction to the crops, though we have sourced additional fruit to cover these losses. The biggest hits seemed to be in Mourvèdre, but also some of the Viognier blocks we work with. More generally, yields will be light, but we hope can lead to some improved overall quality if weather gives us a good window in the next couple of months. The overall weather cycle has been promising up to this point given the moderate to higher rainfall in the Hill Country giving over to hot, but not extreme conditions so far. The High Plains has been much drier and hot, though not extreme to this point, but the critical window on that is still ahead.”
Brian Heath, CEO/President of Heath Family Brands said “We began our estate harvesting with Tannat and Petite Sirah on Monday night August 3rd. Little lower yields than normal, but great quality. None of our white varietals produced after the late freeze earlier this year, so it’s an all red harvest.”
My prediction after hearing this news is that Texas will be producing many award-winning wines!
