Texas Hills Vineyard

The wine was delish, made from some of the oldest vineyards in Texas. The staff is very friendly and knowledgeable. The setting is beautiful. The music is cracking us up, you’ll know why when you visit. It’s worth the trip out.

Very friendly folks, but I don’t think that their wines are the very best around. It was fun to see the vineyard and do a tasting though.

Went their with Texas winos, the best stop in the whole tour!!! Great stop I would defiantly go back!

Full fledged vineyard. More than just a tasting room. Nice seating area outside where you can enjoy the view of the vineyard. We tasted six and bought a $ 25 bottle of their award winning Kick Butt.
We took it to the covered patio, sipped slowly, and enjoyed the peace and quiet. There were picnic tables available too and a small group had even brought their own picnic lunch, basket and all. Very nice. I’d go back again.

One of our most favorite wineries on the 290 Texas Wine Trail. Award winning wines and they only get better. The entire staff are so informative and helpful. Love the Kick Butt Cab, Cab Franc and Tarro.

Went for a tasting and had the sweetest woman, Jenny, help us out. We tried 10 different wines and they were all delicious but I really liked the Cab Franc. We bought two bottles and had a great time.

Kick Butt Cab is just that KICK BUTT! Delicious!

Texas Hills is, hands down, my favorite winery in TX. They have one of the best cabs, Kickbutt Cab, that I’ve ever had. Their «flagship» wine is Volare, pronounced Vol-​are-​aye, because, per one employee, it’s (read in major country accent) Italian. Volare is a sweet red table wine. It is absolutely delicious!
They have mastered removing the tannins (read hangover makers) from the wine so you can drink more than you should and not be hungover. I have personally tested this and can honestly say that it is true. Katy B and I drank 5 bottles one night, woke up with ZERO hangover, seriously, no hangover. That, in and of itself, is worth the 5 stars.
If you’re ever up in Johnson City, Texas Hills is a must stop.
Oh, look into their wine club too, multiple options for your drinking pleasure.

This was our first stop on my boyfriend’s birthday weekend trip. Such a cute spot. The drive to the winery was very pretty. The wines were really good. We sat and had a glass and enjoyed the view. It was a nice break from the drive over from Houston and I will definitely visit again!

I’ve been to this vineyard a good many times. It’s my hidden gem off the beaten path in the Texas Hill Country, and as such I frequently recommend it to close friends and family.
So, today we took three friends there on our way home from Fredricksburg. Note that there are a bunch of vineyards between Fredricksburg and Johnson City, but we purposely flew right past them to get to Texas Hills only stopping for peaches and fireworks.
We were not disappointed. We tasted several vintages, grabbed a glass of our favorites and headed outside. It was right at closing time for them, but they were friendly and cordial. They even came out to see if we needed anything before they shut down completely.
So, we bought a couple cases between the 5 of us and another glass before we hit the road. Everyone was impressed and thought that this place offers real value for what you get!!! Everyone of us WILL be back!
Thank you Texas Hills!!! Keep up the good work!

Texas Hills Winery is located in the heart of the Texas Hill Country. As you drive up the drive you will see the beautiful vineyards. If you take the tour of the various wineries you will notice that some of the wineries don’t have any vineyards and bring the grapes in from various places around the country. It is true that most of your wineries do introduce imported grapes for various wines. However, several of the wineries have several award winning wines that 100% estate grapes grown on the vineyard. Texas Hills has both and some very good wines.

A very homey setting in a spacious tasting room, this place exudes Texas as soon as you drive up. Unlike many of the wineries lining the Hwy 290 corridor, Texas Hills also has their vineyard on the estate and produce a number of their wines from it. In addition, they source a majority of their wines from Texas vineyards so you can really taste the difference compared to other states.
Friendly servers with solid information on each of the wines, we purchased three different wines. During our conversation the server discovered we were on a tasting trip and even recommended some additional wineries to visit based on our purchases.

Stopped by for a little wine tasting… Delicious and a great pit stop!
We stopped in on a Monday afternoon so it wasn’t busy (we even got to see the tanks where they store the wine!). The lady at the counter was very nice and knowledgable. We ended up with 6 bottles (10% off). It was a fun adventure!

Went here for a wine tour. Not only is the wine mediocre, but smallest samples possible and rudest servers ever. After ignoring us for thirty minutes after being at the front of the table, we decided it is not worth the wait.

Wow this place was good. We ended up buying three bottles because they are not sold in retail stores and not sure we’ll be back but I highly recommend going at least once. The area is beautiful and Lilly the house dog is so sweet and playful.

Located on the drive to Pedernales Falls is Texas Hills Vineyards, just a hop skip and a jump from the 290 wine road. As you enter the property you will be greeted by the estate vineyard, and the beautiful hacienda like building nestled back amongst the trees.
They use sustainable organic methods to grow the vineyard, and the tasting room was built utilizing environmentally friendly methods. They used earth from the property for the building, utilizing an older technique called «rammed earth». They utilize only Texas sourced grapes for their wines, except for one wine on the menu that is a collaboration with another winemaker friend I am told. They were the first producer of Pinot Grigio in Texas, and we have them to thank for the 290 wine road being founded.
The experience here can vary based on who is serving you, and when. The tasting room bar is small and can feel very cramped amongst the unique gift shop items they have. I tend to stay away from Saturday’s as you can just feel like you are being rushed through amongst the crowds. Also, not all the staff are as knowledgeable as others. No matter what, I have never had an experience with anyone who wasn’t friendly here. I have always felt like this was more of a homey wine tasting experience. For a more informative and intimate feeling, come on a weekday or Sunday. However, for $ 5 for 5 tastings of your choice from the menu, that is a tough price to beat. Plus, the bottles of wine are very reasonable with the majority between $ 12 – 20.
I find the price point matches the quality of the wine here. Pretty good Texas house wine. I find the reds to be better than the whites My two favorites are the Moscato (great with spicy foods) and the Kick Butt Cab.

Our first stop of the day on Texas 290. We really enjoyed our visit. Ivan was very helpful, even finding a couple of wines for a beer drinker like me. He also offered some suggestions on where to go next.
We ended up with a bottle of red and a bottle of white.

We liked the Kick Butt Cabernet, their Merlot, and their port (must have chocolate!), but were underwhelmed with the space to sit back and drink our wine. Their only patio is a little dark, cramped, kind of ugly, and it faces the parking lot.
If only we could take the wines from this vineyard and put them with Becker’s property — now that would surely drive me to day-​drinking-​alcoholism!

Really enjoyed this winery — good wines and a nice outdoor area to sit and enjoy a glass. It had a casual vibe and some very sweet dogs. It was a little far out from Fredericksburg but definitely worth the drive.
Our favorite wines were the orange moscato and due bianco.
I’d absolutely go back next time I’m in the area.

A great little winery that is definitely worth a visit if you’re exploring wineries in the Texas Hill Country! Friendly and knowledgeable staff in the cozy tasting room who could share not only about Texas Hill Vineyard wines but also about local terroir for grape growing and wine making in Texas overall. The added bonus was these were good wines, putting them in the context of the challenges of Texas wine making, offered at reasonable prices. This is a family owned business and the pride in ownership shines in the quality in the bottles.
Yes, y’all. They do make wine in Texas. More than 40 wineries in the state. We were surprised too.
Which is not to say that Texas wines are yet on a par with those produced by wineries in California or Oregon or Washington or British Columbia or New York. But some of the Texas winemakers are succeeding in creating nicely drinkable wines from Texas grown grapes. Texas Hills winery is one of them.
Reds include but are not limited to Syrah, Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. Among whites you’ll find included Rouseanne, Chardonnay and an Italian styled Pinot Grigio. Some of their wines are from estate grown grapes and all are from Texas grown grapes. (See «Note» at end of review for why this is important.)
TASTING ROOM:
First with a shout out to Texas Hills for having a tasting room that is completely, universally accessible from parking lot and through the door. Whether you’re walking on two feet, or using crutches or pushing a stroller or using a wheelchair, it works here for equal access.
Once inside, the tasting protocol in the cozy tasting room is $ 5 for five pours. And more in the ‘good for them’ mode, the fee is refunded with purchase.
We tasted reds and whites and found the reds here to among the best of any Texas red wines we tried during our nearly three weeks in the state. Like any new wine region, whites seem to be easier to produce in good form than reds, but some reds here were pretty darned good. (As in one that is Tempernillo grape but labeled under a different name as we recall.)
The bottles we walked away with included Rubino Port, which is grape alcohol fortified and lighter drinking than traditional Port, and also the Orange Muscato which we thought was very yummy good.
BEAUTIFUL SETTING — GOOD PLACE TO «SIT A SPELL»:
The tasting room has a nice deck outside with lovely outlook. I don’t know of TABC (Texas alcohol control) lets Texas Hills sell wine by the glass or not, but if so this would be a good place to buy a glass and enjoy a picnic lunch on the deck. And if not, bring a soft beverage and settle in for a picnic. Either way, pretty place with welcoming staff.
TIPS:
1) A bit off the visitor beaten path of some of the other wineries on the so called Texas «wine trail», this winery is conveniently located in Johnson City, not far from the National Parks Historic Site for the Lyndon B. Johnson Childhood Home site. That site is very much worth a visit too, so if you go there you can visit Texas Hills winery too.
2) Another of those two wineries mentioned above as worth the visit is Duchman Winery in Driftwood, which is not far from Johnson City. If you’re looking for eats in Driftwood after wine tasting at Texas Hills and Duchman, you’ll find Trattoria Lisina next door for Italian food or The Salt Lick nearby for barbecue.
NOTE:
Beware of some other higher volume Texas winery endeavors which bring in a good amount of their juice from California and then ferment it into wine in Texas.
First of all, will all who think California is sending Texas their best juice please raise your hands? Because there is «a bridge in Brooklyn for sale…» As the saying goes.
Second of all, wine making is at the heart an agricultural — farming endeavor with the terroir, the character of the land, coming through the grape. If you want to drink California grown wine product, you’ll get a better one in that state than any of the California wines bottled in Texas labels here.
Texas wines labeled «not for sale outside Texas» are the ones that start with out of state grown grapes; so now you know how to tell which ones not to buy at other wineries.